CHAPTER TWO
1066 Words
Kelly's POV.
Morning in the Rexen Kingdom always begins with silence. Not the peaceful kind. The heavy kind.The kind that reminds you that wolves are always watching.
I wake before the sun most days. Not because I want to. My wolf just refuses to sleep past dawn. The moment the sky begins to lighten, my senses sharpen. Every scent in the forest drifts toward the palace walls. Pine. Cold earth. Running water from the eastern river. And wolves. Hundreds of them. All mine. That thought still feels strange.
I sit up slowly and rub my face. My room is large, but it never feels full. Stone walls. Tall windows. A wide bed that could hold three wolves easily. Yet most nights I sleep curled near the edge like I might fall off.
Old habits.
I stretch and walk toward the balcony. The wind hits my face the moment I push the doors open.
My wolf stirs inside me.
He likes mornings.
I lean against the railing and watch the training grounds below. Warriors are already there. Running. Sparring. Shifting in and out of their wolf forms.
Discipline.
My father’s favorite word.
Alpha Victor Rayes does not believe in laziness. Not for himself. Not for his pack. And definitely not for his son.
Sometimes I wonder if he ever sleeps.
I run a hand through my hair and sigh. My mind never stays quiet for long. It jumps from thought to thought like a restless wolf.
What would my mother think of me?
Would she see strength?
Or just a boy pretending to be strong?
I shake the thought away. Thinking too much is a bad habit of mine. My wolf hates it. Wolves prefer action. Humans prefer thinking.
Unfortunately, I am both.
I leave the balcony and walk toward the bathing room. Cold water helps wake my senses. When it hits my skin, my wolf growls softly in approval. By the time I dress and head downstairs, the palace is alive.
Servants move quickly through the halls. Warriors greet me with bowed heads. Some look proud. Some look curious. Some look afraid.
I still do not know which reaction I dislike the most.
Outside, the training grounds smell like sweat, dirt, and iron.
I step into the field and immediately feel my father’s presence.You do not need to see Alpha Victor to know he is nearby. His aura presses against the air like a mountain. He stands at the center of the ground, watching two warriors fight.
Calm. Still. Silent.
The moment he notices me, the fight stops.
“Continue,” he tells them without looking away from me.
I walk toward him slowly.
My father studies me the way a general studies a battlefield.
“Late,” he says aggressively. “ It’s barely sunrise. That is late.”
I almost smile. Almost.
He folds his arms behind his back. “You think too much Kelly”
That makes me blink. “Was it that obvious?”
“It always is.”
I look away toward the forest. He is not wrong.
My father steps beside me. For a moment neither of us speaks.
Then he says quietly, “The kingdom is watching you now.”
I already knew that.
“They expect Monica’s son,” he continues.
There it is again. Her shadow. I exhale slowly. “And what do you expect?” I ask.
His answer takes a moment. “I expect you to become stronger, you have a mantle to take upon.”
And that's it again.
Before I can reply, another scent reaches my nose. Sharp. Curious. Determined. I turn my head and see him.
Bob the rough
He stands near the edge of the training field pretending to watch the sparring wolves. But his eyes keep drifting toward me.
Bob is not strong like the other warriors. His wolf is lean and restless. But his mind is sharp.
Too sharp. Some wolves want power. Bob wants truth. That makes him dangerous.
My father notices him too.
“He watches you often,” my father says quietly.
“I know.”
“He believes justice must be perfect.”
I almost laugh. “There is no such thing.”
“No,” my father agrees. “But some wolves spend their lives chasing it.”
Bob does not look away when I meet his eyes.
Good. I prefer enemies who stand in the open.
A messenger approaches us a moment later and bows.
“Alpha, there is news from the southern border.”
My father nods.
“Later,” he says.
The messenger leaves.
For a while we watch the warriors train in silence. But my mind drifts again. It drifts toward rumors I heard from traveling merchants last night. A girl. A strange wolf. A loner. Her name is Light.
They say she once lived among rich wolves in distant lands. They say she was clever, always answering questions before others could even think.
But rumors travel strangely through wolf territories.
Some say her intelligence was fake.
Some say she carried a small device in her ear. A strange tool that whispered answers to her. A trick from human technology.
If the rumors are true, then Light is not just clever. She is a survivor. And survivors always interest me.
My wolf shifts inside my chest. Curious.
I shake my head.
“Stop imagining things,” I mutter to myself.
Another bad habit of mine.
I live in my thoughts too much.
Music sometimes helps quiet them. Old music. Songs from decades ago that other wolves my age do not understand.
Strange, I know.
My father notices my distraction.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing important.”
That is half a lie.
He studies me one last time before speaking again.
“Soon,” he says, “you will leave the palace.”
That gets my attention.
“Leave?”
“To see the kingdom yourself.”
The forest wind picks up. My wolf lifts his head inside me. Adventure. Change. Danger. I smile for the first time that morning.Maybe peace will not stay peaceful for long. And maybe that is exactly what I need. Because somewhere beyond these forests…
A girl named Light is walking toward a story she does not even know exists.
And somehow, I feel like our paths are already moving toward each other.
- Writer
