Chapter 2
1101 Words
“—and I swear if Mrs. Hargrove gives us one more end-of-year project, I’m dropping out and becoming a full-time menace.”
Mia huffed a quiet laugh, shifting her book against her side as she walked.
“That’s a terrible life plan, Lilly.”
“It’s a fantastic life plan,” Lilly shot back, grinning. “Chaos suits me.”
Mia glanced at her best friend, warmth easing some of the tension still coiled in her chest from earlier.
Lilly was… bright. In every sense of the word.
Her blonde hair bounced in loose waves as she walked, sunlight catching the lighter strands. Her eyes—sharp, playful—were always moving, always alive. Unlike Mia, who carried something quieter, heavier.
“You just don’t appreciate commitment to the bit,” Lilly added dramatically.
“Oh, I do,” Mia said. “I just don’t think your dad would.”
At that, Lilly snorted. “Please. My dad lives for chaos. Comes with the whole werewolf thing.”
“Mm,” Mia hummed. “Your mom balances it out.”
“Thank God for vampire self-control,” Lilly said, placing a hand over her heart. “Otherwise I’d have been feral years ago.”
Mia smiled faintly.
Lilly had turned eighteen two weeks ago.
She’d shifted the very next night.
Mia had been there—had watched it happen. The power, the pain, the way something ancient had awakened inside her best friend.
It had been… beautiful.
And terrifying.
Three weeks, Mia thought.
Just three weeks until summer.
Until her birthday.
Until whatever was waiting inside her finally came out.
“So,” Lilly nudged her, tone suddenly turning sly, “Alpha Ball.”
Mia groaned softly. “Do we have to?”
“Yes,” Lilly said immediately. “We absolutely have to. It’s literally the biggest event of the year.”
“It’s a political ritual disguised as a party,” Mia muttered.
“It’s dancing, food, and possibly finding your soulmate under the moon,” Lilly corrected. “Get it right.”
Mia rolled her eyes, but her fingers tightened slightly around her book.
The Alpha Ball.
Bonfires. Music. The elders calling on the moon.
And the bonding ceremony.
A place where connections… happened.
“I’m not even eighteen yet,” Mia said quietly. “It won’t… affect me.”
Lilly shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you can’t look hot and enjoy free food.”
That pulled a small laugh out of Mia.
“Besides,” Lilly added, wiggling her brows, “there are going to be so many people there. Visiting packs, new faces…”
“Ah,” Mia said dryly. “So this is about you.”
“Always,” Lilly said proudly.
They turned the path toward the packhouse, the large structure rising between the trees ahead—wood, stone, and history woven together.
That’s when the sound hit.
Engines.
Low. Smooth. Expensive.
Both girls slowed.
A sleek black limo glided to a stop in front of the main entrance, followed closely by two dark SUVs.
Mia’s brow furrowed. “That’s… not normal.”
“No,” Lilly murmured, eyes narrowing slightly. “It’s not.”
The car doors opened.
First, the leaders.
A tall, composed man stepped out, his presence sharp and commanding even from a distance. Beside him, a woman moved with effortless grace, her beauty striking, her expression unreadable.
“Vampires,” Lilly said under her breath.
Mia nodded slowly.
Not just any vampires.
“Transylvania clan,” Lilly added, voice quieter now. “My mom mentioned something about a visit… I didn’t think it was today.”
The air shifted.
Not hostile.
But aware.
The kind of tension that came from power recognizing power.
“They must be here for the Ball,” Mia said.
“Or something bigger,” Lilly replied.
More doors opened.
Guards. Clan members.
And then—
Mia felt it.
A sudden heat crawled up her arms, sharp and unexpected, like something waking beneath her skin.
She sucked in a breath, instinctively rubbing her forearm.
“What—”
Her gaze lifted.
Locked.
On him.
He had just stepped out of one of the SUVs.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Effortless strength in the way he moved.
His long black hair was braided back, tied low, exposing the sharp lines of his face—and the dark red tattoos that traced up both sides of his neck, disappearing beneath the collar of his white shirt.
He turned.
As if he felt her too.
Their eyes met.
Ice-blue.
Cold.
Piercing.
The world—
Stopped.
Sound vanished.
Air stilled.
Something folded inward, like reality itself bending around that single moment—
—and then snapped back.
Mia staggered slightly, her breath catching hard in her chest.
What was that?
The boy—no, Victor, something in her mind whispered his name without permission—
smirked.
Just barely.
Like he knew.
Then he turned away, following the others toward the packhouse as if nothing had happened.
As if the world hadn’t just shifted.
Mia stood frozen.
Her heart was racing.
Her skin still burned.
That wasn’t—
It couldn’t be—
“I thought you said you weren’t interested in new people.”
Lilly’s voice cut through the fog.
Mia blinked, dragging her gaze away. “I—what?”
Lilly was watching her closely now, one brow raised. “You stopped breathing for, like, ten seconds.”
“I did not.”
“You absolutely did.”
Mia shook her head, trying to steady herself. “I just… felt something weird.”
“Weird how?” Lilly asked, tone sharpening slightly.
Mia hesitated.
How do you explain the world collapsing into a single glance?
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “It just—hurt. For a second.”
That wasn’t entirely true.
But it was the only word she had.
Lilly studied her for a moment longer… then reached out and grabbed her arm.
“Okay,” she said. “We are getting food. Immediately. Because you are clearly malfunctioning.”
“I am not malfunctioning.”
“You’re pale.”
“I’m always pale.”
“More than usual.”
Mia let herself be pulled along, her feet moving automatically as Lilly dragged her toward the side entrance of the packhouse.
But her mind—
Her mind was still back there.
On the road.
On that moment.
On those eyes.
She wasn’t eighteen.
She shouldn’t feel anything.
No bond.
No pull.
No connection.
And yet—
Something had seen her.
Recognized her.
And whatever it was…
It wasn’t normal.
- Writer
