CHAPTER 1:BROKEN WOLF ,
KEIRA POV
The pain hits tearing through my ribs.
It's a full moon, again and my bones feel like they're breaking from the inside. I bite my lip until I taste blood, holding myself from screaming . The shift is trying to happen. I can feel the clawing trying to break free but something stops it. Something always stops it.
I'm alone in the servant quarters at the edge of the dark forest, far from where the pack lives . It is where the lowest ranking members of the pack live. Where I live. Where I've spent most of my life, watching the world through a window I'm not supposed to touch.
The pain fades it dawn . It always does. I pull myself together from the floor, my body covered in sweat and blood from where I've bitten my own lips. In my reflection in the mirror I couldn't recognize who I saw . Pale skin. Hair scattered .
My bloodline is a great and strong wolf But somewhere along the way, something broke me.
I don't remember when. I only know that I've always been like this weak, powerless, unable to shift properly. Unable to be a real wolf.
The pack knows it too.i know because I see it the way they look at me and treat me
I left for a few hours to go see the other world. To escape the servant quarters and see the beauty of the mountains and outside world. To remember that there's a world beyond this prison.
I pose as human, slipping into the normal world at the edge of pack territory. The views are breathtaking. Beautiful colors paint the rocky cliffs in gold and .Around me. Water rushes on their mountains, oceans wide and big , their water so clear I can see my reflection and for once, I don't look like a ghost.
For a few hours, I'm not the broken wolf. I'm just a girl who exists in a beautiful world.
I watch the mist settle over the valleys. I feel the mountain air on my skin. I pretend I'm someone different. Someone whole.
But as the sun begins to set, I feel the pull back. Pack territory. Home. Prison where I'm not seen, humiliated.
I'm returning through the forest path when I feel a presence. Heavy. Oppressive. A gaze so intense it makes my skin prickle.
I look up.
A tall man in the shadows, watching me. He's been there for hours. I can feel it. There's something about him, something powerful that makes every nerve in my body stand on edge.
Our eyes meet for just a moment.
I see power. I see danger. But underneath it, I see something else. Something that looks almost like guilt.
"Is this a pity?" I whisper, the words coming out if my mouth before I can stop them.
He doesn't answer. He just watches me with those grey eyes, and then
He moves.
. He steps forward with the grace of a predator,not slowly or cautiously right in front of me, towering above, his presence so overwhelming that my knees weaken.
His hands touches my face just barely, his fingers brushing my cheek like I'm made of glass and might break.
"What are you doing here?" , His voice is raw and Broken. Like the question was not supposed to be asked.
Before I can answer, he pulls his hand back like I burned him. His expression goes completely Cold.
"After dark, you don't cometo the forest alone . Do you understand?"
I nod, frozen.
"If you come here again alone , I won't be able to protect you from what finds you."
Then he disappeared into the darkness so completely , like he was never there at all.
I stand alone on the forest path, my cheek still burning from his touch, my heart hammering so hard.And I know with certainty that everything was not okay I WAS TERRIFIED