CHAPTER 16
1558 Words
The knock on the door came again, firmer this time.
Elise’s heart jumped in her chest.
She blinked, coming back to reality.
For a moment, she thought about pretending not to be in, about curling under her blankets, laying still so as not to make a sound.
But something told her she couldn’t keep hiding anymore.
“Coming,” she called out, her voice hoarse.
She stood and crossed the room, wiping her palms on her leggings.
When she opened the door, she wasn’t surprised to find Lucien standing there.
His arms were crossed over his chest, eyes unreadable.
“Can we talk?” he asked.
Elise hesitated.
She liked Lucien, trusted him even, but there was something about his tone that made her nerves tighten.
She wondered what news he had brought.
Still, she nodded and stepped aside.
Lucien entered her room, giving it a quick glance, his gaze briefly settling on the candles, the soft bed, the lavender scent lingering in the air, before turning back to her.
“You did better than you think today,” he said.
Elise blinked. “You have a strange way of showing it.”
Lucien gave a small smirk. “I wasn’t there to coddle you. You’ve got something in you, Elise. We all saw it that night. But it’s not enough to wait around for danger to draw it out.”
“I know,” she whispered, sinking onto her bed.
Lucien leaned against the dresser. “You’re not weak. You’re just… blocked. Scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
He raised a brow.
Elise sighed. “Okay, maybe I am. I don’t know how to access it. The power, the wolf, whatever it is inside me. It only shows up when I’m about to die. What good is that?”
Lucien was quiet for a moment before he asked, “What do you feel when you try?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Or… too much. Like there’s this wall, and behind it is everything I can’t reach.”
Lucien nodded, like that confirmed something. “There are different types of power, Elise”.
Not all of them are loud.
Some are quiet, like a heartbeat you only hear in silence.
She looked at him, unsure if he was trying to comfort her or confuse her.
Before she could ask, Lucien straightened. “Tomorrow, we’ll try something new. Not combat. Something slower. More instinctive.”
“Like what?”
“You’ll see.” He gave her a small, encouraging nod. “Rest up.”
And with that, he left, closing the door behind him.
Elise sat there for a long time, staring at the door.
What did he mean by instinctive?
And why did she feel like something was creeping just around the corner of all this?
And what did he even mean by silent powers?…. Everyone knows there are basic identities of a true wolf.
Fangs.
Fierce Golden yellow eyes when changing.
Claws.
Just these 3 are enough to know even a baby wolf who hasn’t learn to change yet.
She didn’t even have a single one of these three, and Lucien was trying to motivate her that she’s a wolf.
Maybe this is the reason why it isn’t working.
Because there’s nothing there, no wolf to let out.
Elise sighed and sunk into her bed further, wishing she was a normal human.
She wasn’t even a wolf nor a human, so what was she?, she asked, dozing off.
The next morning, Elise stood once again at the edge of the training grounds, though this time the setup was different.
There were no sparring dummies, no rows of weapons or drills across the field.
Instead, a small circle of stones had been arranged near the forest line.
Candles burned softly at each point, and at the center cleared and clean.
Lucien waited there, along with three older wolves she didn’t recognize; elders, maybe, or spiritual guides of some sort.
Kai stood off to the side, arms folded, watching.
Lucien beckoned her over. “This is a focus circle,” he said.
“It’s old magic. Wolves used it in the past to connect with their inner selves. Not every pack still uses it, but I thought it was worth a try.”
Elise swallowed. “And if it doesn’t work?”
“Then we try something else. But you’re going to sit in that circle, Elise.
And you’re going to stop trying to force your power.
You’re going to listen to yourself.
To your heartbeat.
To your fear.
To the silence.”
She looked at him. “What if I don’t like what I hear?”
“Then you’re finally being honest.”
Her chest tightened.
She didn’t know what to expect.
Still, she stepped into the circle and sat in the center, cross-legged.
The grass was cool beneath her, the wind brushing gently through the trees.
The elders began to hum a low, rhythmic sound that pulsed through the ground like a heartbeat.
Their voices were sending a vibration to the floor.
Elise closed her eyes.
At first, she felt nothing.
Then, everything.
Every insecurity, every doubt, every memory clawed its way up to the surface.
The sound of Becky and Luka’s voice calling her useless.
The sting of Thea’s slap.
The endless days of hunger and loneliness.
The nights she cried into her pillow so no one would hear.
She couldn’t stop the tears that came.
Her body trembled, but she didn’t move.
She stayed rooted, even when her chest ached from all the pains she held in for so long.
Then something shifted.
It wasn’t a sound or a flash of light.
It was a warmth, deep in her chest.
A whisper.
A breath.
It felt like there was a part of her inside her. She didn’t fully understand it.
It felt reliable, like it had been there, it was more than the feeling of when Kai kissed her.
It was something more.
She didn’t know if it was her wolf or her magic or something else entirely, but it was there.
Just for a second.
And then it was gone.
She gasped.
It felt like it was taken from her as her soul wanted to rest in it.
When she opened her eyes, the candles had burned lower.
Lucien was kneeling beside her.
“What did you feel?” he asked.
Elise pressed her hand to her chest. “A spark. Like… like someone lit a candle inside me.”
Lucien nodded. “Good. That’s more than most feel the first time.”
“Is that it?”
“No. It’s the beginning.”
Later that day, Elise wandered to the riverbank near the packhouse.
She liked it there, the ripples the waters made, the breeze, the trees overhead.
It made her feel small, but not in a bad way.
More like… connected.
She sat on a rock, hugging her knees, and stared at the rippling surface.
Kai found her there.
“Didn’t think I’d find you without looking,” he said, dropping down beside her.
“I needed space”.
“I figured.” He paused. “You did well today.”
“Being sarcastic?”, Elise said raising her brows.
“I cried in front of everyone”.
“You let it out. That’s strength”.
Elise gave a half-smile, eyes still on the water. “I felt something today. Just a flicker. But it was real.”
Kai looked over at her, his gaze warm. “I knew you would.”
She turned to face him. “Why? You barely know me.”
“I don’t need to know every part of your story to see your heart.” He shrugged. “And I see the way you carry things no one else can.”
The breeze shifted.
For a moment, the world seemed to still around them.
Elise reached out and took his hand.
Not because she needed saving.
But because she finally realized she didn’t have to stand alone.
Kai blushed inwardly.
That night, a storm rolled in.
Not thunder or lightning, but tension.
A low hum through the pack, not like the hum from the three elders.
This one was scary.
More like the hums added to a horror film.
Whispers.
Footsteps in the dark.
Someone knocked on Kai’s door, and he opened it to find Lucien with a grim expression.
“There’s something you need to see”, Lucien said.
They walked together to the pack’s war room, a space Elise had only seen once, filled with maps and scrolls and ancient weapons.
On the table was a black piece of cloth.
Burned and Torn.
Lucien’s jaw was tight. “One of the scouts found it near the southern border. And this—” he pointed to the mark sewn into the fabric “—was traced back to the Shadowborn.”
Kai cursed under his breath. “We haven’t seen signs of them since the night of the ball.”
“And then the feathers, and now?” He asked, searching for answers.
“They’re watching. Waiting.” Lucien said.
“What do they want?”
Lucien looked at him, then toward the hallway where Elise’s scent lingered faintly in the air.
“They want her.”
- Writer
