Chapter2
1356 Words
You should not be alive.”
That was the first thing Liana heard when she woke up. Maelis stood at the entrance of the cave, folding her arms, her long white hair catching the morning light. Though she couldn’t see well, she looked directly at Liana.
Liana sat up slowly, her body aching. Her skin felt too tight. Her bones buzzed like something was still shifting inside her. She felt heavy, not with pain, but with something new. A presence. A weight she didn’t recognize.
“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice quiet and rough.
Maelis walked closer to her, making no sound on the ground. “You weren’t meant to survive a forced shift. Not at your age. Not without preparation. And yet, here you are.”
Liana looked down at her hands. They were shaking. Her nails still glowed like silver. “I did not do anything,” she whispered. “I just… screamed.”
“That scream saved you,” Maelis said. “Or perhaps it awakened something that was always waiting.”
Liana hugged her knees. “I don’t feel saved. I feel broken.”
Maelis knelt beside her. “Then you’re alive.”
They sat quietly for a moment. The cave was quiet except for how soft the wind blew moving through the stone.
Liana lifted her eyes. “You said I’m not just a wolf.”
“You’re not,” Maelis replied. “You carry the blood of the Moon Seers. That makes you different.”
“I do not want to be different.”
“Want has nothing to do with it.”
Liana dropped her gaze. “He said I was cursed.”
“Because he didn’t understand you,” Maelis said. “And what people don’t understand, they destroy.”
Liana’s chest tightened.
“I saw it in your shift,” Maelis went on. “That silver light… it comes from deep magic. Not from the packs. From before them.”
“I don’t want any of this,” Liana said. “I didn’t ask for it.”
“No,” Maelis agreed. “But now that the thing you didn’t want is yours, you have to decide what to do with it.”
Liana looked away.
Maelis stood and offered her a hand. “Come. There’s something you need to see.”
The cave opened into a narrow tunnel lit by blue stones that glowed. The air cooled the deeper they went in. Liana followed slowly, each step harder than the last. Her muscles ached. Her thoughts felt heavier than her body.
At the end of the tunnel, she stepped into a round chamber, symbols were on the walls. A still pool that glowed rested in the center.
“What kind of place is this?” Liana asked.
“It’s called the Well of Echoes,” Maelis said. “Here, you’ll meet her.”
“My wolf?”
Maelis nodded. “She’s in you. Hiding. Waiting. She’s been silent long enough.”
Liana walked to the edge of the pool. Her reflection shimmered. Her eyes looked different. Sharper. Not hers. She stepped into the pool. The water wasn’t cold or wet. It wrapped around her like mist. In the center of the room where she sat, she crossed her legs and closed her eyes.
Everything went still. Then a sound. A growl, low and steady.
“Who are you?” Liana whispered into the silence of her mind.
Another growl. Then words.
“You are not strong enough.”
Liana opened her eyes, but she was no longer in the cave. She stood in a forest of silver trees. The sky above her was deep black, the stars were scattered like glasses that were broken. Fog moved around her feet. Wind brushed her cheeks.
Then she saw it. A wolf. Massive. White with silver-tipped fur. Eyes glowing like moons.
Her wolf.
Liana took a step forward. “Why are you hiding from me?”
“Because you are still afraid,” the voice said.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“You are scared of what you are.”
“I never wanted this.”
“Me neither,” the wolf said.
They stared at each other in silence.
“Why won’t you come forward?” Liana asked.
The wolf lowered her head. “Because you haven’t let me in. You’re still hoping someone will save you.”
Liana clenched her fists. “There’s no one left.”
“Then rise.”
The trees bent with the wind. The stars flickered.
“Are you ready to stop running?” the voice asked.
Liana nodded. “I am.”
The wolf took a step forward. Light exploded around her.
Liana let out a sharp breath and opened her eyes. She was still in the water and still in the cave. Maelis was watching.
“She came,” Liana said.
Maelis nodded. “Good. Now you can begin.”
Far away in the Nightfall Pack, Kael woke up suddenly. His heart raced fast. His skin was soaked in sweat. He stared at the ceiling, unable to breathe. He had seen her again in his dream. Not her face. Not her body.
Her scream.
It had followed him into sleep. Pierced through every wall he built.
He sat up and looked at his hands. They were trembling.
His wolf paced inside him, restless and loud.
“Stop,” Kael muttered.
But the wolf didn’t listen. It growled. Low. Hungry.
Kael stumbled to the window and opened it. Cold air hit his skin.
It didn’t help.
He had rejected the bond. Killed it. She should be gone. Forgotten.
So why did his chest still hurt?
His wolf growled deep inside of him.
Kael held onto the window ledge until his knuckles turned white.
“You do not need her,” he told himself.
But his wolf didn’t agree. Something had changed. And it was pulling him apart from the inside.
Across the forest, Liana stood on the edge of a flat stone looking down at the trees below her.
Maelis had brought her here before dawn. Told her to breathe. To feel everything.
“I don’t even know what I’m doing,” Liana said quietly.
“That’s exactly why you’re here,” Maelis replied. “To learn.”
She handed Liana a long wooden staff. “Balance. Focus. Feel the pull of your instincts.”
Liana held the staff tightly. Her hands still shook. But she planted her feet and waited.
Maelis moved fast. She swung at Liana with a speed that didn’t match her age.
Liana blocked the strike just in time.
“Again,” Maelis said.
They trained in silence. Over and over. Strike. Block. Fall. Get up.
Every time Liana fell, Maelis helped her up.
Every time she rose up, she stood taller.
Later that night, Liana lay on the moss bed, staring up at the cave ceiling. Her body really ached in ways she didn’t know were possible.
Her wolf was silent. Watching. But inside, something had shifted.
She no longer felt like the same girl who ran through the forest and watched her mother die. Now, she felt the edge of something deeper. She didn’t know what it meant. But she wanted more.
Kael stood in front of the mirror, chest bare and breathing very hard. His eyes had changed. They weren’t just gold anymore. They glowed like fire.
He splashed cold water on his face, but it didn’t even help.
The bond was cracking.
He could feel her. Not clearly, but like a heartbeat beneath his own. His wolf wanted her. But Kael couldn’t. Wouldn’t.
He had chosen his pack. His pride.
Still, a single word kept echoing in his mind.
Alive.
Liana stepped outside the cave for fresh air. The stars blinked overhead, the trees whispered. She leaned against the rocks and breathed. Then she felt it—a presence. Watching. She turned quickly. Nothing. Then again. A shadow between the trees. Too tall for Maelis. Too still to be an animal. Not Kael. But something was there, waiting.
- Writer
