Something is changing with our body
852 Words
Vespera's Pov
*I don't know exactly. Some kind of suppression. A binding, maybe, or a curse. Something that kept me dormant. But when the bond with Julian broke—when the King's mark overwrote his—it shattered whatever was blocking me.*
I touched the mark on my neck again, that warm thrumming sensation. "The King did this?"
*Yes. The mating with your true mate broke the suppression. We're free now. Finally, finally free.*
My mind was reeling. A suppression. A binding. Which meant someone had done this to me deliberately. Someone had locked my wolf away and let me suffer for years thinking I was broken.
"Who?" I demanded. "Who would do that?"
*I don't know. But we'll find out. I promise you that.*
I sat there on the filthy floor of the abandoned cabin, trying to process what I was being told. I had a wolf. I'd always had a wolf. Everything I'd believed about myself, every terrible thing I'd thought was wrong with me—it had been a lie.
A lie that someone had planted in me. A lie that had shaped my entire life.
The rage that rose up in me was white-hot and blinding.
"Show me," I said through gritted teeth. "If you're real, if you're really there, show me right now."
*I can't shift yet. The suppression did damage. It's going to take time for me to fully heal, to regain my strength. But I can show you other things. Small things.*
"Like what?"
*Close your eyes.*
I hesitated, then did as she asked. The inside of the cabin disappeared behind my eyelids.
*Now breathe. Deep and slow. Feel our connection. It's like a golden thread running through your center. Can you feel it?*
I focused, searching inside myself for what she was describing. And there—there it was. A warmth in my chest, pulsing gently. I'd never noticed it before but now that I was paying attention, it felt as natural as my own heartbeat.
*Good. Now pull on that thread. Gently.*
I did. And suddenly my senses exploded.
The musty smell of the cabin sharpened into a thousand distinct scents. I could smell the rot in the wood, the animal bones, the faint trace of whatever creature had lived here last—fox, I thought, though I had no idea how I knew that. I could smell water somewhere to the east. Trees and earth and growing things.
And underneath it all, faintly, I could smell humans. Far away but distinct. Julian's pack. They were searching, but they hadn't picked up my trail yet.
I gasped and opened my eyes. The cabin looked the same but different somehow. Sharper. More vivid.
"What was that?"
*Enhanced senses. One of our gifts. There are others, but like I said, I need time to heal before I can show you everything.*
I flexed my hands, staring at them like I'd never seen them before. My wolf. I had a wolf. The knowledge was so enormous I didn't know how to hold it.
"Why can I hear you talking?" I asked. "Other wolves don't talk to their humans like this. At least, I've never heard of it."
*Because we're not like other wolves. I've known that for a long time, even locked away like I was. There's something different about us, Vespera. Something old. Powerful. I can feel it in our blood.*
"Different how?"
*I don't know yet. But we're going to find out.*
I wanted to ask more questions. Wanted to understand everything. But before I could open my mouth, pain exploded through my abdomen.
It felt like someone had driven a knife into my stomach and was twisting it. I doubled over with a strangled gasp, both hands clutching my belly. The cabin spun around me. I tried to breathe but couldn't seem to get air into my lungs.
"What—what's happening?"
*I don't know.* Nyx's voice was sharp with alarm. *Something's wrong.*
The pain intensified. It radiated outward from my core in waves, each one worse than the last. Sweat broke out across my skin. My vision started to blur at the edges.
I tried to stand, to move, to do something, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. They buckled beneath me and I went down hard, hitting the floor with a crack that I felt more than heard.
"Nyx—"
*Hold on. Just hold on. Stay with me.*
But the pain was too much. It was eating me alive from the inside out. I curled into a ball on my side, arms wrapped around my stomach, trying desperately not to scream. If I screamed, the hunters might hear. If they found me like this, helpless and in agony—
Consciousness started to flicker like a candle in the wind.
The last thing I felt was Nyx's presence in my mind, solid and fierce, wrapping around me like a shield. The last thing I eard was her voice, low and dangerous, vibrating with a protective fury I didn't understand.
*Something's wrong with our body. Something's changing.*
Then the darkness swallowed me whole.
- Writer
