Chapter 2 - The Wolfless Rumor
1061 Words
By morning, Bonnie sat up slowly in her bed. She had barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw their faces again. The elders standing back from her like she carried disease. The pack whispering in fear. Her father frozen in silence. Some had looked scared, some confused and some disgusted. And one sentence kept repeating inside her mind. “She is wolfless.”
Another elder had spoken after that, voice trembling with age.
“An abomination… this has never happened before.”
Bonnie pulled the blanket tighter around herself. She could still remember the look in her father’s eyes the most.
Not anger. That would have been easier. It was disappointment. Embarrassment. Shame. Confusion.
He had not shouted. He had not defended her. He had simply ordered her to go to her room.
And she obeyed.
The morning still felt heavy, as if the house itself remembered what happened last night. No one had come to check on her. No one had knocked. No one had spoken a word. Even the usual sounds of the house felt distant, like everyone was avoiding the hallway outside her room.
Bonnie sighed loudly and rubbed her face. “Could I really be wolfless?” she muttered to herself.
The words tasted bitter.
She swung her legs off the bed and stood slowly. Her body felt normal. No pain. No strange feeling. No hidden wolf clawing to come out. She walked to the mirror and studied herself.
Same brown eyes. Same curls. Same face. Nothing had changed.
A bitter laugh escaped her lips. “All that waiting for nothing.”
She turned away and paced the room. Twenty one years of hearing stories. Twenty one years of being told this day would matter more than any other. Twenty one years of imagining the first run beneath the moon.
Gone in one night. Her chest tightened. A sudden sound came from the window.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Bonnie turned sharply. Outside the glass stood Sophia, balancing on the roof ledge with one hand raised. Her dark hair moved with the morning breeze.
She mouthed silently. “Open up.”
Bonnie rushed over and pushed the window open.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered. “And how did you even get up here?”
Sophia climbed inside like it was nothing. “I jumped.”
Bonnie blinked. “You jumped?”
Sophia brushed dust from her clothes and straightened. “Try to keep up.”
Despite everything, Bonnie laughed weakly. Then the smile faded.
“You didn’t come to the woods last night,” Sophia said, moving closer. “I waited for hours.”
Bonnie looked away. “I know.”
“I thought maybe your father locked you in here.”
“I wish it was that simple.”
Sophia studied her face. “Bonnie…”
Bonnie crossed her arms tightly. “I just wanted to disappear.”
Sophia’s expression softened. “The whole pack is talking about it already,” she said quietly. “Whispers everywhere.”
“News travels fast.”
“It’s not gossip to me. I’m worried.”
Bonnie walked back to the bed and sat down heavily. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she admitted. “My papa won’t speak to me. My mother cried outside my door but never came in.”
Sophia sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“They’re scared because it’s never happened before.”
Bonnie looked at her. “Aren’t you scared of me?”
Sophia didn’t hesitate. “Not in this lifetime, sweetheart.”
Bonnie’s eyes stung unexpectedly.
Sophia pulled her into a tighter hug. For the first time since midnight, Bonnie felt like she could breathe.
Then a sharp sting hit her upper back.
“Ouch!”
She jerked forward and grabbed behind her shoulder.
Sophia pulled away instantly. “What happened?”
“My back…”
Bonnie stood quickly and hurried to the mirror. She turned sideways, pulling down the collar of her shirt.
There, just beneath her shoulder blade, dark lines were spreading across her skin like ink beneath flesh.
Bonnie froze.
“What is that?”
Sophia stepped closer. Then suddenly stopped. Her face drained of color.
“No…”
Bonnie’s pulse spiked. “What? Tell me.”
Sophia took two slow steps backward. “It can’t be.”
“What can’t be?”
The mark deepened before their eyes, curving into the shape of a crescent moon wrapped in claw-like lines. The dark lines stretched wider, sharper, more defined than before.
Pain shot through Bonnie again. She cried out and gripped the dresser so hard her knuckles whitened.
“Sophia!”
Sophia stared in horror.
“That’s a moon mark.”
Bonnie’s breathing turned uneven. “A what?”
Sophia shook her head slowly. “No born wolf gets that.”
“Then how do you know what it is?”
“My grandmother used to talk about it,” Sophia whispered. “Only in old stories.”
Bonnie turned to face her fully. “What stories?”
Sophia swallowed hard.
“The marked moon… the she-wolf curse… the one who returns.”
Bonnie felt the room tilt.
“You’re joking.”
“I wish I was.”
Bonnie laughed nervously. “So what now? I’m cursed because my body glows?”
Sophia did not laugh.
Another wave of pain tore through Bonnie’s back. She screamed and fell to one knee.
The mark burned hotter now, heat spreading across her shoulders and down her spine. Sweat gathered on her forehead.
Sophia rushed to her side. “Bonnie, look at me. Breathe.”
“I am breathing!”
“No, you’re panicking.”
“I’m on fire!”
Sophia grabbed both her hands. “Listen to me.”
Bonnie tried to focus but another pulse of pain hit and she cried out louder.
Downstairs, footsteps thundered through the house.
Voices rose.
Her father’s voice cut through everything.
“Bonnie!”
The footsteps came faster now. Heavy. Urgent. The doorknob rattled violently.
Sophia looked at the door, then back at the glowing mark on Bonnie’s skin.
Her face turned pale. “They heard you,” she whispered.
A hard slam shook the door. “Open this door!” her father roared.
Sophia met Bonnie’s terrified eyes.
“They know.”
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