Bite Me Softly

Chapter 15: Veiled Instinct

The world outside kept spinning.

Cars passed. Kids walked to school. Birds gathered on the power lines.

But inside, everything was still.

Aria sat on the floor of her room, knees tucked beneath her, the box of letters beside her. The curtains were drawn, casting a gray-blue light across the walls. She hadn’t texted Kade. Hadn’t gotten dressed for school. Her phone sat untouched on her nightstand, screen dark.

This morning, she’d told her aunt she felt sick.

It wasn’t entirely a lie.

Something inside her did feel off. Uneasy. Shifting.

She reached for the first letter. The paper was aged but smooth, the writing precise. Neat, but urgent.

Dear Aria,

If you're reading this, it means your aunt gave you the box. Or maybe you found it yourself, which wouldn't surprise me. You were always curious. Always had that spark in your eyes, even when you were small.

She swallowed, heart crawling up her throat.

I wish I could be there to explain all of this in person. But if it’s come to this, it means there are things happening now that I can’t protect you from. So I’ll do what I can the only way left, by telling you the truth, piece by piece.

First, I want you to know this: you are loved. More than you know. I’ve watched over you from a distance for a long time, not because I didn’t care, but because your mother asked me to stay away. She said it was safer if you grew up not knowing. Perhaps she was thinking more of her own wellbeing than a mother should. Still, I thought it better to keep an eye on you from a distance than be banned from seeing you at all. But then again, maybe she was right… for a while. But some truths don’t stay buried forever.

There’s a part of your family history that no one ever told you. It’s not something you’d find in any official record or photo album. But it lives in your bones, in your instincts, in that quiet little voice that tells you when something’s off even if you can’t explain why. I know you’ve felt it, like you see things just a little differently. Like the world is layered, and sometimes, you catch glimpses of what’s beneath.

It’s not just imagination. You’re not broken or strange. There’s something old in our bloodline, something not entirely human. A gift, some would say. A curse, others might whisper. I won’t pretend it’s simple.

But this is where it starts.

I’ll explain more in the letters that follow. For now, just know this, you’re not alone, even if it feels that way. There are things I’ve prepared you for, even from afar. And things that may come looking for you because of who you are.

Take your time. Breathe. You don’t have to understand it all right away.

But don’t ignore the feeling that something is changing.

Because it is.

With love,

Uncle Bran

She set the letter down, hands shaking slightly.

Bond.

The word was becoming a weight. A chain she didn’t know how to break, or if she even wanted to. Kade hadn’t explained it. Ryker only hinted at it with cryptic warnings. But Bran, this stranger who felt oddly familiar in the rhythm of his words, was giving it to her straight.

She picked up another letter, this one dated a year after the first.

Aria,

I hope by now you've read my first letter, and I hope it didn’t scare you. That wasn’t my intent. If anything, I’ve spent most of your life trying to keep you safe. From others, yes, but also from the weight of all this. You deserved a normal life for as long as you could have one.

But things are shifting, and you need to know the rest.

Your bloodline, our bloodline, carries something rare. I never found the right word for it. The old stories called us Seers, or Moon-touched, but that doesn’t really explain it. It’s more than visions or premonitions. It’s an understanding, a pull toward truth that others can’t always feel. Empathy, yes, but deeper than that. Almost like the world speaks to you differently.

If it hasn’t started yet, it will soon. Your emotions may feel… too big. Like they don’t fit right in your chest anymore. Anger that flashes fast, sorrow that stays too long. You might pick up on other people’s feelings without meaning to. And it’s not just because of what you are, it’s also because of what’s happening to you.

You were bitten, weren’t you? Like I said, a pull towards truth.

I felt it, in a way. I don’t know who did it, but I know the bond that bite creates. It’s powerful. It tethers you to someone else, pulls your fate alongside theirs. For most people, that bond is intense enough. But with you… there’s more. Your blood reacts differently. The bond doesn’t just settle in. It roots in you, deeper than it should.

That kind of connection can be beautiful. But it can also be dangerous.

And now I fear others may know what I’ve spent so long hiding.

The packs used to protect our kind. But they’ve changed. Grown fractured. Some want power more than peace. Some will see you as an opportunity. Or a threat.

Be careful who you trust.

There’s more I need to tell you. More I should have said years ago.

But for now, please stay alert. Keep your heart guarded, even when it aches to be open.

And remember, whatever you find… you are still you.

You’re stronger than you think.

Always watching your back,

Uncle Bran

Her throat tightened as the weight of the letters sank in. This wasn’t just about Kade biting her. This wasn’t just about the slow, aching pull of transformation in her bones or the strange flashes of sensation that had begun to color her emotions.

This was something deeper.

She had always been different. Her whole life, she had been told she was too sensitive, too emotional, too reactive. As if feeling deeply was a flaw to be punished or shamed. As if softness made her weak. But reading her uncle’s words, she felt the ground shift beneath that story. What if all the things she had tried so hard to hide were actually the very things that made her dangerous to the wrong people and powerful to the right ones?

Maybe those weren’t flaws.

Maybe they were keys.

Keys to a locked world she had only begun to glimpse.

She could almost hear her uncle’s voice in the paper. It was warm and careful, trying to prepare her for something. But for what? A new self? A new future? Something that didn’t yet have a name?

A soft creak from the hallway pulled her back to the present. She froze, heart stuttering in her chest.

She waited.

Nothing. No footsteps. No voices. Just the old house breathing. Or pretending to.

Her skin crawled. That feeling again. Like the room had gone too quiet. Like someone had been there, maybe still was. Watching. Waiting.

She moved quickly but gently, sliding the letters back into the box with trembling fingers. She tucked it deep into the closet beneath heavy winter coats. It wasn’t enough, not really, but it was all she could do.

If someone had been in her room once, they could come again.

And now she knew they weren’t just after her.

They wanted what she carried.

The spark.

The sight.

The bond twisting, invisible thread between her and Kade.

And maybe something even darker. Something older. Something that didn’t come from the bite but from her blood.

She crossed the room, each step slow and cautious, until she stood in front of the mirror.

Her reflection stared back at her. Pale skin. Wide eyes. Lips slightly parted like she had forgotten how to breathe.

But something else looked back at her too.

Something behind her own eyes.

Like something had woken up and was looking out.

She pressed her palm flat to the glass and whispered.

“What am I becoming?”

No answer came.

But deep in her chest, something stirred.

Not a sound. Not a word. Just a pulse.

A steady, slow thrum like a second heartbeat.

It felt ancient.

It felt like it had always been there, waiting for her to listen.

And now, it was no longer silent.

She closed her eyes and let herself feel it. All of it.

The fear.

The wonder.

The quiet beginning of something she didn’t understand.

But somehow, it already knew her.