Chapter 2: The Awakening
1007 Words
The first thing I felt was pain.
Not the kind that came from a wound.
Not the kind that disappeared after a few minutes.
This was deeper.
It felt like my entire body was being torn apart and rebuilt at the same time.
I opened my eyes slowly.
The ceremony grounds were gone.
The crowd was gone.
Kael was gone.
For a few seconds, I had no idea where I was.
Then reality came rushing back.
The rejection.
The humiliation.
His cold voice.
You are too weak.
My chest tightened.
I sat up quickly.
I was back in my small room at the edge of the Nightfall Pack territory.
The place I had called home for years.
A place that suddenly felt unfamiliar.
I pressed my hand against my chest.
Something was different.
My wolf.
She was awake.
I could feel her.
A presence that had been missing my entire life.
“Who are you?” I whispered.
For years, I had wondered why I was different.
Why every wolf my age shifted while I remained trapped in silence.
Why my own wolf refused to answer me.
Now I finally had a voice.
But instead of bringing comfort…
It brought fear.
“I am not someone new.”
The voice inside my mind was calm.
Powerful.
“I have always been here.”
I froze.
“Then why did you hide?”
A pause.
Then:
“Because someone forced me to.”
My breathing stopped.
Someone?
Before I could ask more, a sharp pain shot through my head.
Images flashed before my eyes.
A woman with silver eyes.
A burning castle.
A baby wrapped in a dark blanket.
A man shouting.
“They cannot know she survived!”
Then another voice.
A woman’s voice.
Desperate.
“Take her away. Protect her. Even if she hates us one day, let her live.”
I gasped and grabbed my head.
The vision disappeared.
My room returned.
But I was no longer the same.
Because for the first time…
I had questions.
Real questions.
⸻
A knock came from my door.
I immediately stood.
Nobody visited me.
Not unless they needed something.
“Aria?”
My body stiffened.
Kael.
Of all people.
I wiped the tears from my face and forced my voice to remain steady.
“What do you want?”
Silence.
That alone surprised me.
Alpha Kael Blackthorn was not a man who hesitated.
“I need to speak with you.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“About what?”
Another pause.
Then:
“About what happened tonight.”
I walked closer to the door.
The old Aria would have opened it immediately.
She would have hoped.
She would have searched his face for affection.
But the old Aria had been destroyed in front of everyone.
I opened the door.
Kael stood there.
And for the first time, I noticed something strange.
He looked tired.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
His usual confidence was gone.
But I refused to let that affect me.
“Say what you came to say.”
His eyes moved over my face.
Almost like he was searching for the girl he had rejected.
But he wouldn’t find her.
“She changed.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“My wolf.”
His jaw tightened.
“She reacted differently after I rejected you.”
I stared at him.
“So?”
“So something happened.”
I almost smiled.
“You mean something happened because I stopped being the weak omega you thought I was?”
His expression darkened.
“That is not what I meant.”
“Isn’t it?”
For once, Kael had no answer.
Good.
Let him feel what it was like to have no words.
“I spent years being treated like I was nothing,” I said quietly.
“And tonight, the person who was supposed to be my other half proved everyone right.”
Something moved in his eyes.
Pain.
But I didn’t care.
Not anymore.
“I was wrong.”
The words surprised me.
Kael Blackthorn admitting he was wrong?
Impossible.
But there was no pride in his voice.
Only regret.
“I should not have rejected you the way I did.”
I looked at him.
“You shouldn’t have rejected me at all.”
The truth hurt.
I saw it on his face.
For a moment, he looked less like an Alpha…
And more like a man who had made a mistake he couldn’t undo.
Then suddenly—
A growl echoed from inside the forest.
Kael immediately turned.
His entire body changed.
The powerful Alpha returned.
“Stay inside.”
The command annoyed me instantly.
“There you go again.”
His eyes snapped back to mine.
“What?”
“You still think you can order me around.”
Before he could answer, another growl came.
Closer.
Kael moved in front of me.
Protecting me.
The irony almost made me laugh.
The man who rejected me was now standing between me and danger.
Then a figure stepped out of the darkness.
Not a wolf.
A man.
Older.
With silver eyes that immediately locked onto mine.
The moment he saw me…
He dropped to one knee.
My breath caught.
“What are you doing?”
The stranger lowered his head.
“Forgive me, Princess.”
My blood ran cold.
Princess?
Kael stiffened beside me.
“Who are you?”
The stranger ignored him.
His eyes remained on me.
“I have searched for you for twenty years.”
I felt my heart pounding.
“You have the wrong person.”
The stranger shook his head.
“No.”
His voice was filled with certainty.
“We found the Moonborn heir.”
The air became still.
Kael looked at me.
I looked at the stranger.
Nobody spoke.
Then he said the words that changed my entire life:
“Aria Vale…”
“You are not an omega.”
A cold wind swept through the forest.
“You are the last princess of the werewolf kingdom.”
⸻
- Writer
