THE ONE WHO STOLE MY PAST
1782 Words
“Tessa…” His voice was barely audible.
“You’re asking for something that cannot be undone.”
“I know.”
“Turning isn’t a fairy-tale. It’s pain. It’s blood. It’s surrender. Once it starts, your body either survives the shift… or it breaks.”
“I’m not afraid,” I whispered.
“You should be.”
“Why would you risk your life for this?” he demanded. “For a bond you don’t owe me? For a world you don’t even understand?”
“Because running doesn’t make me safer,” I said. “You said it yourself. Whoever attacked us was after me. Human or wolf, they’ll still come.”
His breath caught.
“And because…”
I swallowed.
“Because you’ll die if you reject me.”
Lucian flinched like the words physically struck him.
“Tessa, listen to me, if I bite you, your life becomes tied to mine. Your heartbeat, your senses, your instincts… everything changes.” His hands shook as he raked them through his hair. “You won’t get your old life back. Ever.”
“Maybe I don’t want the old one.”
"I want this life." I shot back. "With you in it."
I moved closer to the extent that I could feel his breath on me.
Now that I know the truth — that he wants me, but he thought he shouldn't—it made things easier. I wasn't going to allow him to fight this alone. Or reject me. Especially if it could kill him.
He reached toward me slowly, hand trembling, then froze as a voice yelled from outside.
"ALPHA ! THEY'RE BACK!"
Everything shattered at once. Lucian spun toward the door. Derek burst in, breathless, eyes wide.
"Sorry to ruin your moment, but we have company," he shouted from the door.
“Tessa. Don’t move. Don’t step outside this room. Do you understand me?”
My pulse hammered. “Lucian-”
“I said don’t move.”
He shifted in an explosion of bone and fur, the floor cracking under his claws.
For the first time, I saw Lucian shift fully into a wolf for the first time. It was beautiful.
The window shattered. Wolves screamed outside. And Lucian—massive, black, furious—launched himself straight through the door.
The fight had followed us.
The forest around the cabin exploded with snarls and snapping branches. Wolves, those same jerky, controlled creatures rushed in from every direction like shadows wearing fur.
Eli shifted partially.
“Something’s controlling them again,” Derek growled. “Stronger than before.”
Outside, Lucian tore through the attackers like a storm. But even he couldn’t be everywhere at once;there were too many.
Then everything went silent. Too silent.
The wolves froze mid-movement.
A low, slow clap echoed from the trees. A man stepped into view, he was wearing a hood too. He looked so calm in a way that made my stomach twist.
The wolves bowed their heads to him like he was their king or something.
The hooded man stepped fully into the moonlight.
His presence alone made the air feel wrong.
Lucian’s growl deepened, vibrating the ground under my bare feet.
The hooded man raised his head slightly. And even from across the clearing, I felt him looking at me.
“Tessa,” he said softly. Almost warmly. “You’ve grown.”
My blood went cold.
Lucian lunged forward on instinct, teeth bared, but the man only lifted two fingers.
Every controlled wolf snapped upright.
Lucian stopped—not because he wanted to, but because a wall of bodies blocked him.
The man stepped closer.
“You don’t remember me,” he murmured. “But you will.”
Something inside my skull pulsed. Like a memory trying to claw its way free.
He smiled beneath the hood.
“Come here, child.”
A strange pull weighing on my chest, tugging me toward him. Like an invisible hook was dragging me forward.
“No.” My voice cracked. “Stop.”
“Tessa!” Eli roared from the cabin doorway, trying to hold the pack’s defensive line. “Don’t listen to him!”
Lucian forced himself through the controlled wolves, muscles straining, claws tearing dirt, fighting a command he could feel through the bond.
“Stay away from her!”
The hooded man laughed quietly.
“Lucian,” he said with familiarity that made my skin. “Still protective. Just like your father.”
Lucian froze mid-movement. That one sentence rooted him like stone.
My heart pounded.
The man stretched a hand toward me.
“Come, Tessa. Family shouldn’t be apart.”
A crushing pressure wrapped around my chest.
My feet slid forward against my will—
No. No no no—
I clenched my jaw, fighting the pull with everything in me.
Lucian roared, breaking free for one precious second, launching himself toward the hooded figure.
He almost reached him.
Almost.
The man flicked his fingers.
And Lucian slammed into a shimmering, invisible barrier. He hit the ground hard, dust exploding around him.
A blast of white energy shot from behind me.
The entire forest lit up.
An elder woman stepped between us, palms glowing, eyes fierce, her silver hair whipping in the wind like a banner of war.
She slammed her hands downward.
A barrier surged up around me, sealing me inside a dome of shimmering light.
The pull vanished instantly.
“Sabine.”
His voice darkened to something venomous. “You always get in the way.”
“You will not touch her,” she spat. “Not again.”
He took one slow, taunting step backward, then he smiled at me.
“This isn’t over, Tessa.”
And in a blink, he vanished into the trees with the wolves.
Lucian staggered to his feet, shifting back partially, eyes blazing gold.
“Tessa!” He sprinted toward the barrier, slamming his hands on it. “Are you hurt? Did he touch you?”
Sabine placed a shaking hand on her chest. “She’s safe. For now.”
“Who is he?”
Sabine’s face tightened.
"The one who stole your past," she said.
"He wants something"
She looked into my eyes.
“Your mother’s brother.”
My stomach dropped.
“My… uncle?”
Sabine nodded, grief flickering in her gaze.
“And he will stop at nothing to claim what his bloodline lost.”
Smoke still clung to the trees when the pack finally gathered outside the ruined cabin. Wolves limped, shifted, and staggered back into human form, exhaustion hanging on them like wet cloth.
Lucian stood at the front, still half-shifted, fur rippling down into skin as he forced himself human again. His eyes swept over his pack—counting, checking, calculating.
“Everyone get rest,” he ordered. “Nobody takes patrol tonight. If anything comes close, I’ll feel it.”
Eli nodded, still breathing hard. “Those wolves weren’t acting alone.”
“I know,” Lucian cut him off. “We’ll deal with it. But not tonight.”
His gaze flicked at me for half a second. Just one heartbeat. But I felt it.
Eli smirked faintly. “You staying here?”
Lucian didn’t look away from me. “Yes.”
The others exchanged looks but didn’t question it. They shifted, limped, or walked off into the trees, leaving us in the quiet aftermath.
Lucian finally exhaled, shoulders sagging as the weight of the entire night pressed down on him.
“You’re hurt,” I whispered.
He shook his head. “I'll heal. Are you?”
“No.”
He stepped closer, slowly, as if giving me time to run, even though he knew I wouldn’t. His hand brushed my cheek, hesitant at first… then firmer when I leaned into it.
“You scared me,” he murmured.
“You scare me all the time,” I whispered back.
He dipped his forehead to mine.
“Tessa…”
“We’re done pretending we don’t want this.”
His breath hitched.
And then he kissed me.
Not rushed but slow—like he’d been waiting a lifetime for it. His hands slid up to cradle my jaw, pulling me closer until the world shrank to just us and the crackling cabin walls.
It was warm, steady and real.
When he finally pulled back, his voice was hoarse.
“Stay. Just tonight.”
I didn’t even have to answer. I just nodded. We went iside and laid in each others arms for the rest of the night.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Sunlight filtered through the broken window, birds chirped outside, too loudly for someone who barely slept.
Lucian wasn’t in the bed, but he was close—leaning against the doorframe, watching me like he wasn’t sure I was real.
“You’re awake,” he said, voice low.
“You didn’t sleep at all, did you?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t need to.”
I sat up slowly. “We’re definitely skipping work today.”
"Oh defintely."
A small laugh escaped my mouth.
He pushed off the wall and came to sit beside me, brushing my hair back.
Before I talk, a knock sounded at the broken door. Lucian tensed instantly.
Sabine, the woman that had stepped in to help us yesterday came in.
“Alpha. Girl.” She nodded once.
“Tessa’s memories,” she said, cutting straight through everything. “We can get them back.”
Lucian stiffened. “…How?”
“The old way,” Sabine said calmly. “The wolf’s claw. Into the base of her neck. Into the memory center. Just like your kind used to do when bonds were severed or souls were tampered with.”
Lucian’s eyes went wide. “No. Absolutely not. That ritual is dangerous even for wolves. For a human—”
“She’ll survive,” Mira interrupted.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.” The elder looked at me. “Because whatever was done to her… whoever took her memories… didn’t erase them. They hid them. Locked them. And locks are meant to be opened.”
Lucian shook his head.
“No. I’m not putting my claws into her spine. I’m not risking—”
“Lucian,” I whispered.
He froze.
I stepped off the bed and faced him fully.
“I want to remember.”
His throat bobbed.
“I want the truth.”
His hands curled at his sides, claws threatening to break through.
“And I want to know what we were to each other… before everything was taken.”
Lucian closed his eyes as the words physically hurt him.
Sabine spoke quietly.
“We perform it at dusk.”
- Writer
