Chapter 2
1236 Words
She was in her room.
The silence of the night annoyed her; her thoughts refused to rest.
A knock at the door — twice, short, familiar.
Nicoletta knew exactly who it was.
“Come in,” she said without getting up from the bed.
Nicolas entered, closing the door behind him.
He wore a black T-shirt, his hair still smelling of wind and pine — he had just returned from patrolling the border.
“I heard,” he said quietly.
His sister didn’t answer. She just looked out the window.
From the street came the distant sounds of motorcycles and laughter.
Rome was awake, alive as always — but she felt trapped in a glass cage.
“It’s an honor, Nicoletta,” he finally said, stepping closer.
“The Alpha chose you. He could’ve chosen anyone. But he chose you.”
“I’m not a thing, Nico,” she replied sharply. “Not a prize.”
“Letta—” he began, but she cut him off.
“You didn’t hear the way he spoke about me! ‘Pure-blooded. A future mother of strong offspring.’ As if I’m not a person. As if I’m— livestock.”
He sighed — not impatiently, but like a brother who’d already accepted too much.
“We’re not human. Not completely. You know that. We’re pack. We live by different laws. You’re a daughter of the patrician bloodline. You carry the Bellucci name. You have a duty — to your blood, to this city. You don’t get to be ashamed of what you were born to be.”
“But don’t I have the right to choose?” she demanded.
Nicolas sat beside her. His voice dropped lower, heavier.
“No, Nicoletta. We don’t have a choice. Only a path. You either follow it and become the wolf you were meant to be… or you fight it — and risk losing everything.”
She pressed her lips together.
“Losing? What do you mean?” she asked, though part of her already feared the answer.
He looked into her eyes — not like a brother, but like a guard.
“If you go against the pack… against the Alpha… if rebellion grows inside you instead of obedience… the gene might never awaken. You won’t be wolf or human. You’ll be nothing.”
She swallowed hard.
“That’s just a story. Something they tell us to scare the children.”
“No,” Nicolas said. “I’ve seen it. Girls whose genes never woke. They stay… hollow. They don’t feel the scent of the borders. They can’t hear the voice of the pack. Their bodies reject the strength. Believe me — you don’t want to be one of them.”
“And what if I do?” she whispered.
He stood up abruptly.
“Then you’re not my sister anymore.”
For a heartbeat, something primal flashed in his eyes — something wild and lupine.
Then he turned and walked toward the door, pausing only once.
“Think. Sleep on it. By morning you’ll know. You’re either one of us… or you’re a stranger.”
And he left. Silence settled over the room. Only the pounding in her ears, the wild rhythm of her heart.
One of us… or a stranger. What if I don’t want to be either?
Nicoletta’s thoughts spiraled. Maybe that was a way out of the impossible trap.
The Wolf Gene in girls awakens at twenty — but only if all conditions of blood, duty, and purity are met.
The greatest taboo? Losing one’s virginity before the Awakening.
If a girl breaks that vow — the gene dies before it’s born.
They say that through intimacy with a man, especially an outsider, she dissolves her wolf nature, her power melting away before it can rise.
It is the ultimate disgrace.
Such girls are called the Sleeping Ones — wolves whose genes never stirred. They remain human, weaker, stripped of the right to call themselves pack.
Some are exiled. Others used in political marriages. Most are hidden — silent reminders of a family’s shame.
But if she lost the Wolf Gene… if the wolf in her never awakened…
The Alpha wouldn’t want her. She couldn’t give him the heirs he craved. He would reject her. Her family might disown her. The price of freedom would be enormous. And yet… freedom was the only thing she still desired.
That night was long and feverish. Her dreams were full of shadows, her doubts soaked in fear.
By dawn, her decision was clear. Marriage to Marcus was a cage. A slow death. She would not live as a breeder. The only way to save herself — was to lose the gene. To become ordinary. Weak. An outcast. But free.
So she made her choice: she would give herself to someone — deliberately — and destroy the Awakening before it began.
That evening, she told Isabella, her best friend.
They sat together on the balcony, the hum of the Eternal City in the background.
“You… what did you just say?” Bella dropped her hairbrush.
“I’ve thought it through,” Nicoletta said calmly, almost coldly, standing by the window. “Tomorrow night, I’m going to a club. Neutral ground. No Romulus, no Remus. Just people. I’ll find someone… and that will be the end of it.”
“You mean… on purpose?” Bella’s voice trembled. “You want to lose the gene?”
Nicoletta nodded.
“Yes. I want to be nothing. I want to be free. I’d rather be an outcast than a thing in a gilded cage. I won’t be a wolf bred for mating. Not for him. Not for their clan. Not for their hollow hierarchy.”
“But, Lucci…” — only Bella called her that — “It’s forever.”
“I know.”
She turned. Her eyes burned with quiet defiance.
“You understand what that means, don’t you? You’ll never feel the borders again. You’ll never set foot in your father’s house. Your brother will hate you.”
“He already doesn’t understand me. For him, the pack is everything. But for me…” — she hesitated — “I’m done living someone else’s life. This is my body. My life. I’ll decide what to do with them.”
Bella covered her mouth with her hand, horrified and awed at once.
“What if he’s rough with you? Or you regret it after?”
“It’ll still be my choice,” Nicolettea said quietly. “Better one night of pain than a lifetime without freedom. I want my Awakening never to happen. I want that cursed gene to die before it ever breathes.”
“That’s… terrifying.”
“What’s terrifying,” Nicoletta replied softly, “is living a life that isn’t yours.”
Bella exhaled shakily.
“You already picked the club, didn’t you?”
“Yes. L’Equilibrio. Complete neutral zone. No watchers, no borders. Just humans, loud music, and bodies that don’t know the scent of blood.”
Bella looked at her — not as a friend now, but as someone staring at the edge of a cliff.
“I won’t stop you,” she whispered. “But if something goes wrong… I’ll be there.”
“Thank you.” Lucci smiled faintly. “But if everything goes as planned… by the day after tomorrow, I’ll wake up free.”
- Writer
