Chapter 29
859 Words
The pack didn’t forget.
They pretended, in front of Devon, that nothing had happened in the dining hall, but the whispers followed me everywhere. When I stepped out of our room the next morning, heads turned. Conversations stopped abruptly, and when I passed, they started again, low and venomous.
“She nearly burned Carla alive.”
“I heard she smuggled in some kind of witch fire.”
“No wolf should be carrying powers like that. It isn’t natural.”
I kept my chin high, but each word landed like a stone in my chest. Joey walked beside me, her arms crossed, glaring at anyone who stared too long. Still, I could feel their eyes crawling over me, heavy with suspicion.
By the time we reached the training grounds, the muttering had sharpened into something crueler. A young male scoffed as I passed. “Guess we should be careful sparring with her. Might pull some trick again and set us all on fire.”
I froze, the words cutting deeper than I wanted to admit. My fists clenched at my sides. Joey stepped forward, her eyes flashing. “Say that again.”
The boy smirked. “What? That your Luna cheats because she can’t fight like the rest of us?”
A few chuckled. My stomach turned. I wanted to scream at them, to tell them I hadn’t meant to, that the fire wasn’t something I planned. But the shame tightened my throat.
Joey shoved him hard enough that he stumbled back. “Watch your mouth.”
“Or what?” another voice joined in, a girl this time. “She can’t even control herself. What kind of Luna nearly kills her own packmate just to win a fight?”
The silence that followed was worse than shouting. Their words had weight, and I could feel every single one pressing down on me.
“Enough.” My voice came out hoarse, but it carried. “You don’t know what happened.”
“Then tell us,” the girl challenged. “Tell us how your arm suddenly caught fire like that. Wolves don’t do that. So what did you bring with you? Some talisman? Some witch’s curse?”
Heat rose to my cheeks not fire this time, but humiliation. They didn’t believe me. They thought I’d cheated. Worse, they thought I was dangerous.
Joey moved to defend me again, but I shook my head. My hands trembled as I forced them to unclench. “Believe what you want,” I whispered. “I don’t owe you an explanation.”
I turned and walked away before my voice broke.
Back in the room, I paced, unable to breathe under the weight of it all. My chest ached with guilt. Carla’s terrified face wouldn’t leave my mind the way she had screamed, the way the flames had spread so fast. I pressed my palms to my eyes, but it didn’t help.
Devon entered quietly, shutting the door behind him. He didn’t say anything at first, just watched me. His silence made the shame burn hotter.
“They hate me,” I said finally, my voice cracking. “They think I cheated. They think I’m a monster.”
He crossed the room in three strides, his hands firm on my shoulders. “Look at me.”
I did, though my eyes blurred with tears.
“You are not a monster, Addy. You hear me?” His tone was sharp, commanding. “What happened in that hall was not your fault. You were provoked, pushed past your limit. Any wolf could’ve snapped.”
“But no wolf would’ve set her on fire,” I whispered.
His jaw tightened, but he didn’t look away. “No wolf, maybe. But you’re not just a wolf. You’re more. And that doesn’t make you less. It makes you mine.”
The conviction in his voice should have comforted me, but the guilt still clawed at me. “Devon, I could’ve killed her.”
He softened, pulling me into his arms. “But you didn’t. Because I was there. And because, whether you believe it or not, you have control you just don’t trust yourself yet. That’s why we’re going to train, Addy. You, me, and Joey. No one else needs to know.”
I pressed my face into his chest, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat anchoring me. The whispers, the accusations they didn’t matter here. But I knew the pack wouldn’t stop. Not until I proved them wrong.
And I wasn’t sure I could.
That night, as I lay in bed, I could still hear them. The sneers, the laughter, the disbelief. My chest tightened with every memory.
I wanted to be strong. I wanted to be the Luna they needed. But how could I be, when they looked at me like I was cursed?
Devon’s arm tightened around me in his sleep, pulling me close. Joey had left hours ago, muttering about teaching me how to “shut their mouths with action.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe the only way to silence them wasn’t with words.
Maybe it was with fire controlled, this time.
- Writer
