The Wolf Who Wakes
1560 Words
Lizzy's POV
Morning came before the sun did.
A silver-gray haze hung over the graveyard. Mist clung to every stone like old fingers. The air tasted metallic and cold enough to chew.
I stepped outside with Holly at my shoulder. She had braided my hair back with strips of leather and whispered a quick prayer that I pretended not to need.
Varek stood near the edge of the clearing, arms folded, shoulders rigid, looking like a carved warning. Kai leaned against a broken statue a few feet away, twirling a dagger and whistling low like he was pretending not to be nervous.
Thalia stood nearest to the training circle, setting out her healer’s tools. She didn’t even glance at me until I stepped inside the chalk ring.
Then she looked up and smiled once. Sharp and knowing.
“You slept,” she said.
“Kind of.”
“Good. You’ll need it.”
Kai sheathed his dagger and walked over with a lazy grin. “Morning, sunshine. Ready to die a little?”
“Kai,” Varek snapped.
Kai held up both hands. “It was a joke.”
Mostly.
Varek’s eyes found mine. The bond pulsed once, warm and unsettling. His gaze softened a fraction before he turned away.
He was trying so hard to be the commander, not the man who kissed me like he wanted to rewrite fate.
I respected it.
But I also felt every inch of tension rolling under his skin.
“Lizzy,” he said. “Come here.”
I stepped toward him, resisting the urge to reach out. His voice dropped low enough that only I could hear it.
“You do not break,” he said.
“Noted.”
“You listen to me. Not Kai.”
Kai scoffed. “Rude.”
“You do exactly as I command,” Varek continued. “And you stop when I say stop.”
I arched a brow. “Because you say so?”
His jaw twitched. “Because I will not lose you.”
My breath caught.
Kai made a noise like he was swallowing a complaint.
Varek straightened and raised his voice.
“Today we unlock your wolf.”
Holly sucked in a breath. Kai muttered, “Well that escalated fast.”
Thalia’s expression sharpened with interest.
I blinked. “I thought that only happens during the Rites.”
“Not the full form,” Varek said. “But we can push the bond. Push Nyra. Coax her until she answers you.”
“Coax?” Kai repeated. “You mean throw her into a fire and see if she burns or transforms.”
Varek ignored him.
“Step to the center,” he said.
The center of the chalk circle pulsed faintly, like the ground recognized me.
I swallowed and stepped forward.
Varek circled behind me. I felt him more than I saw him. Heat. Power. Fear disguised as control.
“Close your eyes,” he said.
I did.
“Listen.”
“To what?”
He didn’t answer.
Not with words.
A low hum started under my skin. A vibration that wasn’t sound so much as sensation. The air around me thickened. The mist stirred.
Nyra pressed against my ribs from the inside. Awake. Curious.
I gasped.
Varek’s voice came from somewhere behind me.
“Good. Let her rise.”
Kai took a step forward. “Hey, maybe let’s slow down—”
“Kai,” Varek said, “do not interfere.”
Kai grumbled something but backed up.
Nyra pushed harder. Her heartbeat slammed into mine. Her senses tangled with mine—smoke, wind, the iron taste of old magic.
Then the ground trembled.
A pulse shot outward from my feet. The chalk flared white.
Kai cursed. “Oh this is new.”
Thalia whispered, “Incredible…”
Holly whispered something that sounded like a prayer.
I clenched my teeth. My bones felt like they were being rearranged inside me. Not fully shifting, but… cracking open.
Varek’s voice dropped to a near-growl behind me.
“Stay with her, Lizzy. Don’t fight it.”
“It hurts,” I forced out.
“It is supposed to.”
Nyra surged again, hard enough that my knees buckled.
I collapsed to one hand.
Kai moved—too fast.
Varek slammed a hand across his chest, stopping him. “Do not touch her.”
“She’s collapsing!” Kai snapped.
Varek growled. “She has to.”
I let out a sharp sob. Shadows flickered around the edge of my vision. My hands trembled violently.
“I can’t—”
“You can,” Varek said quickly. “Breathe. Reach for her. She is not hurting you. She is becoming you.”
His voice cut through the panic.
Warm. Steady. Dark.
Nyra clawed again, but this time the pain blended into something else. Heat. Force. A heartbeat that wasn’t mine.
I gasped as my vision flashed gold.
The earth shuddered again.
Thalia whispered, “I’ve only seen a few do this so fast…”
Kai breathed, “Holy hell.”
My body felt like it was both burning and freezing. I pushed myself back to my knees.
Varek stepped nearer—close enough that heat radiated against my back.
“Lizzy,” he said, voice roughening. “Look at me.”
I opened my eyes.
His breath caught.
Kai whispered, “Her eyes… oh this is bad for my ego—”
My vision wasn’t my own. Gold bled into everything. The world sharpened, alive and loud. Every heartbeat around me pulsed like sound.
Thalia’s.
Holly’s.
Kai’s.
Varek’s.
Especially Varek’s.
I felt the bond like a live wire connecting us.
My wolf roared inside me.
Nyra wanted out.
She wanted him.
I staggered to my feet, vision spinning, but my body stronger than before.
Varek watched me with awe and something far hungrier.
“Tell me what you feel,” he said.
“Everything,” I said.
He stepped closer. “And your wolf?”
“She wants to run,” I whispered. “She wants to fight. She wants to tear something open.”
Kai made a face. “Yikes.”
“But most of all…” My pulse throbbed. “She wants you.”
Varek inhaled sharply.
Nyra surged at the sound.
It knocked me forward.
Varek caught me by the waist. Heat ripped through me, down to the bone.
Kai muttered, “Great. Awesome. Fantastic. I’ll just keep standing here third-wheeling like a champion.”
Thalia chuckled under her breath.
Varek didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.
His grip tightened slightly. “You are close.”
“To what?”
“Full manifestation,” he said. “Not a physical shift. Not yet. But the first echo of it. The Lycan form.”
Nyra slammed into me again. I cried out.
Varek steadied me, voice urgent. “Reach for her. Do not recoil. Push through it.”
My whole body shook. Sweat dripped down my spine. My nails lengthened slightly. My teeth ached.
I was breaking apart.
Or breaking open.
“Varek—”
“I am here,” he said.
The way he said it nearly broke me.
Nyra rose with a final surge, and the world exploded in gold light.
I screamed—then the sound turned into a growl that shook the trees.
When the light dimmed, silence fell.
Thalia whispered, “Oh my Goddess.”
Kai took a step back. “Okay. That… is not normal.”
Holly gasped. “Lizzy…”
I stood trembling, breath shaking, vision glowing with gold that didn’t fade.
My skin hummed with power. My heartbeat felt doubled. And a faint shimmer—barely visible—ran across my arms like flickering gold markings.
Varek stared at me.
Not with fear.
With awe.
“Lycan,” he whispered.
I swallowed hard. “Is that… good?”
Thalia answered first. “It is extraordinary.”
Kai let out a low whistle. “It’s terrifying, but in a sexy way.”
“Kai,” Varek growled.
“Just saying.”
Varek stepped closer, slow, reverent, like approaching a wild storm.
He lifted a hand toward my face. His fingers hovered, then brushed my jaw.
My skin sparked under his touch.
“Lizzy,” he said softly. “You did it.”
I exhaled shakily, gold fading from my vision. “I thought I was going to break.”
“You almost did,” Thalia said.
“But you didn’t,” Varek murmured. “You rose.”
Kai smirked. “I hate how proud I am right now.”
My knees wobbled. Varek caught me again before I fell.
“You are done for today,” he said.
“No,” I said. “What’s next?”
Kai coughed. “Please choose ‘rest,’ dear Goddess.”
Varek’s voice dropped. “Another round like that and your body will collapse.”
Nyra purred in the back of my mind. Satisfied.
Awake.
I nodded slowly.
Holly rushed to my side, breath shaky. “Lizzy… that was… you were…”
I managed a smile. “Still here.”
Varek’s hand lingered at my waist.
Kai watched with a forced grin.
Thalia’s eyes sparkled with something like hope.
I felt… powerful.
Shaken.
Alive.
And for the first time since all this began, I believed I might actually survive the Rites.
- Writer
