Secrets of the Past
703 Words
The storm had passed, but the echoes of battle lingered in Isabelle’s mind. The Silver Blades' attack had left her shaken, not because of the danger—she had faced worse—but because of what it meant. She was being hunted, not just as a businesswoman, not just as a wolf, but as something more. Something she had yet to understand.
The following morning, Linda stormed into Isabelle’s office, her face pale but her eyes blazing with excitement. She clutched a leather-bound folder as if it contained the secrets of the universe.
“You need to see this,” Linda said, slamming the folder onto Isabelle’s desk.
“More hunters?” Isabelle asked, already bracing for another battle.
Linda shook her head. “No. This is about you.”
A chill ran down Isabelle’s spine. She flipped open the folder, scanning the yellowed pages filled with handwritten notes, legal documents, and old photographs. Then she saw it—her mother’s name. Eleanor Raven.
Beneath it, a title that made her breath hitch.
She stared at Linda. “What the hell is this?”
Linda pushed a trembling hand through her hair. “Your mother wasn’t just a wolf, Isabelle. She was the last true Alpha Queen. A ruler, the only female to ever hold absolute power over the wolf packs. And you—” Linda hesitated, as if speaking the words aloud would change everything. “You’re her heir.”
Isabelle’s world tilted on its axis. She had always known she was different. Stronger. Faster. Smarter. But this—this was something else entirely.
The documents detailed Eleanor’s reign—a time when wolf packs were united under a single ruler. But something had happened, something catastrophic. The records were incomplete, fragmented, as if someone had tried to erase history.
“There’s more,” Linda said, pulling out an old necklace from a velvet pouch. A silver wolf’s head pendant gleamed under the office lights. “This belonged to your mother. I think it’s a key.”
“A key to what?”
Linda shook her head. “I don’t know. But people have been looking for it for years.”
Isabelle took the pendant, feeling its weight in her palm. It felt warm, as if alive.
“My mother never told me any of this,” she murmured.
Linda’s expression softened. “Maybe she was trying to protect you.”
Or maybe, Isabelle thought darkly, she had been hiding her from something far worse than hunters.
As if summoned by her thoughts, the door opened, and Adrian strode in. His gaze flickered to the documents on the desk, then to the pendant in her hand. A muscle tightened in his jaw.
“You knew,” Isabelle accused, standing. “Didn’t you?”
Adrian didn’t flinch. “Yes.”
Fury coiled in her chest. “For how long?”
His golden eyes burned into hers. “Since the moment I first saw you.”
Her hands clenched into fists. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I had my reasons.”
“Try me.”
Adrian exhaled, running a hand through his hair. “If the packs knew who you were before you were ready, they would have torn you apart. Some would want to follow you. Others would want to kill you. The old power struggles never truly died, Isabelle. You are the key to something much bigger than you realize.”
She laughed bitterly. “And you decided to keep me in the dark? How noble of you.”
He stepped closer, voice softer now. “I wanted to protect you.”
“I don’t need your protection.”
“No,” he agreed, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “You need the truth. And now, you have it.”
She stared at him, at the man who had been both an adversary and an ally. And suddenly, everything made sense. His interference, his relentless pursuit, his insistence that she needed him. He had known all along that she was more than just an heiress. More than just a wolf.
She was a queen.
And the entire supernatural world was about to find out.
- Writer
