Chapter 2: The Forest that Chose Me
1385 Words
Amara’s POV
I thought I was going to die in that forest.
Not in a dramatic way like stories told around fires, but in a slow and quiet way where no one
even remembers your name afterward.
But death did not come.
Instead, something else did.
I stood there in the dark between the trees, my body still shaking from what had just happened.
My arms were covered in scratches, my breath coming too fast, too sharp, like my lungs had
forgotten how to work properly. The rogues that had attacked me were gone now. They had not
left because they were defeated.
They left because they were afraid of me.
That thought alone made my stomach twist.
I did not feel powerful. I felt like I was standing inside someone else’s body, like I had borrowed
something dangerous and had no idea how to give it back.
The forest was silent again.
Too silent.
Even the wind felt careful around me.
Then I heard footsteps.
This time slower. Controlled. Not like the rogues.
I turned sharply, my heart jumping into my throat.
A group of figures emerged from the trees.
Wolves.
But not rogues.
Not pack guards either.
They moved like they belonged to the forest itself, like the darkness was something they wore
instead of something they feared. At the front stood an old woman with silver hair braided down
her back. Her eyes locked onto me immediately, and I felt something strange in my chest again.
Recognition.
Even though I had never seen her before.
She stopped a few steps away from me.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then she said my name.
“Amara Blackwood.
”
My body went cold.
“How do you know me?” I whispered.
Her expression softened just slightly, like she had been waiting a very long time for this exact
moment.
“I have been waiting for you since the day you were born,
” she said.
My legs almost gave out.
The wolves behind her stayed still, watching me carefully, but not like enemies. Like guards.
Like they were unsure whether I should be protected or feared.
“I do not understand,
” I said. My voice cracked halfway through.
The woman stepped closer.
“My name is Elder Selene,
” she said gently.
“And you are not who you think you are.
”
Something inside me tightened.
That name. I had heard it earlier at the ceremony. She was the one who spoke about fate and
bonds. The one everyone listened to like she was connected to the Moon Goddess herself.
Why was she here?
Why was she looking at me like that?
“I saw what happened,
” she continued.
“You awakened.
”
I shook my head quickly.
not know. It was not me.
”
“I do not know what happened. I was attacked and then I just… I do
“It was always you,
” she said.
Her words did not make sense.
I backed away one step.
“I am just Amara Blackwood,
” I said.
“I am nobody.
”
Something flickered in her eyes.
“Then nobody just shifted into a rare form that has not been seen in centuries,
” she replied
calmly.
My breath stopped.
Shifted.
That word hit me like a stone.
I had heard stories about shifting. About rare wolves. About bloodlines that were supposed to be
extinct. But those were bedtime stories for children who needed comfort.
Not reality.
“I am not…
” I started, but the words failed me.
Selene raised her hand slightly, and the wolves behind her moved closer, not to surround me,
but to support me when my knees finally gave in.
I did not even realize I was falling until I was already being held up.
My body felt too weak suddenly, like the strength that had come during the attack had drained
out of me completely.
“You are safe now,
” Selene said.
I laughed once, but it came out broken.
Safe.
I had never felt safe in my entire life.
Not even before tonight.
They guided me deeper into the forest.
I should have been afraid.
Maybe I was.
But something strange kept pulling me forward, like the forest itself was not rejecting me
anymore. Like it was watching me differently now.
As we walked, Selene spoke softly.
“You were born under a hidden bloodline,
” she said.
“A royal line that was erased from history.
”
I frowned, struggling to keep up.
“Royal?”
“Yes.
”
I shook my head immediately.
“No. That is not possible. My mother never said anything like
that.
”
“Because she was protecting you,
” Selene said.
My heart beat faster.
We reached a clearing I had never seen before. In the center stood stone ruins wrapped in
vines and glowing faintly under the moonlight. Wolves gathered around in quiet respect.
It looked ancient.
Alive in a way I could not explain.
“This is the Silver Court,
” Selene said.
My mouth went dry.
Silver Court.
I had heard that name once in a forbidden story my mother quickly shut down when I was
younger. A kingdom of royal wolves who disappeared after a great war. A bloodline that was
said to have ruled all packs before they were erased.
I had thought it was just a myth.
Selene turned to me.
“You are the last descendant,
” she said.
The world tilted slightly.
I stepped back again, shaking my head harder.
“No. You are wrong. I am nobody. I was just
rejected. I was just humiliated in front of everyone. That is all I am.
”
Her voice softened.
“You were not rejected because you are weak,
” she said.
power was waking up.
”
“You were rejected because your
That made no sense.
But at the same time, it made too much sense.
My chest ached again as I remembered Kael’s voice.
I, Kael Ashford, reject you.
The memory did not hurt the same way anymore.
It felt… distant now. Like it belonged to someone else.
But I still hated it.
Back at the Shadow Moon Pack grounds, Kael stood in silence long after I ran away.
Lyra stayed close to him, smiling softly like nothing had gone wrong.
“You did the right thing,
” she said gently.
Kael did not answer.
His eyes kept drifting toward the forest.
Like he could still feel something pulling away from him.
Luca Storm stood a few steps behind him, watching carefully.
“That did not feel normal,
” Luca said quietly.
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“It was fine,
” Kael replied.
But his voice did not sound convinced.
Elder Selene’s warning had not reached them yet.
Not fully.
Not about me.
Not about what I had become.
Back in the forest, Selene placed a hand over my chest.
I flinched at first, but she did not move away.
“Feel this,
” she said softly.
At first there was nothing.
Then I felt it.
A pulse inside me.
Not my heartbeat.
Something deeper.
Something that answered the moonlight.
My breath caught.
“What is that?” I whispered.
Selene’s eyes softened.
“That,
” she said,
“is the beginning of your true power.
”
I stared at her, my mind spinning too fast to understand anything properly.
“I do not want power,
” I said quietly.
Her expression turned sad.
“I know,
” she replied.
“But power does not ask permission.
”
A long silence passed between us.
Then she spoke again.
“There is something else you must know,
” she said.
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
Her gaze darkened slightly.
“The rejection you experienced tonight… it was not natural.
”
My heart stopped.
“What do you mean?”
Selene looked toward the sky.
“It was influenced.
”
The word hit me harder than anything else that night.
Influenced.
Someone had made it happen.
Kael had not just rejected me.
Someone had pushed it.
And suddenly, the pain in my chest did not feel like heartbreak anymore.
It felt like betrayal.
A deeper kind.
One that was still not finished with me.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD