Chapter Four
1091 Words
Ellie’s heart slammed against her ribs.
"Because you're one of us."
Grayson’s words echoed in her head, twisting through her thoughts like vines tightening around her throat.
She stared at him, waiting for him to take it back. To say this was some kind of joke.
But his face was unreadable.
Silent.
Serious.
No laughter. No reassurance that she had misheard.
Just the cold truth settling between them like a storm about to break.
Ellie took a shaky step back. “I—I don’t understand.”
Grayson sighed, his expression softening. “I didn’t expect you to. But, Ellie, this is real. You need to trust me.”
Trust?
Her blood turned to ice.
How could she trust him when he had just turned into a damn wolf right in front of her?
How could she trust herself when everything she thought she knew about her life had just crumbled?
She shook her head, taking another step back, her boots crunching against the fallen leaves. “No. No, this isn’t possible. I can’t be—”
Her voice caught, the words choking her.
Grayson exhaled, rubbing a hand over his face. “I was hoping you wouldn’t have to find out this way.”
Ellie let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “This way? What other way was there? A letter in the mail? A ‘Hey, Ellie, just thought you should know, you’re secretly a werewolf’ text?”
Grayson didn’t flinch at her sarcasm. “I know it’s a lot.”
“A lot?” She scoffed. “No, Grayson, a lot is failing a test or forgetting someone’s birthday. This is—this is insane.”
His gray eyes darkened. “You feel it, don’t you?”
Ellie stilled.
Her pulse pounded in her ears.
She did.
She had for a long time.
The way the forest always seemed to pull her in. The way she could sense things before they happened. The strange, restless energy that had hummed beneath her skin for years—something she had always written off as anxiety or stress.
It had always been there.
Waiting.
She swallowed hard. “That doesn’t mean anything.”
Grayson’s gaze held hers. “It means everything.”
Ellie’s breathing turned shallow.
No.
She couldn’t accept this.
Because if she did—if she let herself believe that this was real—then that meant her entire life had been a lie.
Her hands trembled as she gripped her coat, as if holding onto something solid could keep her from unraveling.
Grayson stepped closer, his presence steady, grounding. “Ellie, listen to me. I don’t know why it took this long for your blood to awaken, but last night changed something. The wolves you saw—they know what you are now.”
Her stomach twisted.
“The one that bowed to me,” she whispered. “What did that mean?”
Grayson hesitated, his jaw tightening. “It means you’re important. More than you realize.”
Ellie frowned. “Why?”
His lips pressed into a thin line. “Because of your lineage.”
The world tilted.
“What?”
Grayson hesitated, but when he spoke again, his voice was steady. “Your family. Your bloodline. It’s not just any bloodline, Ellie. It’s the kind that makes people either protect you…” His gray eyes darkened.
“Or hunt you.”
A chill swept through her, colder than the wind whispering through the trees.
“No,” she murmured, shaking her head. “That’s not—I don’t have a family. Not really. My parents died when I was a kid. My uncle—”
She faltered.
Grayson’s expression softened. “Did your uncle ever tell you about your parents?”
Ellie frowned. “Of course. He told me they died in a car accident.”
Grayson didn’t speak.
And that silence made her blood run cold.
Ellie’s throat tightened. “Grayson.”
He exhaled. “Ellie… I don’t think that’s the truth.”
The world swayed.
“No.” She took another step back. “No, you’re wrong.”
Grayson didn’t argue. He just watched her with those unreadable gray eyes, letting her thoughts spiral.
She couldn’t handle this.
Not here.
Not now.
Her breath came faster, her pulse pounding as panic clawed its way up her throat. She turned, bolting toward town before Grayson could stop her.
She didn’t hear him call after her.
Didn’t hear anything but the sound of her own heartbeat.
And the whisper of the wind carrying a howl in the distance.
The Truth Comes Knocking
By the time Ellie reached her house, she was out of breath, her hands shaking as she fumbled with the keys.
She barely made it inside before slamming the door shut and locking it.
Her mind was a storm—fragments of memories, the weight of Grayson’s words, the impossible truth pressing down on her chest.
She slid to the floor, pulling her knees to her chest.
This wasn’t real.
It couldn’t be real.
But no matter how many times she told herself that, her body knew.
Her blood knew.
A knock at the door nearly made her jump out of her skin.
She scrambled to her feet, heart hammering. “Who’s there?”
Silence.
Then—
“It’s me.”
Grayson.
Ellie hesitated. She shouldn’t let him in. Shouldn’t let him pull her deeper into this madness.
But her fingers betrayed her.
She unlocked the door.
Grayson stepped inside, his expression unreadable. “I didn’t want you to be alone.”
Ellie let out a hollow laugh. “I need to be alone, Grayson. I need to think. I need—”
She stopped.
Because the moment she met his eyes, something inside her shifted.
A connection. A pull.
It wasn’t just attraction—it was something deeper, something primal.
She swallowed hard. “You knew. Didn’t you?”
Grayson nodded. “I’ve always suspected. But I wasn’t sure until last night.”
Ellie exhaled shakily, her mind racing. “So what now? What am I supposed to do?”
Grayson hesitated. “That’s up to you. But you need to know… you’re not safe, Ellie.”
A shiver ran through her.
“You said they’d protect me.”
“Some will.” His voice darkened. “But others? They’ll see you as a threat. Or worse—an opportunity.”
Her stomach twisted.
“So what do we do?”
Grayson didn’t answer right away.
Then, finally—
“We fight.”
- Writer
