Chapter 3: The First Time He Didn't Look Away
1067 Words
Lena's POV
I woke up to sunlight and the smell of coffee.
For one blissful second, I forgot where I was. The bed was soft. The blankets were warm. I felt almost human.
Then I turned my head and saw Axel sitting in a chair across the room, watching me.
I screamed.
Not loud. Just a small, embarrassing yelp. I grabbed the blanket and pulled it up to my chin like he was going to attack me.
He didn't move. Didn't smile. Just lifted his coffee mug and took a slow sip.
"You talk in your sleep," he said.
"I do not."
"You do. You said 'don't take the last bread roll' and then you cried."
My face went red. "I did not cry over a bread roll."
"You absolutely did." He set down his mug. "It was kind of adorable. In a pathetic way."
I hated him. I hated him so much.
"Did you watch me sleep all night?" I demanded.
"No. I woke up an hour ago. You were having a nightmare, so I stayed to make sure you didn't hurt yourself." He shrugged. "You thrashed a lot."
"I don't thrash."
"You punched the pillow three times and called someone a 'stupid face.'"
I buried my face in my hands. "Please stop."
"Why? This is the most fun I've had all week."
I peeked at him through my fingers. He wasn't smiling, but his eyes were different. Lighter. Like maybe—just maybe—he was joking.
Then his face went serious again.
"We need to talk," he said.
"I know."
"About the visions. About what you saw." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "I don't believe you. Not fully. But I'm not stupid enough to ignore the possibility that you're telling the truth."
"Wow. Romantic."
"I'm not trying to be romantic. I'm trying to figure out if you're a danger to my pack."
My chest tightened. "I'm not a danger. I've spent my whole life saving people. You just never noticed because I did it from the shadows."
"Prove it."
"What?"
"Prove you're a seer." Axel stood up. Grabbed his jacket from the chair. "We're going for a walk."
---
The pack territory was quiet in the early morning.
Most wolves were still asleep. The ones who were awake stared at us as we walked past—the Alpha and the girl who'd rejected him. Whispers followed us like smoke.
There she is.
The crazy one.
She'll be gone by next week.
I kept my head down. Shoulders hunched. The same way I'd survived for nineteen years.
Axel noticed.
"Stop that," he said.
"Stop what?"
"Hiding. You're the one who rejected me in front of everyone. Walk like you mean it."
I looked up at him. He was watching me with those grey eyes—not angry, not kind, just... watching.
So I straightened my spine. Lifted my chin.
And immediately tripped over a root.
Axel caught my arm before I fell. His grip was warm. Strong. He didn't let go right away.
"You're a disaster," he said.
"You're a jerk."
Something flickered across his face. Almost a smile. Almost.
Then we heard it.
A scream.
High and thin. A child's scream.
We both ran.
---
The frozen river sat at the edge of pack territory. Every winter, the elders warned pups to stay away. Every winter, some pup didn't listen.
Today, it was a little boy—maybe six years old, dark hair, terror in his eyes. He was on the ice. The ice was cracking.
And his little sister was already in the water.
"Oh god," I breathed.
The girl's head bobbed above the surface once. Twice. Her arms flailed. Her mouth opened in a scream that didn't come out.
Axel started forward.
I grabbed his arm.
"Wait."
"The ice won't hold both of us—"
"Wait." My voice came out strange. Distant. "I've seen this."
He froze.
The vision hit me like a wave.
The boy runs onto the ice to save his sister. The ice breaks. Both of them fall in. Axel jumps in after them. He saves the girl. But the boy—
The boy doesn't make it.
I gasped back to reality.
"Axel. Listen to me." I grabbed his face in my hands. Made him look at me. "Don't go to the girl first. Go to the boy. He's going to run onto the ice. Stop him before he gets to the crack."
"How do you—"
"GO!"
He ran.
I watched him sprint across the frozen river, feet sliding, arms windmilling. The boy was already moving toward the crack where his sister had fallen through.
Axel reached him two seconds before the ice broke.
He grabbed the boy by the back of his coat and threw him toward the shore. Then he dropped to his stomach and crawled to the hole in the ice.
The girl's hand appeared. Small. Pale. Desperate.
Axel grabbed it.
Pulled.
She came out of the water screaming and crying and very much alive.
---
By the time we got back to his room, I was shaking.
Not from cold. From the vision. They always left me drained—like someone had reached inside my chest and pulled out a piece of my soul.
Axel wrapped a blanket around my shoulders without asking.
Then he sat down across from me and stared.
"You really saw that," he said.
"I really saw that."
"The boy. The ice. You knew exactly what would happen."
"I told you. I'm a seer."
He was quiet for a long time.
Then he said something I never expected.
"I believe you."
My heart stopped. "What?"
"I believe you." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "I don't understand it. I don't like it. But I watched you save two kids today with information you couldn't have known." His grey eyes met mine. "So yeah. I believe you."
I didn't know what to say.
For nineteen years, I'd hidden this part of myself. Told no one. Trusted no one.
And now the one person I was supposed to fear—the man from my vision—was sitting across from me, looking at me like I was something other than a monster.
"Thank you," I whispered.
"For what?"
"For not calling me crazy."
He almost smiled again.
"Give it time," he said. "The day's still young."
- Writer
