Her Revenge, His Regret

Chapter Three

The words barely left my lips when the pain returned. It hit without warning, tearing through my chest so violently that I doubled over. A gasp escaped me as my fingers clawed at the bed sheets.

This was not a dream.

There was absolutely no darkness surrounding me now.

“What the hell is happening to me?”

I pushed myself upright, but the room spun around me. Every sound seemed somehow amplified, and the wind brushed against the window.

I heard the faint creak of floorboards somewhere down the corridor and the soft murmur of voices beneath me.

I froze, paralysed to the spot.

Wait!

What?

Beneath me? What did that even mean?

Turning my head slowly towards the door, I swallowed hard. Someone was talking downstairs, not shouting or loudly, but whispering.

Helena.

I could hear every word that fell from her lips.

A shiver ran down my spine.

How?

How was that even possible?

My jaw tightened immediately as her voice drifted through the floor as if she were standing right in front of me.

“I tried to help her; I really did. She attacked me for no reason.”

Then came a low, deep voice.

“That girl has always been ungrateful; she doesn't deserve to be here.”

I gasped.

Beta Marcus. Helena’s father.

“She should have been removed years ago; Callum only kept her around because he felt sorry for her.” Helena again. I could imagine the smirk on her face.

Pity?

Was that all I had ever been to him?

A stupid, pathetic girl that he had entertained because he felt sorry for me? A poor abandoned baby his family had taken in and raised?

All these years that I had spent by his side, and that is how he truly saw me?

“Enough.”

My heart stopped.

That was Callum.

I held my breath, waiting for him to defend me, to say it was not true. I wanted to hear him tell Helena that she had crossed the line, even her father.

But he did not.

My heart sank at the sound of his sigh.

“Kali just needs time to calm down; she will come around.”

My chest tightened as silence followed.

That was it? He just thought that I needed time to calm down. That I was going to accept what he had done, that he saw me as someone to be pitied.

“But, Callum. She humiliated me in front of everyone.” Helena complained.

I scowled at that; I knew she would be fluttering her long eyelashes and pouting at Callum.

“I said that I would deal with her, Helena,” Callum told her.

Deal with me?

As if all this was my fault. As if I were the problem.

Why was I still waiting for the boy that I had loved to reappear inside the man who had betrayed me?

I was nothing to him: just an inconvenience, a burden.

He had already shown me where his loyalty lay when he had pushed me to my knees.

Pain rushed through my body, my bones ached, and a fire raced through my veins. My arms trembled as I tried to push myself more upright.

I cried out and slipped from the bed onto the floor with a thud.

“Why are you doing this to me? What the hell is this? Moon goddess, answer me, please!” I whispered and squeezed my eyes tight shut.

There was no answer.

Of course there was no answer.

The silver wolf had said I was waking up, that I had been hidden.

Why?

By who?

My whole life had been a mess. Every child at Mooncreft had sensed their wolf before their eighteenth birthday, some even earlier than that. But me?

I had waited patiently for mine to appear.

Year after year, and nothing had appeared for me: no voice, no presence, no shift.

The pack had laughed at me, the elders pitied me, and Helena used it as a weapon against me every single time.

Wolfless orphan.

That was her favourite name for me.

The words had followed me everywhere, and yet now everything was changing.

Less than an hour before my twenty-first birthday, something was happening.

My breath seemed to quicken, and I could feel something inside of me stretching, pushing out. Staring down at my hands, my nails looked normal. The pain surged through me yet again, and I watched in horror as my fingers slowly lengthened, my nails turned into claws.

My heartbeat pounded in my ears.

I had seen wolves shift hundreds of thousands of times; I had witnessed Callum’s bones break and reform during training sessions. I had seen warriors fall to the ground as their wolves took over. But this? It felt different.

A growl vibrated through my chest, and I slapped a hand to cover my mouth.

It happened again; the walls trembled, and footsteps stopped outside my locked room.

“Did you hear that?” One of the guards said to the other one.

Another one laughed. “Probably rearranging her room.”

I turned towards the door. I could smell their sweat seeping through the door. My nose wrinkled. How could I smell that so strongly?

Another growl left me.

Louder this time.

“What the heck was that?” The guards were getting nervous.

I heard the key scrape against the lock, then silence.

“Should we check on her or inform the Alpha?”

“No, future Alpha Callum said the door was not to be opened without his say-so.”

My vision flashed silver.

Rage exploded through me so suddenly that I barely recognised it as my own. Lunging at the door, my hand slammed hard against the wood, causing the entire frame to shudder.

“What in the Goddess’s name?” the guards yelled as they stumbled backwards.

Then there was Callum.

“Kali? What is going on in there?” he demanded to know. My stomach twisted at the sound of my name on his lips.

“Oh, Callum, leave her be; she is doing it for attention,” Helena insisted.

I laughed bitterly.

Of course she would say that.

“Kali, answer me,” Callum called again, louder this time.

“Go away,” I growled.

They entered the lock.

“Open that door immediately.”

Alpha Victor.

“Father, something is wrong with Kali.”

“She is throwing a tantrum.” Alpha Victor corrected his son.

Clenching my fists, I growled.

A tantrum? I had caught his cheating son with his beta’s daughter. I had been humiliated in front of the pack and sent to my room as if I were the problem. Locked away like a criminal.

Another pulse of rage rushed through me, and the candles in the room flickered; silver light flashed across the walls. I looked down at myself; silver lines had appeared beneath my skin. My breath caught, and the light grew brighter as heat poured from me. The glass in the windows rattled, and the wardrobe shook. A framed picture fell and smashed into a million pieces.

I could barely hear them over the roar inside my head.

Not my heart, nor the pain.

Her. the wolf.

“Do not fear this.”

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly.

“You have feared yourself for too long.”

“What am I?” I whispered.

Something inside me cracked, and then another bone. My vision blurred with tears. All I could hear was the voice inside of me.

Stop fighting.

“I can’t”

You can.

The silver light beneath my skin brightened until the entire room glowed.

I caught something staring back at me in the mirror. My blonde curls clung to my damp skin, and my face was pale, but my eyes?

They were glowing silver.

“Kali, stand away from the door; I'm coming in.” Callum’s voice came again.

The wood splintered.

i didnt want him to see me like this. I did not want Helena to watch. nor did i want alpha victor to decide what should happen to me. Most of all, I didn't want Callum to be anywhere near me.

I rushed to the window and looked out; the forest called out to me.

“Run, my wolf whispered.

The door cracked open, and as I turned back, I saw Callum. His eyes found mine.

Shock spread across his face, and then Helena appeared beside me. Her face instantly paled, and the smug smirk on her face disappeared. For the first time, I saw fear in her eyes.

“Kali, your wolf, you have a wolf,” Callum exclaimed in disbelief. “Let me help you.” he tried to come close to me, but the window cracked open, and the wind rushed through the gaps.

My wolf growled inside of me. “Stay away.”

I stared at the man who had forced me to kneel, the man who had betrayed me, who had promised me forever. He had chosen her.

“Kali, I order you to come away from the window,” Callum ordered me.

I looked him dead in the eyes and smiled. “No. You wanted me out of your way; you have your wish.” Then I jumped.