CHAPTER 4 : THE AWAKENING
1038 Words
Darkness felt warm.
Too warm.
For a moment, I drifted in a weightless space where nothing hurt and nothing mattered. But the warmth slowly sharpened—becoming heat, then pressure, then pain.
A dull throb pulsed through my arm.
Wolfsbane.
My eyes fluttered.
Voices drifted around me, muffled at first.
“She should’ve healed by now.”
That was Leon—tense, confused.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Rye said. “Even a weak wolf can shake off low-dose wolfsbane in hours.”
Silence.
Then Kael’s voice—low, lethal.
“It wasn’t low-dose.”
The room fell quiet.
My breathing hitched. I forced my eyes open.
Bright light stabbed my vision. As my sight cleared, I realized I was lying on a bed—soft, clean, inside a room that looked nothing like a pack infirmary.
It was… luxurious.
White walls.
Dark wood furniture.
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Bloodmoon forest.
A bedroom.
Kael’s bedroom.
My heart clenched painfully.
Kael stood near the door, back turned to me. His shoulders were tense, his posture rigid, like he’d been standing guard for hours.
Leon noticed first. “Alpha—she’s awake.”
Kael spun around so fast his eyes glowed.
Silver—bright, unrestrained.
He was at my side in two strides.
“You’re alive.”
The breath rushing out of him wasn’t just relief.
It was something deeper, something unspoken.
I swallowed, forcing myself into a sitting position as he reached to steady me. His fingers brushed my wrist—
—and a spark shot up my arm.
I jerked. He froze.
Leon and Rye looked at each other, startled.
That wasn’t normal.
Nothing about this was normal.
“Careful,” Kael said softly. His voice was gentler than I’d ever heard it. “The poison spread faster than expected.”
I stared at my bandaged arm. “Why did it hit me so hard?”
Kael exchanged a glance with Leon—one that told me there were things they weren’t saying.
Then he looked back at me.
“Your wolf isn’t responding,” he said.
The words sank like stones.
Of course it wasn’t.
My wolf… had been silent for years.
Weak.
Fading.
Rye crossed his arms, still suspicious. “You barely have a pack scent. You didn’t shift during the attack. And the wolfsbane affected you like a human.”
His eyes narrowed. “What are you?”
My throat tightened. “I—I don’t know.”
Kael stepped forward, voice sharp. “Don’t lie.”
“I’m not!”
The frustration, the fear, the weakness—it all rushed out of me at once.
“I can’t shift,” I snapped, louder than intended. “I haven’t shifted since—since before I left my old pack.”
Leon’s expression softened.
Rye looked away.
Kael went absolutely still.
“How long?” he asked quietly.
“Three years.”
He closed his eyes briefly, jaw locking as though he was restraining something—anger, maybe. Or pain.
Rye broke the silence. “That’s impossible. A wolf who doesn’t shift for that long—she should’ve—”
“Died,” Leon finished.
The room grew cold.
Kael’s voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. “She didn’t die.”
I trembled.
Kael stepped closer, kneeling in front of me. His eyes searched mine with an intensity that felt like it could peel away every secret I ever hid.
“You’re not rogue,” he said.
“You’re not weak.”
“And you’re not ordinary.”
My breath caught. “Then what am I?”
Kael exhaled slowly.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, and those words—coming from an Alpha who feared nothing—terrified me.
“But I intend to find out.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but a sudden knock on the door made Kael rise instantly.
A warrior entered, bowing. “Alpha. The bodies from the ambush… we found something.”
Kael’s whole demeanor shifted.
Cold. Hard. Alpha.
“What?” he demanded.
The warrior’s throat bobbed. “They all had the same mark.”
“Show me.”
The warrior stepped aside as two more guards slid a black leather bag into the room. They opened it.
My heart dropped.
Inside—
Burned symbols.
Blackened metal.
A sigil carved into each hunter’s armor.
Leon inhaled sharply. “That’s… impossible.”
Rye’s face drained of color. “They’re dead. That group was wiped out years ago.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “Apparently not.”
“What group?” I asked.
Kael looked at me, eyes dark.
“Shadowfang.”
A chill ran up my spine.
Everyone knew the name. Even packs in hiding whispered about them.
Hunters who hated wolves.
Wolves who hated other wolves.
A cult that believed in creating the “perfect wolf” through experiments… and erasing the “impure.”
Leon swallowed. “If they’re back—”
“They were after her,” Kael said.
The room shifted.
Everyone stared at me.
My pulse quickened. “Why would they want me?”
Kael stepped closer, gaze burning through me.
“Because you’re the only wolf who survived them.”
My breath left my body.
Survived… them?
“I don’t—I don’t remember anything about Shadowfang—”
Kael reached out slowly, brushing a strand of hair away from my face.
“You were a child,” he murmured. “You wouldn’t.”
My chest tightened painfully. “How do you know?”
He hesitated—for the first time.
Then he whispered:
“Because I was there.”
The world stilled.
I stared at him, breath trembling. “W-What do you mean… you were there?”
His eyes glowed faintly. “You think I don’t recognize you? Even after all these years?”
My heart hammered.
My hands shook.
Kael’s voice dropped to a soft, dangerous promise.
“I knew you before you lost your wolf.”
“I knew you before you ran.”
“I knew you… before you forgot.”
My blood ran cold.
And then he said the words that shattered the ground beneath my feet:
“You’re the girl I failed to save.”
- Writer
