🩶 CHAPTER TWO — A Pull Toward Something More
905 Words
Alex
For three nights, the girl didn’t come back.
Every time I crossed the campus, I found my gaze drifting toward the library doors, hoping to catch even a hint of her scent — warm vanilla and rain-soaked pine. It haunted me. She haunted me.
I kept telling myself I’d imagined her resemblance to me, that my magic had stirred simply because I was desperate for it to manifest. But every cell in my body said otherwise.
She mattered.
Somehow, she mattered.
My fourteenth birthday loomed closer, and with it, the overwhelming pressure of awakening. Witches usually showed their powers early, but I… hadn’t. Not really. Not fully.
But the moment I saw her, something inside me shifted.
And it terrified me.
—
On the morning of my birthday, I caught her scent again — faint but undeniable. It tugged at me, pulling me through campus, through streets, across town until I found myself standing outside an old brick building surrounded by chain link.
A reformatory school.
My breath caught.
Through the dusty window, I saw her — the girl with the gold-blonde hair, reading a worn book with a small cupcake on the table beside her. An older woman sat with her, smiling sadly. The candle flickered between them.
A birthday candle.
My birthday.
A chill slid down my spine.
Could it be…?
Don’t be ridiculous, Alex.
People share birthdays all the time.
But my heart wouldn’t accept that.
Something deeper throbbed inside my chest — ancient, instinctive, waking.
Then a different scent brushed my senses — stronger than hers.
Wolf.
I turned just as a tall boy stepped from the shadows. Broad shoulders. Dark hair. Eyes that glowed with an amber light no human should possess. Power radiated off him like heat from a wildfire.
Alpha.
He stopped when he saw me, his chest rising in a sharp breath. His eyes widened.
And then the word hit me in my mind like a struck bell:
Mate.
I staggered, grabbing the railing.
The world tilted.
My heartbeat thundered.
My magic — dormant my whole life — roared awake.
Water shimmered around my hands.
Heat pulsed through my veins.
Air crackled.
I gasped. “I—I’m not a witch…”
His voice was low, reverent, certain.
“You’re mine.”
Alpha Mason.
My mate.
And I was a wolf.
The ground trembled under my feet as my entire identity shattered and reformed in a single heartbeat.
A witch and a wolf.
Two powers.
Two bloodlines.
Two destinies.
But before I could speak, a soft gasp echoed behind us.
The girl.
Riley.
Her green eyes were wide with fear and… recognition?
She stepped back instinctively — but her gaze locked on mine, then flicked to Mason, then back to me.
I felt it then.
That same pull she had awoken in me my first night seeing her.
Blood calling to blood.
My pulse thundered as the truth slammed into me like lightning splitting a tree:
We were connected.
Not just by appearance.
Not just by scent.
Something deeper.
Older.
Feral.
She whispered, voice trembling, “Why did he say that word? Mate?”
Her hands covered her ears, like the bond’s echo hurt her.
Mason stiffened beside me.
His wolf pushed forward, sensing something in her too.
He breathed her scent in and his eyes went wide.
“Another one…” he murmured. “Alpha-born.”
My heart dropped.
I stepped toward her slowly, gently, like approaching a frightened animal.
“Riley,” I whispered — though I didn’t know how I knew her name. “Please don’t run.”
She didn’t move.
Her chest rose and fell in sharp, panicked breaths.
“We look alike…” she whispered.
“We do,” I breathed back. Tears threatened my eyes. “Because we’re sisters.”
Her knees buckled and I grabbed her hands before she fell.
Her skin was warm.
Her pulse raced.
And a bond I didn’t understand hummed between us.
Twins.
Lost.
Separated.
Found again.
A broken history piecing itself back together.
With a shaking breath, she whispered, “I’m Riley Falls.”
“And I’m Alexandra McKinnley,” I said, voice cracking. “But that’s… not who we really are.”
Mason stepped closer, respectful but protective, his eyes never leaving either of us.
“Whatever you two are,” he said softly, “it’s bigger than any of us.”
My fingers tightened around Riley’s.
“Come with me,” I said. “To my school. To somewhere safe. Somewhere you belong.”
Her lips parted — confusion, fear, hope — all tangled together.
For the first time in her life, she hesitated not because she wanted to escape…
but because she wanted to trust.
We walked back to campus, Mason at our side like a silent guardian. When we crossed the gates, I pulled out my phone with shaking hands and called home.
Dad answered.
“Alex? It’s late. What’s—”
“I found my mate,” I whispered, tears slipping free. “And… Dad… I think I found my sister too.”
Silence.
Then a breath.
“Okay, sweetheart,” my father said gently. “Tell me everything. We’ll figure this out. Together.”
I looked at Riley.
For the first time since I was born…
I didn’t feel alone.
And for the first time in her life…
Riley looked like she believed she might finally belong somewhere.
- Writer
