It had been a week since Gabriel rejected me, and every day still felt like a silent battle not to fall apart. I moved on autopilot, trying to seem normal, even though nightmares stole my breath each night. I relived that moment over and over again: his impassive gaze, his cold words, and the heartbreaking certainty that I had lost him before I ever truly had him.
No one in my family knew the truth. They didn't know I had already found my fated mate… nor that, in a matter of minutes, I had lost him. I kept that secret like a wound hidden beneath my skin, one that stung with every memory, with every heartbeat.
Laisa, my wolf, hadn't said a single word since then. She was silent. Absent. I didn't know if she shared my pain or if she was simply broken in a different way. At times, I felt her sorrow ran even deeper than mine, as if something ancient, irreplaceable had been lost.
This morning, at least, I decided to try. I got up, got dressed, and prepared to go to class. I had to keep moving forward… or at least pretend I was.
I attend the reserve's high school, a place designed exclusively for wolves like me—young ones still in training. There, we don't just study math or biology; we're trained in hand-to-hand combat, defense strategies, and how to manage the duality of being both human and beast. It's a necessary space… but a limited one.
Because while many dream of finding their place within the pack's structure, I yearn for something more. My dream, one I still hold onto with hope, is to one day leave the reserve and attend a human university. I want to discover what lies beyond the borders of our forest, beyond the ancient rules, the rituals, the hierarchies. I want to find my own place… even if now, I'm not sure that place can exist without him.
The reserve where we live blends tradition with technology. All the houses are made of wood, but they're huge and beautiful constructions. As the Alpha's daughter, I live in one of the most stunning mansions in the reserve.
The air was cold that morning, with a light mist clinging to the ground like a whisper from the forest. I walked along the path that led to the high school, my steps steady, but my chest still tight. I had managed to leave the house without anyone noticing the shadows beneath my eyes—the kind that didn't come from physical exhaustion… but from the soul.
Just as I turned the corner where the trees opened up to reveal the school's wrought-iron gate, I felt it.
That subtle pull, deep and sudden. A vibration in my chest, like something inside me had just awakened. Laisa stirred for the first time in days—weak, but present.
"He's close…" she murmured in my mind, her voice trembling like an echo waking from a long slumber.
And then I saw him.Gabriel.Leaning against one of the stone columns marking the school entrance, arms crossed, eyes locked on me. There was no trace of arrogance this time. His eyes, once cold, now carried something I couldn't decipher right away: guilt? Doubt? Pain?
I stopped without meaning to, my heart pounding violently in my chest. My entire body screamed at me to keep walking, to ignore him, to not give any ground back. But my feet wouldn't move.
"Sofía…" he murmured, his voice barely a whisper carried off by the wind. "I need to talk to you."
I swallowed hard. I felt my wolf's claws pressing from within, desperate to protect us… or to run to him. I didn't know. Everything was a blur.