Chapter Two: The Awakening
The night air was too still.
Selena stood at the edge of the garden behind Amara's cottage, her fingers brushing the petals of moonflowers. They only bloomed in silence, under the full moon's silver eye. She had always loved them their glow, their mystery.
But tonight…they trembled.
A strange energy crackled in the air, tingling against her skin. Her pendant had been hot all day, burning like a second heartbeat. And now, her chest throbbed with a pressure she couldn't explain, as though something ancient and wild clawed inside her, begging to break free.
"Selena," Amara's voice called urgently from inside. "Come in. Now."
Selena turned.
But it was already too late.
A howl split the silence.
It wasn't a natural one. This was no hunting call or song to the moon. It was a scream a creature in agony and rage.
Then came the thunder of paws.
Dozens.
Trees snapped. Birds shrieked.
Selena's breath caught in her throat.
The forest was coming alive but not with light or life. With monsters.
"RUN!" Amara screamed from the doorway, a ball of protective light forming in her hands.
But Selena couldn't move.
The pendant on her chest glowed blinding white and then exploded in heat.
She screamed, clutching it, falling to her knees. Fire raced through her veins. Her bones cracked. Her vision blurred.
Something was happening to her.
Something terrible.
Something divine.
"No," she gasped, clawing at the earth. "What's what's happening to me"
A roar split from her throat not human. Not even close.
Her eyes flashed silver. Her fingernails turned to claws. Her skin rippled, bones breaking and reshaping.
Her wolf…was waking.
Kael Duskbane moved like a shadow through the trees.
He and his small patrol had arrived near the southern village just before nightfall. The rumors had been strange but Kael's gut told him they were more than just stories.
And now?
Now he could smell them.
Burnt magic. Bloodlust. Deathfangs.
"Alpha," Rowan whispered, drawing beside him. "They're here. I count at least fifteen. Maybe more."
Kael growled low in his throat.
"Then we're already too late."
The sky above rumbled. Clouds parted to reveal the full moon.
Kael's golden eyes reflected it as he shifted mid-run fur tearing through skin, muscle reshaping. In seconds, a massive black wolf with gold-flecked eyes raced through the forest, flanked by his warriors.
But the village…was already burning.
Screams pierced the night. Houses crumbled under fire. And in the middle of it all Deathfangs. Twisted wolves, corrupted by Ruvan's blood magic. Their eyes glowed red, their snarls unholy.
Kael tore into them with fury.
Claw met fang. Blood sprayed the earth.
He fought his way toward the cottage marked by the Moonstone.
"Find her!" he roared through the pack link. "Find the girl!"
Selena stumbled through the burning garden, half-human, half-wolf, her body caught in a transformation she couldn't control.
She crashed into the trees, her legs giving way as fur began to ripple over her skin. The pain was blinding.
She screamed as her spine snapped and reformed. Her jaw elongated. Her vision sharpened until she could see every blade of grass, every drop of blood on the leaves.
The pendant her mother's last gift shattered against a rock.
And then
It stopped.
And she stood…on four legs.
Her coat was white as starlight.
Silver eyes glowed in the darkness.
Her heart beat not as a girl but as a wolf.
"I…I shifted," she whispered in thought, somehow still hearing her own voice within her mind. "This…this is me?"
But she didn't have time to understand it.
A growl echoed behind her.
She turned and saw it.
A massive Deathfang, jaws dripping with blood, eyes locked on hers.
It charged.
She leapt instinctively, dodging left, her body moving on instinct, muscle memory buried deep in her blood. But she was new. Inexperienced.
The beast struck her side, sending her flying into a tree.
Pain shot through her ribs.
She whimpered but then, her eyes blazed.
Her wolf took over.
She lunged, jaws snapping, and sank her teeth into the monster's throat. Blood burst. The Deathfang howled—but she held on, her strength unnatural, her instincts ancient.
The Deathfang fell still.
Selena staggered back, panting.
"What…what am I?" she thought.
"You're a miracle," a deep voice answered in her head.
She froze.
Another wolf emerged from the shadows huge, black as night, with eyes like burning gold.
Kael.
Kael stared at her stunned.
A white wolf.
Not albino. Not pale.
Pure.
His instincts flared. His heart thundered.
"She's real," he breathed. "She's real."
Their eyes met.
And something clicked.
A pull.
A bond.
Selena backed away slowly, confused, afraid.
Kael shifted, bones cracking as he returned to human form bare-chested, blood-streaked, towering. He raised his hands slowly.
"I won't hurt you," he said gently.
Selena tried to shift back—but the change overwhelmed her. She cried out and collapsed into herself, bones snapping as her human body reformed in a flash of light.
She lay trembling in the grass, naked, blood on her lips, gasping for air.
Kael didn't move.
He took off his cloak and draped it over her, keeping his eyes averted.
"Who…who are you?" she whispered.
"Kael. Alpha of the Duskbane pack."
She stared up at him.
"Why are you here?"
"Looking for you."
Amara's cottage was in ruins, but the old healer survived, guarded by Kael's warriors. The Deathfangs had been wiped out—for now.
Selena sat in what remained of the garden, wrapped in Kael's cloak, silent.
Her hair clung to her face. Her hands shook.
Kael stood nearby, watching her.
"You shifted early," he said finally.
She nodded. "I didn't mean to. I didn't even know I could."
"Your wolf's been buried for years. That kind of awakening…it's painful."
She turned to him, eyes narrowed. "Why do you know so much about me?"
Kael hesitated.
"Because I've been searching for you my whole life."
Selena's breath caught.
"Why?"
"Because you're the last Lunaris wolf. The last of a sacred bloodline. The Moon Goddess's chosen."
She stared at him.
And for the first time…she believed it.
The pendant. The dreams. The animals. The power.
Everything made sense now.
"I saw her," she whispered. "My mother. In a dream. She told me I had to rise."
Kael stepped closer.
"You were born to shift the balance. To end Ruvan. To unite the clans."
"I don't know how," she said, voice shaking. "I'm just…a girl."
"You're not just anything," Kael said. "You're the light that survived the darkness. And I will protect you. Whatever it takes."
Selena looked up at him, heart pounding.
And somewhere inside her…
Her wolf whispered: He's the one.
Not just her protector.
But her mate.
Far to the north, in a fortress carved from obsidian, Ruvan stood before a mirror stained with blood.
He had felt it.
The awakening.
His red eyes narrowed.
"She lives," he hissed.
The shadows around him stirred. Creatures made of bone and smoke slithered to his feet.
"Let the clans rally," he sneered. "Let her believe she has hope."
He raised a clawed hand, and the fire around him flared green.
"When she's grown strong enough, I will take her power for myself."
The final piece of his immortality.
The Moon Calling.
"She will kneel," he whispered. "Or she will burn."
That night, Selena stood alone beneath the moon.
Her white hair danced in the wind. The cloak clung to her shoulders.
Her old life was gone.
But a new one had begun.
She didn't know how to fight.
She didn't know what came next.
But one thing was certain.
The world would soon learn the truth:
The white wolf lives.
And she would not run anymore.