Aria woke up the next morning with her body thrumming with a strange, relentless ache.
It wasn't muscle pain, not exactly. It was deeper, like fire running beneath her skin, twisting through her bones and sinews. She groaned, clutching her arms, trying to still the tremor that coursed through her. Every heartbeat felt magnified, echoing in her ears like the toll of a distant bell.
"Not again…" she whispered, voice hoarse.
The dreams had returned, but this time, they had followed her into waking life. She stumbled out of bed, gripping the edge of her dresser for support. The room tilted dangerously as the first waves of nausea hit. Her reflection in the mirror made her stop short.
Her eyes.
Storm-gray, yes, but flecked with gold, subtle sparks of amber dancing in the irises. They shimmered as if catching the first light of a rising sun, alive and predatory. Her pupils dilated, stretching wide in the dim morning glow.
Aria blinked rapidly, her vision adjusting. Shapes sharpened around her room: the faintest movement of curtains in the breeze, the hum of the radiator, even the tiny dust motes floating in the sunlight. Every detail seemed amplified, pressing against her awareness.
Her breath caught. Something had changed, deep inside her. Something ancient and impossible.
A low, guttural sound rumbled in her chest. She froze, listening. It wasn't from outside. It wasn't even from her throat. But it vibrated through her bones, deep, resonant, like the echo of a wolf's growl.
The transformation had begun.
Panic clawed at her chest. She stumbled back, grabbing her desk for support, pressing her forehead to the cool wood. She needed to ground herself, to remind herself she was human. She was normal. She was… ordinary.
But nothing felt ordinary anymore.
Her body shivered violently as the ache intensified. Every nerve was alight, firing signals too fast for her brain to process. She clawed at her arms, her legs, anywhere she could reach, as if the pain could be scratched out. But it wouldn't stop.
And then came the senses.
She smelled the morning air through her open window: dew on the grass, the faint tang of smoke from a distant chimney, the coppery scent of her own blood from a paper cut she hadn't noticed. She heard the quiet scrape of a rat in the wall, the distant murmur of the street beyond, the soft thump of a bird's wings in the yard.
Her pulse spiked. She staggered back from the window, overwhelmed by the torrent of perception.
Control it. Focus. Breathe.
Aria sank to the floor, pressing her palms to the carpet, teeth gritted. Her body ached, mind reeling, every fiber of her being screaming that something inside her had shifted. The golden sparks in her eyes swirled, brighter now, hotter.
Her fingers trembled, and she bit her lip to keep from screaming. A part of her was terrified, terrified of what she might become, what she might lose but another part, a small, forbidden part, thrilled at the raw power coursing through her.
And then came the first taste of the hunger.
Not for food, not yet. For… something else. A pull, a yearning she couldn't define. Her senses straining, she could feel the presence of life around her: Lila in her room a hallway from her, her neighbor pacing in the kitchen, a fox moving silently at the edge of the forest. The pulse of their hearts beat in time with her own.
Aria's stomach twisted. She hadn't known she could feel it like this. It was intoxicating and terrifying all at once.
The pain surged again, forcing a scream from her throat. She stumbled to her knees, clawing at her chest as if she could tear the sensation out. Her vision flickered, shadows stretching across the walls, shapes bending and warping. For a fleeting moment, she saw a pair of golden eyes reflected in the window unblinking, intense, watching her with hunger and longing.
Her heart slammed.
Not real. Not real. Not real.
She pressed her hands against her eyes, desperate for darkness, for normalcy. But the moment the pressure lifted, the world rushed back with horrifying clarity. She could hear the faintest whisper of wind in the trees, the softest creak of the building settling, the faint pulse of life all around her.
The pain sharpened again, pulling her to the ground. She curled up, hands pressed against her skull, teeth gritted. Her muscles cramped and spasmed, and she felt a strange fluidity in her bones, as if her skeleton itself wanted to stretch, to shift.
And then… it passed.
Exhausted, she lay on the floor, sweat soaking her hair, breathing hard. Her body ached, but the fire within had dimmed, leaving only the pulsing awareness of something new. Something… different.
Her eyes returned to the mirror, wide and trembling. The golden sparks remained, faint but persistent, flickering like embers in storm-gray irises. She pressed a hand to her chest.
She was changing.
Not gradually. Not subtly. Not by chance.
Something inside her had woken.
Aria's mind drifted back to Damien. The stranger in black, the Alpha, the golden eyes. Everything in the dreams, the howls, the pull of the forest it had led to this. To her.
Her chest tightened with a mixture of fear and longing. She didn't understand it. Couldn't explain it. And yet… a part of her yearned for it. Yearned to embrace it. To know it. To let the fire consume her.
And then came a knock at the door.
"Aria? You okay?" Lila's voice sounded cautious, unsure, tentative.
Aria scrambled to her feet, hands shaking. "Y-Yeah," she called, her voice cracking. "Just… just a headache."
The knock came again, louder. Lila's patience was thin. "Aria, open the door! You've been locked in there forever!"
Aria hesitated, swallowing back the tremor in her throat. She forced herself to the door, opening it just enough to peek through the crack. Lila's expression softened as she noticed the sweat and the wild look in Aria's eyes.
"You look like you've been through a storm," Lila said softly, stepping in and closing the door behind her. "Talk to me. What happened?"
Aria shook her head. "I… I don't know. Something… changed."
Lila's brow furrowed. "Changed how?"
Aria opened her mouth to answer, but the words failed her. How could she explain? How could she tell anyone that her body ached with power, that her senses were alive in a way that was frighteningly sharp, that she had glimpsed a pair of golden eyes in the mirror and they had felt like hers?
Instead, she sank onto the bed, burying her face in her hands. The pain had receded for now, but the pull, the hunger, the awareness, remained.
Lila sat beside her, cautious but steady. "Whatever it is," she said, "we'll figure it out. I've got your back. You're not alone."
Aria's chest tightened. Lila's words were comforting, grounding, but they couldn't erase the truth. She was not the same girl who had slept peacefully just weeks ago. Something primal had awakened. Something that would not be denied.
And somewhere, deep in the shadows beyond the city, Damien's howl cut through the day.
Aria felt it in her bones. She would never be able to ignore it.