Rowena's POV
I did it.
For an entire week, I managed to avoid the Alpha — and I counted that as a victory. There were two moments that came dangerously close, the kind where fate seemed to hold its breath, but somehow I always slipped away. Different routes. Earlier departures. Late returns. Small, deliberate adjustments — pieces of a silent survival plan. Every breath I took felt cool in my lungs, and the quiet thud of my heartbeat echoed through the floor beneath my feet.
Selene watched with quiet approval.
"You learn quickly," she said one evening as candlelight danced softly across her features. "That's rare."
We were sitting in my room. At least physically. The silence that once felt hollow and oppressive had changed — it now wrapped around us like a gentle blanket.
The room itself was still modest: a narrow bed, a worn table, a single chair. Bare walls. And yet, they no longer felt so dark. Since Selene had found me, the silence no longer crushed me. Loneliness no longer sank its claws in quite so deeply. I wouldn't have called it home — but it was no longer empty. Moonlight brushed the walls in soft shades of gray, as though the night itself whispered secrets meant only for us.
"Tell me about the white wolves," I asked quietly, watching the moonlight shimmer through the trees outside, casting silver and gold patterns across the moving leaves.
Selene fell silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was deeper, taut — like the forest just before a storm.
"The white wolves have always been the most mysterious," she began. "Throughout history, their pale fur was seen as both blessing and curse. Our bond with the Moon Goddess… it inspired fear."
She told me how many of them were born with extraordinary gifts — healing, shaping the weather, some even able to stop time itself, if only for a heartbeat. Each word carried weight, as though the night leaned closer to listen.
"In war, a white wolf was the deciding force," she continued. "They were protected at all costs, because their power could turn the tide of battle. But in the process… we became tools. Weapons in the hands of Alphas."
My chest tightened, my heart pounding as if it could feel the burden of that past.
"And when the wars ended?" I asked.
"That's when the real destruction began," she replied softly. "Some Alphas used their white wolves to seize land and power. Others feared us… and locked us away. Hid us. Destroyed us."
Silence settled between us, thick enough to feel the weight of every speck of dust in the room.
"There used to be many of us," she added quietly. "Now we are rare."
"How do you know all this?" I asked at last, my voice nearly swallowed by the moonlight.
Her tone softened.
"This isn't my first life," she said. "When a human dies, the wolf's soul returns to the Moon Goddess. She sends it back — into a new body. A new pack. A new land."
"Then how did the white wolves disappear?" I asked, confused. "That doesn't make sense."
"Some souls," she answered, "have suffered so much that their will fades. Their strength. They choose not to return. And many white wolves broke beyond repair."
The question escaped me before I could stop it.
"Were you one of them… then why did you come back?"
Her answer was immediate.
"Because I was in love."
She told me about another life. About a knight who saved her from death while an Alpha dragged her toward execution. How she escaped again and again — until he found her. They weren't soulmates, yet they chose each other. Selene had resisted at first, wary and guarded. He never gave up.
"When we were finally safe… when we were finally together," she said softly, "they killed him. He died protecting his king. And I promised him I would return. No matter how many lives it took."
I couldn't speak. The silence swallowed everything, even the shadows pressed deeper into the room.
"And what if he isn't waiting for you in this life?" I asked at last. I hoped she had a plan.
"I've thought about it," she said. "But I've waited too long already. This time, I will find him."
From then on, our evenings passed like this. Talking. Remembering. Sitting in silence. Beneath the darkening sky, moonlight spilled silver into the room, as though bearing witness to every word.
During the day, Selene hid deep within me so no one would sense her presence. At times, the atmosphere in the pack house grew so tense it felt sharp enough to bite.
After a few days, I noticed Mr. Scott slip up — and other teachers began offering me sympathetic looks after class. I ignored them. I didn't need their pity.
What truly unsettled me… was the scent.
Tempting. Unfamiliar.
It carved itself into me so deeply that I found myself searching for it — and never finding it again.
"That was your mate," Selene said. "Most likely a messenger. From another pack."
The thought disturbed us both.
One evening, I returned to the pack house late. I'd lost track of time in the library, which meant sneaking back again. The former Alpha and Luna were away, and Derek ruled the house as full Alpha now. The thought did nothing to calm me.
Relief washed over me as I slipped inside. Just a few more steps. The floor was cold beneath my feet, corridor lights flickering softly. Just a few more, I told myself — though my heart hammered as if it already sensed what was coming.
My hand closed around the cool metal of the door handle when—
I felt it.
Chocolate. Fresh raspberries.
The scent wrapped around me, intoxicating, calling. It flooded my senses until I couldn't tell where to turn, every instinct surrendering to its pull.
There was no escape.
Chocolate and ripe raspberries thickened the air, dizzying, overwhelming. My body reacted before my mind could deny it — heat blooming beneath my skin, my pulse racing as though every cell recognized what I refused to accept.
Selene's voice tightened with panic inside me, but she couldn't stop it now. It was too late to avoid this meeting.
A strong hand settled on my shoulder. Not rough. Not forceful. Confident. Possessive. As though it had always belonged there. His closeness stole my breath — the warmth of him, his strength, the dangerous calm that surrounded him.
Slowly, inevitably, he turned me toward him.
My gaze traced his jaw, his lips… then lifted to his eyes.
In that moment, everything else vanished.
The air. The corridor. The world.
As though fate had gathered every past and future into a single point and driven the truth into me with raw, merciless force.
"Hello, mate," he said.
And before I could understand what this encounter truly meant…
Everything went dark.