I shook my head. “You don’t know that. You can’t know that if the truth stone wasn’t real”
My head dropped, too exhausted to summon anger. Disappointment settled over me like fog. “I just wanted something real.”
Maya’s features softened. “I know. And I’m sorry. But Sera… Why would he say those things if they weren’t true? You saw how rattled he was. You have the truth. Or at least the beginning of it.”
Lucian’s hand found mine, grounding. “Kieran admitted that you weren’t to blame. Celeste can deny it all she wants, but anyone with a working pair of eyes could see that she’s not as innocent as she claims.”
I closed my eyes. The fire of that night still burned behind my eyelids. The sharp scent of pine. The music from the party echoing faintly behind me. The buzz of alcohol dulling my senses. The vibration of my phone when the message came through.
“She said she needed to see me. That she needed me. I didn’t know…” My throat tightened. “
Could it have been a trap?”
“If it was, it must have backfired. I can’t imagine she would have sent you to that room, knowing Kieran was there.”
Maya gently rested her hand over my heart. “Sera, I promise you, tonight was just the beginning. The truth will come out and you’ll be vindicated.”
I exhaled shakily. “What if… What if it changes everything? What if I don’t like the truth?”
Lucian spoke, his voice steady. “It doesn’t matter what changes. This”-he pointed between the three of us-“will never change.”
“Yeah,” Maya chimed in. “Good luck getting rid of me.” She dug her nails into my knee not painfully. “I’m like a fucking leech.”
I let out a watery laugh, sniffing.
A silence settled over us-not uncomfortable, just thick with things unsaid. The weight of the past. The fragility of healing. The three of us sat there, wrapped in damp clothes and unravelling truths.
Eventually, Maya stood. “I’ll make tea.”
She padded into the kitchen, and Lucian helped me pull the blanket tighter around myself. “
You don’t have to do anything tonight,” he said. “Just be.”
But I didn’t know how to just be. My mind was splintered with questions, with moments replaying in a different light.
I heard the kettle boil. The scent of chamomile drifted in.
Lucian kissed my temple before rising. “I’ll bring it in. You rest.”
When they were gone, I sank deeper into the couch, cocooned in thick fabric and thin hope.
I didn’t remember falling asleep.
***
The forest was shrouded in mist, so thick it clung to my skin like sweat. The air buzzed with something ancient. Familiar.
I stood barefoot on damp earth, surrounded by towering trees. They loomed like sentinels, silent and patient.
And then I saw her.
A wolf stood at the edge of the clearing, the shifting shadows coloring her grey and silver.
Her eyes met mine-brilliant, knowing.
My breath caught. “It’s you.”
She didn’t speak aloud, but her presence filled my mind like light spilling into darkness.
‘It’s me, she clarified.
I took a slow step forward. “Are you… Are you really mine?”
I felt warmth envelope me. ‘We are each other’s.’
I blinked. “But I’ve never felt you. Not like the others do. I thought I was broken.”
The wolf padded forward, her movements fluid and graceful. The fog seemed to move with her, so I still couldn’t make out her features.
‘You were never broken. I was…repressed.’
My voice trembled. “How? Why?”
“That truth lies just ahead. But you had to come to me first.’
Her form shimmered in the fog. “This is not the first time we’ve met. You saw me once- long ago. But you were too young, too fragile to remember. You locked the memory away”
“Why now?” I asked.
“Because you’re ready.”,
My heart flipped. “I don’t feel ready.”
“And yet here you are.”
I looked at her, lightheaded from the clarity cutting through me. “Will I ever feel you? Hear you when I’m awake?”
The wolf’s eyes softened.
‘Soon. When the final chain is broken. When everything covered by fog has been unveiled.’
The mist began to rise. The forest peeled away.
‘We will meet again.’ Panic zinged through me as her voice began to fade away. ‘And next time, you won’t wake up alone.’
“Wait-“
But I was already slipping.
My eyes opened to soft light. The candle Maya had lit on the side table was burned down to its last inch. I sat up slowly, heart pounding, breath shallow.
It hadn’t been a dream. Not really.
She had come back.
And for the first time in my life, I felt the echo of something fierce and unbroken stirring inside me.
I wasn’t alone.
Not anymore.
The morning air was unusually gentle, a soft breeze whispering through the trees as sunlight filtered down in patches through the leafy canopies overhead.
It was the kind of weather that made you think-just for a second-that the world wasn’t such an awful place.
And maybe that’s why I left my car keys on the entryway table and decided to walk all the way to OTS headquarters instead.
I needed the air. I needed the silence between steps. I needed the distance-from the house, from Lucian’s worried gaze, from Maya’s comforting lies, and most of all, from the echo of my own mind.
I couldn’t shake off my dream. It clung to me like that fog that veiled my wolf. My fingers kept twitching like the aftereffects of something slipping through them.
But I held on to the promise. Soon. Soon, I’d be with my wolf.
The sidewalk curved lazily through the residential blocks, winding past low hedges and quiet homes. Most of the neighborhood was still asleep or just stirring. There was peace in that-mundane, simple peace.
I knew a part of me should be wary, remembering the last time I’d gone for a walk and troubles. gotten a silver bullet to the heart for my
But the black car slowly inching down the road behind me-courtesy of Kieran, no doubt- was equally annoying and comforting.
I was halfway through the neighborhood when I heard it.
A child’s shout-sharp and startled-followed by the unmistakable screech of tires.
My heart kicked into a gallop, my maternal instincts perking up like an antenna.
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