Chapter 1 THE NIGHT THEY LOOKED AT ME DIFFERENTLY

Ayla's POV

The forest always breathed differently around me.

I didn't notice it at first as a child, not even in my early teens but now, at eighteen, it's impossible to ignore. Before Mom disappeared, she always told me I was different but I didn't think it'll be this different.

The wind pauses when I walk. Leaves shiver without being touched and worst of all, the wolves in training spar pull away when I get too close, pretending it's by accident.

I pretend not to see it or feel it.

I pretend not to wonder.

Because wondering leads to one thing: questions.

And in this pack, questions get you killed.

Tonight, the cold feels sharper than usual. The moon hangs low and swollen, dragging silver light across the earth, and the path toward the gathering ground is lined with torches bright enough to reveal how late I am.

I hate being the last one to arrive. It means more eyes on me. More silence when the others realize I've shown up. More whispered words that stop just short of being loud enough to hear.

I pull the hood of my cloak lower and quicken my steps.

The Alpha announced tonight's gathering two days ago. "Mandatory," he'd said. "All wolves of age must attend."

Even me.

Even the girl who isn't allowed to shift, the girl he keeps twenty feet away from the training grounds. The girl who failed her first shift at thirteen; for reasons no one ever fully explained.

My heartbeat drags in my ears the closer I get. The air thickens. I tell myself it's just nerves and just the idea of standing in front of the pack again. Just the memory of last year's gathering, when the Alpha's son, Kelan, looked at me like I was a puzzle he needed to solve.

But I feel it before I see anything.

A tremor in the earth.

A subtle pulse in the air.

A warning I don't understand.

By the time I step out from under the tree line, the entire pack had already formed a wide circle around the bonfire. Warriors in their ceremonial leathers. Elders in grey. Young wolves standing rigidly with their heads bowed.

Everything falls silent.

Every head turns.

Too many eyes find me and I freeze mid-step, heat rising to my face. I force myself to keep walking, pretending the silence doesn't burn, pretending I don't feel the weight of their stares scraping along my skin.

Until one stare pins me harder than the rest.

Kelan's.

The future Alpha stands on the opposite side of the circle, tall, broad-shouldered, and perfectly still. His dark, depthless, unreadable eyes follow my every movement. He doesn't blink or look away.

My chest tightens.

Why does he always look at me like that?

Like I'm something dangerous or unpredictable that he's waiting to expose.

I lower my gaze and slip into the back of the crowd, keeping my head down. My guardian, Mira, stands a few paces away among the healers. She gives me a short nod, her expression softening. She always tries to reassure me, but even she looks tense tonight.

Before I can make sense of it, Alpha Rowan steps forward, his voice booming across the clearing.

"A wolf has been killed."

A murmur ripples through the crowd. My lungs seize. Wolves die sometimes during rogue attacks or border skirmishes, but the Alpha wouldn't call an emergency gathering unless-

"They found him near the northern ridge," Rowan continues, jaw tight. "Torn apart. No scent trail left behind."

Torn apart.

My stomach twists. That's not normal even for a rogue attack. A rogue leaves traces of footprints, blood, a scent, an aura stain. Something. But this... this sounds wrong.

My hands grow cold.

Rowan scans the pack, pausing on certain faces as if searching for a reaction.

"It wasn't a wolf," he says. "It wasn't a hunter. And it wasn't human."

Silence falls like a blade.

Kelan's gaze snaps straight to me.

My heart stops.

Why is he looking at me like that?

I swallow, suddenly aware of how tight my throat feels, how fast my pulse taps against my skin.

He holds my stare for a moment too long, long enough to make the wolves around me shift uncomfortably.

Rowan continues, "Warriors will patrol the forest tonight in pairs. No one shifts and no one leaves the grounds until we determine what killed Aron. We treat this as a high-threat attack."

Whispers erupt. I can see fear on many faces. Murmurs erupt of old rumors no one wants to voice.

Shadow wolves.

Creatures of blood and void.

Things that don't belong in our world.

Mira edges closer to me, keeping her voice low. "Stay near the healers tonight. Don't wander off."

"I wasn't going to," I whisper.

But even as I say it, the wind shifts so sharply that it steals my breath. A cold ripple washes down my spine, so sudden and violent I almost stagger.

Something is in the forest. It's watching me, I can feel it.

I lift my eyes to the trees, but all I see is darkness.

"Ayla." Mira's hand finds my arm. "Are you alright?"

I force a nod. "Fine. Just cold."

But I'm not cold, I'm burning.

Burning from the inside out, literally.

Kelan breaks away from his father and strides across the clearing. Wolves part for him like shadows fleeing the sun. He stops a few feet from me.

"Ayla," he says, his voice is quiet but sharp enough to cut.

I straighten, confused. "Yes?"

His jaw twitches. "You didn't feel anything before the attack?"

"Feel... anything?" My brows furrow. "What do you mean?"

"Anything strange or unusual. Anything... off."

Off?

What does he mean 'off'?

"I don't understand," I managed to say.

He studied my face like he's peeling away each layer of expression. His eyes darken.

"You always know before something happens," he says quietly. "Don't you?"

A chill spikes through me. "What? No..."

But he steps closer. Too close.

"Don't lie. At least not tonight."

My breath stutters.

Mira steps between us, her shoulders visibly tensed. "She said no, Kelan."

He ignores her, his gaze locked on mine.

"Something killed Aron," he murmurs. "Something fast and stronger than most of us. It left no tracks, none whatsoever."

I feel sick.

"And you think I magically sensed it?" I whisper.

"I think," he says, leaning in slightly, "you feel things the rest of us don't."

My pulse roars in my ears.

That's impossible.

I'm not special.

I'm not anything. But rumours have been flying around that my mother always

Kelan didn't blink. "Tell me the truth, Ayla. Did you feel..."

A scream tore through the night cutting him short.

It sounded high, piercing and terrifying.

Every wolf jerked toward the forest.

A second scream followed very closely.

Then a third.

My blood froze at the spot.

Warriors broke into a sprint, shifting mid-air, bones cracking, fur exploding outward.

The Alpha yelled orders, the pack erupted into chaos, and Kelan grabbed my wrist.

"Stay behind me," he commanded.

But the moment his hand touches my skin, something detonates inside me.

A violent surge like lightning trapped under flesh.

My vision blurs. My knees buckle. My ears ring with a sound I can't describe.

Kelan's eyes widened. "Ayla?"

I choked on air.

Because deep inside me, beneath bone and blood and fear, something wakes up. Something that whispered:

'Finally.'

The ground trembles beneath my feet.

The wind howled

And the torches around us exploded.