Chapter 2 The Day Dreams Died Softly

The morning after the shifting ceremony was colder than any winter Aria had known. Not because of the weather,spring had already begun to bloom,but because something inside her had gone numb.

She lay in bed, staring at the wooden ceiling of her room, willing herself not to cry. The silence of dawn pressed against her chest. She had once imagined waking after her shift feeling stronger, more alive,maybe sore, but glowing with pride. She had imagined her wolf's voice greeting her for the first time, its presence curling around her heart like a second soul.

But the moon had turned its face from her.

She was the only one who hadn't shifted.

And now... she didn't know who she was anymore.

Whispers Behind Closed Doors

Her parents hadn't said much the night before. They'd walked her home in tense silence, her father's steps stiff, her mother wringing her hands the whole way.

Now, downstairs, she could hear them speaking in hushed voices.

"She just needs time," her mother was saying, voice trembling. "Some wolves shift later. It's rare, but it happens."

Her father's voice, low and tight: "She's seventeen, Mara. Time's up."

"Don't say that,"

"I'm just being realistic."

Aria closed her eyes.

She hadn't expected their disappointment to hurt this much.

Lila's Distance

Lila came by later that morning, a basket of warm rolls from her mother's bakery in her hands. She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I thought you might want something sweet," she said, setting the basket on Aria's windowsill.

Aria sat up from where she'd been curled beneath her blanket. "Thanks."

An awkward silence hung in the air.

Lila shifted on her feet. "Maybe it was just nerves," she offered. "I mean, maybe your wolf's just shy. You've always been more... gentle than the rest of us."

Aria smiled faintly, grateful for the attempt. But something in her friend's voice had changed.

Was it pity?

Fear?

She wanted Lila to stay, to talk about everything, to sit beside her like they used to and plan out their futures. But instead, Lila glanced toward the door after only a few minutes.

"I should go. Mama needs help at the bakery."

Aria nodded, her throat thick. "Of course."

And just like that, the girl who had once promised to be her Beta when she became Luna was gone.

Kael's Guilt

He didn't come the first day.

Or the second.

Aria tried not to notice. She tried not to watch the path that led from the Alpha's house to the village. She told herself he was busy, that he had duties.

But the truth was simple.

She had failed.

And Kael, heir to the Alpha, could not afford to be tied to failure.

On the third evening, as twilight painted the sky in purples and pinks, she found him in the woods, just beyond the clearing where the ceremony had taken place. He was training alone, sweat slick on his brow, eyes focused and distant.

She stepped into the light.

His head snapped up.

For a long second, neither of them spoke.

Then,"Aria," he said, like a breath caught between relief and regret.

"I thought maybe you were avoiding me," she said quietly.

Kael shook his head, but his eyes didn't meet hers. "No. I've just been... busy."

She laughed softly. "Right. Alpha duties."

He flinched.

"I didn't want it to be like this," he said, stepping closer. "I never imagined... that you,"

"Wouldn't have a wolf?" she finished for him, her voice sharper than she meant it to be.

Kael's face twisted. "That's not what I meant."

"But it's what you're thinking," she whispered.

He was close enough now that she could see the guilt written in every line of his face. His hand hovered like he wanted to touch her, to say something that could fix it all.

But he didn't.

Couldn't.

"I care about you, Aria," he said.

"But not enough," she replied, taking a step back. "Not enough to fight for me."

And that was the last time he looked at her with softness in his eyes.

From that moment on, Kael became the Alpha-in-training.

And she became the girl with no wolf.

The Pack Turns Cold

It wasn't immediate. At first, the community only looked away when she passed,averting their gaze, unsure of how to acknowledge the shame clinging to her skin like a second layer.

But over the days, and then the weeks, the whispers returned. This time, sharper. Crueler.

"She's a liability."

"She's dangerous. A weak link."

"No wolf, no place."

The training sessions she once loved became torture. She was no longer invited to spar. No one wanted to risk being seen with her. Even the younger pups were kept from her.

"She's cursed," someone muttered once at the river.

"Don't let her touch the water," another whispered.

Selena, of course, bloomed in the chaos.

She began standing closer to Kael, brushing past him with practiced flirtation. Her wolf,an elegant white,was everything the pack revered.

"I mean, it's not Aria's fault," Selena would say sweetly. "But we can't ignore what she is. Or isn't."

Selene's Scorn

Selene, Kael's mother and the current Luna, never spoke directly to Aria again.

But Aria felt her disapproval in every glance, every turned back, every whisper that died when she entered a room.

It stung worse than the pack's gossip.

Selene had once tutored her in court etiquette, in herbal healing, in how to hold her chin high like a Luna should. She had once told her she was "strong and bright, like the moonlight after a storm."

Now, she wouldn't even look at her.

Aria had been stripped of everything,status, community, belonging.

Even the dreams that had once seemed so clear were beginning to rot from within.

What Dreams Remain

Each night, Aria returned to the clearing where her shift was supposed to happen. She would kneel in the grass, lift her eyes to the moon, and beg.

Please. Let it be a mistake. Let me feel something. Anything.

But the moon was always silent.

She stopped visiting after a month.

The Breaking

It came slowly.

Like a house sinking into soft earth.

Each time someone turned their back, a little more of her crumbled. Each moment of silence from Kael, each awkward half-smile from Lila, each glance of pity from her mother, widened the cracks in her spirit.

Until one morning, she woke up and didn't recognize the girl in the mirror.

Her eyes were duller.

Her shoulders, slouched.

Her voice, quieter.

She still braided her hair the way her mother had taught her. She still wore her training clothes, even though no one would train with her. But these were habits now,echoes of a girl who still had hope.

That girl was disappearing.

And no one seemed to notice.