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Serena took a deep breath as the small apartment door clicked shut behind her. The sound of it close was a bitter relief. She was by herself. The chilly air from the streets got into the little room, but she didn't notice it since she was so focused on what was going on around her. There was no pack, no family, just the heavy weight of her choices sinking in.
She put her few things on the floor: clothes and a few keepsakes she couldn't bear to leave behind. But none of them were important. Not really. She glanced down at her stomach. She rubbed her hand against the silence inside, as if she were attempting to connect with the existence she had only just embraced. Her wolf, which had once characterized her, stayed quiet. It had pulled back, just like everyone else.
She mumbled to herself, "I don't even know what I'm supposed to do now." The words were hard to hear.
The room got even quieter.
There was a noise outside the window, a soft whisper on the breeze. She stopped and stared at the vacant street, feeling the air change.
She shook her head to get rid of the worry that had fallen like dust. But the feeling stayed with her, eating away at her, like if something was watching and waiting.
Days went by, but Serena still felt uneasy. She had a job and a modest space to hide, but nothing felt right. The flat, the calm, and even the sound of the city were all wrong. Outside her door, everything seemed to be a whirl of noise and movement, none of which was hers.
One night, she sat at the kitchen table and looked out the window, where a shadow passed past.
"Get a grip," she said softly, but the words didn't help her calm down.
That's when she heard the knock.
Sharp. Too sharp. And it's too late for anyone to come by.
She stood up slowly, and her heart started to race. She reached for the handle, but her breath caught in her throat.
When she opened it, there was no one there. The corridor was dark, empty, and quiet.
But she felt sure she wasn't alone.
She stepped back because the feeling was icy and familiar and crawled up her spine.
Two eyes shone back at her from the gloom. The shadow of an Alpha.
That night, it was hard to fall asleep. Without a pack or a companion to keep her warm, the bed felt too vast and too frigid. She shut her eyes, but the dreams kept coming.
His face, which she had turned down, kept coming to her mind, searing her like a flame. But the dreams evolved and got deeper.
She saw him again in the middle of a swirling blackness. But this time, his eyes weren't angry. It was something different. Something that is more risky. His voice, low and rough, echoed in the dream world.
"Serena," he replied, his voice chilly yet full of something she couldn't quite grasp. "You can't get away from this." You never could.
She attempted to turn aside and get away from the gloom that was holding her down.
But he was constantly there, calling her name like a curse.
"I'll always find you, and your fate is mine."
Her heart raced as she gasped, waking up with a start. She couldn't shake the notion that the dream wasn't just a dream.
It was a sign.
Serena walked through the thick woods, her foot crunching on the frozen leaves and her breath showing in the air. Her wolf was quiet. It had been for days, ever since Lucien's icy words of rejection had echoed in her mind. She didn't know what stung more: the agony of his rejection or the fact that her wolf wasn't there.
"Where are you?" she asked, as if her wolf could hear her. The trees swallowed her voice, and the wind carried it away. She only felt the heaviness of being alone.
Her senses should have been acute and directing her, but they weren't. The quiet inside her seemed like a big hole.
But still, something didn't feel right.
She saw a shadow move through the trees, but when she looked, there was nothing there. She shook it off, but the hairs on the back of her neck sprang up, and a primordial instinct was clawing at her.
"Is someone there?" she questioned, her voice shaky.
Nothing.
Then, a gentle breeze went by her. It was swift, almost too quick to see. But it brushed against her, and it felt strange and new. She felt a cold shiver run through her.
It looked like the jungle was holding its breath.
Serena couldn't shake the feeling that something was always hiding just out of sight as the days dragged on. She stayed on the outskirts of town, trying to get used to things, but nothing felt real. It was all a blur-too silent and empty.
And then one night, when she walked outdoors, she felt it-a flicker at first, then a low hum deep inside her. She felt a sharpness in her senses that she hadn't felt in a long time. The ground under her feet appeared crisper, and the air at night seemed sharper.
She paused in her tracks.
Her senses came back to life, sharper than before, but there was a shadow to them. A chill. She could smell the rain from far away, the fragrance of the forest, and now she could also smell something ominous in the air.
"Why now?" she said to herself, trying to figure out what was making her feel uneasy.
The rush of power and the flash of something black made her heart race. Her wolf moved again, but not in the soft way it used to. This was crazy. Not tamed.
Her heart raced as she stepped back. She couldn't help but want to run.
But what?