Chapter 6 The Return of Her Shadow

Selene's POV

⸻

The first day I stepped into the training yard with intention, snow dusted the hard-packed earth like powdered sugar. Wolves shifted in and out of form, steel clanged, bodies moved with fluid rhythm, and Thalia's voice cut through the air like a war drum.

I felt out of place.

Too small.

Too quiet.

Too... broken.

But she didn't treat me that way.

Thalia tossed me a wooden staff and pointed toward a marked circle on the ground.

"You won't be fighting today," she said. "You'll be remembering what it means to hold your ground."

I looked down at the weapon in my hand - light, smooth, balanced. I hadn't held a weapon in years. Not since Kade told me it wasn't "feminine" for a Luna to train publicly.

"Balance," Thalia said, walking behind me, circling like a hawk. "Isn't about strength. It's about presence. Weight. Center. You find that, and no Alpha can knock you over again."

I closed my eyes and focused on my breath.

In. Out.

Feet flat.

Back straight.

It didn't come easy.

But it came.

And for the first time since I arrived, I didn't feel like a victim learning to protect herself - I felt like a she-wolf rediscovering her bite.

We trained in short sessions at first.

No contact. Just movement. Stances. Pacing. Control.

Each morning, I showed up. And each evening, Thalia nodded once, with the smallest curve of her lips - her version of approval.

I began to sleep more.

Eat more.

Laugh, sometimes.

My muscles ached in places I'd forgotten existed. But the ache reminded me that I was alive.

And slowly... I started to feel her.

Not fully.

But faintly.

A presence inside me I had buried in grief. A heartbeat that pulsed just below the surface.

Eira.

My wolf.

It was during one of those training sessions - after I landed a clean spinning strike with the staff - that I felt it. A ripple inside my chest. A soft growl not of warning, but of recognition.

She was there.

Still wounded, still quiet - but not gone.

Thalia noticed. Of course she did.

She paused mid-step and tilted her head. "You heard her, didn't you?"

I swallowed. "A little."

Thalia gave a rare, full smile. "Then we'll start moving."

"Moving where?"

"To the mountains," she said. "Where your instincts have room to breathe."

That evening, I was in the bathhouse - a stone-and-cedar structure warmed by underground springs - when I felt it again.

A thrum. A pulse.

Eira.

I closed my eyes and leaned back, letting the hot water soak into my skin, steam curling into my lungs. The silence wasn't empty this time.

It was full of her.

You're not ready yet, I heard her whisper, faint but clearer than before.

But you're close.

Later that night, I returned to my quarters to find another note at the door. Same bold, clean handwriting. Same minimal words.

"You held your ground today. She noticed. I did, too. - R"

I didn't know what surprised me more - that he was watching, or that he understood what it meant for me to stand my ground again.

I tucked the note under my pillow.

My dreams that night were strange - shadows in a forest, golden eyes in the dark, and a warmth at my back that felt like Ronan's presence, steady and still.

I didn't see him until three days later.

I'd just finished a sunrise session with Thalia, sweat dripping down my spine, lungs burning, when I turned the corner and nearly ran into him.

He was dressed in black as usual - simple wool shirt, leather jacket, pants dusted in frost from the early morning. His silver eyes locked on mine, unreadable.

"You're improving," he said.

"I wasn't aware you were watching."

"I don't need to watch," he replied. "I can feel it."

The words sent a ripple down my spine.

I crossed my arms, trying to hide the flutter in my chest. "I'm still not shifting."

He tilted his head. "That's not a weakness."

"It feels like one."

"It's not," he said, stepping slightly closer. "The wolf returns when the body is safe, and the soul is ready. Eira's been through war. Give her time."

I blinked. "You know her name?"

A faint smile touched his lips. "You whispered it the night you first slept here."

My cheeks heated. "I didn't mean to."

"I know."

We stood in silence for a beat.

Then he glanced up toward the mountain ridge behind the training grounds. "Thalia says you're ready for a run."

My heart kicked. "I'm not sure I am."

"You don't have to shift," he said. "But you need to move. You need to claim this territory with your steps. That's what wolves do. They leave their scent where they belong."

"And you think I belong here?"

His gaze didn't falter.

"I know you do."

He took me just before dusk.

Not alone. Thalia was with us. So were two young scouts and a healer who kept an eye on pace.

It wasn't a mission. It was a run.

We moved through the trees, up sloped paths slick with melting snow, past frozen streams and wild cliffs.

Ronan didn't speak much. He ran ahead sometimes, or dropped back to watch.

But I always knew where he was.

His presence was... steadying.

When we reached a ridge that overlooked the full valley, bathed in fading gold light, Thalia gave a sharp whistle and called a break.

The others sat, pulling flasks and dried meat from their packs.

I walked to the edge of the cliff.

The view was vast. Quiet. Wild.

And in that silence, I heard her again.

Step forward, Eira whispered.

I did.

And when I exhaled, the sound that left my chest was a low, gentle growl - not of threat...

...but of awakening.

Ronan appeared beside me a moment later, his eyes not on the horizon - but on me.

"She's coming back," I said softly.

He nodded. "So are you."

⸻

That night, I stood outside my cabin under a sky of stars, barefoot in the frost, staring up at the moon as if she might answer the questions in my chest.

I didn't need to be Luna.

Not anymore.

But I wanted to be whole.

And I was starting to believe that wholeness didn't mean returning to who I was before.

It meant becoming someone new.

Someone stronger.