The memory wolf

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.

The firelight splintered across the trees like jagged knives, illuminating nothing but shadows. Warriors and young wolves scattered, voices and growls overlapping, but I couldn't hear them.

I couldn't think. All I felt was the surge crawling inside me like molten steel, my muscles twitching, blood thrumming in ways I had never known.

Kelan held my wrist, but I barely felt him. My pulse pounded in sync with some ancient rhythm, deep in my bones. My senses tore open like floodgates.

I could hear the rustle of every leaf, the tiniest whisper of fur on the forest floor, and something else; a low, guttural breathing, coming from inside the darkness, just beyond the reach of the torchlight.

I stumbled back, dragging Kelan with me. "I-I can't..." My voice cracked. It sounded wrong, deeper than it should. Raspy and wild.

Kelan's grip tightened on my arm. "Ayla, focus! Stay with me!"

I couldn't. I just couldn't. My hands were shaking, my vision shifting unnaturally. The world seemed to stretch, to warp, as though the forest itself was bending toward me. Every shadow had eyes. Every branch, a claw. And then I smelled fresh blood. It was too much and everywhere.

I froze. My wolf or whatever was inside me, snarled. Not in sound, but in thought, in feeling. I could feel it's raw hunger, ancient and violent. It was mine, but it was not me.

I tried to push it down, to control it, but it laughed. A low, cruel vibration through my chest.

Kelan pulled me behind a fallen tree as a shadow moved past the edge of the firelight. A wolf-no, something else-slid silently across the clearing. Its eyes were silver, unnaturally bright. And it paused, looked for a second.

Recognition.

It knew me.

My breath caught in my throat. How could it know me? I've never seen it before. Yet somehow... it called me. Ayla.

My claws, my hands, shot out without permission. They dug into the tree bark, sinking like knives. My teeth itched. My jaw ached. The surge wanted to break free. Wanted to hunt. Wanted to kill.

"NO!" I screamed. Not aloud though, but in my head. The thought was lost, swallowed by the wolf inside me.

The silver-eyed creature leapt. It moved faster than any wolf should. Faster than light, or so it seemed. Its shadow tore across the clearing, and I couldn't stop staring. I wanted to. And then, impossibly, it disappeared. Just vanished into the forest like smoke.

Kelan's hand shook against mine. "Ayla! What the hell! What just happened?"

I shook my head violently, my hair whipping across my face. "I... I don't know. I don't know what..."

The ground trembled beneath my feet, again. Not the usual tremor of wolves shifting or even a rogue attack, this was different. Pulsing. Like the earth itself was alive and angry.

Kelan grabbed my shoulders. "We need to move. Now."

I followed him, stumbling through the underbrush. The forest had grown alive with sounds I shouldn't be able to hear: insects screaming, branches cracking, the snapping of twigs under heavy paws or claws.

And then I heard a low growl, right behind me.

I spun, but it was nothing. Only shadows. The firelight flickered. My heart was hammering.

And then I heard a loud scream. The kind that makes your bones shake. It came from the far side of the clearing; the opposite direction of the Alpha and his warriors. My wolf surged violently in response. It wanted to go.

That's the voice of a terrified human.

Kelan grabbed me again. "Don't. Stay back!"

I tried, but I couldn't resist the way my senses dragged me toward the sound. My legs moved faster than I should have been able. Faster than human legs. Every fiber of me screamed.

And then I saw a body.

The young wolf from training, the same one I had sparred with yesterday, lay on the ground, torn apart with his blood everywhere.

Not just wounds, deep slashes that looked precise and intentional. And above him, something crouched in the shadows, the same silver eyes gleaming, watching me.

The wind whispered through the trees: 'Run. Fight. Or join me.'

I stumbled, my vision spinning. My claws dug into the dirt. My jaw twitched. My teeth itched to tear.

Kelan's voice was frantic. "Ayla! Step back!"

I froze. Something was moving in my mind, not mine. It whispered things I didn't understand, made my blood vibrate with unnatural heat.

I realized with terror... I wanted it.

I wanted to let the creature inside me out. I wanted to hunt the strange looking creature. I wanted to know it.

It stepped into the firelight. I gasped when I saw its fur, it was slick, black with silver streaks, eyes glowing like molten metal. And it smiled, or at least, the curve of its muzzle suggested it.

And then it spoke.

Not aloud, but in my mind.

"Ayla... finally."

My pulse stopped. My wolf screamed.

But Kelan didn't hear it or sense the shift in the air, the way the world seemed to inhale before disaster.

He shouted my name then I felt his hand graze mine, desperation burning through his grip as he reached for me, as if will alone could pull me back.

But the creature was already moving.

Time slowed in that cruel way it does when there's no escape. I saw its shadow stretch across the ground, and felt the rush of air as it lunged.

My heart slammed once, so hard, and then... darkness swallowed everything.

I woke with my face pressed into damp leaves, my chest heaving, and every nerve screaming. My hands were clawed into the soil, two of my fingernails broken, palms scraped raw.

My mind was fogged, but a single thought burned brighter than anything else: the silver-eyed creature was gone.

Or... had it ever been real?

Kelan groaned nearby, half-buried in the underbrush. His hand found mine, gripping tightly.

"Ayla... are you okay?"

I shook my head, unable to speak. Every sound around me; the rustling leaves, the distant howl, the echo of my own ragged breathing, all felt amplified. My wolf roared silently beneath my ribs, restless, unsatisfied, demanding release I didn't understand.

What on earth is happening to me?

"Look," Kelan said, tugging me to my feet. "We need to report this. Now. The Alpha will..."

The ground shivered under my feet. Not just tremors from shifting wolves, this was deeper. My stomach dropped. I had felt it before, the night the torches exploded, and now it returned, steady and pulsing.

Kelan noticed it too. His grip tightened. "Do you feel that?"

I nodded mutely. My wolf was whispering again, so impatient and hungry. I didn't know what it wanted but I knew it wanted something from that silver-eyed creature. Something... or someone.

We pushed through the undergrowth toward the clearing where the pack had gathered. The bonfire was smoldering, embers flickering weakly as the remaining warriors circled, tension rippling through their postures.

They hadn't seen what had happened, but they could sense that something unnatural had happened.

The Alpha stepped forward as we approached. His expression was grim, but he didn't look at me. He looked beyond me, scanning the shadows.

"Aron is dead," he said, voice low and steady. "His body shows no signs of human or rogue attack. Whoever or whatever did this is stronger than any wolf we know."

I forced myself to swallow through my tight throat. My pulse screamed at me: it wasn't a rogue.

And I knew why.

Kelan's eyes darted to mine. He must have noticed how tense I was, because his voice dropped. "You... you felt it, didn't you?"

I froze. "Felt what?"

"You know it's here." He swallowed hard. "You always know."

I flinched.

"Your mother always knew too, right?"

"Don't bring my mother into this Kelan", I whispered, loud enough for him to hear. I couldn't afford yelling now, it'd only complicate things.

They had never understood my mother. I don't even understand. Not yet at least. I only know that my wolf is suddenly alive, and it reacts to things that shouldn't exist. Things that kill. Things that hunt.

The Alpha's gaze finally fell on me, and the temperature of the night seemed to drop. He didn't speak, just stared, studying me as if trying to measure the storm within.

"Go," he finally said. "Stay with Mira. Do not leave the healers. Do not... shift."

I nodded silently, but inside, my wolf laughed. The words echoed like claws on stone: Do not shift?

I followed Mira reluctantly, staying close to the warmth of her presence, yet every nerve in my body strained toward the forest. Every sense screamed that the silver-eyed creature hadn't finished with me. That it would return. That it had a purpose for me I didn't yet understand.

Hours passed, or maybe minutes. Time had lost meaning. I couldn't eat, couldn't sit, couldn't calm the pulse in my veins. Every whisper of movement, every snap of a twig made my chest squeeze, made my teeth itch, made my claws twitch.

Then I heard it again.

Soft, deliberate, almost playful: the footsteps of something massive moving just beyond the treeline.

I froze. My wolf surged inside me, hungry, restless, alive. It wanted to run. Wanted to tear. Wanted to know.

Kelan's hand found mine again, grounding me. "It's just a wolf," he whispered. "Or a rogue-nothing more."

I shook my head slowly. "No... it's not."

My wolf screamed through me, and the silver-eyed creature stepped into the clearing.

It didn't move like a wolf. Not entirely. Its movements were liquid, predatory, elegant, deliberate. Its eyes glowed silver, and they pierced me.

It tilted its head slightly. And then-smile or no smile-I felt it in my mind again. Alya... it's time.

Something inside me twisted, and I realized I didn't just feel fear. I felt recognition. Connection. Hunger. Power. And something else...

It wasn't human. It wasn't wolf. But somehow... it was me.

Kelan noticed the change instantly. "Ayla... get back!"

I tried to obey. I couldn't. My legs moved on their own. My heart hammered, my teeth itched, my hands wanted to dig, tear, rip. The silver-eyed creature crouched, low, ready to spring.

And then it spoke again.

"You're ready now."

The words slithered into my mind, and suddenly the world slowed. Every heartbeat, every whisper of wind, every rustle of leaves screamed in sharp relief. The wolf inside me roared its approval.

Something in my chest broke. I felt my claws elongate, my teeth sharpen, my senses fracture. I was no longer human, not fully. And yet, I still was.

Before I could process what was happening, the silver-eyed creature leapt.

Straight at me.