Nessa~
My eyes peeled open slowly. Everything around me was black.
My head was heavy, throbbing with a dull ache that pulsed behind my temples. My neck felt stiff, like I'd slept on it wrong for days, each small movement sending sharp protests down my spine.
I tried to shift, to ease the discomfort, but that's when reality crashed into me, I was confined to a chair. My wrists were bound behind me, the rope biting into my skin with each futile struggle.
A light came on.
The sudden brightness stabbed into my retinas, and I squeezed my eyes shut against the assault.
When I finally managed to blink them open, adjusting to the harsh fluorescent glow, I could make out the space around me. Concrete walls. No windows. A single metal door across from me, sealed tight.
I wriggled frantically against the chair, yanking at the restraints until my wrists burned, but it was no use. The knots held firm.
Then I heard a voice.
"Oh, Nessa. You're finally awake."
My blood turned to ice. I knew that voice.
"Wren?" My voice came out hoarse, disbelieving.
She stepped into the light, and my heart shattered. Wren ,my best friend, the girl who'd been by my side through everything,stood before me with an expression I'd never seen on her face before. Cold. Detached. Nothing like the warm, laughing friend I'd known since childhood.
"Wren, what the hell is going on?" I demanded, my voice cracking. "Untie me! What, why am I here?"
She didn't answer right away. Instead, she circled me slowly, her footsteps echoing in the empty space.
When she finally spoke, her voice was flat, emotionless. "I'm sorry, Nessa. I really am. But you have to understand,I didn't have a choice."
"Didn't have a choice?" I spat, fury rising through my confusion. "You kidnapped me! We're supposed to be friends!"
"We were friends," she said quietly, and for just a moment, I saw something flicker in her eyes. Regret, maybe. Or guilt. "But friendship doesn't pay off debt. Friendship doesn't keep the people you love safe."
"What are you talking about?"
Before she could answer, the metal door groaned open.
Heavy footsteps entered the room, and a man emerged from the shadows tall, broad-shouldered, wearing an expensive suit that seemed absurdly out of place in this concrete tomb. His face was sharp, angular, with eyes like chips of flint.
Wren's entire demeanor changed. She straightened, her confidence wavering as she turned to face him.
"Sir," she said, her voice suddenly smaller. "She's awake. Just like you wanted."
The man didn't acknowledge her. His cold gaze fixed on me, studying me like I was a specimen under glass. Then, slowly, a smile curved his lips, but it held no warmth, only predatory satisfaction.
"Vanessa thorne," he said, my name rolling off his tongue like he'd tasted it before. "Do you have any idea how long I've been searching for you?"
I glared at him, my heart hammering. "I don't know who you are."
"No, I suppose you wouldn't." He moved closer, circling me the same way Wren had, but his presence was suffocating,dangerous.
"Your mother did an excellent job hiding you. Raising you among humans, suppressing what you are. Very clever, really."
My stomach twisted. " What the fuck are you talking about"
"A werewolf, dear girl. But not just any werewolf." He stopped in front of me, leaning down so his face was level with mine.
"You're a Silvercrest," he said, studying me like I was livestock. "Extinct. Priceless. And mine.
" what does that have to do with anything you sick fuck! " I roared.
"Fierce I like that" He said smugly, and stumbled back
"What does silvercrest mean?" I demanded.
He smiled. "You'll find out soon enough. Once the buyers arrive."
I looked at Wren, who stood frozen near the wall, her face pale. "Wren, please. You can't let him do this. Please!"
For a moment,just a heartbeat,I saw my friend again. The real Wren. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, and her hands trembled at her sides.
"Wren," the man said sharply, not even looking at her. "You've done your job. Come collect your payment."
She hesitated, her gaze locked on mine. "You said you'd let her go after,you said she wouldn't be hurt"
"I said what I needed to say to ensure your cooperation," he replied coldly. "Now come here."
Wren took a shaky step forward, then another. When she was close enough, the man reached into his jacket.
But he didn't pull out money.
He pulled out a knife.
"Wait—" Wren's voice came out small, confused. Like she still didn't understand.
His hand shot out, fingers tangling in her hair. He yanked her head back, exposing the pale column of her throat.
"No!" I screamed, thrashing against my restraints. "Don't—please—"
Time seemed to slow. I saw the blade catch the light. Saw the moment Wren's eyes went wide with realization—not confusion anymore, but pure terror. She knew.
The knife moved.
A thin red line appeared across her throat. For one impossible moment, nothing happened. Wren's mouth opened, trying to form words.
Then the blood came.
Not a trickle. A torrent. Dark and thick, spraying across the concrete in rhythmic pulses that matched her heartbeat.
Wren's hands flew to her neck, fingers scrabbling uselessly as if she could somehow hold herself together.
The sound she made wet, gurgling, desperate—would haunt me forever.
"WREN!" I was sobbing now, yanking so hard at the ropes that I felt the stitches in my side rip open. "No, no, no"
The man let her fall, stepping back casually to avoid getting blood on his shoes. Wren collapsed face-first on the concrete, her body twitching once, twice, then going horribly still.
The pool of crimson spreading beneath her seemed impossibly large.
"She served her purpose," the man said calmly, wiping the blade on a handkerchief. "And she knew too much. Loose ends are bad for business."
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. My best friend, my best friend who betrayed me lay dead on the floor, her blood still spreading,
I couldn't breathe. My lungs seized, refusing to work. The world tilted, and I realized I was screaming—had been screaming—but couldn't hear it over the roaring in my ears.
Wren. My Wren. The girl who'd braided my hair. Who'd snuck me cookies when I was sad. Who'd betrayed me, yes, but who'd also been my only friend,and this monster was acting like he'd just taken out the trash
The pool of blood was still spreading. Still spreading. Why wouldn't it stop spreading?
Something inside me cracked.
A sound tore from my throat, not quite human, not quite animal. The fluorescent lights flickered and buzzed. My skin felt too tight, like something was trying to claw its way out from inside me.
The man's eyes lit up with fascination. "Oh, yes. There it is. Your first shift. How delightful."
But before whatever was happening to me could fully emerge, he jabbed a syringe into my neck. Ice-cold liquid flooded my veins, and the world tilted sideways.
"Not yet, little wolf," he murmured as darkness swallowed me whole. "We need you docile for transport. But soon... soon you'll show me everything you can do."