EMILY'S POV
The next morning, everything feels… sharper.
The colors.
The sounds.
The way the world seems to breathe with me.
When I step outside, the air wraps around me like a whisper. Even the smallest rustle of grass feels alive under my feet.
Grandma is hanging clothes on the line when she glances at me. Her eyes linger too long — searching.
"You didn't sleep," she says quietly.
I shrug, pretending to yawn. "Just couldn't."
But her gaze drops to the pendant around my neck. "You touched it, didn't you?"
Her tone freezes me in place. "What do you mean?"
"That charm was never meant to wake up, Emily."
I open my mouth to ask more, but the look she gives me silences everything. For the first time in my life, I see fear in her eyes — real fear.
Before I can say another word, the wind shifts — carrying something strange. The scent of rain and… metal.
My head throbs. A flash hits me — images that aren't mine.
The forest.
Silver eyes in the dark.
Blood on the snow.
"Emily?" Grandma's voice sounds distant. I grip the side of the wall, trying to steady myself. "I—I think I just saw something—"
Her expression hardens. "Go inside, now."
But before I move, a deep growl echoes from the woods.
Not a dog.
Not anything human.
Something inside me responds — my pulse matching the rhythm of the growl, my skin prickling with heat.
"Grandma…" I whisper.
She doesn't answer — she's already looking toward the trees, whispering words I don't understand, old and rhythmic. The pendant grows warm against my chest.
And then, everything stops.
Silence.
Stillness.
The kind that hums before chaos.
---
TYLER'S POV
"She felt it."
Mason stops packing his weapons and glares at me. "You're sure?"
I nod. "The bond pulsed again. Stronger this time. She's not just feeling the pull — she's responding to it."
"Then we need to move now," he says. "Before they find her."
I grab my jacket, but my wolf is restless — pacing, snarling in my mind.
"She's scared," he growls.
"I know," I answer out loud. "But if we rush in, she'll think we're the danger."
"Maybe we are," Mason mutters.
I shoot him a look, but he's right — partly. What's inside Emily isn't normal. It's not just wolf blood. It's something older. Something the packs stopped speaking of centuries ago.
The Awakening of the First Blood.
If she doesn't learn to control it, it won't just destroy her. It'll burn everything around her.
---
EMILY'S POV
By evening, I can't take the tension anymore. Grandma has been quiet all day, avoiding my questions.
So I go back to the forest.
The same pull leads me deeper this time — past the oak tree, past the stream, to a clearing I've never seen before. The air here feels heavier, shimmering like heat waves.
Then I see it.
A mark — carved into the stones. A crescent moon surrounded by wolves.
The moment I touch it, energy rushes through me. My vision blurs, my body trembles, but it doesn't feel wrong. It feels right.
Then, from behind me —
"Emily."
I freeze. The voice is low, rough, and familiar — the same one from my dreams.
I turn slowly.
And standing there, half in shadow, eyes glowing gold, is him.
Tyler.
---
TYLER'S POV
She looks at me — confused, frightened, but not backing away. Her scent fills the clearing, raw power humming under her skin.
"Don't be afraid," I say softly.
She takes a step back. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
"I've known you longer than you think," I whisper.
The moon breaks through the clouds, spilling silver light over her face. For a moment, she looks ethereal — like the stories my ancestors warned us about.
She doesn't know it yet, but she's not just awakening.
She's being called