Chapter Two

The dream was a blur of moonlight and laughter. I stood in a forest clearing, bathed in silver light. Trees stretched like cathedral pillars around me, and in the distance, just beyond the mist, I heard a voice. A man's voice. Warm. Familiar.

"You don’t have to run anymore."

I turned toward it, heart pounding. But the light fractured, and the clearing rippled like water. The trees twisted. Shadows stretched. Then a wolf emerged—massive, silver-furred, glowing eyes locked on mine like it knew my soul. It didn’t growl. It didn’t chase. It just stared. Waiting. In its eyes, I saw flashes of the same crescent moon that is on my shoulder, but the reflection in its eyes was glowing white-hot.

“Serelina.” The voice whispered through the trees. Not a warning. A calling. I gasped and stumbled back…

I woke up. Breathless. Cold sweat soaked the hospital sheets. My hand flew to my shoulder, gripping it like I was expecting the birthmark to be burning. The silence was too loud. My heart thundered like it remembered something I didn't. It was just a dream. Wasn’t it?

The room was quiet. Too quiet. Not the gentle hush of recovery, but a tense, unnatural stillness. The blinds were half-closed, letting in slats of pale morning light that striped the floor. I sat up slowly, a dull ache radiating through my body. My muscles protested, stiff and uncooperative. But it was the buzzing under my skin that unsettled me more. A strange, pulsing warmth. Like something inside me had been stirred.

The door creaked open. Nurse Ferren entered with a breakfast tray and a practiced smile.

"Good morning, Serelina. How are you feeling this morning?"

"I have a headache," I muttered. "Still no clue how I got here?" I questioned her again. There is just something about her that screams to me that she knows a lot more than what she is giving away. Ferren placed the tray down with surgical precision. "Still nothing. You were unconscious when you were brought in. No ID, no phone. Just lucky someone brought you here after they found you."

"Someone?" I asked.

"Anonymous."

I narrowed my eyes. Ferren's hands were steady. Her tone is calm. But her gaze flicked too quickly to the monitor by the bed. "I feel like there's something you're not telling me," I said. Ferren didn’t blink. "If there was, you’d be the first to know."

Later that morning, a doctor came in, informing me that I might be discharged today if my vitals continued to stay stable. My scans were clear, and while there were still questions, medically, I was fit to leave. That should have been good news. But the idea of leaving stirred up something uncomfortable. I didn’t have anyone I wanted to call. My adoptive family were cold, distant people who’d made it clear over the years that taking me in was more of a chore than a choice. I could already hear the sharp voice of my adoptive mother: “What trouble have you gotten yourself into now?” No, definitely not them.

But I remembered someone else. A flash of curly hair and a bright laugh. Amaya, my best friend since high school, the one person who always had my back. If anyone would know what happened that night at Strawberry Moon nightclub, it’d be her. I reached for the hospital phone and dialed the number from memory, praying Amaya would answer.

The phone rang a few times and just when I was getting ready to hang it up, she answered.

"Hello?" Amaya's voice was cautious, groggy.

"Amaya? It’s me... Serelina."

"Oh my God! SERI?! Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling everyone! Are you okay?"

My voice trembled. "I woke up in the hospital. I don’t remember much… just flashes. They said I was found unconscious outside Strawberry Moon. Do you… do you know what happened?"

"No! One second we were dancing, and the next I turned around and you were gone. I looked everywhere, Seri. I thought… I thought something bad happened."

"Something did happen," I whispered. "But I don’t know what. They said someone dropped me off here but didn't leave a name or any contact info.”

Amaya was quiet for a minute. "I’m coming to get you. Just tell me where you are."

"St. Mercy General. Room 312."

"I’ll be there in thirty. Hang tight, okay?"

I closed her eyes, tears pressing against my lashes. "Thank you, Maya. I didn’t know who else to call."

"You always call me. No matter what."

I hung the phone back up and searched the room for the clothes that I had on that night. But they were nowhere to be found. I didn't want to call for a nurse or anything because I am beginning to feel like there is no one here that I can trust. I know for a fact Nurse Ferren knows more about what is going on with me and what happened that night then she is leading on. So I am going to get out of here as fast as I can. I am not waiting for discharge.

Ferren's POV

I stepped out of the room with the grace of someone who had done this a thousand times. But the moment the door clicked shut, the tension in my spine snapped like a rubber band. I ducked into the supply closet, counting the seconds until the motion light flickered on. A quick glance to confirm no one was around, and then I moved to the bottom shelf of the cabinet, behind the backup crash cart. I pulled the white folder back out of the manila file. I needed to check something. I needed to make sure it was also still there.

I opened the folder just long enough to see the marker, the genetic anomaly tied to an extinct bloodline. One that should have vanished with the Crestwood fire twenty-five years ago. Serelina Vale. My heart thudded as I shoved the envelope back into its hiding place and pulled out my encrypted cell.

“She’s stable. But the shift is starting. She senses it. I can’t hold this cover much longer.” I hesitated. “She doesn't remember. Not yet. But the wolf is waking up.”

I hit send.

Draven's POV

Beneath the city, inside a dimly lit surveillance compound, I read the message as it blinked across the screen.

“The wolf is waking.”

I stood slowly, crossing to the glass-encased file vault. Pressing a hand to the scanner, the biometric locks disengaged with a quiet hiss. The case labeled "Project Crescent" glowed faintly. I tapped a single file. "Serelina Vale," I murmured. "Right on time."

I returned back to the message screen and typed back

“Maintain cover. No interference. If she remembers, you know the protocol.”

I didn’t have to explain. Ferren knew. She always knew.

Serelina’s POV “The Escape”

I dressed in the loose jeans and oversized hoodie Amaya brought for me. Anything to feel normal again. When the nurse on duty that was sitting at the desk right outside of my door stepped away to take a call, Amaya slipped into the room, sunglasses on and confidence blazing.

"You ready to bust out of here, or what?"

"You’re serious? We can’t just leave."

"They said you’re being discharged anyway. Paperwork’s just a formality."

I hesitated only a second before nodding. I grabbed the only thing that I had in that room. The shoes I was wearing that night. I still felt groggy, but the strange humming in my blood had quieted for now. We slipped down the hall, avoided the nurse’s station, and exited through the side door Amaya had propped open earlier. A quick sprint across the parking lot and we were in Amaya’s car, tires peeling out.

Back at Amaya’s apartment, I was overwhelmed by the scent of vanilla candles, the cozy couch, and the faint sound of Leo playing guitar in the other room. Safety, for the first time in days. Leo is Amaya’s long term boyfriend of 9 years.

Amaya handed me a bottle of water and I plopped down next to me. "So… what the hell happened that night?" Amaya asked me as she sat next to Leo. I stared at my hands. "That’s what I’m trying to figure out." And deep down, I knew—whatever the answer was, it wasn’t going to be simple. Not this time.