Chapter 1 The Awakening

The moon rose slowly over Hawthorne Ridge, glowing with a pale silver light that seemed far brighter than it should have been. The night carried a kind of tension I had never felt before, as if the air itself was waiting for something to happen. Even the trees looked different, their branches swaying gently like they were whispering secrets to each other.

For most people in the village, this would have been nothing more than another quiet evening, but for me it felt like the beginning of something I could not understand.

I stood outside the small wooden cabin I shared with my grandmother, pulling my shawl tighter around myself as the cold brushed against my skin. The sky was clear and sharp, a sea of stars spread above me. I had always loved the night, but lately, it made me restless.

My dreams had become strange, filled with glowing eyes and forests that stretched endlessly into the unknown. I would wake up with my heart racing and my body covered in sweat, yet unable to remember what chased me.

Grandmother always said I was born different, but she never explained what she meant by that. She treated me with a soft kind of caution, as if she knew something about me that I was not ready to hear. She watched me too closely sometimes, especially when the moon was full. Tonight was one of those nights. I could feel her gaze from the doorway even before she spoke.

“You should come inside, Aria,” she said gently. “The forest feels strange tonight.”

“It feels alive,” I replied, looking toward the dark tree line. “Like it is calling out for something.”

Grandmother’s eyes softened with worry. “That is exactly why you should come inside.”

But I was tired of being treated like glass. “I only want to take a walk along the edge. I will not go far, I promise.”

She hesitated, and at that moment I knew she wanted to refuse. Her fingers tightened on the wooden doorframe, and her lips pressed together, forming a thin line. At last, she gave a slow nod.

“Do not cross into the woods. Stay where I can see the lantern if you light it.”

“I will,” I said, though I already knew I would go farther than I should.

I walked away from the cabin and toward the open field that bordered the forest. The grass brushed against my ankles, cool and soft. Every step felt like I was being pulled forward by something unseen, something deep in the earth that hummed with a rhythm I could not ignore. I breathed in the scent of pine and earth, and a strange warmth stirred inside my chest.

It started as a small pulse, almost like a heartbeat that was not mine. Then it grew stronger. My fingers tingled, and a shiver ran down my spine, not from the cold but from something else entirely. I stopped walking, trying to steady my breathing.

“What is happening to me?” I whispered.

The forest answered with silence.

I let my gaze drift upward. The moon hung directly above me, larger than I had ever seen it. It looked alive with light, glowing so fiercely that it painted everything around me in silver. For a moment, I could not look away. My heart began to pound, and a soft ringing filled my ears. I felt heat spread through my veins, slow at first, then rising sharply as if something ancient and wild had awakened inside me.

I stumbled backward, pressing a hand to my chest. My skin burned. My breath quickened. The warmth grew until it almost hurt.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “Not again.”

The same feeling had been growing inside me for weeks. It came at night, always stronger during a full moon. Some days I felt like I was losing my mind. Other days I felt like I was becoming someone else entirely.

My legs trembled, and I fell to my knees. The earth felt warm beneath my palms, alive and humming with the same strange energy racing through me. My vision blurred as another wave of heat rushed through my body. For a moment, I thought I was going to faint.

That was when I heard it.

A howl.

Long, low, deep, filled with power.

It echoed through the night, coming from somewhere deep within the forest. My breath caught in my throat. Something inside me reacted instantly. It was not fear. It was recognition.

The howl rose again, louder this time, shaking the air around me. My heart thudded against my ribs as another pulse of heat shot through my veins. It felt as though the sound itself had awakened something buried deep inside me.

I stood slowly, my legs shaky beneath me.

The forest seemed to draw closer, its branches leaning forward like arms reaching out to embrace me. Shadows shifted between the trees, and I felt a presence watching me from the darkness.

It was not human.

I took a hesitant step toward the woods, unable to fight the pull any longer. Something within me felt connected to that howl, as if a thread stretched between the creature and myself. My blood rushed with a strange excitement that frightened me.

Then I heard another sound. Footsteps. Fast ones.Someone was running. No, not someone. “Several people.”

I froze.

Voices followed, sharp and urgent, carrying through the night.

“She has to be here!”

“Spread out, do not let her escape!”

“Check the ridge, she was spotted heading this way!”

My heart lurched. They were coming from the village.

I turned quickly, scanning the open land behind me. Torches flickered in the distance, and dark figures moved through the night, getting closer with every passing second. They looked like a small hunting group, all dressed in dark clothing and moving with a practiced unity that made my stomach tighten.

Why were they coming toward me? Who were they searching for?

The heat inside me twisted sharply, almost painfully, as if warning me. I took a step back toward the forest. I had always been told to avoid the woods at night, but something told me I would not be safe if I stayed out in the open.

I backed up slowly, my eyes fixed on the approaching figures. The voices grew louder. One of them shouted instructions, and the others spread out even more.

“She cannot be far! Move faster!”

She. They were looking for a girl.

My pulse jumped.

Were they searching for me?

I had never done anything wrong. I barely left the cabin except for chores. I lived quietly, unnoticed, almost invisible. Why would anyone be looking for me?

Unless they knew.

Unless someone had noticed the changes.

I stumbled backward again, my heel brushing the edge of the tree line. The forest felt impossibly dark, but somehow inviting. The moment my foot touched the shadows, the burning inside me eased. Not enough to be comfortable, but enough to let me breathe.

The hunters kept coming.

I made a decision without really thinking. My body moved on instinct, guided by whatever wild force was growing inside me.

I slipped into the forest.

The moment I crossed beneath the trees, the air changed. It felt warmer, thicker, as if the entire forest was breathing around me. The darkness was deep, but not empty. The trees towered above me, forming a living roof that blocked most of the moonlight. The ground was soft beneath my feet, covered in leaves that barely made a sound as I moved.

I walked quickly but quietly, my senses strangely sharper than usual. Every sound became clearer, from the rustling of leaves to the distant flow of a small stream. My hearing felt heightened, almost unnaturally so.

Another howl echoed through the forest, closer this time. My body reacted immediately, a tremor running through me from head to toe. The burning inside me returned, but not painfully. It felt like a call.

A call meant for me.

I did not know why, but I started moving toward the sound. My legs carried me deeper into the woods, faster than I had ever run before. My breath flowed easily, and the night no longer felt cold. My heart beat with a rhythm that felt ancient and wild, as if my body was remembering something it was never taught.

I ran until I reached a small clearing. The moonlight filtered through an opening in the branches above, casting a silver glow over the area. I stopped in the center, trying to catch my breath, even though I was not tired at all.

Then the branches shifted behind me.

A figure stepped out of the shadows.

My breath caught in my throat as I turned.

He stood at the edge of the clearing, tall and broad shouldered, with dark hair that fell slightly over his forehead. His eyes glowed faintly in the moonlight, an unnatural golden color that sent a shock of fear and fascination through me. Every instinct inside me told me he was not human.

He walked toward me slowly, almost cautiously.

“Do not run,” he said quietly. His voice was deep and calm, but filled with an authority that made my body tense.

“I was not planning to,” I replied, even though my heart was racing.

His eyes studied me with an intensity that felt almost intimate. “You felt it, did you not?”

I swallowed hard. “Felt what?”

“The Awakening.”

The word hit me like a wave.

Awakening.

My chest tightened. “I do not know what you are talking about.”

He took another step closer, and I noticed something strange. The wild heat inside me reacted to him, rising with every move he made. It felt like my entire body recognized him somehow.

“You are changing,” he said slowly. “Your blood knows what you are becoming, even if your mind does not yet understand it.”

I took a shaky breath. “Why are you here? Who are you?”

For a moment he did not answer. Instead, he looked at the moon, then back at me.

“My name is Kael,” he said softly. “And I came because you are not safe anymore. They know what you are. They are hunting you.”

My heart dropped.

“What am I?” I whispered.

He stepped close enough that I felt his warmth in the cold night air. His golden eyes locked onto mine, and when he spoke, his voice was filled with a truth I felt in my bones.

“You are one of us, Aria. A wolf born in human skin. Your true nature lives in your blood. And tonight is the night it begins to rise.”

The world seemed to stop around me.

My throat tightened, my breath caught, and the burning heat inside me surged so powerfully I nearly collapsed.

And then everything went still.

Everything went quiet.

Everything changed.