Selene’s POV
"Wake up, Selene! Wake up, Selene!"
That’s what I kept hearing from wherever I’d passed out. The sound faded in and out with every second that crawled by, until I finally gasped back to reality. I wasn’t dead, but I’d been close to it.
It was Valerie waking me.
"Oh, thank goddess, you’re awake," she exclaimed, pressing a drenched towel against my face.
"What happened?" I asked, picking my words carefully.
"There was an attack, Selene. A warning attack. They said they’d be back." Her words startled me. Everything still looked blurry. I hadn’t fully come back to myself yet.
I began to wonder why she was even here, in the Alpha’s arena.
"How are you here?" I burst out.
"They told everyone to seek shelter. I had to come find you, and I’m glad I did, because you’d passed out."
I looked at her and gave her a quiet thank you.
The events before the attack still felt like a dream, but they’d been real. Too real. I heard a voice in my head telling me she’s Nara. I couldn’t tell anyone about that. I’d be branded the enemy the second the words left my mouth.
Fuck. How could this be happening?
While I lay there at Valerie’s feet, turning it all over in my head, I suddenly remembered the Alpha. Restlessness clawed up my spine. I couldn’t settle until I knew he was safe.
I shot up and ran for the door.
"Where are you going, Selene? You need to rest." The walls around us were in ruins. Everything looked like it had been torn apart, and I prayed it hadn’t reached him.
"I need to know how the Alpha is doing," I told her flatly.
"I promise you, the Alpha is fine. His chambers were guarded the entire time. A few of his guards took a beating, though," Valerie said.
That stopped me. "What about the others? Our friends?" I braced myself for bad news. God knew I’d had enough of that already. But they were fine. Alive, all of them.
The attack had been a warning. They were coming back ... that’s what the intruders had said.
I left the library room where I’d been laid out, Valerie trailing behind me. Ms. Ashlyn wasn’t there. I assumed they’d taken her to the hospital. I’d check on her soon. But first, I ran straight for the Alpha’s chambers.
His guards wouldn’t let me through.
"I need to see him. I need to know he’s okay," I yelled, and our voices clashed louder and louder until Kael stepped out. He looked at me and said, "Let her in." The guards had been holding the line because trust was in short supply tonight ... anyone could’ve been behind the attack.
Once inside, I went straight for the King. He stood tall, looking perfectly fine.
"Alpha, are you alright?" I asked, genuine worry in my voice.
"Do I look otherwise?" he shot back, dry as ever.
This wasn’t my place to push ... territory matters weren’t mine to question ... but our lives were on the line. I had to ask.
"What was that? The attack. Who wants us dead?"
Kael answered before Lucian could. "Rogue wolves. Intel says they were outcasts from Winterwood ... traitors looking for retribution."
"Are you serious? How many?"
"We cast out around forty-six of them in recent memory, but there were more than that tonight. They must’ve recruited other rebels along the way," Lucian said.
It was insane. They wanted revenge on the King, on Winterwood, for casting them out. Everyone was chasing some kind of redemption, it seemed ... and they thought this was how they’d get it. It wouldn’t work. They were gambling with their lives for nothing.
"Don’t worry, Selene. They’re too small for us. We’ll hunt them down and end this," Lucian said.
"Are you alright, Selene?" Kael asked.
"I am, sir. Thank you," I replied, forcing a small laugh.
It was kind of him to check on me. I hadn’t seen Tessa through any of this, and I wondered where she’d disappeared to. But now that I knew the King was safe, I ran for the hospital to check on Ms. Ashlyn ... and damn, she wasn’t in good shape.
The blast had hit the front of the building directly, catching her partially where she’d been sitting at her desk.
"A large chunk of wall fell across her torso," the pack doctor told me.
"When will she be back on her feet? Or is that wishful thinking?"
"She’ll recover. Give it four days, and her bones should be back in proper alignment."
Relief flooded through me. I sat by her side, and before long, she stirred awake.
"Ms. Ashlyn!" I exclaimed, wrapping her in a gentle hug. "I’m so glad you’re okay."
She looked at me. "I’m glad you’re okay too, Selene."
She kept staring at me strangely from the bed ... the kind of look that said she was holding something back, something she desperately needed to say.
"What is it, ma?" I asked, because that look was starting to scare the hell out of me.
"This is bigger than all of us, Selene. Wider than we think."
"What do you mean?"
"Don’t stop researching. Don’t stop reading. The prophecy is upon us." She broke into a coughing fit the moment the words left her mouth.
"What prophecy? How do I look into it?" I pressed, but she couldn’t answer ... the coughing wouldn’t let her. The doctor rushed in with two nurses to attend to her. It looked like she’d gone into shock. I had to leave the room.
Fuck. It all came rushing back the second the word prophecy crossed my mind again. It rang out in my head like a struck cymbal.
The prophecy Nara had given before she died. The one about endless wars and separation.
Lucian thought this enemy was too small to worry about. But it was bigger than that. What their forefathers had done was finally coming back to haunt them.
Why can’t the dead just rest in peace? I asked myself.
I never agreed with what had been done to her. But the unjust death of one person, buried in the past, shouldn’t put countless innocent souls in danger now.
Once I’d finished checking on my library’s custodian, it was time to face the voice in my head. I hadn’t felt right since I woke up.
I bolted from the hospital, deep into the forest, needing to get whatever this was out of my system.
How could the source of all this chaos be living inside me?
Alone in the thick brush, I started shouting into the open air, hoping she’d hear me. The voice in my head would have to come out and answer for herself.
"Nara! Nara! Nara! I know you’re in there! You introduced yourself yesterday ... show yourself!"
I shouted like that for another fifteen minutes straight. Still nothing.
But I wasn’t going to back down. She couldn’t cause this much damage and expect me to stay silent. I didn’t want anyone else to die.
"Nara! Reveal yourself, bitch! I know you’re hiding!" I gasped for breath, my throat raw from screaming.
Frustration boiled over, so I switched tactics.
"I’m going to kill myself right now," I screamed with whatever strength I had left.
I started walking toward the river nearby. As I got close, I heard it: "What do you think you’re doing, Selene? Do you think you own your life?"
Finally. She’d spoken.
What do you want from me? And why are you inside me? I asked her, inside my own head.
"I’m older than you and your grandfather wolves combined. I possess whoever I see fit to carry out my agenda," she said.
"What is your agenda?" I asked her calmly, just to get the answer I’d been chasing.
"Haven’t you read the book? Everything in it is true. I didn’t expect you to be this slow ... but that curiosity of yours? That’s exactly why you’re mine. Now, we take over. Together."
Her words hit me like stones.
"You don’t own me, Nara, or whatever the hell you are. I am my own wolf," I challenged her.
I heard her laugh inside my head.
"You really believe that? Everything that’s happened in your life ... do you think it was random? The rejection. The betrayal. The mistreatment. It was all for your purpose. You belong to me."
My knees buckled beneath me. Sadness and disappointment filled me like incense smoke fills a room.
She’d been the reason behind every one of my downfalls ... all the things I once thought was just bad luck.
Why me? Why me?