Calyn's POV
I wake up screaming.
My hands fly to my throat, expecting to feel dirt crushing down on me, suffocating me. But there's nothing—just air. Clean, fresh air.
I'm not in the pit anymore.
I blink hard, trying to focus. I'm lying on something soft. A bed? The room around me is dim, lit by a single candle. Stone walls. A wooden door. Everything smells like earth and pine.
Where am I?
The last thing I remember is the silver-eyed man touching my forehead, his command echoing in my ears: Sleep.
I sit up too fast and pain shoots through my entire body. Every muscle screams. My hands are bandaged—someone cleaned and wrapped my torn fingers. I'm wearing different clothes now. A simple gray dress, soft and clean.
Someone undressed me. Tended my wounds. While I was unconscious.
Panic claws at my chest. I swing my legs off the bed and stand, even though my body protests. I need to find out where I am. I need answers.
The door opens before I can reach it.
The silver-eyed man from the forest walks in. He's even more intimidating in the candlelight—tall and broad-shouldered, moving with the grace of a predator. His dark hair is pulled back, and those eyes... they see everything.
I stumble backward. "Stay away from me."
He stops, holding up both hands. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"That's what they all say," I snap. My voice shakes but I don't care. "Who are you? Where am I? Why did you—"
"My name is Rowan Ashfall," he interrupts calmly. "You're in the Grey Enclave, a sanctuary for wolves who've been rejected by the pack system. I brought you here because those guards were going to kill you."
Rowan Ashfall. The name sounds familiar, but I can't place it.
"Sanctuary?" I repeat. "There's no such thing. Every territory belongs to a pack."
"Not this one." He leans against the doorframe, watching me with those unsettling silver eyes. "The Grey Enclave exists outside pack law. No Alphas. No hierarchy. No one here will hurt you because of your rank."
It sounds too good to be true. Nothing in my life has ever been that simple.
"Why?" I demand. "Why would you help me? You don't even know me."
Something flickers across his face—an emotion I can't read. "I know enough. You're Calyn Merewood, daughter of the late Alpha Thomas. Your brother Matthias threw you in the omega pit three days ago for helping other omegas escape Ironwood Pack's labor system."
My blood runs cold. "How do you know all that?"
"Because I've been tracking what happens in your pack for months." His voice is calm, matter-of-fact. "Your brother has been implementing brutal omega suppression laws. Torture. Starvation. Forced labor. When I heard he'd buried his own sister alive, I knew I had to find you."
"Why?" I ask again, louder this time. "What do you want from me?"
"Nothing." He pushes off the doorframe and takes a step closer. I tense, but he stops. "You're free to leave whenever you want, Calyn. But if you walk out that door now, where will you go? Back to Ironwood? They'll kill you. Another pack? They'll use you as a slave. Out here, you're just prey."
He's right and I hate him for it.
I have nowhere to go. No family. No pack. No home.
I'm completely alone.
The realization hits me like a physical blow. My legs give out and I sink back onto the bed, burying my face in my hands.
For three days, I fought to survive in that pit. I clawed through dirt and bones. I refused to die. But now that I'm out, now that I'm safe... what's the point?
"I tried to help them," I whisper. My voice cracks. "The other omegas. They were being beaten, starved, worked until they collapsed. I just... I couldn't watch it anymore. So I started sneaking them out at night, helping them escape to the rogue territories."
"How many did you save?" Rowan asks.
"Twelve. Over six months." I look up at him, and I'm shocked to find my eyes burning with tears. "But someone told Matthias. He found out it was me. He was so angry. He said I betrayed the pack. That I was destroying everything our father built."
"Your father would've been proud of you," Rowan says quietly.
"How would you know?" The words come out harsh. "You didn't know him."
"No. But I know what kind of Alpha he was." Rowan moves closer and sits on the chair across from me. "Thomas Merewood was known for treating omegas with respect. He believed strength came from protecting the weak, not exploiting them. Your brother is nothing like him."
Fresh pain stabs through my chest. "Matthias used to be good. When we were kids, he was my best friend. He protected me from bullies. He taught me to read. When our father died, I thought... I thought he'd continue his legacy."
"Power changes people," Rowan says. There's something dark in his voice, like he's speaking from experience.
"He changed the day he became Alpha," I continue, the words pouring out now. "The pack elders—they got in his head. Told him omegas were making the pack weak. That our father's kindness was the reason other packs didn't respect us. Matthias believed them. Within months, he'd stripped omegas of every right our father gave them."
I look down at my bandaged hands. "I begged him to stop. I showed him how the omegas were suffering. He said I was too soft. That I didn't understand leadership. When I wouldn't shut up about it, he... he reclassified me. Took away my family name. Made me an omega."
Rowan's eyes flash with something dangerous. "He did what?"
"I was born a Beta," I explain. "But he stripped my rank and declared me omega as punishment. Made me live in the servant quarters. Forced me to work in the kitchens and clean the pack house. He said if I loved omegas so much, I should experience their life."
"That's illegal," Rowan growls. "You can't change someone's birth rank."
"Tell that to him." I laugh bitterly. "He's the Alpha. He can do whatever he wants. The pack followed his orders because they were afraid. And I... I lived like that for eight months. Being spit on. Beaten. Starved. I thought if I endured it, he'd eventually forgive me and let me come home."
"But you didn't stop helping omegas," Rowan observes.
"No." I meet his eyes. "I couldn't. Once you see that kind of suffering, you can't just look away. So I kept sneaking them out. Until he caught me."
Rowan is quiet for a long moment. Then he asks, "What did he say when he threw you in the pit?"
The memory makes my stomach turn. "He said I was a traitor. That I'd chosen omegas over my own family. That this was mercy—because executing me publicly would shame the Merewood name. The pit was... it was supposed to look like an accident. Like I'd gotten lost and fallen in."
"But you survived," Rowan says. There's something like approval in his voice.
"Barely." I shudder, remembering the darkness. The bones. The suffocating earth. "There were others down there. Dead omegas. I could feel them around me. I used their bones to dig. I created air pockets. I drank rainwater that seeped through the soil. And I just... I refused to die."
"Because you're stronger than he ever gave you credit for," Rowan says.
Before I can respond, there's a knock on the door.
A woman enters—older, with silver-streaked hair and kind eyes. She's carrying a tray of food. The smell makes my stomach growl painfully.
"Good, you're awake," she says warmly. "I'm Rhea. Welcome to the Grey Enclave, Calyn. You're safe here."
She sets the tray on a small table. Bread. Cheese. Fresh fruit. Water. It's more food than I've seen in months.
I want to cry at the sight of it.
"Eat," Rhea encourages. "You need your strength."
I don't need to be told twice. I grab the bread and tear into it, barely chewing. It tastes like heaven. I'm shoving cheese into my mouth when Rhea speaks again.
"Rowan told me what happened to you," she says gently. "I'm sorry you suffered so much. But you're here now. No one will hurt you again."
"Why?" The question tumbles out between bites. "Why would you help me? What do you want?"
Rhea exchanges a look with Rowan. Something passes between them—a silent conversation I can't understand.
"Because you're special, Calyn," Rhea finally says. "More special than you realize."
My hand freezes halfway to my mouth. "What does that mean?"
Rowan stands, his silver eyes locked on mine. "When those guards attacked you in the forest, do you remember what you felt?"
"Fear," I answer immediately. "Terror. I thought I was going to die."
"Before that," he presses. "Right before I arrived. What did you feel?"
I think back. There was fear, yes. But there was also something else. Something I'd never felt before.
Heat. Like fire exploding in my chest. A desperate, furious need to fight. To survive.
And for just a second—just one heartbeat—I'd felt... powerful.
"I don't know," I whisper. "It was strange. Like something woke up inside me."
Rhea smiles. "That's because something did wake up. Your wolf recognized what you are. What you've always been."
"I don't understand."
"You will," Rowan says. "But first, you need to rest. Tomorrow, we'll show you."
"Show me what?" Frustration builds in my chest. "Stop talking in riddles and just tell me!"
"Tomorrow," Rhea repeats firmly. "For now, eat. Sleep. Heal."
They both head toward the door. I want to demand more answers, but exhaustion is pulling at me. My body is shutting down whether I like it or not.
Rowan pauses at the threshold and looks back at me. "One more thing, Calyn. That feeling you had in the forest—the power you felt? It's real. And it's going to change everything."
He closes the door before I can ask what he means.
I sit alone in the dim room, my mind racing. What are they talking about? What's special about me? I'm just an omega who refused to die.
I finish eating and lie back on the bed. Sleep pulls at me, but I resist. I need to think. I need to plan.
But my eyes drift closed despite my best efforts.
And as I fall into darkness, I dream.
I'm standing in front of the pit again. But this time, I'm not alone. There are dozens of omegas standing with me—all the ones who were thrown down and forgotten. They're watching me with hollow eyes.
"Why did you survive?" one of them asks. "Why you and not us?"
I try to answer, but no words come out.
Then they all speak at once, their voices overlapping: "What makes you special?"
I wake with a gasp, my heart pounding.
The room is still dark. Still quiet.
But I can't shake the feeling that they're right.
What makes me different from all the other omegas who died in that pit?
And why do I have the terrible feeling that finding out the answer is going to destroy whatever's left of my old life?