The sun barely rose, yet the house already felt heavier than ever. Each step I took across the stone floors felt like walking through shadows, my chest still aching from the rejection. Alpha Kael… he had said the words, spoken my full name as if cutting me from his world. I accepted it, I reminded myself, though it hurt like a knife twisting in my chest.
Father's presence was a constant pressure. He didn't need to speak to make me shrink. But today, he chose to remind me.
"Raelia," he said, voice cold and hard, "you will sweep the lower halls today. And don't falter. I won't tolerate failure."
My hands gripped the broom tighter. "Yes, Father," I whispered, barely audible.
My brother's laugh followed me down the corridor. "Poor little Raelia. Even the outsiders don't want you. How pathetic."
I kept my head low, swallowing the sting of his words. It was nothing new. My whole life had been like this—a cage of cruelty disguised as family. Yet beneath it all, something inside me shifted. A quiet, restless spark, refusing to be snuffed out.
I paused for a moment near the window, watching the first rays of sunlight strike the forest beyond. I felt… different. Not just the ache in my chest from Kael's rejection, but something else—something deep and unexplainable. A hum beneath my skin, a pull in my chest, a warmth in my bones that didn't belong to the cold stone of this house.
I had felt it before, fleetingly, when I was alone. But now it lingered, stronger. I am not ordinary, I thought, gripping the window frame. I am not nothing.
The other wolves in the house passed by, some sneering, some indifferent. Yet I noticed their subtle glances—the way their instincts flinched around me. They can sense it too, I realized. Something about me is… different.
My father's voice broke my thoughts. "Raelia! Don't stand there daydreaming. Get back to work!"
I obeyed, hiding the spark inside me. I couldn't let them see it yet. Not until the day I turned eighteen. That day, I had been told, would change everything. I didn't know how… or why… but the anticipation made my chest thrum with something dangerous and exciting.
For now, I endured. I survived. I hid. But deep down, I knew: the world outside these walls—beyond my father, my brother, and their cruelty—was waiting for me. And when I was ready… when I embraced who I truly was… nothing would be able to hold me back.