POV: Everly
The slap came before the explanation.
Everly's head snapped sideways, the force nearly knocking the tray from her hands. Heat bloomed across her cheek, and for a moment she just stood there frozen in the middle of the Alpha's war corridor, blinking hard as the pain set in.
"Is this what you think of discipline?" the warrior barked.
She didn't know his name. Just another one of the guards from the inner war circle. She'd never spoken to him directly before. Everly tightened her grip on the tray and whispered, "I…I don't understand"
"You embarrassed the visiting councilor," he growled, stepping closer. "He tripped over your foot, and you didn't even apologize."
Her mouth opened. "I wasn't…"
The second strike wasn't a slap; it was a shove. Not hard, but enough to send her stumbling back into the stone wall. She hit it with a dull thud, heart racing. "I wasn't even in the room," she said, louder now. Her voice cracked, but she stood up straight.
That was new.
Usually she stayed quiet.
Usually she folded, but Selene's voice had been humming behind her thoughts since yesterday. Since Kyran. Since Lyra. Since Spirit, and now it has become stronger.
Don't bow. Not today.
They didn't punish her further, not at that moment, but the message was clear.
By midday, she was reassigned from the laundry halls to ash detail, cleaning hearths and soot from the training halls. Work usually given to outer-pack Omegas. Her hands were blackened, her lungs full of dust, and her arms screamed with fatigue by the time the bell rang for the third meal which she didn't attend. Instead, she slipped out through the east gate, into the path behind the supply shed. A place where no one went. Too muddy. Too exposed.
But quiet. She dropped into the low grass and curled her fingers into the earth.
Selene was silent but near.
So near.
Everly exhaled shakily. Her palms still burned from scrubbing the stone with no gloves. "This isn't survival," she whispered to herself. "It's erasure."
"Is there a difference?" The voice was calm. Crisp. Familiar.
Everly's breath caught and she turned slowly.
Spirit stood a few paces behind her, arms crossed, her green-gold eyes watching her like the forest watches prey, curious, quiet, and knowing.
"You…" Everly blinked. "You're not supposed to be here."
"I go where I please," Spirit said, her tone light. "That's one of the benefits of not belonging to a cage."
Everly stood, dirt clinging to her skirts. "They said you weren't real."
Spirit smiled. "They say a lot of things."
Everly studied her. "Why do you keep talking to me?"
"Because you keep listening."
Everly frowned. "That's not…"
Spirit stepped closer, tilting her head. "You think your pain means you're weak. But pain is just proof of the truth."
Everly felt Selene rise in agreement, a hum beneath Everly's ribs. Her chest tightened. "What truth?" she asked.
Spirit's voice dropped, low and certain. "That your soul remembers things your mind was forced to forget."
Everly stared at her, throat dry.
"Truth," Spirit whispered, "is a choice."
They stood in silence. The wind shifted through the trees behind them, stirring the air with the scent of cedar and stone.
"Then why do I feel like I'm burning?" Everly asked. "Every time I see him. Every time she touches him."
Spirit didn't answer right away. Instead, she turned her face toward the sky, lashes low. "Because the bond isn't just physical," she said finally. "It's elemental. Wolves burn for their mates. Even when they're denied."
"But I didn't ask for this," Everly whimpered.
Spirit's eyes flicked back. "No one does. But you don't just carry a wolf, Everly. You carry something older."
Everly took a step back. "What are you talking about?"
"You'll see." Spirit turned to leave, but this time, Everly reached out.
"Wait. Please. Just tell me…what are you? Who are you really?"
Spirit smiled without turning. "I'm the shadow in your periphery. I'm the breath between truths." She glanced over her shoulder one last time. "My name is Spirit," she said, "but what I am… isn't something they have a word for."
Then she was gone…again. Like a gust of wind. Like smoke.
Everly stood alone in the quiet, her heart racing, her hands shaking.
Selene was no longer silent. "You feel it, don't you?" she murmured. "She's not from here, but she's not against us."
Everly whispered aloud. "She's watching."
A deep growl threaded through Selene's words, more breath than voice. "They all are now."
She didn't make it ten steps back into the outer yard before it happened.
Lyra was waiting by the fountain with two other girls…daughters of merchants, warriors, whatever. They weren't pack royalty, but they dressed like it. Everly felt their eyes the moment she came into view.
"Look who thinks she's too good to eat with the rest of the rats," one of them called.
Everly didn't break stride.
"Must be nice to have mysterious girls appear just to talk to you in secret places," Lyra added, her voice high and cruel. "Maybe your 'imaginary friends' can get you a better rank."
Everly kept walking. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
"You're not special," Lyra hissed as Everly passed. "You're just broken."
Everly stopped and turned slowly. Selene pulsed beneath her skin like a second heartbeat. And for once...Everly let it rise. "I may be broken," she said softly, "but I'm not rotting."
Lyra blinked. That had not been the response she expected.
Everly turned away before she could think about what she'd said. Her hands were still shaking, but something inside her had shifted.
Later that night, Everly returned to her cot exhausted, every part of her aching. She didn't sleep. Not at first.
Selene kept shifting inside her, like her presence was stretching into spaces Everly had kept locked.
When sleep finally came, it was uneasy.
She dreamed of fog.
Of firelight.
Of a garden and of a voice that was not hers. Not Selene's. Not Spirit's.
Something older.
Something vast and when she woke just before dawn, she wasn't alone.
There was no one in the room.
But the shadow under her cot was darker than it should have been.
And from it, she heard her name again.
Not aloud.
In her blood.
"Everly."