The Wolf Who Should Not Exist

The sound of wings was the first thing she heard.

Not the soft, flapping kind that birds made but something heavier. Rougher. Each beat shook the sky like thunder. Evryn gasped and sat up in the dark, her chest heaving. Sweat soaked her back. Her hands trembled.

Then came the fire.

Flames burned through the dream again, chasing her across a forest she didn’t recognize. The heat licked her skin even now, though she was wide awake. Her room was cold, the cottage quiet. But her body said otherwise.

She coughed and tasted smoke.

Evryn climbed out of bed, her legs shaky. She stumbled to the corner of the room, reached beneath a loose floorboard, and pulled out the glass flask. Inside swirled a bitter brown liquid; the only thing keeping her from losing control.

She uncorked it with shaking fingers and swallowed it.

The root water burned down her throat, worse than fire. It numbed her body almost instantly. Her heart slowed. Her skin stopped glowing. Her spine stopped itching where wings wanted to grow.

Not yet. Not now.

Evryn wiped her mouth and walked to the broken window. She pulled the curtain aside and looked up.

The moons were rising together; twin silver eyes in a blood-red sky.

Her stomach dropped.

The legends were true. The Twin Moons Alignment was real, and it had started tonight.

A soft knock made her jump.

She turned sharply, eyes glowing faintly gold in the dark. She blinked hard and slipped on her black lenses before cracking the door open.

“Draven?” she whispered.

The boy outside looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. His pale silver hair was damp with sweat, and his eyes, wolf eyes, always sharp, were filled with panic.

“They’re coming,” he said.

Evryn stepped outside quickly, closing the door behind her.

“Who?” she asked, voice low.

“The King’s Guard. Wolves. With tracking hounds.”

Evryn’s heart pounded. “They found me?”

Draven nodded. “You need to leave. Now. You’re glowing, Ev. They’ll smell your shift before you even move.”

She looked down at her hands. They were glowing; just barely, like embers under her skin. Her dragon side was waking up. It always stirred when the moons were high, but… this was worse.

“I took the suppressant,” she whispered.

“Not enough,” Draven said. “You need to run. I’ll cover you”

A long, sharp howl cut through the night air.

Both of them froze.

Another answered from farther away. Then another. Three. Four. Too many.

Evryn grabbed her satchel, already packed for this day. She had only ever been preparing to leave.

“I’ll go through the orchard,” she said. “Past the hollow well. They won’t expect that path.”

Draven grabbed her wrist. “Don’t go alone. Let me…”

“No,” she said, firmer than she’d ever spoken before. “You said they’re after me, not you.”

He hesitated. “I’ll lead them the other way.”

She didn’t say thank you. There was no time.

She turned and ran into the trees.

The orchard had once been a safe place; rows of twisted trees bore no fruit but offered plenty of shadows. Now the dry ground crunched beneath Evryn’s boots, and every breath she took burned her throat.

She felt the moon's pulling at her bones.

Worse, she felt the wings stirring again.

Her mother used to say: “You are fire and fang, little one. Don’t ever forget what burns in you.”

Evryn had tried to forget.

She pushed the memory away and kept running. The forest beyond the orchard was darker, thicker. The rogue town disappeared behind her.

Suddenly, movement ahead.

She dropped low behind a tree. Her breathing slowed. Her eyes scanned the clearing.

Two wolves. In armor. Moving silently through the undergrowth.

The Alpha King’s Guard.

They were here.

She turned, ready to double back; but pain shot down her spine. She gasped, falling to her knees.

Not now.

Her back arched. Her lungs burned. Heat flooded her body like molten metal.

Then it happened.

Her wings tore through her skin.

They weren’t fully formed; just outlines of flame and bone, but they hurt. She bit back a scream.

The root water wasn’t enough.

The soldiers turned at the sound. “There!”

Evryn didn’t think.

She ran.

She barely knew how to control the wings, but they helped. Her feet lifted slightly with every leap, clearing roots and stones like nothing.

The wolves chased her.

She burst through the tree line and found herself on the edge of a cliff.

Wind howled around her. The moons lit the valley below in silver-blue light.

The soldiers closed in behind her.

“Don’t move!” one shouted.

Evryn turned slowly, hands up.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she said.

They didn’t believe her.

Weapons were drawn. Teeth bared. One soldier stepped forward; golden eyes locked on hers.

Then a voice rang out: cold, commanding.

“Stop.”

A new figure stepped through the trees.

Armor black as night. A cloak of midnight fur. A blade on his back and a glowing mark on his hand.

Kael.

The Alpha King’s heir.

He looked at her like he already knew what she was.

Evryn backed away. “Please…”

He raised his hand.

One of the soldiers moved to strike.

Evryn’s wings flared out on instinct.

Fire burst around her.

Kael didn’t attack.

He stared at her; at the fear in her face. The pain. The glow of her blood. He saw something that made him hesitate.

The moment held.

Then Evryn turned and jumped.

She didn’t know how to fly.

She fell.

But her wings caught the wind just enough.

She vanished into the valley like a falling star.

Kael lowered his hand, eyes still on the place where she’d vanished.

“Bring her back,” he said. “Alive.”