NYRA

My eyes snapped open like I’d never fallen asleep, and the ceiling above me looked too bright, white streaked with gold like someone had poured light straight into it. My heart beats loud, steady and rhythmic. But it wasn’t just mine. I could hear another one, outside, on the street. Someone walking past. Their steps are crunching snow.

I sat up fast, already sweating.

The air burned in my throat. Every part of me felt raw and stretched thin. The sound of a dog barking three blocks away made me flinch. I pressed a hand to my temple, but the headache pulsed deeper. Inside my bones and deep beneath my skin.

The wolf was pacing and restless.

I told myself it was nothing. That I was tired. Probably still shaken from last night.

*

Downstairs, I scrubbed my station again, harder than necessary, my hands red from the sting of hot water. The metal felt warm even before I touched it. The smell of ink hit me before I uncapped the bottle. Roe was humming upstairs.

A man passed by the window, his hunger hit me first, sharp and oily like burnt toast. Then a woman, her sadness made my chest ache and my hands trembled. My wolf reacted to each one.

It wasn’t normal. None of it was.

*

The shop opened slowly. A few regulars wandered in, the faces I knew but everything felt... tilted. The lights buzzed too loud. The world didn’t sound like this yesterday.

I blinked very hard, trying to just force everything back to normal and how it is, pretending nothing just changed. Everything was starting to become weird and I felt it deep in my bones and my body didn’t lie.

Late in the morning, a young omega girl came in with her mother. She was barely fifteen I guess, with a nervous smile, soft-scented with lavender and clove. Her mom had booked the appointment weeks ago. First ear piercing. A coming-of-age thing.

I smiled, tried to be calm. Ground myself in the script I always used. Sterilize the tools. Check the placement. Numb the skin.

The girl’s anxiety flooded and I could obviously note her heart was beating too fast. I tried not to breathe her scent too deeply. I tried to keep the wolf quiet but I was still somehow troubled.

“I won’t even feel it, right?” she asked softly.

I nodded. “Just a pinch. Over before you know it.”

She closed her eyes and I positioned the needle.

One breath. Two.

I pierced.

She gasped, then immediately collapsed forward into my arms, limbs going limp, breath shallow.

“Shit,” I whispered, catching her before she hit the floor. The fear in her was sharp like static, scraping against me.

I didn't think as my hands moved on their own.

One pressed to her chest. The other hovered over her head. A soft glow formed between my palms, gold and warm and alive. There wasn't light from the lamp. It came from me. Like warmth pouring through my skin.

The girl exhaled. The panic drained from her scent. Her eyes fluttered open.

I yanked my hand back, my heart heart slamming.

“What the hell was that?” I whispered, staring at my fingers.

“Moon-magic healer?” Roe said behind me, laughing nervously.

I didn’t answer, because I didn’t know what to call it.

It felt real and very terrifying.

I shut the place down early. Said the power was flickering, which wasn’t a total lie. My hands still felt like live wires. I kept wringing them out under cold water, watching my own reflection in the bathroom mirror like I was waiting for something to shift but it didn't.

That kind of healing, real moon-gifted healing, wasn’t in me. Not anymore. Not after what they did. It had been ripped out, cut down, drained from my bones.

I knew fully well if it got to the elders and councils, I'd be something ‘useful’ for them and I didn't want to be a tool for anyone.

So how did it come back?

I didn’t let myself sit with the question. I cleaned until the place was spotless. I stacked and re-stacked my supplies and I avoided the mirror.

But I couldn’t avoid the feeling crawling under my skin. The way the wolf had stopped pacing and just… waited, like even she didn’t recognize me anymore.

It was dark when I locked up.

A cold wind bit at my neck, and I turned the lock once, twice, checked the door handle out of habit. Then I felt someone behind me, I almost hit the person with a stick which I got quickly when I realized the person behind me was Kade.

Kade.

He stood there like he always did, his silent, heavy presence and that heat clinging to him like static. But tonight was different. He looked… clean. Sharp black coat, dark jeans, no blood. No grime. His eyes still burned, though.

I didn’t say anything. Just moved back toward the counter.

He followed without saying a word.

His hand grazed the wall as he walked past, fingers dragging along the exposed brick like he was reading it. I hated the way he moved, like he belonged in my space. Like he didn’t need permission to belong in my own space.

“What are you doing?” I asked my voice sharp and somehow. I wasn't in that mood today. Not today.

He smirked. “Just curious about the rebellion you’re building in here.”

I stiffened. “It’s not a rebellion. It’s just a job.”

He tilted his head, slow and catlike. “Existing like that? It’s the loudest kind of rebellion.”

My mouth opened, then closed.

He stepped closer, not touching me. Just close enough that I felt his presence intimidating.

I stood there, every nerve buzzing, every piece of me pulled in two directions but I was worried about a whole lot of things. The councils finding out what had happened today? My wolf suddenly going silent? And the most terrifying part…. Kade being my mate.