The growl echoed through the trees once again, low and menacing, sending a shiver through the ground beneath me. My senses immediately sharpened. I scanned the shadows around me, my heart pounding in my chest. The air felt thick with tension, the smell of earth and pine overwhelming, but underneath it all, there was something else—something unnatural.

Focus. I had to stay focused.

A cold breeze rustled the leaves, and then... silence. Complete silence. The growl had disappeared, but the danger hadn’t. I could still feel it, a weight in the air, pressing in around me.

Then a figure emerged from the shadows.

At first, I couldn’t make out what it was—just a large, dark shape moving between the trees. It was quick, silent, almost like a shadow. But then, it stopped, and its eyes locked onto mine.

Those eyes—glowing a strange, eerie shade of blue—stared at me unblinking. I froze, my breath caught in my throat.

The wolf.

I knew it now. But it wasn’t like any wolf I had ever seen. Its eyes weren’t just glowing—they were too bright, too intelligent, staring straight through me. It was like it could see everything I was, and I felt completely exposed. For a moment, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. The wolf’s presence seemed to reach deep inside me, pulling at parts of me I wasn’t ready to face.

I took a step back, but the wolf didn’t move. Its posture remained calm, but the tension between us was thick, almost suffocating. Its eyes held me there, drawing me in, and I could feel my heart racing.

“Who… what are you?” I whispered, my voice shaking. The words slipped out before I could stop them, but I knew it didn’t matter. The wolf wasn’t going to answer me.

The wolf gave a slow, deliberate nod, as though considering something—me, maybe, deciding whether I was worth its time.

"You know me," it said, its glowing eyes narrowing slightly. "I’ve been watching you."

“Watching me?” I whispered, disbelief coloring my voice. “You’ve been watching me?”

The wolf gave a low growl, its head tilting slightly, like it was studying me. “You’ve been running. Running from the truth.”

The truth?

My heart skipped a beat. “What truth?” I breathed, my voice barely audible. “What are you talking about?”

The wolf’s eyes flickered with something—recognition?—but it didn’t answer right away. Instead, it took a slow step forward, its gaze never leaving mine. A low rumble filled the air, almost like a sigh. “The truth about who you are, Lila Winter.”

The words hit me like a physical blow. My heart clenched painfully in my chest.

“What do you mean?” I asked, panic rising in my voice. I didn’t understand. How could this wolf know anything about me?

The wolf tilted its head, its eyes softening, almost pitying. “You don’t know, do you?”

I felt completely lost. My body tensed, and my mind raced to keep up. What was it talking about? What truth was it trying to reveal?

The wolf stepped closer, its gaze still locked on mine. “You were saved by Alpha Roderick, your father’s best friend. When your father died protecting you from rogues, Roderick was the one who brought you to his pack. You’ve always known that.”

I felt like the air had been s*ck*d out of my lungs. I had always known that Alpha Roderick had adopted me after my father’s death. I had always been grateful to him for that. But why was this wolf bringing it up now? Why did it matter?

But the wolf wasn’t finished. It continued, its voice softer now, like it was trying to explain something that had been hidden from me all my life.

“But you don’t know the full truth, do you, Lila?” The wolf’s voice held a kind of sadness.

“The truth of your lineage. You’re not just the daughter of Alpha Sauro. You’re something more.”

I took a step back, my breath catching in my throat. “What do you mean? What are you saying?”

The wolf didn’t answer immediately. It let the silence stretch out between us, letting the weight of its words sink in.

“You’re part human,” it said at last, each word like a thunderclap in my ears.

The world around me seemed to spin. My legs felt weak. Part human?

“That’s impossible,” I whispered, shaking my head.

“Your mother,”

“My mother was always a mystery to me. She died when I was just a baby. I’ve never even known her. I was raised by my father and later by Roderick. She couldn’t have been... human. That doesn’t make sense.”

“You are,” the wolf interrupted, its eyes glowing with certainty.

"Your father was an Alpha. His blood runs strong in you. But your mother’s blood—it gives you something more. A balance. You carry both the strength of the Alpha wolf and the spirit of a human.”

I blinked, trying to process everything. “But… I don’t feel human. I’m a werewolf.”

The wolf’s gaze softened, but its tone was firm. “No, Lila. You’re different. You’ve always felt it, haven’t you? The distance. The loneliness. You’ve always struggled to fit in, to understand your place in the pack. You carry the power of an Alpha wolf, yes. But you also carry the spirit of a human. You’re not meant to be just one or the other.”

It was like the ground shifted beneath me, and I could barely keep my balance. A thousand questions flooded my mind, but none of them made sense. Why hadn’t my father told me? Why didn’t I know this sooner? Was this the reason I always felt torn between my wolf side and the human side I couldn’t escape?

“Why are you telling me this?” My voice was barely more than a whisper. “What do you want from me?”

The wolf’s eyes were intense, unwavering. “You have to face who you are, Lila. You can’t keep running. You can’t keep hiding behind the pack or Roderick’s protection. The truth is… you are stronger than you know. And there will come a time when you’ll need all of that strength.”