“I don’t believe you,” I muttered, shaking my head in disbelief.

“That doesn’t make sense. My mother was always a mystery to me. She died when I was just a baby. I don’t know anything about her. I was raised by my father and later by Roderick. She couldn’t have been human. I’m a werewolf. That’s who I am.”

The wolf’s piercing gaze never wavered. “You are,” it said softly.

“But you’re also more. Your father’s Alpha blood is strong within you, but your mother’s human spirit adds a unique balance to you. That’s why you’ve always felt torn between the two parts of yourself.”

I stumbled back, my mind racing to process what the wolf was saying. It felt like my whole world was turning upside down. I had never known the truth about my mother, but this revelation changed everything. My entire identity, my place in the pack, it all felt uncertain now.

"I don’t understand," I whispered, my voice barely above a breath.

"Why didn’t Roderick tell me? Why didn’t anyone tell me this? If I’ve always had both sides in me, then why do I feel so... lost?"

The wolf’s eyes softened, but its voice remained firm.

“You’ve been hiding from who you are. You’ve suppressed the human part of you, thinking it would make you weaker, that it would make you less of a wolf. But that’s not true. You have the strength of both bloodlines in you, Lila. And you have to learn to accept both.”

I shook my head, trying to make sense of everything. I had always known there was something different about me, something that set me apart from the rest of the Bloody River Pack, but this? This was beyond what I could comprehend.

"But why am I weak?" I blurted out, the question that had been gnawing at me for so long.

"Why do I feel so... weak? Why did Caelan say I’m weak? He rejected me because of it, said I wasn’t strong enough to be a part of the pack. And I—I don’t even know how to fight. I don’t know how to defend myself. Why didn’t anyone teach me?"

The wolf’s gaze remained steady, almost as if it could see the confusion, the hurt swirling inside me.

“You’re not weak, Lila. Caelan doesn’t see what you are. He only sees the wolf in you, not the human strength that you carry. He doesn’t understand that your true power lies in your ability to balance both sides of you—the Alpha strength of your father and the human resilience of your mother. That’s something he’ll never understand.”

I clenched my fists, frustration rising within me.

“But I don’t know how to fight, how to protect myself! I didn’t grow up like the other wolves. I wasn’t taught to fight, to be strong like them. Why didn’t Roderick teach me to defend myself? He was supposed to be my father. Why didn’t he make me strong enough to be part of the Bloody River Pack?”

The wolf’s expression softened, a mixture of sympathy and understanding in its glowing eyes.

“Roderick did what he thought was best, Lila. But you were never meant to be just another wolf. You are something different, something special. You have strength, more than you realize, but you’ve been suppressing it, ignoring it. Your true power lies in embracing all of who you are. If you want to prove Caelan wrong, you don’t need to fight like everyone else. You need to fight for yourself. And to do that, you have to stop hiding.”

I stepped back, processing the wolf’s words. Fight for myself? I had always fought for others, for the pack, for Roderick, but never for me. It felt strange, uncomfortable. But it was the truth. I had always put everyone else’s needs ahead of my own, and now I had to learn to change that.

"How can I prove him wrong?" I asked, my voice shaky.

"I’m not trained. I don’t have any skills. How can I make Caelan regret rejecting me if I don’t even know how to fight?"

The wolf’s eyes glinted with a knowing light, as if it understood the battle raging inside me.

“You don’t need to fight with brute strength, Lila. You need to fight with your heart. You’ve been looking for validation from Caelan, from the pack, from Roderick. But that’s not where your strength lies. You already have everything you need inside you.”

I looked down at my hands, clenched tightly into fists. The rejection from Caelan still burned in my chest, but something else was stirring inside me now. A desire. A drive to prove him wrong, to show him that I wasn’t weak. To show him—and myself—that I was worth more than he believed.

“But how can I do it?” I whispered, almost to myself.

“I don’t know where to start. I don’t have the skills. I can’t even fight. I’m nothing like the others.”

The wolf’s voice dropped lower, more purposeful. “You are more than enough, Lila. But you must go to the pack where you truly belong.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What pack?” I asked, my voice tight with curiosity. “Where do I belong? I don’t understand. I’ve always belonged to the Bloody River Pack. It’s all I’ve known.”

The wolf tilted its head, eyes gleaming with something like ancient knowledge. “Not the Bloody River Pack. You belong to a pack where both your human blood and your werewolf blood are valued. A pack where you can learn to embrace both sides of yourself. A pack that will help you grow into the Alpha you were meant to be.”

My breath caught in my throat. A pack where both parts of me could belong? Where I could belong? It sounded impossible. I had spent my whole life feeling like an outsider, never truly accepted in the pack. The idea of being part of something that embraced all of who I was… it was both terrifying and strangely exciting.

“But where is this pack?” I asked, my mind racing with questions. “How do I find it? How do I know where I belong?”

The wolf’s eyes softened, its voice becoming quieter, yet still powerful. “Come and follow me.”