Chapter Eight: The Girl Who Wasn't Just a Girl
Auriella
I didn't even remember getting in the car.
One moment I was surrounded by shattered glass and blood and shadows that whispered my name—and the next, the pack's armored black SUV was pulling away from the school gates.
The guards didn't say a word.
Neither did I.
I just stared at my reflection in the tinted window, heart still punching my ribs like it wanted to escape.
> What the hell was that?
One second, I was arguing with Luna over Alervon, and the next—
The walls were bleeding.
My fingers trembled against the hem of my skirt.
Luna. Luca. The others. They were alive—but that thing had been there for me.
And Hades—
> No. Alervon.
The shadow had called him.
He wasn't supposed to be here.
> "Why did it look like Principal Valen knew?"
She had stormed in like she was waiting for the chaos to start. Like she and Hades—No Alervon, whatever the hell his name was—were working together.
How long had they known something was coming?
How long had I been kept in the dark?
The car passed the iron gates to the Alpha estate.
Home.
Except it didn't feel like it.
Not anymore.
---
The moment I stepped out, I was ushered through the main doors by two guards in black tactical gear.
Everything felt quieter than it should.
The air was too still. The staff too tense. And the hallway lights—dimmed like they were trying to prepare me for something.
Then I heard it.
His voice.
> My father.
Alpha Darius.
The ghost who called himself my parent.
I followed the sound to his office.
The door was open.
And for once… he was already waiting.
---
He sat behind his desk, face hard, eyes like frozen thunderclouds. There were silver streaks in his hair now—more than last time.
He looked older. Tired.
But still him.
Cold. Regal. Like he'd been carved from the mountain the pack worshipped.
"Auriella," he said, voice even.
"Dad," I muttered, crossing my arms.
Silence.
Then—
> "Sit."
I did. Slowly. My knees barely held steady.
He stared at me for a long moment. Like he was checking if I was whole. Breathing. Bleeding.
Then, softly—
"I wasn't going to let it happen this early."
I blinked. "Let what happen?"
"The breach."
"What breach?"
He exhaled like the weight of the world was grinding against his ribs. "You weren't supposed to be exposed to it until after the Solstice."
"Dad—what the hell was that thing? Why did it know my name?"
He looked away. Not avoiding—just… calculating.
"I can't explain it all. Not yet. But that thing wasn't just any monster."
I waited.
He met my gaze.
"It was drawn to something in you."
Something cold slithered down my spine.
"What do you mean in me?" I whispered.
"You think you're a spoiled child, Auri," he said suddenly. "A brat. And in some ways, you are."
I flinched.
"But what you are… goes far beyond this pack. Beyond the politics, the bloodlines, the title of Alpha's daughter."
My voice cracked. "What am I, then?"
He was quiet.
Too quiet.
Then he stood, walked to the liquor cabinet, and poured something into a glass.
I'd never seen his hand shake.
Until now.
"You weren't born the way others were," he said. "Your mother… she carried something sacred. Something ancient. And it didn't belong to this realm."
My stomach dropped.
"You're not just a werewolf, Auri."
I blinked. "Then what am I?"
But he didn't answer.
Instead, he walked back to his desk, sat down… and stared at me.
Not with contempt.
Not with frustration.
But with grief.
"I tried to protect you from it," he murmured. "But the world is changing. And if they find out before you do… they won't protect you. They'll use you. Or destroy you."
The lamp beside his desk flickered.
I shivered.
"I need you to listen very carefully, Aurielle," he said slowly, like every word was carved out of stone. "There are things sleeping inside you. And when they wake—nothing will ever be the same."
Something slammed into the mansion wall from outside. A loud, inhuman shriek echoed down the corridors.
The guards outside his door drew weapons.
> Something was already here.
And I wasn't ready.
"""'
I slammed the door to my room before he could say another word.
The sound echoed like a gunshot in the empty hallway.
"There are things sleeping inside you."
"You weren't born the way others were."
"She carried something ancient…"
But not a single straight answer.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to shatter something. Maybe my reflection. Maybe the walls. Maybe whatever part of me still hoped my father gave a damn.
I paced my room like a caged animal. He knew. About what I was. About what she was. And yet he spoke in half-truths like I was still a child playing dress-up in battle armor.
Screw that.
If he wouldn't give me the answers—I'd find them myself.
The next morning came too fast. I hadn't slept. I hadn't tried.
The sun barely kissed the treetops when I was yanked out of bed by the pack's training instructor.
"Mandatory training," he barked. " Your special instructor hasn't arrived yet. Till then, you train with me."
I stared at him, unamused. "You mean you dragged me out of bed for a babysitter that hasn't even arrived?"
He grunted. "You've got a lazy mouth for someone with a death prophecy hanging over her head."
I flipped him off before grabbing my gear.
Training was short. Brutal. Boring.
The instructor was all brawn and no brain, yelling about form and focus while I tuned him out and focused on what mattered:
The truth.
By noon, I was back in the mansion. Sweaty. Bruised. Buzzing with frustration.
I didn't bother showering. I went straight to the one place no one else bothered to check.
The Alpha Library.
A place filled with dust, dead language scrolls, and records dating back centuries.
If my mother had something ancient inside her… maybe it was written here. Maybe there was proof she wasn't just a Luna. Maybe she was something more.
And maybe, just maybe… that meant I was too.
Hours passed.
Scrolls. Genealogies. Sealed letters.
Nothing.
Just names of matings and ceremonies and too much patriarchal bullshit about female breeding stock.
No mention of sacred blood. No mention of my mother's lineage.
I threw the last scroll across the desk and buried my face in my arms.
"What if she's just gone," I muttered, "and I never knew her at all?"
A creak behind me.
I whipped around.
Luna.
Holding a milkshake. Wearing her favorite purple crop hoodie that said 'Suck it, Authority.'
"You've been dodging me all day," she said, strolling in.
"Not dodging. Just busy....hunting ghosts."
She plopped beside me. "Well, your ghost called. Said you're too dramatic."
I snorted, weakly.
Then she noticed the piles. The books. The bloodline maps.
And her face changed.
Softened.
"You really wanna know who she was, huh?" she said quietly.
I nodded. "If I don't know who she was… how do I even know who I am?...sorry you heard"
Luna looked around, like she was searching for something.
Then she whispered, " Yeah, I was listening to my parents talk again...Come with me."
She led me to the upper floor of the library, past the locked archives. Past the restricted corridor.
"Luna…"
"Relax. My mom's the principal. You think I don't know where she hides the master keys?"
I blinked. "I love you."
"You're welcome."
She unlocked the door. Cold air rushed past us.
The Archive Vault.
Scrolls in languages older than dirt. Locked cases. Books that whispered when no one was near.
And in the farthest corner—
A locked wooden chest.
With my mother's name burned into the front.
Selene.
My breath caught.
"Holy shit," Luna whispered. "She had a whole-ass chest in here?"
There was no key.
But something deep inside me stirred. Like a pulse.
I reached for the latch.
And it clicked open.
Inside was a book.
Old. Bound in blood-red leather.
No title.
No author.
I opened it.
Pages upon pages written in an unfamiliar language.
But one line near the center—
glowed.
Luna leaned in. "That's not wolf script."
"No," I whispered. "It's not."
It wasn't even from this realm.
I touched the glowing line.
And something in the room shifted.
A breeze that shouldn't exist.
Whispers that had no source.
The lights flickered.
And a single word slipped from my mouth—
"…Aetherion."
Then—
Slam.
The Archive door burst open downstairs.
A voice I didn't recognize snapped, "What the hell are you doing in here?"
Luna grabbed my arm. "Shit. Auri—hide it."
I clutched the book to my chest and shoved the lid closed just as a dark figure appeared at the stairs.
Not a teacher. Not a student.
A stranger.
All shadow and sharp eyes. His face was hidden under a mask.
"Looks like I found my assignment," he murmured.
Assignment?
My chest locked.
This wasn't a pack warrior.
This was the new trainer.
And he had just walked in on me holding something forbidden.
Something I wasn't supposed to open.
But he didn't scold me.
He looked at me like he knew.
Like he'd been waiting to see if I'd find it.
And then he smiled—slow and cold.
"So you really don't know what you are, do you?"
[TO BE CONTINUED...]