What if who you thought you were was only a drop in the ocean of time?
What if your existence was fated to follow a predestined path?
And you hated that path. And you fought fate.
Katya Luschkova longs to break free from the suffocating hold of he...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Yanked back into consciousness, I was flooded by a wave of sensation. Water spurted out of my mouth and nose, burning as it went and I bolted upright. As the black spots in my vision cleared, I could see the line of trees not too far away, flanking the gushing river as it went deeper into the forest.
Right, the forest, I was still in the forest.
My back hurt from the rocky river bank that I'd been laying on. So slowly I got up. Suddenly I realized that I should have been in immense pain. One —I just almost drowned, and two — before that I'd gotten my shoulder ripped open pretty badly. Glancing at my shoulder, bracing for the macabre sight that awaited me, I was relieved when I saw that it was completely healed. How was that possible? I had gone this entire time thinking that I wasn't a Wolfe since I hadn't even shifted yet.
Yes, I know —pathetic. Nineteen years and I still hadn't even heard or felt my Wolfe yet. As a matter of fact, I didn't even think I had one. Throughout my life, I had always been compared to humans because of my lack of Wolfe traits. Perhaps the Goddess had healed me? That was far more likely than me healing on my own. I couldn't even mind link with my pack. Well, old pack now. That was one thing I was pretty glad about though, my lack of Wolfe traits meant that the Alpha of my old pack didn't always know where I was and couldn't use his Alpha tone to make me comply. I was however unbearably weak and...breakable. And of course, they used that to their advantage every chance they could.
An unfamiliar voice cut through my reverie of thoughts and I realized I wasn't alone.
"Goddess, did you just bring her back from the dead?" the awe-stricken voice asked.
I couldn't help my giggle —I knew he was asking his friend the question but if only he knew! Remembering my conversation with my Mother, I sent a thank you to her for giving me another chance.
"I'm glad you see the humour in this situation," a deep, emotionless voice said after a moment, stirring something inside me. I turned wide-eyed to see him sitting on the bank not too far from me, a grim expression on his perfect face. I kid you not when I say, my heart skipped a beat and I suddenly forgot to breathe.
He sat with his knees up and his elbows resting on them as he watched me with those piercing gold eyes —his black hair was wet as it hung over his eyes, dripping water onto the bare skin of his muscular upper body. I forced myself to look up at his face instead of ogling him further. Who has gold eyes? I thought to myself and shivered under their cold scrutiny of me. A strange sensation stirred within me as I held his steady gaze but I pushed it aside. I then realized just how much of an idiot I must have seemed, gawking at him speechlessly.
"Thank you for helping me," I croaked out, surprising myself with an unfamiliar, raspy voice.
He raised an eyebrow, regarding me with a skeptical expression. "Funny. It didn't seem like you wanted help."
I felt the heat in my cheeks as I coloured and replied, "I didn't. But then just now I did everything I could to die but yet here I am. Seems like something is hell-bent on keeping me here." I couldn't exactly tell them I'd just been with the Moon Goddess and she changed my mind. They'd think I was insane.
