Page 33
B rielle
“Dad?” I stared at my father waiting for answers. “Wh-why did you call him that?”
He stood there in the middle of the room, his posture stiff, his face pale under the dim light of the overhead bulb. The look in his eyes was one I hadn’t seen before—fear and guilt intertwined.
“Tell me they’re lying,” I demanded, my voice cracking. “That man is insane, right? Please, Dad, tell me it’s not true.”
He didn’t speak. His silence rang loudly throughout the room.
“Dad!” I yelled, my fists clenched at my sides. This had to be a lie.
Finally, he sighed and sank into the worn armchair, rubbing his temples as though trying to find the strength to speak. “It’s true, Brielle,” he said quietly, his voice filled with heaviness.
The room spun for a moment, and I gripped the back of the couch to steady myself. “What’s true?” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer.
“You’re not… biologically ours,” he said, his voice trembling. “You were given to us when you were just a baby. Damien entrusted you to us after your parents were killed in a rogue attack. ”
My breath hitched. “A rogue attack? What—what does that even mean?”
Dad reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, silver necklace. The pendant was shaped like a crescent moon, delicate yet striking. A single sapphire stood at the tip of the moon. He placed it in my hand.
“This was with you when Damien brought you to us,” he said. “It belonged to your mother, Brielle. Your real mother–the former luna of the Frost Pack. Here take it.”
I still felt the eyes of Damien and Draven on me but I paid them no mind. I kept my gaze trained on my father. I walked toward him and took the necklace from his hold. There was something oddly familiar about it. Yet, I had never seen it in my entire life.
I stared at the necklace, its smooth surface cool against my palm. A deep ache bloomed in my chest. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We wanted to protect you,” he said softly. “Damien believed you’d be safer if no one knew who you were. Even we didn’t know everything—only that you came from the Frost Pack, and you were special.”
Special. I was a fucking werewolf.
“So, what?” I snapped, my voice rising. “You just lied to me my whole life?”
“We didn’t lie,” he said firmly. “We raised you as our own because we love you. That will never change.”
Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. “And now Damien shows up out of nowhere, and I’m just supposed to believe all this? That I’m… a wolf?”
Dad’s gaze softened. “You’ve always felt different, haven’t you?
” he asked. “The dreams, the pull toward the forest. That’s your wolf, Brielle.
The thing inside of you that has laid dormant for years waiting for you to release her.
You are no ordinary human. You are a werewolf and part of one of the most powerful bloodlines of our kind”
My head spun with questions and doubts, but one thing was clear, nothing would ever be the same again. My life had changed forever within that exact moment.
I barely had time to process my father’s confession when Damien’s steady voice cut through the tension. “Are you ready to face the truth, Brielle? ”
I whipped my head toward him, his commanding presence filling the small space.
He stood near the doorway, arms crossed, his eyes sharp and unreadable.
Draven remained a silent shadow behind him, his gaze fixed on me with unnerving intensity.
There was something about him that pulled me in.
Little sparks of electricity moved in the space between us.
I couldn’t help but to stare at the man before me.
It was as if this small string moved between my heart and his.
Oh my God, I didn’t even know this man. But why did it feel like I did?
Why did he look at me like that? It was like I had wronged him or something.
“I’ve heard enough for one night,” I said, my voice trembling as I clutched the crescent moon necklace in my palm.
“This is insane. You can’t just walk in here and turn my life upside down.
These are my parents. The only ones I have ever known and will ever known.
So, you can juts pack up your loony party and leave me alone. ”
“You’ve lived in the dark for too long,” Damien replied, his tone calm but laced with authority. “Your wolf has been suppressed all your life, but I can bring her out. It’s time to awaken what’s been lying dormant for years.”
My heart raced, and I took a step back. “What if I don’t want this? I am not a leader, I am not some magical creature. I am Brielle Brown.”
Damien took a step forward, his presence even more overwhelming. “It’s not about want, Brielle. It’s about who you are. You cannot deny your bloodline.”
Before I could argue, Damien raised his hand, his eyes locking onto mine with a ferocity that made my breath catch. His voice deepened, resonating with a strange, magnetic power. “You are Brielle Antoinette Lockwood, the heir to the Frost Pack. I command your wolf to awaken.”
The moment the words left his lips, a surge of energy rippled through the room, sending a shiver down my spine. My legs buckled, and I grabbed the arm of the couch to steady myself. The air felt thicker, heavier, as though it carried an unspoken force.
“Let it happen,” Damien said, his voice softer now, almost coaxing. “Stop fighting her. ”
Heat spread through my body, every nerve igniting as if I were being pulled from the inside out. I gasped, my vision blurred as a presence stirred within me—strong, wild, and alive.
Finally, a voice growled in my mind, low and resonant. I’ve been waiting years to know you little one.
My knees hit the floor, and the world snapped into sharp focus. Every sound, every scent came rushing at me all at once. The faint hum of the run down refrigerator, the sharp tang of metal from the radiator, the earthy musk of someone’s scent. Everything had been dialed up to 11.
I could feel her now, my wolf, her presence intertwining with mine. It was this thread that was interweaving together.
I looked up, my breath catching when my eyes met Draven’s. His storm-grey stare burned with an intensity that sent a jolt through me. My wolf stirred, restless, and a single word echoed in my mind, strong and powerful.
Mate.
“Mate,” The word leaves my lips on its own accord after it had vibrated throughout my mind. .
The connection hit me like a lightning strike, sudden and undeniable. My chest tightened as the pull between us grew stronger, like an invisible thread tying us together.
Draven’s jaw tightened, and he took a step closer, his voice low and steady. “You feel it, don’t you?”
I swallowed hard, my heart pounding in my ears. “What is this?”
“The mate bond,” Damien said, his voice steady but laced with satisfaction. “It’s a connection unlike anything you’ve ever known. Draven is your fated mate–your soulmate if you will.”
I staggered to my feet, shaking my head. “No. This can’t be real. I—I don’t even know him.”
“You don’t need to,” Damien said firmly. “Your wolf knows. The bond is instinctive, undeniable.”
Draven remained silent, his storm filled ocean gaze locked onto mine. The bond tugged at something deep within me, a sensation that was both foreign and familiar, terrifying and exhilarating.
I backed toward the door, my breathing shallow and the air too thin in my lungs. “I need air,” I muttered, the walls closing in around me.
Damien didn’t stop me as I fled into the night, his parting words a reminder I couldn’t ignore: “You can’t run from who you are, Brielle.”
I brushed past the two men and made my way out the hallway. The entourage was still there but they made no move to stop me as I made my way down the stairs to the ground floor. When I had broken through the door and let go of the breath I had no idea I had been holding.
I stood in the cold night air, the weight of Damien’s words pressing heavily on my chest. My wolf stirred, her presence a constant reminder of the truth I was trying to process. I heard the soft creak of the front door behind me and turned to see Damien step out, his eyes hyper focused on me.
“I’m not done yet,” he said, his voice calm but firm.
I crossed my arms, trying to shield myself from both the cold and the overwhelming storm inside me. “What more could you possibly say?”
Damien’s lips twitched, almost like a smirk, but his tone remained steady. “I understand your hesitation, Brielle. But I’m offering you a way out of this mess.”
I frowned, unsure what he meant.
“Your family is drowning in debt,” he continued, his voice unwavering. “Your mother’s medical bills, the threats of eviction… you’re one step away from losing everything.”
My stomach twisted. He wasn’t wrong, but hearing it out loud was like ripping open a wound that hadn’t even begun to heal.
“I can fix that,” Damien said. “I’ll pay off the debt, ensure your mother gets the best care, and make sure your adoptive parents live a comfortable life. All you have to do is come with me.”
His words hung in the air, heavy and enticing.
It sounded like a dream—too good to be true.
And yet, the way he said it, the certainty in his voice, made me believe he could actually do it.
Months we have toiled and squandered trying to get the treatment she needed and here this man was offering me the help I had been looking for.
All it would cost me is my freedom .
I shook my head, my grip tightening on the crescent moon necklace still in my hand. “Why me? Why now?”
“Because your time has come,” Damien replied. “The Frost Pack needs its true heir. You have a destiny, Brielle, whether you want it or not. Destiny always finds a way to win out.”
I hesitated, the weight of his offer suffocating. My mind raced with conflicting thoughts. Accepting meant leaving everything behind—my life, my adoptive parents, everything familiar. But it also meant saving them.
“Why can’t you just fix things for my family and let me stay here?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Damien’s eyes softened slightly, though his demeanor remained firm. “Because that’s not how this works. You belong with the pack. You’re their future, their leader–their alpha.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but no words came. A part of me, the part I didn’t want to acknowledge, knew he was right.
“I’ll give you until dawn,” Damien said, his voice cutting through the silence. “When I return, I expect your answer.”
He turned to leave, but not before glancing at Draven, who lingered near the doorway, his expression hard and unreadable. “Let’s go,” Damien said, and Draven followed without a word.
But just as he passed me, Draven paused, his eyes cold and calculating. “You’re not ready for this,” he muttered, his voice low but biting. “You’ll only drag us all down and I have told your grandfather. You are the beginning of our end.”
What did he mean that I was the beginning of the end? What world were these people trying to drag me into?
“You will be dead before the rogues even make it cross the border.” His words were spoken with so much conviction that they hit me like a hard heavy truth.
What world were they trying to drag me into?