The Wolf Within Her: Heir of the Lost Bloodline

. Her eyes were already wide open, fixed on the sterile ceiling of her one-bedroom apartment, searching for cracks that sim

t, worn robe. Her bare feet padded across the wooden floor, cool and smooth beneath her soles. The routine was ingrained now, a second nature she perfo

measured, predict

the capacity for warmth anymore. People arrived with questions, with distracting noise, with burdensome expectatio

you were livin

uiet. A calendar reminder. She didn't need it. She already knew today was her

one call

were no messages from her family, no belated greetings, not even a single spam call. Wi

ldings loomed above her, sheer glass and sharp silver edges. Beneath them, people flowed like a river, rushing through their own routines: women in impeccably

n them, a quiet ghost

er hood was pulled up, earbuds nestled in her ears, though no music played. It was her shiel

b. Her professors, predictably, didn't know her name. Her classmates pro

ily between a florist bursting with color and a dusty antique shop. The air inside always

swirl of cream cheese frosting. It was the fanciest one they had. Then she wandered

t one of them made her stomach knot with sudden dre

ed

amily. Now a strang

long, cream-colored coat over a designer dress, her heels clicking against the tiled floor with a confident, almost arrogant rhythm. Maedra had

e clutched the single cupcake. A confrontation was the last thing she needed. Not here. Not today. Not when the o

el, tinkling sound Elowyn remembered from their teenage years. Then, as quickly as she'

ses and left minutes later, still

n the living room, bathing the space in a warm, inviting light. She sat cross-legged on the wooden floor beside her coffee table. The s

ruck a

d alive, a soft, d

osed h

ness etched on her face. A grown woman kneeling before a cupcake as if

e only traditio

ds barely a breath against the quiet room: "Please. Just le

urned with a familiar ache, with

red of

of being

ng for something th

the can

quiet that pressed in on her ribs, making it hard to

ng 'shifted

fogged slightly, even though the water wasn't running. A sharp, icy prickli

old radiator kicking on or the fai

favorite soft cotton nightgown, and curled up beneath her weighted blanket. Sleep

when the 'bur

bly heavy, her limbs frozen in place. Then the heat spread, sharp and searing, racing fro

oked sound caugh

open, wide a

om the inside out. She tore the blanket off, her breath shallow, heart hammering against

blindly reaching for the

when sh

ing beneath he

ling just beneath her collarbone, as if br

ees bu

was no pain from the action itself

lai

mirror, shaking uncontrollably,

N

ouldn

t h

y, it had skipped her. That was why they had left her behind. That was why

ldn't be

curse was

meone had

ithin her bones, some

he could hear

a primal

for air, clutching her chest as the silver mark puls

ows outside her window,

it