Awakening The Silver Wolf

RAVENNA POV 

All thoughts of sleep were abandoned and I sat up and looked down on Darius' face which was illustrated by just the moonlight shining through the window.

A day ago I wouldn't have been able to see him so clearly in the dim light but now I could. 

Because I shifted. I was a wolf. Someone had locked my wolf before I could shift.

"How do you know that?" I asked, my voice low.

Darius still remained on his back, his hands folded behind his head. His biceps bulge with that position. His wide chest was on full display. I could see curls of black hair on his chest. He looked so good, so goddamned hot. 

I wanted to lean in and kiss his nipples, then trail my lips down to his navel and then I wo—

"It's just a theory," Darius answered, his eyes gleaming, a smirk on his face. Right. Back to the matter at hand. 

I cleared my throat. "Tell me about this your theory."

Darius unfolded his arms before he spread them. An invitation to go back to my previous position. I rolled my eyes before I lay back down and rested my head on his chest, hearing and feeling his heartbeat.

Darius' arms came around me as he said, "It's the only thing that makes sense. If you were born without a wolf you wouldn't have shifted now. How old are you?" His chest vibrated as he spoke. 

"Twenty-three."

"So you shouldn't be shifting now unless something has happened to your wolf. Unless someone had imprisoned her in your mind. Locked her down to stop you from shifting. You weren't supposed to shift. Ever." 

"So why did I?"

"The mate bond." A beat of silence. "Hale told me he found a note with you when he and his wife found you."

I was about to raise again but Darius was having none of it. He tightened his arms around me and I stayed down. Fine.

"Zara had said there was no note on me," I whispered.

"Zara is a stupid bitch."

I smiled. "Yeah, she is. So what… what did the note say?"

"It says never to let you leave Hale's pack. Never let you meet your mate. Never let you shift." 

My head was spinning as I tried to make sense of all this. "But why?"

"I told you my mother was haunted, didn't I?" I nodded. "She was hunted because of how rare and powerful she was. Your kind are going extinct—no, they've already gone extinct. A rough guess is that your people are not up to twenty. If they're more that means they're good at hiding. Lupinaris are hunted all their life. For their power, for what they mean for a pack. This world is harsh, Ravenna. Everybody is looking for more power. Everybody wants to own more power. And they don't care if it means ruining another person's life in the process. They don't care if it even killed them. They didn't care that my mother had a mate. And they wouldn't care that you also have a mate. They would come for you. And I will kill as many as I can. I will bring hell to anyone who looks at you the wrong way. My father was a coward and let them kill my mother. I am not him. Hell will rain on anyone who takes you away from me."

His once steady heart was now beating fast, and his chest was rising and falling hard. I tightened my own hold on him and we just stayed that way. None of us said anything.

I would be hunted. 

That was… That was a lot.

Were my real parents still alive? Or have they been hunted and killed for their powers? Do I have a family out there? A cousin? A grandmother? Did they know about the child whose wolf was locked in her and given out to another pack? 

Did they care? Were they even still alive?

"I could hear you thinking, Silver Wisp," Darius mumbled, his hand stroking my hair. 

"I can't help it," I whispered. 

"I know. But you'll have to sleep. Tomorrow's ride back will be long." 

I sighed deeply before I rubbed my face on Darius' chest. Darius kissed my hair softly and stroked my hair. 

I fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat and his soothing touch.

***

I stepped out of the car and stretched before my hand went to my sore ass and I massaged it. I heard Darius chuckle and I turned to him. 

"Don't you laugh at me!" I snapped. "We've been driving for ten hours. Ten!"

He took my bag from the back seat before he walked to me and kissed my forehead. "You're tired, I know. I'll message your ass better for you." He winked and flashed that heart-stopping smile and I flushed. 

Darius took my hand and he led me into the pack house. My heart began to race the more we neared the house. I didn't think about what would happen if I came back because I didn't plan to come back. But here I was. Would they hate me more now? And Mia… Fuck, Mia. 

"Relax," Darius said, his hand tightening on mine. "No one will say anything. No one will judge."

"Okay." I didn't believe him. My palms turned sweaty and I wanted to remove my hand from Darius'. But I didn't. 

Before we even got to the entrance, an angry-looking Mia marched out. I wanted to shrink into myself with how furious she looked. 

When she got to me, Darius slipped his hand out of mine and I shot him a look, but the bastard was already walking away.

I stopped walking as Mia reached me. She stood in front of me, her chest heaving heavily, and her eyes bright with emotions.

She said nothing and I fought hard to maintain eye contact. "Hi," I whispered.

Mia inhaled sharply before she pointed one trembling finger at me. "You promised." My heart raced with how hard her voice was. 

"I did."

"You broke your promise."

I finally lowered my eyes. "I did."

"You're a bastard." Her voice cracked.

"I am." I raised my eyes back to hers. "I'm sorry."

In a blink Mia's arms were around me, her head on my shoulder. "You're never going to leave me again. Do you understand?"

I hugged her back and buried my face in her hair. "I'm never leaving again." 

At one point Mia turned to the sister I never had and now I couldn't imagine my life without her in it. These past few days without her and Darius had been the worst.

I should have been more reasonable. Shouldn't have run off like that like some kid. And my lack of sense has cost the people I loved and cared about pain. 

I have learned my lesson now. And I wasn't going to leave them.

Mia pulled away from me and cleaned her eyes angrily before she glanced at me. "I'm still mad at you."

I smiled. "I know." I paused. "I have something to tell you. I don't even know if it's good news or bad news."

Mia's gaze fell to my stomach before she looked back at my face. Her eyes narrowed. "Are you pregnant?"

I rolled my eyes so hard I feared they might be stuck in their sockets. "I shifted." 

Mia frowned for a second before her eyes blew wide and she gasped. "Shut your mouth."