Chapter 92 The inner wolf 2

Chapter 92: Chapter 92 The inner wolf 2

Talia’s POV

I felt a surge of anger rise in my chest, hot and sharp. But I pushed it down, because anger would not help. Anger would only make me reckless.

Right now, I needed to be smart, and I needed to be patient, like Serena. But I would not become her.

I felt something stir inside me, but it was not fear, and not anger. It was something else, something deeper—like a presence, a warmth, and like something that had been asleep for a long time that was waking up.

It started in my chest, then became a warmth that spread through my veins like fire. It was not painful, and it was not frightening. It was... familiar.

Like something I had always carried but never known.

I pressed my hand against my heart, feeling it beat beneath my palm.

Thump... Thump... Thump... The rhythm was faster than usual, but it was not scary. It was anticipation, like the feeling before a storm, and like the feeling before a battle.

Something was coming, and it was something big. I could feel it in my bones.

The warmth pulsed with every thump, growing stronger, and more insistent.

I realized it was my wolf.

It was really happening. I had heard stories about wolves awakening, and about the moment when the connection finally formed. But I never thought it would happen to me.

I thought I was broken, but now I knew that I was not.

I touched my chest. My heart was pounding, but it was not from fear. It was from something else that I could not name.

Then a voice spoke inside my head in a soft, gentle, and familiar tone.

"You can feel me now," she whispered.

I froze, and my breath caught in my throat.

"Who are you?" I whispered.

"I am your wolf," the voice said. "I have been sleeping, because you have been too weak, and the glamour charm had been too strong. But now, it is weakening, you are getting stronger, and I am waking up."

My eyes widened, because I had never heard my wolf before. In Cresswood, I thought I did not have one, and I thought I was broken, and incomplete.

But I was not.

Then, her words ’too weak’ echoed in my head.

She was right that I had been weak. In Cresswood, I was nothing but a ghost, a shadow, and a girl who survived by being invisible.

But I was not invisible anymore, and I was not weak anymore. And soon, I would not be hidden anymore either.

The thought made my chest ache.

"I have always been here," the voice said. "Waiting, watching, and protecting you the best I could."

Tears burned in my eyes at the words. I was not alone, and I had never been alone.

A tear slipped down my cheek, and I wiped it away quickly.

"Why now?" I asked.

"Because you are ready," my wolf answered. "Because you need me."

"I have always needed you," I said.

"I know. But you were not ready to hear me. The charm was too strong, and it kept us apart," my wolf replied.

"But it is failing now," I said.

"Yes. And soon, it will break completely," my wolf answered.

I touched my necklace, and the charm was warm against my skin.

"What happens then?" I asked.

"Then they will see you," my wolf said. "The real you."

"What do I call you?" I asked.

"You will know soon," my wolf said. "When you are ready."

The presence faded, but it did not disappear. It lingered beneath my skin, warm and waiting. I could feel it there, very present and active now, like a second heartbeat.

The glamour charm was too warm, and it was starting to fail faster than before.

The metal was almost too hot to touch, and I could feel the magic pulsing beneath it, straining against its bonds.

The charm protection would not last much longer. But I did not know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Because if the charm broke, everyone would see my real face. They would see the woman my mother had hidden.

Some would be shocked, some would be jealous, and some might be afraid. But I would not hide anymore.

The words felt like a promise, and like a vow.

I had spent fifteen years pretending to be someone I was not. It had been fifteen years of hiding in the shadows, being invisible and forgotten, flinching and shrinking and making myself small. But no more.

If the charm broke, let it break. And if they saw my real face, let them see. I was tired of being afraid, I was tired of being ashamed, and I was tired of being invisible. I finally wanted to be truly seen, because I was honestly tired of hiding.

I let my hand drop from the necklace and closed my eyes.

For the first time in years, I did not feel alone.

My wolf was there, warm, waiting all these years, and real. I was never broken. I was just sleeping, like her.

And now, we were both waking up, and I did not know what would happen when the charm broke.

I did not know if the pack would accept me, but I knew one thing. I would face it, and I would not face it alone.