Chapter 257: Chapter 257

The ground shook beneath me, but I hadn’t moved. The glass goblet on my table cracked, and before I could blink, it shattered completely.

I froze, staring at it, my pulse racing.

"This.... It’s not real?" I whispered.

I looked around the room. Nothing else moved.

Then it happened again. The chair in front of me shifted slightly, without me touching it.

"No," I muttered, stepping back. "That’s impossible."

I clenched my fists, breathing fast. I could feel it, a strange pull, like invisible threads in the air that I could tug if I just... thought hard enough. My mind was spinning.

I took a slow breath, focused on the chair again.

It scraped loudly across the stone floor and stopped right in front of me.

I stumbled back, eyes wide. "What in the goddess’ name..."

My wolf stirred restlessly inside me. You feel that too, don’t you? I asked him silently.

He growled low. Power. Old power.

I swallowed hard. "But where did it come from?"

Before I could make sense of it, I caught it again, Lisa’s scent. Faint at first, then sharp, strong, familiar. My whole body went still.

Her scent filled the air, wild, pure, and strange. My wolf growled again, restless, pacing inside my head.

"She’s close," he said. "I can feel her."

"I know," I murmured, clenching my fists. "But this isn’t normal. Why her? Why now?"

My wolf didn’t answer, only howled inside me, demanding we find her.

I turned toward the open window, staring out into the dark forest stretching beyond the palace walls. The moonlight glowed faintly over the trees, and the wind carried her scent again, stronger this time.

I couldn’t explain it, but I knew the truth deep down. This new power, this strange surge in my blood, it all began when her scent reached me.

I ran my hand through my hair, my mind spinning. "But why her? Who is she to me?"

My father had never told me about having a sister, and the kind of pull I felt wasn’t that of a mate. It was strange, strong, familiar, and warm, but not the kind of warmth that burned like desire. It was different. Calmer. Deeper. Like a heartbeat that echoed in mine.

I remember vividly that my father had always told me my mother died giving birth to me. That story was carved into my heart for as long as I could remember. It was all I knew. She was gone. Dead. Buried. And her name, her real name, was something we never spoke of. My father made sure of that.

He’d always been distant when it came to her. I could still see his face in my memory, those cold gray eyes turning even colder whenever I asked. Orıginal content can be found at 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒·𝗇𝗲𝘁

"Father, who was she really?" I had asked when I was younger, maybe twelve. I remember sitting by the fire, clutching a small wooden wolf carving I’d made. "Why can’t you tell me about her?"

He’d paused for a long moment, then looked at me like I’d just cursed his name. "Because she is gone. That’s all you need to know, Thorne."

"But..." I had tried to push further. I just wanted to know something. Anything.

His hand hit the table, and the sound made me flinch. "No buts," he said sharply. "You have a mother now. My true mate, Selene. She is your mother."

"She’s not my mother!" I had shouted back then, my voice breaking halfway through. "She’s not!"

The silence that followed was heavier than any beating. My father didn’t yell again. He just stood there, staring at me like I had betrayed him. Like I was a stranger.

I remember the cold days that came after that, how he stopped talking to me for weeks. How I’d walk past him in the hall, and he wouldn’t even look at me. How I’d eat alone, train alone, and sleep with that ache in my chest. That was my punishment. Not words. Not whips. Just being invisible.

That was the day I learned to bury my questions. To swallow them like poison and pretend they never existed.

Now, years later, standing by the same window in the Alpha’s quarters, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he had lied. That he had hidden something much bigger than I could ever imagine.

I sighed, dragging my hand down my face. "So what are you hiding from me, Father?" I muttered under my breath.

My wolf stirred restlessly in my mind. This is crazy,right?

"Yes," I whispered. "But it’s not the way I feel a mate."

"I don’t know." I walked to the window, staring into the distance where the forest met the sky. "It’s deeper. Familiar. Like I’ve known her all my life... but never met her."

My chest tightened. It didn’t make sense. No one had ever made me feel that way before, not even my mate, Racheal, who everyone expected me to claim someday. This was different. Wilder.

A heavy knock echoed through my door, breaking my thoughts. "Alpha Thorne," a voice called. "We just received word from Beta Luke. He’s on his way back from the western borders."

"Good," I said sharply. My voice sounded rough even to my own ears. "Tell him I want him in my study the moment he arrives."

When the guard left, I stayed there, staring out the window again. I could still feel that energy in the air, that strange, invisible force that had made the glasses on my desk shatter earlier. It was still humming under my skin, like static waiting to explode.

I clenched my fist, testing the pull again, and the crescent tattoo flickered faintly, glowing for a brief moment. My heart skipped.

My wolf’s voice was calm but heavy. Maybe she’s blood.

I froze, my breath catching in my throat. "Blood?"

Recognition. The word hit hard.

I sank into my chair, my mind spinning. If she was blood... if she was truly connected to me that way... then that meant my father had lied all my life.

My fists tightened. "Why would he hide her?" I muttered. "Why would he pretend she doesn’t exist?"

My wolf didn’t answer. But I could feel the unease in him, the same confusion twisting in my chest.

I looked out again, eyes scanning the horizon where the faint scent lingered in the wind, that same scent that felt like home and pain all at once.

"She’s out there," I said quietly, my voice trembling just slightly. "And somehow, I know she’s looking for me too."