They said I was never supposed to survive the night I was born.
That the moment I took my first breath, the stars blinked out one by one as if the universe was trying to erase me before I could begin.
I used to think they were just stories. Fairytales whispered behind closed doors by a drunk foster parent or two, meant to scare me into obedience. But the older I got, the more the whispers turned into stares, the more the stares became silence, and the more I started to wonder:
What if it was true?
What if I really wasn't supposed to be here?
I tucked my hoodie tighter around me as I stepped off the bus, the chill of the northern woods wrapping around my bones like a second skin. The sky above was bruised with clouds, heavy with the promise of rain, and the town sign read Silverclaw Ridge – Population: 812. Friendly.
The bus hissed and wheezed behind me before pulling away, stranding me at the edge of the tree-lined road like the first scene of a horror movie. All I had was a duffel bag, a broken phone, and a letter that had arrived on my twenty-first birthday.
It was unsigned, sealed with red wax, and scented with something ancient and wild.
You are one of us. Come home.
That's all it said.
No name. No return address. Just coordinates that led me here, to a town that didn't show up on most maps and a name I hadn't heard since I was a child: Raven Blackthorn.
It was mine. The one I was born with, before the system labeled me a ward of the state and turned me into a number.
I walked, boots crunching over gravel, the forest pressing in on both sides like it was watching me. There was something eerie about this place like the shadows knew my name before I even said it aloud.
And the worst part?
It felt like home.
The house was waiting for me.
Nestled between trees older than time, it stood tall and silent at the end of a dirt path, half-forgotten by the world. Vines climbed the stone walls like veins, windows shuttered tight, and yet I knew it was mine. Somehow, I knew.
I hesitated on the porch. My hand hovered above the doorknob. I half expected a trapdoor to open and swallow me whole.
Instead, the door creaked open with a whisper.
Dust floated like ash in the air. The furniture was covered in white sheets, the floors worn but solid. Everything looked untouched, like someone had locked up and left in a hurry decades ago but something still lingered. A presence. A memory.
I stepped inside.
And that's when I saw it.
A mirror tall, ancient, and covered in carvings that pulsed faintly beneath my gaze stood in the hallway. My reflection stared back at me, wide-eyed and unsure. But for a second just a heartbeat I saw something else. Eyes that weren't mine. A shadow behind my shoulder.
I spun.
Nothing.
But my instincts, those new and growing instincts that hadn't failed me yet, screamed otherwise.
I was being watched.
I slept on the couch that night, curled beneath an old quilt that smelled like cedar and forgotten time. The fire I built in the hearth was weak, but enough to keep the cold at bay. My dreams were twisted things snarling beasts and blood moons, silver crowns and voices calling my name in a tongue I didn't understand.
And through it all, two pairs of eyes haunted me.
One blue, like a frozen sea at dawn.
One green, glowing like forest fire.
I woke up with a start.
There was someone standing outside the window.
No. Two someones.
My breath caught in my throat as I slowly pushed the curtain aside. Two figures stood at the edge of the forest, tall and unmoving watching the house. Watching me.
I couldn't see their faces. But I felt them in my bones.
My blood went cold.
Because somehow, I knew them.
One of them lifted his head. And even across the distance, I saw it eyes like ice, glowing under the moonlight. He took a step forward.
Then the other growled.
Low. Animalistic. A sound no human should be able to make.
And just like that, they vanished into the thin air.
They were gone.
Like shadows swallowed by the forest. One second, two strangers had been standing outside my window in the dead of night. The next nothing.
No sound. No footsteps. Not even the crack of a branch beneath their boots.
Just stillness.
And the cold ache blooming in my chest like frostbite.
I stood there for a long time, staring out into the dark, as if expecting them to reappear. But they didn't. The woods held its breath, silent and vast, like it had swallowed their presence whole.
I wasn't sure what scared me more that I'd seen them… or that a part of me wanted them to come back.
I didn't sleep the rest of the night.
By sunrise, I was dressed, teeth brushed, hair scraped back into a ponytail, and pacing the kitchen of the old house like a caged animal. Coffee was out of the question the power wasn't on yet, and I wasn't brave enough to test if the water was safe. I found an old protein bar in my bag and choked it down as I scanned the letter again.
Come home.
That was it. No instructions. No explanation. Just that impossible feeling of belonging somewhere I'd never been.
And those two guys…
They weren't just locals.
They felt like pieces of the puzzle my life had been trying to solve.
I didn't know their names. But I felt them in my veins like static. Like a song I couldn't stop humming even though I didn't know the lyrics.
Who were they?
Around 8 a.m., I heard it.
A knock at the door.
I froze mid-step. It was soft. Tentative. But deliberate.
My stomach clenched. I approached the door slowly, one hand gripping the handle of an old fireplace poker, just in case.
I opened it a crack.
And found myself staring into a pair of warm brown eyes, flecked with gold.
He was gorgeous.
Tall. Tan. Muscles like sin wrapped in worn denim and a gray shirt that clung to him like a second skin. His dark brown hair was tousled just enough to look accidental, and a tattoo snaked from his collarbone up his neck—a vine of thorns and runes I couldn't quite place.
But it was his smile that disarmed me. Soft. Crooked. A little dangerous.
"Morning," he said, voice rough like gravel but somehow gentle. "You must be Raven."
I blinked. "How do you know my name?"
"I know a lot of things." He shrugged. "Name's Kade."
Kade.
It fit him too well. Like leather and firelight and something just sharp enough to cut you if you weren't careful.
"You're not from here," I said.
His smile tilted. "Neither are you."
I opened the door a little wider, but not by much. "Were you… here last night? At the edge of the woods?"
Kade didn't answer right away. His eyes dropped to my hand the one gripping the fireplace poker.
"I didn't come to hurt you," he said quietly. "I came to warn you."
"About what?"
"You weren't supposed to come back."
Chills.
"What do you mean 'back'? I've never been here before."
He stared at me, something flickering in his eyes. Sadness, maybe. Or regret.
"You don't remember," he said under his breath. Then louder: "That's worse."
Before I could even process that cryptic nonsense, I heard it again.
Footsteps.
A shadow moved behind Kade.
And then he appeared.
The other one.
The man from the window. From my dreams.
He was taller than Kade. Pale. Raven hair cropped just above his jawline, like he'd sliced it off himself with a blade. Eyes like frozen sky. Jaw clenched like he hated every molecule of oxygen he was forced to share with the rest of us.
And when he saw me really saw me he stopped in his tracks.
Like the universe held its breath.
"Lucian," Kade muttered, voice suddenly cold.
Lucian.
His name fit like prophecy.
He stared at me like I was something holy and forbidden all at once. Like he didn't know whether to kneel… or kill.
"You're awake," he said softly. Not surprised. Not angry. Just… resigned.
"Excuse me?" I said, stepping back. "Do I know you?"
Lucian didn't answer. He turned to Kade instead.
"You shouldn't be here."
"Funny. I was about to say the same to you."
The tension between them crackled, thick and deadly. My instincts screamed they weren't just strangers they were rivals. And somehow, I was the match caught between two forest fires.
I cleared my throat. "Okay, pause. Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"
Lucian's gaze snapped back to mine. "You were hidden for a reason, Raven. But now that you've returned" He stepped forward, and my heart stuttered in my chest. "They'll come for you."
"Who?"
He didn't blink. "Everyone."
And then I heard it a howl in the distance.
Not a dog. Not even close.
It was deep. Echoing. Ancient.
Lucian's jaw clenched. Kade cursed under his breath.
"That was a warning," Lucian said darkly.
"A pack's already moving," Kade added, his voice sharp.
I swallowed hard. "A pack of what?"
Lucian's eyes locked on mine.
"Wolves."
"Wolves?" I echoed. "You mean actual wolves, or ?"
Lucian's eyes darkened, lips parting like he was about to tell me the kind of truth that cracked worlds open.
But Kade cut in first. "Shifters. Alphas. Rogues. Take your pick."
I blinked. "Okay, great. I understood exactly none of that."
They shared a glance. A long, loaded one that made my stomach twist. It wasn't just animosity. There was history in it. Something broken and bleeding beneath the surface.
Lucian stepped toward me again, voice low. "This place Silverclaw Ridge it's sacred ground. Protected by bloodlines and ancient laws. The moment you set foot here, something changed. Wards weakened. Territory lines blurred. The others… they felt it."
"Felt me?"
"You're not just anyone, Raven."
My laugh came out brittle. "Right. I'm the girl who wasn't supposed to exist, remember?"
Kade flinched, like the words physically hit him. "You don't know what you are yet."
"Well, someone better start explaining," I snapped, nerves fraying. "Because all I have is a creepy house, two hot stalkers, and a howling forest full of monsters."
Lucian's lips twitched almost a smirk. Almost.
"You were born of two rival bloodlines," he said. "One royal. One cursed."
"Cursed?"
Kade exhaled through his nose. "You're the last Blackthorn."
It landed like a punch to the chest.
I'd heard the name before once, long ago. The foster system buried most of my paperwork under red tape and 'missing records,' but I remembered that name scrawled in jagged handwriting on the corner of a tattered envelope: R. Blackthorn.
Lucian folded his arms. "You're a legacy. A weapon. And if the packs find out you're alive"
"They'll tear this town apart," Kade finished grimly.
The air between the three of us turned electric. Charged with something bigger than just secrets. Fate. Blood. Danger.
And buried somewhere under all that?
Something else.
Recognition.
I didn't just feel like I knew them. I remembered them.
Not in pictures. Not in names. But in dreams. Echoes.
The blue-eyed boy in my nightmares, wrapped in moonlight and sorrow.
The green-eyed one with fire at his fingertips and war in his heart.
And me always in between.
Always running.
"Why now?" I asked quietly. "Why come for me now?"
Lucian's expression shifted, sharp and unreadable. "Because you turned twenty-one. That's when the curse breaks."
"I'm cursed now?"
"You were sealed," Kade corrected. "Your memories. Your blood. Your power."
"Okay," I said, nearly laughing. "So let me get this straight: I'm the heir to a royal wolf bloodline, I've been cursed since birth, I've got mystery powers no one's bothered to explain, and now packs are coming to kill me?"
"Not all of them want you dead," Lucian said.
"Oh, awesome. Some just want to what? Adopt me?"
"Claim you."
That word hit different.
Like thunder in my spine.
"Claim me?" I repeated. "What the hell does that even mean?"
Kade's eyes dropped to my neck, lingering for half a second too long. "Among wolves… claiming is a bond. A vow. It's binding."
"Like marriage?"
Lucian tilted his head. "More like war."
The wind howled outside, sharp and cold. The fire I'd built earlier sputtered in its stone hearth.
"We need to move you," Lucian said abruptly. "Now."
Kade stepped in front of me. "To your side of the territory? Yeah, no thanks."
Lucian growled. Actually growled.
I took a step back, heart pounding. "Okay, dial it down, both of you."
Kade's eyes flashed gold. "She's not going anywhere with you."
"And you think she's safer with you?" Lucian snapped. "How many packs have you pissed off this month?"
"At least I'm not the one with a death bounty on my head."
"Boys," I muttered, rubbing my temples. "If you're done measuring testosterone levels, can someone tell me where I'm supposed to go?"
They both turned to me.
Kade softened. "With me. I've got a cabin on neutral ground. You'll be safe there."
Lucian shook his head. "No one's safe on neutral ground. You need to be with the royal pack."
"Oh, now they want me?" I scoffed. "After two decades of silence?"
"They didn't know you survived," he said, voice low.
"Yeah, convenient."
Kade took my hand gently. "Raven, listen. We don't have time for politics. If we stay here, they'll find you."
"How soon?"
Lucian's eyes flicked to the window. "They're already close."
The fire suddenly flickered high, casting long shadows across the room.
Then
A bang at the back door.
A snarl.
Low. Hungry. Inhuman.
I froze.
Lucian was already moving, positioning himself between me and the sound, pulling something silver from inside his coat.
Kade's eyes glowed.
"Stay behind us," Lucian growled.
And I didn't argue.
The back door burst open.
And a creature lunged through the threshold fangs bared, claws extended, eyes red with fury.
It wasn't just a wolf.
It was a monster.
And it was coming for me.