Chapter 6

Standing on the stage, I felt a tightness in my chest. I couldn't name it. It wasn't nervousness. Something heavy was stuck there, pressing down on my breath.

The ritual circle was a ring of stone. Moonlight poured down from above, making the slabs glow pale white. The elder stood outside the circle, holding the Moon Goddess's staff and murmuring ancient prayers.

Every unawakened wolf had to stand in this circle before adulthood to receive the moon's blessing.

If their inner wolf existed, it would wake up under the moon's call and connect with its owner for the first time. Those who succeeded would shift into their wolf form and unleash their pressure.

I walked to the center of the circle and stopped.

Everyone's eyes were on me, lazy and mocking, like they were waiting for a drama. No one thought I would awaken.

The moonlight landed on my skin, cold as if I had been dipped in silver.

Then something inside me shattered. From deep in my bones, a surge of silver power burst out. Like water breaking through a dam after being trapped too long, it rushed through my veins to my limbs.

My bones creaked. My muscles trembled. Every nerve felt like it was on fire.

Something was howling inside me. My inner wolf. She slammed against my chest like she had been caged forever and finally found a way out.

The silver power exploded inside me, burning from my marrow to my skull. Every vein flared open. The pain made me double over, gasping for air.

But on the outside, nothing happened. No shifting. No light. No pressure.

Inside, everything was chaos. Outside, it was quiet, as if nothing had changed.

"Failed again."

"Figured."

"Eighteen years old and she still couldn't do it. This is her last chance."

Laughter came from every direction, but I couldn't hear any of it. A voice was ringing through my blood, clear and cold, like moonlight turning into words. 'I'm here.'

It was my inner wolf finally speaking.

My blood boiled. My whole body burned. I couldn't stop myself from turning my head and looking straight at Adrian in the crowd.

Something shot out of my chest, like an invisible thread cutting through the air and the crowd, connecting directly to him. My body started pulling toward him, dragged by an unseen force. Even my bones bent in his direction.

My inner wolf screamed in my mind, wild and desperate, 'Mate! He's your fated mate. Take him. He's yours. Vivian is a liar.'

Her voice rang with a silvery vibration, so powerful that even the moonlight seemed to shiver. The pull was too overwhelming to be fake.

But on the outside, nothing. No glow. No wolf form. No one could see what was happening inside me.

The elder shook his head and declared the awakening a failure.

I knew I was awakening. I could feel my inner wolf howling in my blood. But she couldn't get out. Something was holding her down.

I looked at my chest. The fabric Vivian had soaked was dry now, but the color was wrong. The dried stain had a faint gray tint, like powder had seeped into the cloth.

My inner wolf growled low and pushed a name into my mind, 'Eclipse Dust. Extract from Bone Eater Vine. It gets absorbed through the skin and suppresses any visible signs of awakening. Vivian did this.'