Awaking Truth

The door slammed behind Diva shaking the stones like a final warning.

Derek just remained still at a spot with his jaw tightened hard and his eyes narrowed to slits as he stared at the space where the she-wolf had disappeared. His claws itched beneath the surface of his skin and his beast raced fast, pondering hard inside his chest. The scent she left behind clung to the air-defiance laced with tamed fire. It was nothing like the scent she used to carry.

Diva had changed.

No- something has been unleashed.

She wasn’t the trembling omega they all whispered about around the bonfire. The one who avoided eye contact and barely held her ground during pack calls. The pack had always spoken of her as weak—spirit broken, aura barely flickering. A she-wolf not worth a second glance.

But what Derek had seen tonight?

She had looked him in the eye—held his gaze—and for a flicker of a moment, her presence had rattled him. The Alpha. The heir to bloodlines soaked in dominance and war.

That wasn’t normal.

And Derek hated not understanding what he was dealing with.

By the time Derek departed from the pack land, the moon was elevated, his wolf uneasy beneath his skin, claws scratching at his palms. His mare, a hefty black creature called Kael, rushed along the forest trail with effortless grace, the wind striking Derek's face like the thread of fate. The woods were dense with the fragrance of pine, ash, and an ancient odor—something out of place.

He was going to the edge of neutral lands. Forbidden territory for most pack-born wolves. But not for him.

Not when he needed answers.

The seer lived there—an old wolf cloaked in the remnants of time, her presence avoided even by Alphas. She spoke in riddles. In truths wrapped in thorns. But if anyone knew what was happening to Diva, it was her.

He didn’t knock.

The door creaked open before his hand touched it, and the heat of incense and herbs slammed into his senses. Wolfsbane, ash root, sage—power soaked the walls of the crooked hut. Every surface was lined with talismans made of bone and fur, feathers hanging like warnings from the rafters.

“Alpha-blood,” the seer rasped, not looking at him. “I felt your fury stirring from miles away.”

“I have questions in my mind that need answers,” Derek said as he stepped inside. The firelight threw shadows across his face showing the tension that pilled up in his features.

She laughed dryly. “You always need something.”

Derek didn’t waste time. He stood tall, every inch the Alpha-in-waiting. “The omega. Diva. She’s—changed.”

The seer tilted her head. “Ah. The quiet one whose light was buried.”

“She’s not quiet anymore,” Derek growled. “She defied me in front of my wolves. She resisted the guards. Her aura—it flared. It shouldn’t be possible.”

The seer finally turned to face him.

“She-wolves like her are not made weak, Derek. They are kept that way.”

He flinched. A little.

“What do you mean?”

“She’s strong,” the seer said simply, eyes gleaming. “Stronger than most realize. Her essence… her power… has been suppressed.”

Derek stiffened. “Suppressed? By who?”

“Not by who,” the seer whispered, returning to her pot of simmering herbs. “But by what.”

Derek took a step closer. “I don't understand, please be clear with your explanation.”

“You would not understand any bit of what I'm saying even if I explain forwarder,” she snapped, her tone suddenly sharp. “You’re too used to looking at strength as something that roars. But some strength sleeps in silence… until something—or someone—calls it awake.”

Derek’s wolf bristled beneath his skin.

“She is not who she is described to be, is she?”

The seer turned and looked at him again, but this time her eyes weren’t golden.

They were black. Ancient. Like the void between stars.

“She never was what she seemed. You all saw what you wanted to see. A docile she-wolf. An orphan of weak blood. But she was born of something older. Something even your bloodline would bow to.”

His pulse throbbed. “You’re saying she’s not just pack-born?”

The seer shook her head slowly.

“She’s hidden,” she said, almost reverently. “Not because she’s weak but because someone is trying to get back at you about an incident of the past.”

The fire flared violently for a second, casting twisted shadows across the walls.

Derek’s mouth went dry. “Tell me who suppressed her power,” he demanded.

The seer didn’t answer.

“Tell me who she really is!”

Silence.

Then the seer turned fully to him, and the power in her gaze rooted him in place like stone. “The time is not yet right, when the time is right you will know the truth,” she said.

“I don't care what the time says, all I care about is the truth,” Derek growled. “I can’t protect the pack if I don’t know what she is.”

“She is strong enough to do that herself ,” the seer snapped.

A beat of silence followed. Derek’s breath came heavy. The air in the room was thick. Suffocating.

Finally, he asked in a low voice, “When will she awaken?”

The seer looked toward the window, her eyes distant. “When the moon cries blood… and the one who bound her pays the price.”

He stepped forward again, not ready to leave. Not yet. He had more questions, and the need for answers clawed at him like a rabid wolf. But the seer raised a hand and the door behind him slammed open.

“Our time is up, Alpha-blood.” Derek’s hands curled into fists. His wolf snarled in protest.

But something about the way her eyes glowed told him not to push.

So he left.

Outside, the night had grown colder. The wind sliced through the trees, howling like a warning. Derek mounted Kael again, but his thoughts were louder than the forest.

Suppressed power.

A forgotten bloodline.

An awakening that couldn’t be stopped.

His jaw ached from clenching. His instincts screamed at him to act, to pull her in, lock her down, force the truth from her lips.

But something deeper… older… told him that if he tried, he might break something that was never his to touch.

And gods help them all if Diva ever found out who she truly was.