Darkness swallowed her.
Not just the absence of light but something deeper, something that felt like it was unraveling her from the inside out.
Sienna gasped, but no air filled her lungs. She wasn't falling, wasn't floating. Just… suspended. Trapped in a silence so complete it felt alive.
Then.
A breath. Not hers.
The darkness shifted, morphing into something else. A memory.
Sienna was five years old, curled up in her father's arms. His warmth, his scent, earth and pine surrounded her as he whispered a story about the first wolves. She had heard it a hundred times before, but tonight, his voice was urgent, like it mattered.
"The first wolves were not just made of flesh and blood," he murmured. "They were something more. Something... other."
She had giggled, not understanding. "Like magic?"
Her father's golden eyes had darkened for a split second. "Like something older than magic."
Sienna's heartbeat thundered in her ears.
This wasn't just a memory. It was something else. A warning.
The darkness shattered.
She jolted awake with a gasp, the scent of damp earth and smoke filling her nose. Cold air prickled against her skin.
She was somewhere else.
Not outside the cabin. Not in the clearing.
Stone walls loomed around her, rough and ancient. A dim torch flickered from a bracket on the wall, casting long, distorted shadows.
Chains rattled.
Her chains.
Panic slammed into her like a tidal wave.
Her wrists were bound in heavy iron cuffs, silver laced through them. Silver. Her stomach turned. No wonder she felt weak, drained.
Footsteps echoed.
Sienna's head snapped up, and her blood froze.
Her father or whatever he was stood at the entrance of the room, watching her with a small, knowing smile.
"You're awake." His voice was smooth, almost amused.
Sienna's pulse pounded. "Where am I?"
His smile didn't waver. "Somewhere safe."
Her eyes flickered to the doorway behind him. If she could just...
"Don't bother," he said, as if reading her mind. "Those chains aren't the only thing keeping you here."
Her jaw clenched. "You're not my father."
His golden eyes gleamed. "No," he admitted. "Not anymore."
The air thickened with tension.
"What are you?" Sienna whispered.
The man—thing tilted his head, considering her. Then he stepped forward, slow and deliberate, until he was just inches from her.
Sienna forced herself not to shrink back.
"I told you," he murmured, his voice almost affectionate. "They lied to you."
A thousand questions burned behind her lips, but she couldn't give him the satisfaction of asking. Instead, she glared. "And you're here to tell me the truth?"
His smirk returned. "No, little wolf. I'm here to show you."
Before she could react, he reached out, his fingers brushing her forehead.
The world spun.
Pain. Fire. A flood of memories that weren't hers.
A woman with Sienna's eyes, standing at the edge of a dark forest.
A man with black eyes, whispering words that made the ground tremble.
A deal. A curse. A prophecy written in blood.
Sienna screamed.
And then, just as suddenly as it started.
It stopped.
She gasped for air, her body shaking. The chains bit into her wrists, grounding her back to reality. But nothing felt real anymore.
Her father, the imposter watched her with something close to sympathy.
"You understand now, don't you?"
Sienna's breaths came ragged, her mind still reeling.
This wasn't just about her being more than a wolf.
This went deeper. Older.
And she had been at the center of it long before she was even born.
Her stomach twisted. "What do you want from me?"
He crouched beside her, his golden eyes sharp, unyielding. "To wake you up, little wolf."
Sienna's blood turned to ice.
Wake her up?
No. No, she didn't want to know what that meant.
Her father—not her father smiled, and for the first time, it wasn't amused. It was cold. Calculated.
"Because if you don't wake up soon…" He leaned in, his voice a whisper of a storm.
"They'll kill you before you ever get the chance."
Sienna's heart stopped.
They?
The room spun.
Then, somewhere above them.
A deafening boom.
The ground trembled. Dust rained down from the ceiling.
Shouts echoed through the corridors. Heavy footsteps. The sound of weapons being drawn.
Sienna's breath caught.
Someone was coming.
And by the way the imposter's smile vanished, she knew.
It wasn't his people.
The door burst open, and a familiar voice rang through the chaos.
"Get your hands off her."
Sienna's heart lurched.
Kael.
And he wasn't alone.
Her pulse thundered.
The battle had just begun.