Raven's POV
The wild energy pouring from Caspian's body slams into me like a wave—hot, chaotic, and wrong. It should hurt. It should burn me alive.
Instead, it feels like coming home.
The moment my hand touches his arm, the screaming power rushing through him... stops. Just stops. Like a storm suddenly going silent.
The terrible energy doesn't disappear. I can feel it flowing into me, through me, and back into him—but different now. Calm. Controlled. Like I'm a filter cleaning poisoned water.
Caspian's eyes snap open, clear and focused for the first time since he burst through my door. He stares at me with something that looks like wonder.
"You—" he starts.
I yank my hand away and scramble backward. The second we disconnect, his power starts going wild again. He gasps, his body shaking.
"Don't," I warn, even though every instinct screams at me to help him. "Don't come near me."
"Raven, please—"
Heavy footsteps thunder down the corridor. Magnus appears in my doorway with Elder Meredith and three other council members. Their eyes take in the scene—Caspian on his knees, me pressed against the wall, the lingering crackle of unstable power in the air.
Magnus's cold smile makes my stomach drop.
"Well," he says softly. "That answers our questions,
doesn't it?"
They don't force me to leave my room that night. They don't have to. Two guards stand outside my door—"for my protection," Magnus says. But we all know what they really are.
Prison guards.
I curl up on my thin mattress, hugging my knees to my chest. Through the wall, I can hear the other omegas whispering. They know something's happening. They just don't know what.
Neither do I, not really.
What was that power? Why did touching Caspian feel like that? And why did some part of me want to keep holding on?
I punch my pillow, angry at myself. Caspian rejected me. Destroyed me. I won't let some weird supernatural connection make me forget that.
Sleep doesn't come. When dawn breaks, I force myself up and prepare for another day of being invisible.
Except I'm not invisible anymore.
The dining hall feels wrong the moment I enter.
Usually, mornings are loud—wolves talking, laughing, arguing over food. But today, a strange tension fills the air. Conversations are sharp and quick. Wolves keep glancing at each other with suspicion.
I keep my head down and head for the omega serving station, but I feel eyes following me. Whispers start the moment I pass.
"That's her."
"The one who can fix him?"
"Just an omega, though. How is that possible?"
I grab my cleaning supplies with shaking hands and hurry toward my first task. The sooner I finish, the sooner I can hide in my room again.
But halfway across the hall, two male wolves start shoving each other.
"I said move!" one snarls.
"Make me, Marcus!"
"Stop it!" someone shouts. "Both of you, calm—"
Marcus's eyes flash gold. His body ripples, fur bursting through skin as he shifts right there in the dining hall. The other male shifts too, and suddenly two full wolves are launching at each other's throats.
The room erupts in chaos.
"Get the doctor!" Elder Meredith screams.
Wolves scatter as the two males tear into each other with savage fury. Blood sprays across the floor. The sounds they make aren't normal wolf sounds—they're insane, mindless, full of rage that shouldn't exist.
"They've gone feral!" someone yells.
Pack warriors finally tackle both males, forcing them apart. But even restrained, the wolves keep fighting, snapping at anything that moves.
Dr. Thorne—no relation to me, just bad luck sharing a last name—rushes in with sedatives. It takes three doses each to finally calm the males enough to stop fighting.
I'm pressed against the wall, my heart hammering. I've never seen wolves go feral before. It's supposed to be impossible in a stable pack with a strong Alpha.
Unless the pack isn't stable anymore.
"Second incident this week," someone mutters nearby. "What's happening to us?"
"The Alpha's power," another wolf whispers. "Haven't you felt it? Something's wrong with Magnus. And now with Caspian too."
"It's getting worse."
I slide along the wall, trying to escape to my cleaning duties, when Dr. Thorne's voice rings out.
"Everyone remain calm! This is a temporary imbalance. The Alpha council is addressing—"
"Addressing what?" a warrior demands. "Wolves are going crazy! The pack bond feels like it's breaking!"
"That's impossible," Dr. Thorne insists, but he sounds uncertain.
I finally make it to the corridor and run. I don't stop until I'm in the servants' wing, gasping for air.
Two wolves going feral in one morning. Whispers about the Alpha's power being wrong. The pack bond breaking.
And somehow, I'm connected to all of it.
I spend the rest of the morning cleaning the library, grateful for the quiet. My hands scrub automatically while my mind races.
What's happening to the pack? What did touching Caspian's power really mean? And why won't anyone just tell me the truth?
"You look troubled, little one."
I jump, nearly dropping my brush. An elderly omega woman sits in one of the reading chairs—Luna Thorne, my great-aunt. She's one of the few omegas in the pack who remembers the old ways, before Magnus made everything about strength and dominance.
"I'm fine," I lie.
"Liar." But her voice is gentle. She gestures to the chair beside her. "Sit. You've been working since dawn."
I shouldn't. I have three more rooms to clean. But something in her eyes makes me obey.
Luna studies my face for a long moment. "You felt it, didn't you? When you touched the young Alpha."
My breath catches. "How did you—"
"I'm old, child. Not blind." She leans closer, her voice dropping to barely a whisper. "Something is waking up inside you. Something that's been sleeping for a very long time."
"I don't understand."
"You will." She pats my hand. "But be careful, Raven. Power draws attention. And not all attention is safe."
Before I can ask what she means, footsteps echo in the corridor. Luna stands quickly, suddenly just a frail old woman again.
"Remember," she whispers. "Not everything is as it seems."
She shuffles away, leaving me more confused than ever.
That evening, I'm scrubbing the grand hall when I hear it—a conversation from the Alpha's office, the door left slightly open.
I should walk away. I should mind my business.
But I creep closer instead.
"—can't hide it much longer," Elder Meredith's voice. "The pack feels the instability. They're starting to panic."
"Then we handle it." Magnus sounds furious. "We bring the omega girl in permanently. Keep her close to Caspian."
"She won't agree willingly."
"I don't care if she agrees!" Something crashes—Magnus throwing something. "She's omega. She exists to serve the pack. If keeping her near Caspian stabilizes everything, then that's what happens."
My blood turns to ice.
"And if she refuses?" Caspian's voice, quiet and dangerous.
"Then we make her understand," Magnus says coldly, "that refusal isn't an option."
I back away from the door, my whole body shaking—
And walk straight into a solid chest.
Strong hands grip my shoulders. I look up into silver eyes that have haunted my dreams for three months.
Caspian stares down at me, and his expression is absolutely tortured.
"I'm sorry," he whispers. "I'm so sorry for what's about to happen."
Before I can move, before I can scream, the office door flies open.
Magnus stands there with a smile that promises nightmares.
"Miss Thorne," he says pleasantly. "We need to talk."