THE ALPHA WHO HATED ME - Chapter 16: Chapter 16

EVANGELINE POINT OF VIEW
I don't sleep well anymore.
Every night, I lie awake staring at the ceiling of my tiny bedroom, replaying the humiliation from lunch. Celeste's perfect smile. The laughter of hundreds of students. The way Ronan sat there and watched it all happen without moving a muscle.
Tonight is no different. The clock on my nightstand shows 2:47 AM, but my mind won't quiet down. Won't stop replaying every cruel word and every moment of shame.
When exhaustion finally pulls me under, the dreams begin.
I'm standing in a place that doesn't exist in the real world. A forest clearing surrounded by trees so tall they disappear into misty darkness above. Moonlight streams down through the canopy, but it's not normal moonlight. This light is silver and alive, moving like water across everything it touches.
The ground beneath my bare feet feels soft. Warm. Like it's breathing.
I look down at myself and gasp. I'm wearing a white dress that flows around me like liquid starlight. The fabric moves on its own, stirring in a breeze I can't feel.
This isn't my body. This isn't my life. This can't be real.
But it feels real. More real than anything I've ever experienced.
"Finally," a voice says behind me. "You're ready to see."
I spin around, but nobody is there. Just empty air and shifting shadows.
"Who's there?" I call out. My voice echoes strangely in this place, like it's bouncing off invisible walls.
"Look within yourself, child."
The voice seems to come from everywhere and nowhere. From the trees. From the ground. From inside my own chest.
"I don't understand."
Something warm spreads through my body. Starting in my heart and flowing outward like honey through my veins. It doesn't hurt, but it's overwhelming. Too much sensation all at once.
I stagger backward and press my hand to my chest. Under my palm, something moves. Something that isn't me.
"Let her out," the voice whispers. "Let her breathe."
"Let who out? I don't know what you're talking about."
But even as I say the words, I feel her. Someone else living inside my skin. Someone who's been sleeping for so long I forgot she existed.
My wolf.
But this isn't the small, quiet creature I've always known. This is something else. Something bigger. Something that makes my bones hum with power I don't understand.
The warmth in my chest grows stronger. Hotter. Like a fire being fed with gasoline.
I look down and watch in horror as light begins pouring out of my skin. Not normal light. Pure white radiance that makes the moonlight look dim.
"What's happening to me?"
The voice doesn't answer. Just watches as the transformation continues.
The light gets brighter. So bright I have to close my eyes. But even through my eyelids, I can see it. Feel it. It's coming from inside me, pushing outward like it's trying to escape.
The light explodes.
I scream.
It isn't pain.
It's power. Pure and terrifying.
I feel something tear free from my chest. Not painful, but shocking. Like part of my soul just ripped itself loose and decided to go for a walk.
When I open my eyes, she's standing in front of me.
A wolf.
But not just any wolf. This creature is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Her fur is pure white, so bright it almost hurts to look at. Each hair catches the moonlight and throws it back like diamonds. Her eyes are silver, deep and ancient and knowing.
She's huge. Bigger than any wolf should be. When she sits, her head reaches my chest. When she looks at me, I feel like she's seeing straight into my soul.
"Hello, Lunara," she says, and her voice sounds like music.
My knees give out. I sink to the ground, staring at this impossible creature who somehow came out of my body.
"That's not my name," I whisper.
The wolf tilts her head but doesn't explain. Just watches me with those knowing silver eyes.
"I'm Evangeline," I say desperately. "Evangeline Cross."
The wolf doesn't respond. She just steps closer, and when she moves, starlight seems to fall from her fur like glitter.
"What are you?" I breathe.
"Look at me," she says gently. "Really look. What do you see?"
I force myself to meet her silver eyes. What I see there takes my breath away.
Myself. But not the broken, pathetic version I've become. This is me as I was meant to be. Powerful. Fierce. Unafraid.
"You're beautiful," I whisper.
"We are beautiful," she corrects. "We are rare."
"We?"
"I am you. You are me. We have been separated too long."
The truth of her words settles in my chest like a weight. But underneath the wonder, fear creeps in cold and sharp.
"What if I don't want power?" I whisper. "What if having this makes me like them? What if it turns me into something cruel?"
The wolf's eyes soften with understanding. "Power doesn't corrupt, Lunara. Choice does."
"But what if I make the wrong choices? What if I become a monster?"
"Then you'll learn from your mistakes. And you'll choose again."
"But what does that mean?" I ask desperately. "What are we?"
The wolf's expression grows mysterious. "That is not for me to tell you."
"Then who will tell me?"
"When the time is right, you will know."
Frustration builds in my chest. "I don't want riddles. I want answers. I want to understand what's happening to me."
"Understanding comes with time," she says simply. "And patience."
"I don't have time for patience. People are hurting me. Every day gets worse."
The wolf's eyes flash with something that might be anger. "And what would you do if you knew the truth? Would you use it to hurt them back?"
The question catches me off guard. "I... I don't know."
"Then you're not ready for answers."
"When will I be ready?"
"When you stop asking what you are and start asking who you choose to be."
The dream starts to fade around the edges. The trees become transparent. The moonlight dims.
"Wait," I call out desperately. "Don't go. I have so many questions."
"I'm not going anywhere," the white wolf says with warmth in her voice. "I'm part of you now. Awake and aware. You'll never be alone again, Lunara."
"But I don't understand any of this. I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
"You'll learn," she says. "One day at a time. One choice at a time."
The forest disappears completely. The wolf begins to fade like morning mist.
"Remember," she calls out as she becomes transparent. "You are not a mistake. You are not weak. But what you are... that discovery belongs to you alone."
I wake up gasping.
My tiny bedroom feels suffocating after the vast forest of my dream. The ceiling is too low. The walls too close. Everything too ordinary.
But something has changed. I can feel it humming under my skin. An awareness that wasn't there before. A presence that makes me feel less alone.
My wolf. Not the quiet, timid creature I've always known. Something magnificent and mysterious. She's awake now. Alert. Ready.
But ready for what?
I sit up in bed and look at my hands. They look the same as always. Pale. Thin. Unremarkable.
But when I focus, really focus, I can see light moving under my skin. Faint. Almost invisible. But there.
And on my wrist, where there was nothing before, a small silver mark glows softly. Shaped like a crescent moon.
"Lunara," I whisper to the darkness.
The name feels right in my mouth. Like coming home after a long journey.
But it also terrifies me. Because if the dream was real.... if there really is something special about me.... then everything is about to change.
And I have no idea what I'm changing into.
The wolf said I was rare. Said I was beautiful. Said white wolves were blessed.
But what did any of that mean?
Why wouldn't she tell me?
Outside my window, the moon shines down with silver light that seems brighter than before. More alive.
Like it's watching me.
Like it's waiting for something.
I touch the crescent mark on my wrist. It pulses with warmth under my fingertip.
Tomorrow, I go back to school. Back to Celeste and her cruelty. Back to Ronan and his rejection.
But I won't be the same girl who left yesterday.
And for the first time, I'm not sure if I'm afraid of them...
Or if they should be afraid of me.