Selene took a step forward. Very cautious. Her bare feet touching into the cool, moonlit grass. The wolf stiffened as its golden eyes bore into her, its muscles coiled like it was about to snap. It didn't trust her. It didn't know her.
And she knew it.
She could feel its pain, a deep, raw agony that bled through the bond they shared. It wasn't just a wound of the body, it was broken, heartbroken. Shattered and never healed. And the closer she got to the wolf, the more the pain bled into her making her chest ache as if it was her own.
And in a way, it was.
Selene swallowed hard. She had seen flashes, glimpses of memories that weren't hers, yet felt like they belonged to her all the same. Damian. The sound of his voice. The heat she felt that night outside, followed by the unbearable, crushing weight of rejection.
She didn't need to remember it all to know what had happened.
The wolf flinched when she took another step. It bared its teeth, its ears pinned back, a deep growl running through the space between them. It was warning her.
Stay back!
But she couldn't and she wouldn't.
Selene lowered herself to her knees. She opened her hands, palms up, showing she meant no harm. She exhaled slowly, willing her presence to be gentle, steady. Her heart was racing, but she couldn't let that show. This wasn't just about getting the wolf to accept her, this was about understanding herself too. About surviving in a world where she didn't belong.
A breeze stirred the air between them. She was an assassin with honed senses but not this sharp. Her sense of smell was magnified. She could perceive the air, carrying the scent of the forest, of damp earth, of something faintly metallic, blood. The wolf was hurt. Its left foreleg trembled slightly, its stance unbalanced. The pain wasn't just emotional. It was real.
"I know," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
The growling slowly reduced and stopped.
The wolf's ears flicked forward and then backward again uncertain. Selene didn't reach out. Not yet. She let the silence settle between them, to let the wolf take her in, sense her. Wolves didn't just rely on sight, they felt things. The bond between them wasn't whole, but it was there. And right now, it was strained and tangled in grief.
The pain thickened in her chest, heavy and suffocating. Flashes of memories flickered through her mind. A deep masculine voice rejecting her, no, not her, but Selene away. Cold words cutting deeper than any blade. The moment she felt her heart rip apart.
A whimper broke the silence.
The wolf's head dipped slightly, its golden eyes dimming with something broken, something vulnerable. It shifted on its feet, its tail lowering slightly, not tucked, but it was no longer rigid with aggression.
Selene's breath hitched. It recognized her. Not as the same person, but as someone who carried the same wounds, the same heartbreak. And for the first time, it didn't fight her presence. The presence felt familiar yet strange.
Slowly, she extended her hand.
The wolf hesitated, its massive chest rising and falling with each uneven breath. Then, almost imperceptibly, it lowered its head. The growl that had once been a warning was now a low, pained rumble in its throat.
Selene's fingers grazed its fur.
A violent tremor ran through the wolf's body, like it wanted to recoil, to flee, but then, it stilled. The tension in its body melted away, its hackles lowering, its breathing evening out.
And then, it whimpered again.
Not in fear.
In pain.
Selene's heart clenched as she ran her fingers through the thick fur. It was coarse, but warm, alive. The wolf leaned into her touch, hesitant at first, then fully. Like it had been waiting for this. For someone to tell it that it wasn't alone. That the pain it carried didn't have to kill it.
She didn't need words to understand it. She could feel it all in the way it trembled beneath her touch. The heartbreak. The rejection. The agony of being torn from something it had once belonged to.
Tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them away. She couldn't fall apart. Not now.
"You're not alone," she whispered, her voice hoarse, thick with emotion.
The wolf let out a shuddering breath and sank onto its haunches. It didn't fight her anymore. It didn't run.
For the first time since she woke up in this strange world, things clicked. She wasn't alone, also...
She hadn't just taken over this body.
She had inherited its pain.
And maybe, just maybe, she could heal it.