Chapter 14: The Pull
Chapter 14: Pull
Lena dragged herself through the school day running on maybe three hours of sleep and too much caffeine.
The vision had kept her up most of the night, replaying every time she closed her eyes. The wolves running. The shadow waiting. The feeling that something bad was coming and she couldn't stop it.
She felt like she was moving through water, everything slow and distant. Her focus kept slipping during classes and her mind kept drifting back to that clearing in the forest.
And the shadow was back.
She saw it twice in the same hour and both times it felt closer than before, more solid. The first time was in the library during her free period. Lena was sitting at a table near the back, trying to finish an assignment she'd barely started, when movement caught her eye.
There, between two shelves of books, the darkness stood.
Lena's breath caught. She stared at it directly this time, refusing to look away, and for a few seconds it stayed there.
Then it was gone like smoke.
Her hands were shaking when she looked back down at her textbook. The words blurred together and she couldn't make sense of any of them.
The second time was worse.
She was walking to her next class, taking a route through a less crowded hallway to avoid the stares, when she felt it behind her. That presence. Heavy and deliberate.
She turned fast and saw it at the far end of the corridor. The shadow, darker than it should be, standing completely still while students walked past it without noticing.
It wasn't random. Lena knew that now with certainty.
It was following her and watching her and getting closer.
She didn't tell anyone. What would she even say? That she was being stalked by something that disappeared every time anyone else looked at it?
They'd think she'd lost it completely.
Third period was English. Lena sat in her usual spot and tried to focus on the discussion happening at the front of the room. She was doing okay, almost keeping up with the conversation, when she heard a voice behind her, low enough that the teacher wouldn't hear but loud enough for the surrounding students.
“Freak.”
The word was followed by snickering. Lena's face burned but she kept her eyes forward, refusing to react.
“I heard she's not even supposed to be here,” another voice added. “That she faked her way in somehow.”
More quiet laughter.
Lena's hands curled into fists on her desk but she didn't turn around. She'd learned by now that reacting only made it worse.
“Enough.”
The voice was cold and sharp and came from the front of the room. Lena looked up and felt her stomach drop.
Ethan was half turned in his seat, his gray eyes locked on the students behind Lena with an intensity that made the air feel colder. His expression was dangerous.
“If you have something to say, say it louder,” Ethan continued, his voice cutting through the classroom. “Or shut up.”
The room went dead quiet. Even the teacher stopped mid sentence, staring at Ethan with wide eyes.
The students behind Lena didn't say another word.
Ethan turned back around like nothing happened, his posture relaxed, but Lena could see the tension in his shoulders. He didn't look at her to acknowledge what he'd just done but the entire class noticed.
Whispers started immediately, quiet and speculative. Lena sank lower in her seat, her face burning for an entirely different reason now.
Why had he done that? He didn't like her. Had barely spoken to her except to tell her to stay out of his way. So why defend her?
She didn't understand any of this.
After school Lena went to the library to wait for Caleb. He had practice or a meeting or something and she didn't feel like sitting in the car alone.
She found a table in the back corner and pulled out homework she had no intention of actually doing. The library was quiet, almost empty, just a few students scattered around studying.
Lena was staring at her textbook when someone pulled out the chair across from her.
She looked up and her heart jumped.
Liam sat down without asking, his blue eyes fixed on her face.
But he wasn't smiling as usual.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“About what?”
“Don't play dumb, Lena. You know what.”
She did know. But that didn't mean she wanted to have this conversation.
“I don't know what you want me to say,” she replied carefully.
Liam leaned forward, his expression intense. “That moment in the hallway. Right before everything happened. What did you see?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.” He said it without heat, just stating a fact. “You saw something. Felt something. I could see it on your face.”
Lena's throat tightened. “Why do you care?”
“Because my wolf cares.” The words came out frustrated, almost angry. “And I don't understand why.”
The admission hung between them. Lena didn't know how to respond to that.
She didn't know what he wanted from her.
“What do you want me to tell you?” she asked quietly.
“The truth.” Liam's jaw tightened. “Have you felt that energy before? Done anything like that before?”
Lena wanted to lie.
She wanted to tell him no and walk away and pretend none of this was happening but something in his expression stopped her.
He looked desperate as if he needed answers as badly as she did.
“Small things,” she admitted. “Nothing like that. But sometimes when I get upset, things happen. A locker slams. A light flickers.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I thought I was imagining it.”
Liam was quiet for a long moment, processing. “You're not imagining it.”
“What am I then?”
“I don't know.” He ran a hand through his golden hair, looking genuinely frustrated. “But whatever you are, it's affecting all of us. Me, Ethan, Caleb. Our wolves are reacting to you in ways that shouldn't be possible.”
“I didn't ask for any of this.”
“I know.”His expression softened slightly. “But it's happening anyway.”
Before Lena could respond, Liam stood abruptly. He looked at her for another long moment, something complicated crossing his face, then turned and walked away without another word.
Lena sat there alone, her mind spinning.
Lunch the next day was when Caleb nearly lost it.
The cafeteria was crowded and loud, students packed together at tables and moving through the lunch line. Lena had just grabbed her tray and was trying to navigate through the crowd when it happened.
A male student was walking past her going the opposite direction. The space was tight and he had to squeeze by. His shoulder brushed against hers, barely any contact at all, nothing that should matter.
Across the cafeteria, Caleb went rigid.
Lena saw it happen. One second he was sitting at his usual table and the next his whole body locked up, his hands flat on the table, his shoulders tense.
Then his eyes changed.
The green bled away completely, replaced by a golden glow that was definitely not human. It was there for three full seconds, bright and wild and barely controlled.
Students near him noticed and went quiet, their conversations dying.
Caleb shoved back from the table and left the cafeteria without eating, without looking at anyone, his movements stiff like he was fighting to stay in control of his own body.
Lena stood frozen in the middle of the cafeteria, her tray forgotten in her hands. She'd seen his eyes shift before but never like that and never in front of so many people.
And it had happened because someone brushed against her.
That night Lena couldn't sleep.
She lay in bed staring at the ceiling, her mind replaying everything.
All three of them were reacting to her in ways they clearly didn't want to, couldn't control. And she had no idea why.
She was finally starting to drift off when the burning started.
It started in her left forearm. She gasped and sat up, clutching her arm. The pain faded almost immediately but the sensation lingered.
She turned on her bedside lamp with shaking hands and looked down at her arm.
Three claw marks ran across her forearm, thin and precise. They weren't bleeding but they glowed faintly silver in the dim light, the edges too clean to be natural.
Lena's breath came faster. She touched them carefully and felt nothing, no pain, just smooth skin marked with lines that shouldn't be there.
She hadn't done this to herself.
She hadn't scratched her arm or caught it on anything. The marks were too deliberate and perfectly placed.
Something had put them there.
The temperature in her room dropped suddenly and Lena's head snapped up.
The shadows in the corners felt darker than they should be, deeper. And at the edge of her vision, barely there but definitely present, was that feeling again.
The shadow.