Chapter 20 The First Pulse
Magnus's POV
The room inside wasn’t dark, but the thick curtains allowed the morning light to slip in only through thin lines that fell across the wooden floor.
Evra stood near the window.
She didn’t notice my arrival at first. Her shoulders were slightly tense, and her long hair fell loosely down her back as if she had just woken up and hadn’t really had the chance to fix it yet.
There was something in the way she stood that made me pause for a moment at the doorway.
There was no explosion of magic. No sign of wild power like what had happened before.
Yet the room felt… different.
Strangely, Varon immediately calmed down. Like a wolf that had finally found the direction of the scent he had been searching for.
Evra turned when she realized I was there.
Her eyes widened slightly.
“You came earlier than usual.”
Her voice was still rough with the remnants of sleep.
I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.
“What happened last night?”
The question came out faster than I had planned.
Evra frowned. “Last night?”
“You didn’t feel anything?”
She seemed to think for a moment before shaking her head slowly. “I just dreamed. But nothing actually happened.”
Varon lifted his head inside my mind.
I moved a few steps closer. I needed to know every detail of what was happening to Evra.
“What kind of dream?”
Evra hesitated before answering.
“It’s hard to explain.”
I didn’t interrupt.
“Like… seeing something that hasn’t happened yet,” she finally said.
The room grew quieter after that sentence.
I stopped about two steps away from her.
“A vision?”
“I don’t know, Magnus.”
Evra turned her gaze back to the window.
“It felt too real to call it a dream.”
Varon moved again, but this time it wasn’t from restlessness.
He was watching her.
I could feel my heartbeat shift slightly.
Slower. Steadier.
And for a reason I couldn’t explain, that rhythm felt synchronized with Evra’s breathing.
She seemed to notice it too.
Her tense shoulders slowly lowered.
“That’s strange,” she murmured.
“What?”
“I feel calmer now.”
Varon huffed with satisfaction. "Because I’m here."
I held that comment back.
Evra looked at me again.
“Did something happen outside?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. I just wanted to know.” She rubbed her temple lightly. “Since I woke up this morning, it feels like something is… waiting.”
That sentence made Varon growl again.
I didn’t show any reaction.
“I’ll look into it.”
Evra seemed like she wanted to say something else, but in the end she only nodded.
I didn’t stay any longer.
When I stepped out of the room, that strange feeling from earlier became even clearer.
The corridor felt narrower than usual. As if the castle itself was holding its breath.
Another set of footsteps echoed from the far end of the hallway.
Lorian appeared with several scrolls in his hands.
He was rarely seen rushing unless something was bothering him, but the way he was walking now was quick enough to catch my attention.
He glanced left and right before jogging closer.
“Magnus.”
“Why are you running like that?”
“There’s something you need to see.”
We walked toward the energy analysis room on the lower floor of the castle.
As soon as the door closed, Lorian immediately unrolled one of the scrolls he had brought.
Magical symbols were carved across the surface of the thick paper, forming patterns that even to me looked complex.
“This is the territory reading since midnight,” he said.
I looked at it without speaking.
“Normally the castle’s energy is stable,” he continued. “A few fluctuations from pack activity, but nothing beyond that.”
He pointed at a thin line pulsing slowly.
“But this is new.”
“What does it mean?”
Lorian looked straight at me.
“There’s a light energy synchronization across the entire territory.”
“Where’s the source?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he pointed to a small point in the center of the pattern.
The west wing of the castle.
I didn’t need to ask again.
“Evra,” I said.
“Yes.”
Lorian crossed his arms.
“It’s not a power surge. Not active magic. It’s more like… a pulse.”
“A pulse?”
“Like a heart that has started beating.”
I didn’t like that comparison.
“What’s the impact?”
“If it keeps developing,” Lorian said slowly, “creatures sensitive to energy will start to feel it.”
“Creatures like?”
He looked at me for a few seconds before answering.
“Other Alphas.”
Varon immediately growled loudly in my head.
I looked at Lorian without expression.
“How fast?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On how strong the pulse grows.”
The room fell silent for a moment.
I finally took a slow breath.
“Strengthen surveillance in the west wing.”
Lorian nodded. “Already thought of that.”
“And one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“No one finds out about this.”
The Gamma gave a thin smile. “I’ve never liked sharing secrets.”
When we were done, we immediately left the room. But after only a few steps, the sound of fast footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.
One of the patrol guards was almost running toward us.
He stopped a few steps away and lowered his head.
“Alpha.”
“What is it?”
“Northern patrol sent an urgent report.”
I looked at him sharply.
“Speak.”
The guard swallowed before continuing.
“There’s a foreign wolf at the territory border.”
Varon rose instantly inside my consciousness.
"Where?" Varon asked inside me.
“Did he cross in?” I asked.
“No.”
“How many?”
The guard hesitated for a moment.
“As far as we could see… one.”
I started walking toward the castle doors without waiting any longer.
“But there’s something strange, Alpha,” he added quickly.
I stopped.
“What?”
The guard lifted his head slightly.
“The scent doesn’t belong to any pack we know.”
Varon bared his teeth inside my mind.
And for the first time since Evra arrived in this territory… Varon’s war instinct truly awakened.
I looked toward the forest far beyond the castle walls.
Then said quietly,
“If he’s brave enough to stand at my border…”
I paused for a moment.
“…I want to know what he heard.”