A New Beginning - Kendric's POV

A New Beginning - Kendric's POV
Being alive feels awkward. We neither should be. I also expect to go feral any moment, but it never comes.

It’s like us dying reset everything and now we are out in this world alone with most thinking we are dead.

The witches tell us to go back, and so after a few hours at the river, we reluctantly agree.

The youngest one takes us to a car and drives us all the way back to Valeria’s home pack. When we arrive, it’s dark, and oddly, no one notices us pulling in. If they do, they don’t leave their homes.

That night, after we shower and find clean clothes to settle into bed, I dream. Not of memories. Not of home. Of the space between.

It’s changed. Darker now. The stars flicker. The golden light is dim and something waits. It watches me with ember eyes.

I speak. "Who are you?"

No answer. Only pressure. Presence.

My soul flutters like a dying flame. Then it speaks.

“You are mine now.”

I wake, choking on air, waking Valeria as well.

“What was that?” She asks, her voice frantic.

I nod. "Something crossed with me. Something old. It wasn’t you it followed. It was me.”

She doesn’t flinch. "We’ll face it. Together."

I believe her. There was bound to be something coming back with us. We cheated death and found each other when we aren’t supposed to be alive. It’s not natural, even for wolf shifters.

Whatever comes next, we aren’t alone.

We don’t sleep again that night.

Valeria curls close beside me, but neither of us truly rests. Every creak of the old house, every rustle of wind against the window, makes my body tense like prey caught in a trap. My wolf stirs beneath my skin, uneasy. Not because of danger, but because it doesn’t understand what I am anymore.

Alive. But not quite the same.

Valeria presses a hand to my chest, grounding me. Her skin is warm, but her eyes don’t close. She’s watching me too. I wonder if she feels it. Whatever marked me.

Whatever followed me back.

The next morning, we walk into a ghost town.

Her pack should be alive with sound—training, cooking, arguing, pups chasing chickens. But it’s quiet. Too quiet. Doors stay shut. Curtains twitch as we pass, but no one greets us.

I clench my jaw. “They think we’re dead.”

“No,” Valeria replies. “They know we’re not. That’s why they’re hiding.”

A low, angry energy hums beneath her words. She was born here. Bled for these people. And now they cower from her like she’s some revenant.

I touch her shoulder. “You want to go?”

She shakes her head once. “No. I want them to see me. To know I came back for them, too.”

We push open the doors of the meeting hall. Dust hangs in the air. There are candles burned down to nubs on the long table, and the scent of sage still clings to the wood. A few elders sit around the table, looking like they’ve aged decades since we left.

The man who is acting beta, or was when I left, stares at me with wide eyes. “Kendric? You’re alive. But we felt you die.”

“Valeria?” Another says in surprise.

Her voice is steel. “We died, because Jackson was working for Micah, who worked for someone ancient. But that is over now and we want to put the past behind us.”

He steps around the table, stunned. “The witches told us you passed through. That the curse took you. Kendric too.”

“We came back.” I square my shoulders beside her. “That’s what matters.”

Finally, the man nods. Slowly. “Then what are you now?”

Valeria doesn’t hesitate. “Alive.”

“And what else?” he presses.

“I don’t know yet,” she admits. “But we’re not your enemies. We just want my family’s home back and to live out our lives in peace. There are no more curses or people after me. It’s time for everything to die down.”

Another voice cuts in. The Beta, cold-eyed. “But you came back from the dead. That clearly has a cost. No wolf shifter has ever —”

“Don’t apply to the dead,” I growl. “And I died. It doesn’t matter. We are back and I’m still technically your alpha.”

Tension coils like a drawn bow.

“Leave them be. Let them rest. If the spirits demand a price, it won’t be one we can stop, anyway,” a woman says as she enters the room.

I can’t remember her name, but I’m sure she is one of their mates.

That night, we slept in her childhood room. Dust still lines the corners, but the bed is soft and the blanket smells like pine and memory. I lie awake long after Valeria drifts off.

And when I close my eyes, I feel it again.

The weight. The gaze and the thing from the veil.

It doesn’t speak this time. It just breathes. Like it’s drawing in my scent. Like it’s remembering.

I wake up with blood on my tongue. My fists are clenched so tightly my palms are torn.

Valeria sits up, alarmed. “Kendric—”

“I’m fine,” I lie. “It’s not… it didn’t speak. But it’s still there. I realize now that it’s not what I first thought.”

Her face hardens. “You know? Then we can destroy it.”

I want to believe her. But deep down, I know this thing, this ancient presence, is not the kind that can be killed. It’s not alive in the way we are, because it doesn’t bleed. It waits.

And it has my name.

The presence I feel is the curse that once inflicted me. “Valeria, it’s my wolf. At least, the feral nature. It came back with me, but it doesn’t control me. That is what came with me.”

“Does this mean you’re still cursed?”

I smile as I stand from the bed and take a few steps back. “No, watch.”

My wolf comes forward, white as snow, as I land on all four paws. Not once do I feel the urge to kill or hurt anyone. I’m just a normal wolf, that is impressively large.

“You’re not feral.”

I shift back, letting my human flesh replace fur. “No,” I groan. “No feelings of murder. I’m free. We’re really free, Valeria.”

She jumps up from the bed, her lips crashing against mine in a fiery kiss. When she pulls back, she wraps her arms around my waist. “I love you, Kendric.”

“I love you, too. Always. We finally made it.”