Nyxia Awakens

I hear Alpha Kaelen’s heavy boots fading down the dark, damp corridor of the dungeon. The thick metal door at the end of the hall slams shut, the loud sound echoing off the cracked concrete walls. The moment his father is gone, Jaxon releases the punishing grip on my neck. I gasp for air, slumping forward as a wave of dizziness hits me.

Jaxon drops to his knees right in front of me. His face contorts into a mask of pure rage. His gray eyes flicker black as his wolf, Stryker, pushes aggressively to the surface. He reaches out and grabs my shoulders. His sharp claws extend, digging through my thin shirt and piercing my bruised skin. He shakes me rough enough to rattle my teeth inside my skull.

"What the hell did you do to make him so mad?" Jaxon snarls, his breath hot and threatening against my face.

My brain shorts out. Why isn't he beating me into a pulp right now? He promised his father he would teach me a lesson. I stiffen my spine, keeping my gaze locked onto the cold floorboards. My body trembles so hard I cannot form a single word to defend myself. The crushing weight of my new reality sets in. I am a slave. Bound by an Alpha command. Two powerful wolves are going to beat me regularly for the rest of my natural life, and I have zero means of escape. This cannot be real. How can the Goddess allow such relentless torment? I just want to die. I mean that with every fiber of my being. Please, Goddess, do not let this happen. Just let me die and end this miserable nightmare.

My legs give out. I collapse onto my knees, sobbing uncontrollably. My mind shuts down, unable to process the sheer hopelessness of my situation.

Jaxon’s hand shoots out. His strong fingers wrap around my chin, yanking my head up. He forces me to look directly into his cold gray eyes. For a split second, the anger on his face vanishes. His eyes stretch wide in raw horror.

"What happened to your eyes?" he breathes.

He slides his hands up from my jawline, his skin grazing my cheeks. I can feel a distinct tremor in his fingers. He stops just below my eyes.

"Are you some kind of hybrid or something?" he asks, his voice tight with confusion.

I shake my head back and forth, crying too hard to speak. But as I move, I feel his thumbs shift. He presses them hard against my lower eyelids. He pushes inward, obstructing my vision.

Panic explodes in my chest. He saw the bright violet color. He is going to gouge my eyes out. He is going to blind me so I can never look at him again.

I throw my hands up, grabbing his wrists. I claw at his skin, trying desperately to pry his thumbs away from my face. "No! Stop! Don't take my eyes out! Please!" I scream at the top of my lungs.

Then, the impossible happens. Time freezes.

I do not mean it feels like time is standing still because of my panic. I mean the world actually stops functioning. The heavy, damp air inside the cell turns solid. The frantic pounding of my heart echoes in my ears, but the room itself falls into a dead, unnatural silence. I can feel the shift in the very atmosphere.

The freezing sensation only lasts for a brief moment, but it is enough. I pull Jaxon’s hands away from my face with zero resistance. His arms are rigid, locked in place like a marble statue. I scramble backward, my chest heaving as I stare at him. His face is stuck in a bizarre expression of anger mixed with deep confusion. He does not blink. He does not breathe.

Next to his shoulder, a large blowfly hangs motionless in mid-air. I look toward the leaky pipe in the corner of the cell. A single drop of water hovers halfway between the rusty faucet and the puddle on the floor, leaving an umbrella-shaped splash permanently suspended below it.

What is happening? Did the Moon Goddess hear my desperate prayers? Did she grant me mercy? Did she let me die?

I look down at my hands. A vibrant, pulsing purple light radiates from my skin. My palms and fingertips glow with a raw, ancient energy.

As fast as the freeze started, the heavy air shatters. Time snaps back into regular motion.

"Ahhhhh!" Jaxon shrieks.

He scrambles backward, pushing himself away from me as if I am made of fire. He clutches his hands to his chest, his face twisting in genuine agony. I stare at the skin on the tops of his hands—right where my glowing fingers touched him. The flesh is an angry, blistering red. Massive blisters bubble up and swell across his knuckles in a matter of seconds.

I look back at my own hands. The purple glow is gone. My skin looks normal again. Seriously, what just happened to me?

Terror takes over. I squeeze my eyes shut, pulling my knees to my chest. I brace for the inevitable retaliation. He is going to kill me for burning him.

Heavy boots scrape across the floor. Jaxon leans in close. His voice drops to a lethal, ragged whisper right against my ear. "If you tell anyone about this, I will kill you."

Before I can even open my eyes, a brutal punch connects with my stomach. The force knocks every ounce of air from my lungs. I collapse sideways onto the cold concrete, clutching my abdomen and gasping for breath.

I hear his boots pounding down the hall. The heavy dungeon door opens and slams shut. I am alone again.

I lay on the floor for a long time, my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. When oxygen finally fills my burning lungs, I push myself up against the edge of my thin mattress. I sob, my entire body shaking as I try to process my survival. He didn't break my bones. He didn't tear my skin. I sniff the stale air, but his scent is fading fast. I listen closely to the silent corridor. No one is coming back for me right now.

"Thank you," I whisper to the empty room. "Thank you, Goddess, for saving me."

Exhaustion weighs down my bones, but a cold spike of adrenaline keeps me moving. If I fail to make dinner for the pack, Alpha Kaelen will find me and end my life. I know it is not an exaggeration. Even if I try to make a run for the border right now, Jaxon or Kaelen will hunt me down before I reach the tree line. Slavery or death. Those are my only options.

I take a few deep breaths, forcing myself up from the floor. I stumble down the dark hall to the grungy sink. I turn the rusty handle and splash freezing water over my face to wash away the tears. When I look up into the cracked mirror, my breath catches in my throat.

Both of my eyes are pure, radiant violet. The dull brown is gone. Above my brow, shimmering silver streaks have overtaken my dark hair. It is not the dull gray of old age. It is a brilliant, metallic silver that catches the dim light of the dungeon and shines. This is insane. There is no way I can hide this new appearance naturally.

I sprint back to my cell and change into my worn leggings and a plain t-shirt. I grab the old baseball cap Brenda gave me months ago and shove it onto my head. I pull the brim down as low as it can go, casting the top half of my face in deep shadows.

Dinner is a waking nightmare. I serve the pack in silence, carrying heavy platters of meat and vegetables from the kitchen to the dining hall. Kaelen sits at the head of the table, shooting murderous glares in my direction every time I walk past his chair. I keep my chin tucked to my chest and my eyes glued to the floorboards. I cannot risk him seeing the bright violet. Across the table, Jaxon radiates pure hatred. He keeps his blistered hands hidden under the table, but I can feel his glare burning holes into my skull.

Once the meal ends, I tackle the mountain of dirty dishes. Restocking the pantries takes much longer than usual. Whoever covered my chores while I was recovering in the hospital made a massive mess of the inventory, putting cans and boxes in all the wrong places.

It is well past midnight when I finally drag myself back down to the dungeon. I flop down onto my thin mattress and close my aching eyes. June twentieth. The date flashes in my mind. Today is the last day of school for the rest of the teenagers in the pack. Not for me. You do not need a high school education to cook meals and clean toilets. Alpha Kaelen's cruel words ring in my ears, cementing my awful reality. I allow myself to wallow in self-pity for a few minutes before rolling onto my side, desperate for sleep.

I am drifting off when a bright, energetic voice shatters the silence.

"Hello!"

I shoot up from the bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. I scan the dim cell, looking in every corner. Nothing. I am the only person in the room. I creep toward the iron bars and peek out into the dark hallway.

"Hello?" I whisper loudly into the gloom.

No one is there either.

"Ugh, Cal. This is no way for a warrior to behave. Get your shit together."

I flinch. The voice chides me, but it is not coming from the hallway. It is a powerful, feminine voice echoing directly inside my head.

"Are you... my wolf?" I ask hesitantly, staring at the empty stone wall, terrified that the trauma has finally cracked my sanity.

"I am. My name is Nyxia. You can call me Nix."

"Oh, Nyxia," I whisper, my voice breaking. "You woke up a day too late. Our Alpha just turned us into a slave less than twelve hours ago. We have no way to escape now."

Tears spill down my cheeks. The dam breaks, and I spill everything to her in a rush of broken sobs. I tell her about Kaelen murdering my father in cold blood. I tell her about Luna Helena throwing me into this damp dungeon to rot. I explain the endless beatings, the massive medical debt, and the horrific Alpha command that sealed my fate as an unpaid servant. I cry through the entire explanation.

"I am here now, Cal," Nix says. Her voice is calm, strong, and deeply soothing. "Do not worry. We are a child of the Moon Goddess. We are a warrior. That means we are strong, and we will get through this darkness together."

Her presence wraps around my mind like a warm blanket. For the first time in years, I do not feel truly alone.

I wipe my nose with the back of my hand. "Nix... earlier today. When my hands turned purple and burned Jaxon. Was that you?"

"Sort of," Nix replies, a hint of pride in her tone. "That was you, Cal. But my waking up helped activate your power. It is an ancient, latent gift. I can explain more later. Your body is at its breaking point. Get some sleep for now."