= DIXIE =
Sweat plastered my hair to my forehead as I pushed through the overgrown bushes. Grandma had warned me a million times about exploring this part of the woods, but boredom was a relentless beast. Besides, who knew what cool stuff I might find? Maybe a hidden cave full of pirate treasure… okay, maybe not pirate treasure, but something cool nonetheless.
As I stepped into a clearing bathed in an ethereal glow, a shiver ran down my spine. The air crackled with a strange energy, making the hairs on my arms stand on end. It was like stepping into some fantastical movie scene. In the center stood a massive oak tree, its branches sprawling like gnarled fingers reaching for the twilight sky. A strange pull, almost magnetic, drew me closer.
Just as I reached the base of the oak, a guttural growl echoed from the shadows beneath it. My heart hammered against my ribs as a monstrous figure jumped out from literally nowhere. It was a wolf, unlike anything I’d ever seen in a cheesy monster movie. Its fur was as dark as a moonless night, its eyes glowing like fire orbs. Its size was unreal and its muscles rippled under the thick pelt.
Terror turned my feet to lead. I stopped screaming when the wolf crept closer, each step quiet and scary. I closed my eyes tight, waiting for it to attack.
A sharp yelp pierced the air. I opened my eyes cautiously, squinting at the scene in front of me. The wolf snarled at something else hidden behind a large rock. Curiosity, a dangerous companion to fear, tugged at me. Taking a deep, shaky breath, I peeked around the rock.
There, sprawled on the ground, was Trix Wilshire. Yes, Trix Wilshire, the bane of my existence since preschool. But this wasn’t the Trix I knew. This Trix wasn’t sporting his usual smirk and perfectly styled hair. He was injured, his face contorted in pain. And he was… changing?
His bones twisted, popping unnaturally. Fur sprouted from his skin, replacing his clothes. His teeth grew into fangs, his nails into claws. In a horrifying display of transformation, the guy was morphing into a monstrous wolf just like the one before him.
My stomach lurched. No way. Werewolves were just a stupid myth… weren't they?
When the transformation looked complete, the two wolves faced each other, snarling and snapping their jaws. My breath caught in my throat as the fight started. Fur flew, claws scratched, and blood splattered onto the clean grass. I tried to scream, but the sound caught in my throat as I watched the terrifying fight.
Suddenly, the bigger wolf — the one that used to be Trix — stumbled back with a big cut on its shoulder. The other wolf jumped at it, its jaws wide open.
Without thinking, I did something incredibly stupid. I screamed, "Leave him alone!"
The sound seemed to distract the larger wolf. It turned its glowing eyes towards me and I could see its heavy body vibrating with a low growl. Time seemed to freeze as our gazes locked. Then, with a deafening roar, the wolf began to run towards me.
A burning pain erupted in my leg as razor-sharp teeth sank into my flesh. I cried out, thrashing wildly. The wolf let out a yelp and released its grip. I stumbled back, clutching at my bloody leg.
The two wolves locked eyes for another tense second before the larger one disappeared back into the woods. The remaining wolf, Trix-wolf, let out a low whine before limping towards me.
Panic clawed at my throat. He wouldn't… he couldn't…
Pain shot through my leg like a burning fire, making me scream out loud. Everything around me started spinning, and the clearing became a blur. Even through the haze of pain, I noticed the wolf – no, it was Trix – flinch when I screamed. He let go and quickly turned his head toward the sound of footsteps coming closer.
A woman appeared from the shadows, and her eyes widened in shock when she saw me lying on the ground. She was dressed in dark clothes that seemed better suited for climbing mountains than walking through the woods, and she looked both worried and something else I couldn't quite figure out.
"Alpha," she whispered sharply, her voice sounding urgent, "what's going on here?"
Trix let out a harsh growl that sent shivers down my spine. Even wounded, he still had a wild strength that made me want to crawl into the nearest hole and hide. He glanced back at me, and for a brief second, I thought I saw fear or maybe regret in his eyes. Or maybe I was just seeing things.
"This human wandered onto our territory," he growled, avoiding my gaze.
"A human?" The woman's gaze flicked back to me, her eyes narrowing. "And you… you bit her?"
Trix hesitated. "It was an accident," he finally muttered.
The woman snorted. "An accident? Since when do you accidentally attack humans, Alpha?" Especially ones marked with such a… curious symbol."
Trix quickly turned his head towards me, looking a bit scared. He reached down and almost touched the bite mark on my leg, but then he quickly pulled his hand back.
"What symbol are you talking about?" he asked, sounding really tense.
Alvera didn't answer directly. Instead, she stepped closer to him and whispered. "The mark of the Blade. The same mark that stained the fur of the ones who took your brother.”
Trix’s face seemed to twist and different emotions flickered past it.
He didn't answer. He just let out a low growl that seemed to rumble deep in his chest. My head was spinning as the rush of adrenaline started to fade, and I felt sick and really scared all at once.
This guy, Trix, the jerk who'd made my high school life a living nightmare, was a freaking werewolf. And he'd just bitten me.
Trying to keep my cool despite the panic creeping up on me, I took a shaky breath and glared at them. "Well, this is just peachy."
The woman's eyes popped open again, this time because she was surprised. Trix, on the other hand, looked really annoyed by what I said.
"You shouldn't be here, Dixie," he growled, "this place is dangerous."
Alvera squinted at him and asked, "You know her?"
"Dangerous?" I let out a laugh, trying to sound tougher than I actually felt. "Well, getting bitten by a giant wolf is super dangerous, if you ask me."
Trix shifted uncomfortably, clearly in pain from his hurt leg. He was about to say something, but the woman interrupted him.
"Just leave her to me, Alpha," she said sternly. “Take care of your wound."
Why the hell was this woman calling him ‘Alpha’? The hell?
Trix paused, looking at me for a bit longer, then he turned and vanished into the woods. The woman knelt next to me, worry showing in her eyes.
"Are you alright?" she asked in a gentler voice.
I felt like laughing, or maybe crying. But instead, I just looked at her, trying to process everything. Werewolves, bite marks, angry alphas – this was definitely not what I had in mind for my summer vacation.
Finally, I managed a shaky nod. "Yeah, I think so. Aside from being bitten by a giant werewolf and finding out my high school bully is secretly a monster."
The woman's lips twitched into a small smile. "Trix can be… difficult at times," she admitted. "But he wouldn't have bitten you on purpose. There's more going on here than you think."
"More?" I whispered. "How much more?"
She didn’t answer. She just looked at me for a while, then finally said, "Let's get you out of here first. There's a lot we need to talk about."
She helped me to my feet, her touch surprisingly gentle on my trembling arm. As we walked out of the clearing, I couldn't help but glance back at the massive oak tree.t stood there, quiet and towering, a sign of the weird new world I'd just stumbled into. A reality where werewolves existed, and somehow, I was now a part of it.
"Summer break is gonna be long as hell this time," I had heard Trix mutter before he left. He wasn't wrong. But long wasn't even the half of it. It was going to be… well, completely insane.
= DIXIE =The pull was undeniable. Like a magnet tugging me back to a scene of an accident, I found myself drawn to the clearing again. Maybe it was the strange energy I felt there, or the memory of the terrifying yet oddly captivating battle between the two werewolves one being Trix (which I haven’t still quite wrapped my head around). Whatever it was, I couldn't ignore it.Grandma would have my head for this, I knew. She'd warned me a million times about staying away from this part of the woods, but sometimes, the quiet kid in me who always followed the rules craved a little excitement. Maybe that's why I was always a magnet for trouble, even if it meant potentially getting mauled by a giant wolf.Sneaking through the undergrowth, I kept my head down and my senses on high alert. The silence of the woods was broken only by the rustle of leaves and the occasional chirp of a bird. Suddenly, a guttural growl ripped through the stillness. I froze, my heart hammering against my ribs. A m
= TRIX =The meeting hall went quiet, and Alvera's words hung heavy in the air. Dixie had a mark on her hand that she hadn't seen herself, and it was the same symbol that the rogue pack had talked about—the mark of the Blade. It was the same mark that was on the wolves who killed my brother.The memory of that afternoon pricked my veins. I hate remembering it, I so hate remembering that accursed afternoon. Everything was going well, it was not meant to end that way with my brother’s lifeless body dangling from the ceiling fan of an abandoned classroom, but it did. And I only have the gharry scene imprinted in my head from that afternoon to ever be the last memory of me seeing my elder brother’s face.I took a deep breath.Focus on what’s happening now. What’s happening? Dixie, that green and four-eyed blonde-haired bothersome piglet! With how short she is, I wonder why she always seems to stumble into the wrong places and get the attention of everyone in the room.It happened once dur
= TRIX =The morning mist hung around the trees like a blanket, making me feel as cold inside as the air around me. Sleep had been a stranger the night before as the heavy burden of responsibility weighed on me. The rogues, the attack, the missing Tear - thoughts of them churned in my mind like a wild storm.But another face kept flickering through the chaos – Dixie. The way she looked at me defiantly in the clearing, her eyes filled with fear and something else I couldn't quite put my finger on, it really shook me. Alvera had told me that Dixie disappeared after our last unfortunate and inconvenient encounter. Part of me was relieved – at least she wasn't in immediate danger. Another part, a part I couldn't explain, felt a pang of… concern? It was a foreign sensation, one I quickly pushed down.Alvera appeared next to me, and her constant vigilance always made me feel safer. "Any sign of her?" I asked, my voice lingering in the cool morning air.She shook her head, her expression w
= DIXIE ="I'm not marrying you!" I practically screeched, totally shocked by the craziness of it all. Here I was, back in Grandma's cozy cottage, only this time, the living room wasn't filled with the familiar scent of freshly baked cookies. No, it was filled with tension so thick I could practically chew on it. Trix, looking like a thundercloud in a designer two-piece, glared at me. His right-hand woman, Alvera, stood next to him all serious, not showing any emotion. And there was Jackson, my childhood buddy, who stood beside me with tight fists and eyes full of anger and worry for meTrix shot up from his seat, towering over me with those infuriatingly intense eyes. "Then we're all gonna die, stupid!" he retorted."I'd rather die than marry you!" I fired back as my hands trembled with anger. Marry Trix? The guy who had made my life a living hell, and recently I found out he's some werewolf alpha? Totally bonkers!How the hell did he even find out I was staying there? "There's no
× Dixie ×Ugh, these days feel like they're on slo-mo. Trix, the total pain-in-the-fur alpha, has granted me temporary refuge in the Slater territory, as if I needed it. But of course, it's not chill in any way; it's more like being stuck in a reality show with Alvera, who I now know is his Beta or what do they call it, and Ryder, his best friend, watching my every move. Ryder's got this intense glare, like I'm a ticking time bomb and he's waiting for me to explode or something. Alvera's vibe is more 'whatever,' but her eyes are lowkey tracking me even though she pretends to be indifferent about me staying here.Living in this werewolf soap opera is seriously making me crave normalcy. I mean, who signed up for this supernatural drama anyway? Not me.Remembering that first encounter with werewolf Trix always gives me major regret vibes because I know wholeheartedly that if I had left when he had told me to, I wouldn't be where I am now. In a confined room, in his house, with a fuckin
× Dixie ×A freakin' week trapped in Trix's house feels like an eternity. Seriously, if someone told me I'd end up married to the guy who has made my life a living nightmare, I'd have laughed in their face and scoffed at the absurdity. It's like hate is this unwelcome roommate, lurking under my skin, making every moment in this suffocating place unbearable.Every freakin' time I try to figure out what the heck Trix is scheming, he shuts me down like I'm just a pesky mosquito. "Stay put, Dixie," he barks, like I'm some obedient dog waiting for a treat. It's infuriating, and I can feel the itch to break free crawling under my skin.This house, it's like a cage, squeezing tighter around me with each passing moment. I'm dying to know what's going on, dying to be a part of the dang conversation. But no, Trix thinks I'm better off twiddling my thumbs until he decides I'm worthy of his grand master plan revelation.Curiosity is clawing at me, tearing through any semblance of patience I might
× Trix ×As the messed-up days keep rolling, Ryder's practically breathing down Dixie's neck. Suspicion radiates from him and you can practically touch it.One cool evening, I'm hanging by the balcony, checking out the training session just a few yards away. Most of them are weak and pathetic. I dread the mere mention of war just cus I know we'll be completely obliterated. “Urgh…” I slap my forehead and look elsewhere.Dixie's with one of the female volunteers from the hospital, playing board games. I study Dixie carefully. The way she does things has always irritated and intrigued me at the same time. Her voice, the way she speaks, the way she laughs and cries, the way she carries herself, the way she makes decisions…“Urgh…” I need a drink. A maid, as if reading my mind, comes in with a bottle of water and lays it on a high table beside me. I take it and gulp down.My mind strolls to the meeting that I had with the elder about this same dilemma that has completely upended my life.
× Dixie ×In a desperate hunt for answers, ‘cus Trix doesn't seem he'll tell me any anytime soon, I kinda latch onto Jennie. She says she's around my age and she works as a volunteer nurse in this pack’s healthcare centre. Apparently, they have only one hospital.Jennie's a firecracker, seriously. She's short, spunky, with these crazy curls that have a mind of their own. She rocks the whole 'effortlessly cool' vibe with ripped jeans and band shirts, but there's always a hint of glitter somewhere. I swear, she's like a walking disco ball. Plus, her laugh is contagious – you can't be around Jennie and not end up smiling. She's this rare beacon of sanity in this bonkers werewolf universe. And let me tell you, she's got the patience of a saint.Patiently, she explains this whole werewolf pack drama – hierarchies, rules, and whatnot. Never in one million years would I have ever thought I'd be living inside a werewolf world with werewolves?! Like as if I'm in a fantasy series or something.