Chapter 167

Olivia

My eyes went wide as the voice faded, a cold chill running down my spine. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. Was it really Jade, my wolf? After all these years?

“What’s wrong?” Nathan asked, his concern evident in his voice. His warm arms were still wrapped around me, but my mind was far away.

I looked at him, my heart pounding, but managed a shaky smile. “Nothing,” I said, more to convince myself than him. “It’s nothing. I’m just a bit tired, that's all.”

Nathan's eyes searched mine, but he didn’t press further. “Well, maybe it’s time for bed then,” he suggested gently, squeezing my shoulders.

I nodded, letting him guide me upstairs, but my thoughts were a whirlwind. As I prepared for bed, I couldn’t shake the voice from my mind. It was familiar. I had heard it before, long ago. I was sure of it.

Later that night, as Nathan’s soft snores came from down the hallway, I sat up, unable to sleep. I had been tossing and turning for the past two hours, completely unable to quiet my mind enough to sleep.

I had to find out what was going on. I needed to reach out to my wolf again.

I settled into a comfortable position on the bedroom floor, taking a deep breath as I prepared to meditate. My mind was a storm of emotions and questions, but I needed to calm it, to find my center. Closing my eyes, I began to focus on my breath, feeling the steady rhythm of my heartbeat.

‘Jade,’ I thought, reaching out to the wolf within. ‘Jade, can you hear me?’

The room was silent, the only sound the gentle rustle of the curtains as a night breeze swept through. My skin tingled with anticipation, but there was no response.

‘Come on, Jade. It’s me, Olivia. I heard you earlier. Please, talk to me again.’

I strained to listen for a response, hoping for a hint of that familiar voice, the voice that had once been a part of me. But all I could hear was my own thoughts echoing back at me. That, and the sound of the crickets chirping outside.

Frustration welled up inside me, but I pushed it away, forcing myself to relax. I knew that anger wouldn’t help in this situation. I needed to be patient, to be open to the experience.

‘I’m here, Jade. I’m ready to listen. Please, just talk to me.’

And then, just for a moment, I felt something. A faint whisper, a gentle brush against my mind, so slight that I could almost convince myself it was my imagination. But I knew it wasn’t. It was Jade. My wolf. It had to be.

‘Jade? Is that you? Please, say something. I need to hear your voice.’

But the sensation was gone, leaving me alone once again, my heart aching with longing.

I opened my eyes, tears of frustration welling up. Why couldn’t I reach my wolf? What was I doing wrong?

Anger and resentment began to bubble up inside of me, but I pushed it down, telling myself that I might have imagined the whole thing. Maybe I was just going nuts. But the nagging doubt remained as I finally drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Nathan and I were in the kitchen, laughing and joking as we prepared breakfast. Everything seemed normal, but I couldn’t shake the memory of the voice from my mind.

“Could you hand me the salt?” Nathan asked, his hand reaching out toward mine.

As our hands brushed together, I felt a jolt, and that faint, distant voice reached me again.

‘Olivia… It’s me, Jade…”

My eyes widened.

I grabbed Nathan’s hand hard and squeezed my eyes shut tight, focusing on the voice, calling out to my wolf in my mind.

‘Jade? Is that you? Where are you?’

‘Yes, Olivia, it’s me,’ the voice responded. ‘I’ve been trying really hard to contact you… All these years…’

“Olivia?” Nathan’s voice cut through my concentration, and the connection was lost.

I opened my eyes to find Nathan giving me a funny look, his face tinged with amusement. “Why are you acting like that?” he laughed, his cheeks turning pink as he looked down at our intertwined hands.

I felt myself blush and quickly let go of his hand, my mind reeling from what had just happened. “I… I just… missed you,” I stammered, avoiding his eyes. “I wanted to hold your hand. That’s all.”

I wasn’t sure why I lied then. Maybe I thought I was crazy. Maybe I thought that he would think I was crazy. No one who had lost their wolf for this many years suddenly had it come back out of nowhere.

Nathan’s face turned even redder at my words, and he looked down, a shy smile playing on his lips. “Well, you can hold my hand anytime you want,” he said, his voice soft.

I smiled back, feeling a warmth spread through me, but my thoughts were elsewhere. Jade had been trying to contact me. My wolf was real. The connection was real.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and as night fell, I found myself sitting alone in the living room, my mind filled with questions.

Why now? Why had Jade reached out to me after all these years? What did my wolf want from me?

I glanced over at Nathan, who was reading a book on the couch, his brow furrowed in concentration. I knew I couldn’t tell him about what had happened. Not yet. But the weight of the secret was heavy on my shoulders.

That night, as I lay in bed, I reached out again, trying to contact Jade, but it was no use. The connection was gone once more. Even as I attempted to settle into another meditation, she was gone.

But I knew, deep in my heart, that my wolf was out there, somewhere, trying to reach me. And I knew that I would do whatever it took to find out why.

My wolf had been completely dormant for years. Ever since I was a teenager, I had come to the sad realization that my wolf was gone. It was a rare condition, but not entirely unheard of, and although it broke my heart, I had come to terms with it at this point. But now, everything had changed, and I didn’t know why.

I did know one thing, though: my wolf had become stronger when I was close to Nathan. Was it possible that he was the key to all of this, somehow?

My mind almost immediately wandered to one thing: fated mates. It was possible… But no. Nathan wasn’t my fated mate. Whatever was happening here, if any of it was even real, was entirely coincidence.

Right?

I drifted off to sleep, my dreams filled with the howls of a distant wolf, calling out to me, guiding me towards something I couldn’t yet understand.

And at the end of it all, at the end of a long tunnel filled with echoes of my wolf’s voice, I emerged on the other side to see Nathan waiting for me, his arms outstretched.