Chapter 238

Olivia

“Olivia, I think you might be the next incarnation of the Ancient Wolf.”

The room felt smaller, suffocated by the weight of Nathan’s revelation. The flickering candlelight cast wavering shadows across the aged tomes and scrolls, as if the very walls were reacting to the news.

“The Ancient Wolf?” I whispered, trying to wrap my head around the concept. I could feel my heart racing, a mixture of fear and disbelief whirling through my mind. “Nathan, that’s... it’s impossible. I can’t be the Ancient Wolf.”

I let out a wry laugh, half expecting Nathan to be joking. But Nathan’s face, usually so composed, showed nothing but raw emotion.

He paced the floor, his hands running through his hair. “I know how it sounds, Olivia. I didn’t want to believe it at first either. But with everything that’s happened...” He trailed off, his gaze falling on me.

I sank into the room’s sole armchair by my aunt’s old desk, the chair’s velvet cushion cold against my skin. “You have to be mistaken,” I said, shaking my head abruptly. “The Ancient Wolf just died. I know who my parents were, and trust me… They were wonderful, but they weren’t anything special. Not like that, at least.”

Nathan sighed, pausing in his pacing to lean against one of the ornate bookshelves. Dust motes swirled around him in the dim light. “It’s not just about your parents,” Nathan said quietly.

“It’s not?”

“No.” He shook his head, causing a stray lock of unruly golden hair, tousled from sleep, to fall into his eyes. I watched with a combination of love and confusion as he deftly pushed it away to reveal his blue-green eyes, stern with revelations.

“Olivia,” he continued, “the Ancient Wolf is from a long, meandering bloodline. All of us have droplets of the first Ancient Wolf’s blood in us; it’s how we became who we are, after all. But some people have… more of it. For some, the bloodline is more direct.”

“So you’re saying…”

Nathan nodded. “It’s very likely that you’re a direct descendant of the Ancient Wolf. What do you know about your lineage?”

I shrugged. “Not much,” I said. “Nothing of note, at least.”

“So either simply no one knew, or someone hid it well,” Nathan said thoughtfully, continuing his pacing. “Look, it’s not for certain. But there have been clues all along.”

“Such as?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

Nathan took in a sharp breath. “When you first told me about your wolf’s golden pelt, it was a curiosity. I thought that maybe it was an exaggeration, or just an anomaly. A rare pelt, nothing more. But then you mentioned that your father told you not to shift around others.”

I shook my head. “But that was because he wanted to keep me safe from hunters,” I said.

“Olivia,” Nathan asked, “when was the last time you heard about anyone actually being killed for their pelt, to the point where people with rare pelts are told not to shift?”

I thought for a moment, eventually coming up with nothing. “Never,” I said. “Not in our lifetimes, at least.”

“Exactly.” Nathan paused his pacing for a moment to look at me. “Hunters are just warning tales for kids. A way to keep them from getting into trouble in the woods. Your father had another reason for keeping your wolf dormant.”

My voice, when I responded, was tinged with frustration. “But why wouldn’t he have told me, then?” I asked, standing abruptly and then immediately sitting back down as searing pain shot through my leg and my ribs.

“I don’t know, Olivia,” Nathan said, his voice taking on a gentler tone. He came over to me, eyeing me cautiously, checking my face for indications of pain.

“I’m fine,” I lied, waving him away with my hand. “Go on.”

Nathan sighed quietly and leaned against a shelf behind him. “What I’m saying is that your father had his reasons. Good reasons. And this may have been one of them, if not the entire reason.”

“This would all be so much easier if I could just talk to him,” I whispered quietly, running my finger along the edge of the desk. A few tears began to prick hotly at the backs of my eyes, and I sniffed, turning away.

“I know.” Nathan’s voice was barely above a whisper. “But I’d like to believe that he had a plan for you. And maybe he trusted that you could uncover the mystery yourself.”

There was a long, palpable silence in the dusty old room. Finally, after a long time, I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. “So, a golden pelt and a fathomless spell,” I said. “If that’s all that could be connecting me to this ‘Ancient Wolf’, I don’t know if I buy it.”

“No, it’s not just that,” Nathan countered, pushing himself off the shelf. “Think about it, Liv. The timing of the Ancient Wolf’s death, your sudden surge of power, the visions—it’s all too synchronized to be a mere coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”

He approached, crouching in front of me. His piercing gaze captured mine, willing me to understand. “The original Ancient Wolf was a beacon of hope, a symbol of unmatched power. Her bloodline was said to be special. And while she died long ago, legends say her essence would be reincarnated when the world needed her the most.”

I swallowed hard. “But I’ve never felt special, Nathan. Today was the first time... and it was terrifying.”

He reached out, gently taking my hand. “Sometimes, destiny lies dormant, waiting for the right trigger. The Elders’ threat, Ryan’s ambition, all this chaos might have awakened something in you.”

I looked away, overwhelmed. The silent library around us seemed to pulse with history, its ancient contents bearing witness to our conversation. “It’s just... hard to believe,” I murmured. “One moment, I’m fighting to protect my family from my ex, and the next, I’m supposedly the next Ancient Wolf?”

Nathan squeezed my hand. “Olivia, this doesn’t change who you are. It just means you have a legacy, a lineage that we need to understand.”

“And what if you’re right?” I pressed, my voice shaky. “What if I do have the Ancient Wolf’s power?”

A glint of hope shone in Nathan's eyes. “Then we have a chance. A real chance to stop Ryan, to challenge the Elders’ unjust demands. With the Ancient Wolf’s power, we could protect our home, our family, our pack.”

I took a shaky breath. The weight of the potential responsibility was crushing. “But how do I harness it? How do I awaken it fully?”

Nathan leaned back, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “That much I don’t know. The Elders can’t be trusted, but maybe… Maybe there’s someone else.”

As Nathan spoke, memories of the strange letter—the one which my wolf told me to heed—resurfaced.

“The letter,” I said, my eyes widening. “I had a vision today. My wolf told me to trust the person in the letter. Maybe we should do as it said and go to the Ancient Wolf cave, to see what this… stranger has to offer.”

Nathan was silent for a long time, pondering the possibility. I could tell just from looking at his face that he knew it was risky, and he was wary—as was I. But it was also our only option, and we had to act quickly, because if the fragment of powers I experienced that day were any indication, then it meant that unlocking my wolf’s full potential very well could…

Help me stop Ryan and the Redclaws. For good.

I mulled over the possibilities, the magnitude of the situation becoming increasingly clear. Every fiber of my being screamed to run, to hide, to deny this potential destiny. But another part, perhaps the dormant essence of the Ancient Wolf, urged me to seek the truth, to embrace whatever awaited.

“Alright,” I whispered, feeling as if the words were being drawn from deep within. “I’ve decided that I’ll meet this stranger. I need to know the truth. Tonight.”