Chapter 3 THE OAK

POV: Hailey

Exhaustion finally pulled me to sleep, but peace remained out of reach. I found myself standing in a long corridor, surrounded by strange paintings and towering walls. I didn't recognize the place, yet something about it felt familiar.

A scream shattered the silence, I turned just as flames burst through a doorway. Smoke filled the corridor, and the building shook beneath my feet, I tried to run, but my legs felt weak. Before I could call for help, a woman rushed toward me and pulled me into her arms.

The moment she held me, I felt safe. She smelled faintly of roses, her hands trembled as she cradled my head, shielding me from the smoke.

"My sweet moon," she whispered.

The words stirred something deep inside me. I looked up, desperate to see her face, but the smoke blurred her features, I could only make out her tearful eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice sounded small and frightened.

The woman froze. For a moment, she stared at me as though my question had broken something inside her, her lips parted, but no answer came. Instead, she pressed her cheek against my hair and held me tighter.

"Please, tell me who you are," I begged.

She drew back just enough to look at me, I could feel her desperation, even though I didn't understand its cause.

"You must be brave, my sweet moon," she whispered. "No matter what happens."

I shook my head, frightened by the screams and the flames spreading around us. I wanted to know why the palace was burning, but more than anything, I wanted her to stop looking at me as though she was about to lose me.

Another explosion shook the building. The woman flinched and turned toward the sound, terror crossed her face so quickly that I clutched her clothes.

What's happening? I cried out.

She looked back at me, and for one brief moment, I thought she would tell me everything. Instead, she kissed my forehead and reached beneath the fabric of her dress and pulled out a silver pendant.

The metal caught the light from the flames, shining brightly against her trembling fingers.

I knew that pendant or at least, some part of me seemed to recognize it. She placed it in my palm and closed my fingers around it.

"Keep it safe," she pleaded.

The metal felt cold against my skin. I stared at its unfamiliar design, struggling to understand why holding it made my heart beat so quickly.

"What is this?" I asked.

The woman closed my fingers around it.

"Something precious," she replied, her voice breaking.

Before I could ask another question, she pulled me against her chest, her heart pounded beneath my ear, and I realized she was just as frightened as I was. I tightened my fingers around the pendant.

"I won't lose it," I promised.

The woman stroked my hair, whispering words I couldn't understand. Then another crash sounded, and she lifted her head toward the smoke-filled corridor.

"We have to go," she said urgently.

She carried me toward a doorway, but before we could reach it, something crashed behind us. She stumbled, tightening her arms around me as the smoke thickened.

I could barely see her anymore. "Mama," I whispered.

The word escaped before I understood what I was saying, the woman went still. For a brief moment, she held me even tighter, pressing a kiss against my forehead. Her tears fell onto my face.

"My sweet moon," she whispered again.

I reached for her cheeks, desperate to see her clearly, to remember her face but she was slipping away from me.

"Mama, don't leave me!" I screamed, my voice breaking with fear.

I tried to hold on, but my fingers closed around nothing. The silver pendant flashed in my palm before the flames rushed toward me, swallowing everything in blinding light.

I woke up with a sharp gasp. My body jerked upright, and I pressed a hand against my chest, my heart raced as I struggled to catch my breath.

For several seconds, I couldn't move. Then I recognized my room, the familiar window, and the blanket tangled around my legs.

It had been a dream. Yet the fear clinging to me felt painfully real, I wiped my damp palms against my nightclothes and tried to calm myself and the woman's voice remained clear in my mind.

"My sweet moon."

I closed my eyes, but instead of relief, a deep ache settled in my chest. It wasn't the familiar loneliness I felt when others mocked me for being wolfless. This pain was different, as though I had lost someone I loved without knowing who they were.

I tried to remember the woman's face, but all I could recall were her trembling hands and tearful eyes, then I remembered the pendant.

I had never seen it among my belongings, yet its image remained vivid in my mind. Why had it felt so familiar? And why had I called the woman Mama?

I climbed out of bed and moved toward the window. Beyond the pack grounds lay Crescent Forest, the same forest that had drawn my attention earlier that day.

I had felt something strange when I looked at those trees, something that had briefly stirred beneath my skin.

Now, after this dream, I couldn't stop wondering whether the two experiences were connected. I pressed my fingers against the windowsill.

For years, I had accepted that I might never learn where I came from but what if the woman in my dream belonged to my past?

The thought tightened my throat.

I remembered how desperately she had held me, how frightened she had been, and how her voice had filled me with a sense of belonging I had never known.

What if I had once known her? What if she had been my mother?

I shook my head, unable to answer my own questions.

Perhaps it was only a nightmare brought on by exhaustion. That explanation made sense, but it didn't explain why the pendant felt familiar or why the word Mama had come so naturally to my lips.

I returned to bed, but sleep no longer seemed possible. For twenty years, I had believed my missing wolf was the greatest mystery of my life.

Now I wondered whether there was something else hidden beneath the years I couldn't remember. I pressed a hand against my aching chest and stared into the darkness.

I didn't know who I had been before Alpha Victor found me beneath that oak. I didn't know why my memories were missing or what the silver pendant meant.

But for the first time, I desperately wanted answers and somewhere deep inside me, I feared that discovering the truth would change everything.