Chapter Five
THE AWAKENING
(Camille Spice Pov)
––The Steele Training Grounds
The moon hung heavy in the dark sky, casting a pale silver glow over the expanse of the Steele training grounds. Weeks had passed since I’d begun my relentless training under my grandfather, Alpha Vamos. My once fragile body, worn and hollowed out by pain and rejection, had transformed into something steadier, stronger. My muscles no longer trembled with fatigue after every sparring session, and the biting sting of failure had dulled, replaced with quiet determination.
But tonight it was different.
In this silent training room except for labored breathing, my grandfather stood at its edge, eyes like unsheathed piercing green staring into every move of mine, unbending as stone walling us in. His face was unyielding, an unwavering entity where no single emotion raged.
"Again." His tone was curt.
I hunched my shoulders and willed myself forward. The wolf inside me snarled back at every command I gave, meek to be part of me yet laying dormant in lazy slumber for far too many years. She wouldn't attack, refusing to rise into full frenzy, no matter how hard I worked to recall her to me.
"Fight, damn it!" I snarled through gritted teeth, my voice husky with frustration. The sight blurred with the sweat off the blows against the training dummy, heaving as my wolf stirred inside, so very weakly, so promising, yet again teased flashes of strength only to once more retreat within himself.
"Enough," Vamos said, stepping forward. There was a calmness to his tone, but a sharpness underneath that hit me and made me think I'd failed again.
"I can do this," I said, voice shaking with exhaustion.
"You can't," he told me, the words deep and cutting.
I spun to him, my fists clenched. "Then tell me why! Why can't I fight? Why won't my wolf wake up?" My voice cracked under the weight of my frustration. "I've done everything you've asked. I've trained until I can barely stand. I've bled, I've cried, I've broken myself trying to become the heir you want me to be. So why?!”
He said nothing for a moment, his eyes narrowing as if to gauge whether I was worthy of the truth. Then he spoke; his voice low and deliberate.
"Your wolf is a reflection of your spirit, Camille. And right now, your spirit is fractured, clouded by weakness and doubt."
"I'm not weak!" I snapped, my voice shaking with anger.
"No?" he repeated, his body inching closer. "Then tell me, what drives you? What fuels your fight? Without a purpose, the fire of a driving force will remain incomplete. Powerless."
His words cut close to home. I felt my chest tighten and memories flood my mind: Miles's cold voice as he exiled me, Sonia's smirk as she ruined my life, and the laughter and whispering of the crowd as they watched me fall. Yet, through all that, the thought of revenge felt … wrong.
"I don't want revenge," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
“What do you want?" he repeated, and his voice was softer by a fraction.
I hesitated, searching deep within me for what the answer was. Did I want redemption? Strength? Freedom from my past?
“I want to be whole," I said finally, my voice shaking with it. "I want to be a person who doesn't shatter every time the world tries to crush her. I want to be… more."
Vamos watched me for a long moment before nodding as if the answer had been expected all along.
"Then it's time," he said, and the weight of those two words caused my belly to twist and knot in unease.
“Time for what?" I asked my heart racing.
"Follow me," he said simply, turning toward the door.
The night sounds of the forest seemed to come alive, crickets chirping, leaves rustling in the wind, and the distant howl of wolves that seemed to echo right through the trees. The air was heavy with the scent of pine and damp earth as I followed my grandfather deeper into the maze-like wilderness.
“This place is ancient," Vamos said, the first to break the silence. "It's where generations of Steeles have come to awaken their true power."
I looked around, a sense of unease growing with every step. The trees seemed to close in around us, casting wild and twisted shadows on the earth below.
"What are we doing here, exactly?" I asked, trying to disguise a creeping fear in my tone.
"You'll stay here tonight," he said, catching himself.
My heart plummeted, and I stood stock-still. "Alone?"
He turned to me, his face impassive. "This forest will test you in ways I cannot. It will make you face your deepest fears and your greatest weaknesses. If you survive, you'll emerge stronger. If you don't." His silence was worse than words.
"But-"
“No excuses, Camille," he snarled. "You want to be more? Then prove it."
Yeah, with that, he wheeled and was off in darkness, leaving me to my resources, well, inside the core of the woods.
The first attack came when just a full moon reached, shining so bright in the skies, a glowing-eyed thing willed out from behind blackness, and it started to growl. Immediately the wolf hunched at my teeth to teeth, open-wide fang and claws which flayed the air with wild slash.
I barely dodged in time, my body instinctively moving. My training then took over as I fought back, striking the wolf with every ounce of strength I had. It wasn't enough. Another wolf appeared, then another, until I was surrounded.
Then wilder and wilder I moved in motions, desperate I am. My muscles wailed in agony, my eyes blurred, and the taste of blood metallic in my mouth.
Time blurred, and hours became some amorphous collection of pain and exhaustion. Cuts and bruises on the body, clothes were torn, and bloody wolves seemed endless in their attack.
By the time the first rays of dawn pierced the canopy above, I was at my wit's end, labored and gasping, coming out unevenly while limbs shook with such strain.
"Just a little bit longer," I muttered between my teeth and clutched at my side, where one deep gash throbbed painfully.
But it seemed fate had other ideas.
A growl, bone-chilling and deeper, more menacing than any I had heard, rumbled through the forest. I turned slowly, my heart sinking as my sight came into a huge wolf, larger than the others, his eyes aglow with a feral intensity.
I knew that I couldn't win. My body was broken, my spirit battered. But all the same, I would not run.
"If I die here," I muttered, making myself harden up, "at least I'll die fighting."
The wolf charged, and I got it. The fight was brutal, every blow sent shockwaves of pain through my body. At one point the wolf's huge paw came down on my leg with bone-crushing force and I screamed as it snapped.
“Haaaah!”
I fell to the ground, unable to rise, with the wolf looming over me, his teeth bared. Time slowed down around me, my life flashed before my eyes as I stared up at it.
I saw Miles's face, so cold in his rejection. I saw Sonia's smirk, my mother's warm smile, my foster father's kindness. I saw Vamos's piercing gaze, judgment, and hope inside.
And then, something inside just snapped.
"No," I whispered, my voice trembling.
The wolf growled and laid its head low to the ground.
"I won't take this!" I shrieked, my voice high with a rage somehow welling up from a deep, deep place in me. "I won't be weak! I won't be broken! I won't let anyone take it from me ever again!"
A searing pain tore through my body as my wolf finally woke. My eyes were aflame, my vision distorting as a gold tint took over everything. My hair lengthened, going wild, and my muscles flexed with new power.
I screamed as my bones snapped and reshaped, my body twisting and contorting in agony. The pain was extreme, yet beneath it was fire, a power that consumed me, filled me, and changed me.
And indeed, after the change was complete, I stood on my four legs, a great wolf, towering above this monster that had almost managed to take my life. I was covered with fur of pure white all over, glowing in that very dim light as if one full of ethereal light, my golden eyes smoldering with fierce determination.
The other wolf whined, cowering before me, but I showed it no mercy. With one feral snarl, I threw myself at it, ripping into its body with no restraint of raw power.
Finally, when it was all over, I was standing amidst the carnage, my chest heaving, my body shaking with exhaustion and elation.
A slow clap broke the silence as I turned to see my grandfather emerging from the shadows, shock, and pride across his face.
"Well done," he said, his voice even but laced with emotion. Others stood behind him, their faces filled with awe.
However, I was too weak to respond. My body transformed back into human shape, and I collapsed onto the ground, my wor
ld fading to black. The last thing I heard was Vamos screaming my name, his voice full of terror, as darkness enveloped me.