Chapter 6. A Familiar Stranger
Lia
What I didn’t tell her was the way my chest felt… different. The way my skin buzzed like it was waiting for something. The way the word chosen had sunk into my mind like a stone dropped in a still lake.
That night, I found myself walking aimlessly through Downtown Pine hills. The town looked normal enough, red-brick buildings, fairy lights hanging across store windows, the familiar smell of coffee and fresh pastries from the corner cafe. But there was a tension in the air, a cracking energy.
I stopped in front of the town bulletin board. Usually covered in flyers for last pets and guitar lessons, it now held a single stark notice:
Council Announcement
Due to urgent inter-species negotiations, Pine Hills is in consultations, with werewolves envoys.
A candidate will be chosen for diplomatic purposes.
Voluntary applications are also accepted at the council office.
Only one will be chosen.
I stood there staring at it.
Voluntary applications.
There were letting someone choose this.
Suddenly my enter world tilted
Could I ?
No. That was crazy.
And yet…
What if fate wasn’t just for fantasy books? What if this was the moment all those stories had been preparing me for?
Katie would think I was insane.
Hell. Maybe I was.
But what if I wasn’t ?
That night I couldn’t sleep, I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
The next morning, the town square was flooded with new vans. A platform had been built overnight, draped in navy cloth, with the town seal and three empty chairs at its center.
People stood in clusters, murmuring. Council members emerged one by one, all looking pale and stiff. Then, from the largest black SUV they stepped out.
Three figures.
Two men and a woman.
They weren’t like the wolves in my books,not exactly. But there was something undeniably powerful about them. Tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in black. One had silver streaks in his hair. Another had eyes too sharp to be human. The woman walked like she commanded the world.
The murmurs stopped.
The councilman cleared his throat. “As of today, Pine Hills is honored to host emissaries from the northern Pack. They come in peace, and with a single request, a human female, strong of will, pure of heart to serve as the foundation for new alliances.”
My breath hitched.
The emissary with the sharp eyes stepped forward, his voice was deep and smooth, with an accent I couldn’t place. The bond between our kind and yours must be renewed. You may choose freely, but choose wisely, she will belong to the wolves.”
Gasps rippled through the crowd
Belong.
I felt something bloom in my chest, fear, yes. But also something else. Excitement. Hope.
Because deep down, in the part of me that had believed in magics of fated mates and ancient bonds…
I wanted it to be me.
I joined the line at the gym with at least sixty other girls. Most were shaking. Some were crying. A few, like me, looked …curious.
My friend Katie clung to my arm like we were about to be drafted into war.
“They can’t just take someone, right?” she whispered. “This has to be illegal. Like, human rights or whatever.”
“They’re not human, technically.”
“Don’t say that!”
“I’m just… look, they’re not going to choose me.”
“Why the hell do you sound disappointed?”
I didn’t answer.
The process was simple. One by one, we were called into the gym, asked a few questions by a guy in a suit, and then sent home. There was a scanner involved, something weird and tech that looked out of place next to the basketball hoops. I had no idea what it did.
My name was called, I walked in like I was stepping onto a stage.
The man behind the table looked bored. “Full name?”
“Lia Kalden.”
He typed it in “age?”
“Nineteen.”
The scanner made a soft beep as I walked past it. He frowned. I looked at the screen again. Then at me.
“Wait over there.”
“Wait, why?”
He didn’t answer just gestured towards a smaller rope-off area near the bleachers.
Katie mouthed “what’s going on?” Ad I passed her, I had no clue.
Two other girls were standing there already. One looked like she’d been crying for hours. The other had the fat- eyes stare of someone who’d checked out emotionally.
The room felt too small. Too hot.
After what felt like forever, the man came back. He handed me a sealed envelope. Don’t open it till you get home. You’ll be contacted shorty.”
“Is this…am I…?”
“You’ll be contacted.”
That was all.
“Why would he choose her?” He muttered to himself.
I walked home with the envelope burning a whole in my jacket pocket.
I opened it in my room.
It wasn’t a letter. Just a card with time and and place. Tomorrow. 6 PM. Edge if Glendfield forest.
No name. No instructions. No explanations.
Just time and a place.
I stared at it for an hour then tucked it into my favorite book, Alpha’s Claim. Like it was some kind of prophecy.
The next evening came too quickly.
The edge of the forest was marked with torches. Literal torches. It looked like something from the medieval fair, but the men standing guard were all in tactical gear and earpieces.
“Name?” One of them asked.
I told him.
He checked the list. Nodded. “Follow the path. Don’t stop until you reach the clearing.”
That was it turning back.
I walked.
The forest was quieter than expected. No birds,no wind. Just the sound of my boots on the dirt path and my own heartbeat.
It wasn’t dark yet, but the trees made it feel like twilight.
Then the clearing opened in front of me like a scene from one of my dreams, a wide circle surrounded by shadows. Figures watching from the edge. All tall. All still. All …not quite human.
Werewolves.
And in the center stood one of them. Bigger. Broader than the rest.
The Alpha.
He stepped forward as I did.
And everything inside me froze.
Because I knew that face.
