Silent Awakening
SCARLETT
Everything felt heavy.
My eyelids were like lead, refusing to stay open. The first time they fluttered, all I saw was blinding white. I closed them again, slipping back into the dark where it didn’t hurt so much.
Then I heard a voice.
“Scar… please wake up.”
Lily.
I forced my eyes open again, slower this time. The world swam into focus. White walls. Soft lighting. The familiar scent of healing herbs and clean linen. I wasn’t in the forest anymore. I was in the infirmary at Silvercrest Academy.
Lily was sitting right beside my bed, her eyes red and swollen with tears. The moment our eyes met, she let out a sob and grabbed my hand.
“Scarlett… you’re awake. Oh thank the Goddess.”
I tried to speak, but my throat burned like fire and no sound came out.
Healers rushed in then, two older women in Silvercrest robes and a younger male healer I vaguely recognized. They moved around me efficiently, checking my pulse, my forehead, then carefully touching the thick bandage wrapped around my throat.
I flinched at the contact. That was when I realized something was wrapped tightly around my neck. A bandage. Heavy and stiff.
One of the healers spoke gently, but her voice sounded muffled, like I was underwater.
“…deep laceration… punctured the vocal cords… severe trauma from the tentacle’s barbs. We’ve done everything we can, but the damage…”
I tried to sit up and pain flared through my body, but hands gently helped me, propping pillows behind my back.
I opened my mouth again. Nothing. Not even a whisper.
The healer shook her head sadly. “No, no don’t try to speak, dear. Not yet. The wound was very deep. It may take weeks… possibly months… before your voice returns. If it returns fully.”
My eyes widened in shock.
Lily squeezed my hand tighter, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Scar… it’s okay. You’re alive. That’s what matters.”
The healers finished checking me and left quietly, promising to return soon.
The room fell silent except for Lily’s soft sniffles.
I looked down at my hands, then at the bandage around my throat. Everything felt surreal. The battle. The tentacles. The blood. And then… those flashes while I was unconscious.
A little boy covered in blood.
Red eyes.
A name I hadn’t remembered until now.
*Kaiden.*
Tears streamed down my face before I could stop them. My shoulders shook as quiet sobs wracked my body. I didn’t understand why those memories, those blurry weird dreams I used to have as a child suddenly felt so real. Why the boy in them had Kaiden’s face now.
Lily immediately pulled me into a hug, careful of my injuries. “Shh, Scar… you’re safe now. You’re back at the academy. The healers said you’ll recover.”
She pulled back and grabbed a small notepad and pen from the bedside table, pressing them into my hands.
“Whatever you want to say, write it down, okay?”
I stared at the blank page, tears blurring my vision. My hand trembled as I wrote the first shaky words.
*Kaiden… the boy from my dreams… it was him.*
Lily read it and frowned, confused. “What boy, Scar?”
I couldn’t explain. Not yet. The memories were still fragmented, a little girl running, red eyes, blood, a bond, a gunshot.
I started crying harder, shoulders shaking.
Lily wrapped her arms around me again, rocking me gently like I was still that five-year-old girl.
“You’re going to be okay,” she whispered, voice thick with tears. “Your voice will come back. I believe it. We all do.”
I clung to her, the weight of old and new pain crushing my chest.
The Triumvirate wasn’t here.
Kaiden wasn’t here.
And somewhere deep inside, a part of me that had been sealed away for fourteen years was starting to crack open.
I didn’t know if I was ready for what would come out when it finally broke.
A few hours later, Lily helped me take a bath.
My body still felt weak, every movement slow and careful.
The deep gash on my throat throbbed under the fresh bandage, but the healers said it was healing…
. slowly. Lily was gentle as she washed my hair, careful not to let water touch the wound.
She talked the whole time, filling the silence I couldn’t.
“Milo was here earlier,” she said softly, rinsing the soap from my curls. “He stayed almost the entire time you were out. He only left because a professor called him for something urgent. He was so worried, Scar.”
I nodded, still processing everything. Six days. I had been unconscious for six whole days.
Lily helped me dry off and slipped a soft pink sundress over my head.
It felt strange, clean clothes, fresh skin, the academy infirmary around me instead of blood and tentacles.
I brushed my teeth slowly, staring at my reflection.
The girl in the mirror looked pale, fragile, with dark circles under her eyes and a thick white bandage wrapped around her throat.
I really couldn’t speak not even a whisper.
Lily gave me a small, encouraging smile. “The school announced a two-week break. Everyone’s being sent home to rest after… everything that happened. We leave in two days, right after final exams are postponed and cleared.”
Home.
The word hit me like ice water. I didn’t want to go back. Not to my father. Not after the memories that were starting to crack open inside me.
We stepped out of the room together. I had only taken two steps down the hallway when it hit me.
The air filled with alpha pheromones, rich and intoxicating. Pine, smoke, and wild musk invaded my lungs, stirring something deep inside me
My heart stuttered.
Before I could even process it, three massive figures rounded the corner at full speed.
The Triumvirate.
They rushed toward me like they’d been starving for the sight of me.
Saint reached me first, scooping me up into his arms with a desperate sound, burying his face in my neck (careful of the bandage).
Kane was right behind him, wrapping his huge arms around both of us, pressing his forehead to mine.
Rhys came last, elegant but no less frantic, cupping my face with both hands, golden eyes wild with relief.
They were crushing me, but I didn’t care.
Their scents wrapped around me like a blanket, warm, safe, overwhelming.
I smiled even as tears stung my eyes. They looked exhausted, stressed, gaunt, like they hadn’t slept properly in days.
But their excitement was palpable. I could almost see their wolves inside them, tails wagging frantically at finally having me back.
*My Alphas.*
The thought floated through my mind unbidden, warm and terrifying all at once.
Lily took a cautious step back. “G-guys, you’re going to crush her…”
All three of them growled at her at the same time, low, warning rumbles that made Lily shrink back instantly.
I gently knocked each of them on the head—one, two, three—like I was scolding a pack of oversized puppies.
They immediately loosened their hold, but they didn’t let me go completely. Saint kept me tucked against his chest, his face still buried in my hair. Kane pressed a kiss to my temple. Rhys stroked my cheek with his thumb, his eyes soft.
I smiled at the three of them, heart full despite everything.
But before I could try to communicate anything, another wave of dizziness hit me. The memories from the sealed past flickered again—red eyes, blood, a little boy’s voice whispering, My Scarlett...
My vision blurred.
Saint’s arms tightened around me protectively as the world tilted beneath my feet.
And then I saw him.
Standing a few feet away.