ZIELLE
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My heart is beating like a drum, I fear if the whole kingdom can hear it.
Clutching my chest, I run out of the taming quarters. I feel like I might faint any moment, my energy draining out of me like a cracked vessel spilling water—slow, unstoppable, and terrifying.
I'm still shaken from what just happened. How he summoned me into this training quarter in the dead of the night.
How is any wolf capable of something as supernatural as that? It raises a thousand questions inside me.
For a moment I was scared, scared of his power. No one was ever able to use their scent on me like that. Not ever.
It took everything in me to stop reacting to him, to resist the pull and fight my desires. To control myself and get back my power. To put him in his position. To show him who is in control.
I gasp for air as I run, choking on my spit. I stop in my tracks and press my back against one of the trees lining the pathway to my home and take deep, lungfuls of fresh air. Desperate for air that does not contain his addictive, mind spiraling scent.
I need to know how he did it, where he learned to summon a wolf. I need to know what more he is really capable of.
If I need to get my work done without dying, I need to understand the capabilities of the one that I'm taming.
I know I will find out soon.
***
The library is eerie like a deserted cemetery.
Bookshelves lined with ancient writings stand tall like spirits guarding the forgotten graves. It looks intimidating, yet anticipation coils in my chest, making me wonder what I'm about to find out from one of those books.
I drift through the nooks like a ghost, only the moonlight spilling through the towering windows as my witness.
After searching for a while, I found it.
The book weighs a ton; it holds all the mysteries of werewolves and its origins in its magical pages that are browned with age.
I flick through the pages hurriedly, though careful not to tear them. This library is reserved for the High Omegas—I've only been here once before, with Leah.
That time, a High Omega found me and shunned me away like I was dirt beneath her feet. She warned Leah never to bring me here again, said this kind of knowledge was only meant for High Omegas. Only they deserved it.
I shake away that memory. A smile creeping upon my lips at my rebellious nature. I'm here in the exact library where they said I am not allowed, looking through the knowledge they only want for the high omegas.
I need to make this fast. If the guards start their patrol and find me here, I won't get a second chance.
I flip through the pages, reading as fast as I can—but still, nothing. No trace of Wolf Summoning. My pulse quickens. How can something so powerful not be recorded?
It must be somewhere in this.
I've read nearly a quarter of the book, and still nothing. No clue at all.
My leg begins to ache from standing too long, the muscles weak and numb.
With a quiet groan, I lower myself to the floor, careful not to make noise. The cold marble bites through my clothes, and I hiss softly at the sudden chill.
What would I do if I fail to uncover the secret of his power? How will I even complete the taming? What more will he be planning to destroy me?
He clearly hates me to death, it's no surprise if he is plotting my death.
I'm just about to give up and slip away into the night, ready to drag myself home and sleep off the exhaustion when a heading catches my eye.
Something about it sparks my curiosity, tugging at me to stay just a little longer.
Star-bound Alpha
My breath catches.
Star-Bound?
I lean closer, heart thudding as I turn the page. The script is faded, the ink smudged by time, but still legible.
There exists a rare and nearly forgotten lineage of Alphas, born under celestial convergence, their souls tethered to the stars. Known as the Star-Bound, these Alphas do not follow the instincts of the earthbound. They answer to older laws—those written in starlight and sealed in shadow.
Their scent defies known categories. It does not seduce, it ensnares. It does not command, it binds.
Star-Bound Alphas possess an ability once believed to be myth: soul-summoning. They can draw forth specific individuals—Omegas, even Betas—from across great distances, not through words or scent alone, but through a pull of fate itself.
They are not born often. When they are, they are feared. Even among their own kind.
My skin prickles.
He summoned me.
And now, I know why.
My fingers tighten around the edges of the page as a chill rolls down my spine, one that has nothing to do with the marble floor beneath me.
I lower my gaze and continue reading.
The bond between a Star-Bound Alpha and the one they summon is not chosen—it is destined. The summoned individual may resist, but their soul will always feel the pull. It is said that the summoned are marked in unseen ways. Changed.
I sit frozen, the words ringing in my skull. Marked in unseen ways.
Is that why I felt it? That strange flutter under my skin when he looked at me like he already knew me? That pull that no scent had ever created before?
I press my palm against my chest, feeling the uneven rhythm of my heart.
It's not fear anymore. It's something deeper. Wilder.
What begins as summoning often becomes something far more dangerous: soul-entwining. Once the bond deepens, separation becomes unbearable. Madness is not uncommon. Neither is obsession.
Only one known case recorded an Omega who successfully severed the bond. They vanished shortly after. Their name was struck from the records.