Uncovering Truths
Serafine POV
The way Xander speaks is almost amusing. Amusing in a bitter sort of way because Xander sees this as significant simply because of how rare it is. Two wolves, both pulled to only each other during the Calling, it’s something that no one has ever seen before. That’s the thing that has him tirelessly working his pack to search every archive, sending out messages and throwing half of his pack at the mystery. That, apparently, is worth his full attention.
But, the fact that I’m the only surviving female twin firstborn?
Yeah, that’s not significant enough for him apparently.
He didn’t ask questions about me when he found out, he didn’t wonder why I lived when all the others died. He didn’t question why my wolf remained silenced all these years, then suddenly surged to the surface like a tide breaking through stone. He didn’t even appear to be curious. He just saw another lie I must’ve told, saw it as another manipulation waiting to bloom. It’s ironic and funny how his priorities work.
I don’t say it to him, what would be the point? I simply sit here, nod as he speaks and tells me I shouldn’t help, that I can’t and that I would only get in the way. I nod and listen as he explains in his calm rational way that other people are better trained at it and are handling the search for the truth. He’s telling me it would be a waste of time to let me touch any of the important texts. As if the truth might accidentally pass through my fingers and I’d miss it. All because he doesn’t trust me, he doesn’t see my worth and because I’ve not spent years studying dusty tomes.
I thank him for the honesty, what else can I do beside that? Thanking him doesn’t mean I agree, though.
The moment we leave the dining hall, I don’t linger. I begin to make my way back to my room with quiet even steps and a blank face. That’s what he expects, that’s what everyone expects.
* The quiet, obedient mate who knows her place.
Well I don’t. Because the moment the door closes behind me, I lock it.
Crossing the room in a few steps, I pull out the journal from where I left it tucked beneath the folded corner of the bed. It’s the one that Xander rendered useless and doesn’t do anything. I remember the page, I remember everything about this `book and I know it’s where the answers will be.
Carrying it to the desk beside the window, I settle into the chair and begin flipping through the pages, trying to see if anything is here. The words quickly show on each page as I scan them from one page to the next.
I stop when I see the title, Instinctual Events. Scanning that text I find the section about the Calling and begin to read it.
The Calling is not meant to bind, nor mark. It is an ancient permission and granted to wolves for them to surrender without consequences. To be claimed without shame, to touch without burden. The moon’s role is not to guide the soul, but to free the body.
Interesting, it sounds like everything else I’ve read, I keep going, my fingers trailing along the faded ink then I find it.
It’s a margin note, older than the other entries, and less formal. It’s not part of the original text, but handwritten in sharp, angled script. Maybe a past Alpha or scribe?
Exception recorded. Threadborn–linked wolves. Those mated to a Threadborn soul, even if they are not Threadborn themselves, may experience unnatural fixation during the Calling. Unlike the standard participants, their wolves do not seek variety, but resonance.
My breath catches in my throat and I read it again.
Threadborn–linked wolves. They don’t seek variety, but resonance.
The passage continues. So I continue to read with it.
In these cases, instinct doesn’t override the bond, instead, it enhances it. After mating during the Calling, may report their wolf unlocking suppressed or dormant traits, even abilities that had been stunted or dormant until the ritual.
Sitting back more, I let the words spin in my mind. Unlocking traits, wolves not seeking many but one. Wolves whose instincts don’t scatter across the clearing, but hone in.
I think back to my wolf, how she surged to the surface in a way she never has before, how she hasn’t quieted since. How right now she’s stronger and clearer. This isn’t just rare, it’s exactly what is happening now. Xander is ignoring it, not wanting to see me as a significant part. Because to him, significant means unheard of, but not in the form of me.
I’m not telling him what I found, not yet because I need to know more before I even try to hand it anything. He refused my help, so this is mine for now, and this time, he doesn’t get to decide what I do with it.
My eyes drop again and I start reading again, even when my fingers start to ache from gripping the pages too tightly. Even when my eyes blur slightly from scanning the tiny handwritten notes that are crammed between the other lines, I keep going.
1/2
Uncovering Truths
Because this feels like the answer, this feels something like the truth. There’s another note that sits near the bottom corner of the page, it’s marked with a delicate crescent that is drawn in faded ink, and barely noticeable unless you’re looking for it. It’s not uncommon for the bonded wolf of a Threadborn–linked mate to begin showing and displaying behavioral changes, specifically toward increased submission to the Threadborn. Although this may occur gradually, it depends on the resistance of the dominant wolf.
I blink fast, reading it again, convinced I read wrong. Submission, to me? That’s got to be wrong. Xander’s wolf is dominant in every sense. He doesn’t yield at all, he doesn’t follow. So, the ideas of his wolf bending to mind seems impossible, and yet… I think about the way his wolf acted during the Calling. How he didn’t wander, how he instantly found me and stayed with me when everything in him should have been drawn elsewhere. He should have been drawn to others, wanting to mate with them.
He didn’t, not once since I stepped into that clearing did he do it.
I continue to read.
In known accounts, the mate’s wolf slowly begins to circle the Threadborn’s. It no longer asserts dominance but offering silent guard. This behavior may feel unnatural at first, but it’s not submission out of weakness. It’s a unique expression of reverence. Of recognition.”
I close my eyes briefly, exhaling slowly. Okay, that’s what Xander said earlier, how his wolf was acting differently. Sure he didn’t use the word submissive but the way he said it was like his wolf was obsessed with me and only me. Which I guess links to this book.
My eyes scan the page more and I’m drawn to a second, even smaller scrawl that’s nestled deep in the crease of the page.
Rarely when the bond between a Threadborn and mate deepens, the mate’s wolf may undergo a metamorphic shift. Most of the common ones recorded that emerge is the Silvermane Hound.
I freeze at that. Silvermane Hound. The create that Xander showed me. The one he spoke of with so much reverence and caution. That wasn’t just a beast, it wasn’t just a tool used to protect his territory. It was once a wolf, a shifted form, and something older more sacred.
I let the words run through my mind again, the most common recorded one… Does he know about this? Does Xander have any idea that he’s bonded to someone whose presence could change everything that he is?
Leaning forward, my hand tightens around the edge of the journal. I reread the final sentence. It’s not forced, it’s chosen, by the wolf, when the bond is deep enough to accept what the Threadborn truly is.
So it’s not immediate, it takes time, trust and surrender.
My wolf pulses faintly beneath the surface, she’s stronger than I’ve ever felt her and I swear I can sense her listening, watching and absorbing everything. It’s like she’s intently listening and leaning with me, she’s clawing at my chest slowly.
Closing the journal, I rest my thumb on the edge of the last page.
He told me that I’d only get in the way of helping and that I would delay the search. He said I wouldn’t know where to look, but I’ve already found more in a single evening than his entire circle has. I don’t know what to do with that.
Not yet anyway, but I will. Because if Xander’s wolf is really going to begin to change and shift, if this bond is not only rare but ancient, then we’re no longer just dealing with an accident of instinct.
We’re standing at the edge of something powerful, something we were never meant to undo.
2/2
