CHAPTER 101: MY WOLF

{Elira}

~**^**~

I froze for a second, my breath catching in my throat.

"Am I supposed to know you?" I asked, confused, my hand halting mid-motion.

She stepped closer now, her eyes glowing gently. "I am your wolf."

Everything stopped for a moment, including my breath. Then, I blinked.

What?

"You’re... you’re mine?"

Before I could speak again, the forest seemed to shift — the air trembled, and her image flickered like a candlelight about to snuff out.

"No—wait," I reached for her, panic rising in my chest. "Please—don’t go yet!"

But the fog was rising, and I was waking up.

My body snapped upright like a spring, and for a second, I didn’t even know where I was. My breath came in short, rapid bursts.

My cotton nightshirt clung to my skin, damp with sweat, and the sheets were twisted around my legs like vines. A cool draft from the window hit my neck, making me shiver.

I pressed a hand to my chest — my heart was racing.

The dream was still there. Clear, vivid. It was etched into my memory like it had been branded.

A red wolf. She had spoken to me. She had said... she was mine.

"I am your wolf."

The words echoed in my head like a haunting melody I couldn’t shake off.

It didn’t feel like a normal dream — not like the ones where you forget everything two seconds after waking up. No, this one felt different. Powerful. Almost sacred.

Was it real? Was it even... possible?

My fingers curled around the duvet, gripping it tightly.

I’d never heard of someone meeting their wolf in a dream, but then again, I’d never heard of a wolf like that. She wasn’t just a fragment of my imagination.

I could still feel the warmth of her fur on my fingertips. The way her presence had sunk into me. The way her eyes had seen me.

I stared at the ceiling, heart thudding. Could this be the beginning of something? A sign?

Before I could process more, a sharp alarm went off from somewhere in the room from Nari’s tablet.

She grumbled and slapped it off, rolling over and sitting up with a groan. "Ugh. Why does morning exist?"

Cambria’s voice drifted from the top bunk, clearer than usual. "Because we have a class schedule to stick to. Remember?"

Juniper let out a dramatic sigh from the opposite side of the room. "Can’t we just telepathically absorb knowledge while we sleep?"

"I wish," Tamryn muttered, already on her feet, tugging the covers off her bed and folding them with her usual early-morning precision.

Just like that, the room stirred to life — yawns, soft laughter, the rustle of sheets, the quiet clink of toothbrush holders, and the faint shuffle of slippers on tile.

I blinked and slowly lay back down, letting my head rest against the pillow again, this time less panicked — but more confused.

Whatever that dream was... I wasn’t ready to tell anyone about it. Not yet. Especially not until I understood what it meant, and that’s if it meant anything at all.

I closed my eyes briefly, trying to imprint the image of the red wolf in my mind one more time, as if afraid I might lose her.

And then I got up too, pushing the lingering questions to the back of my mind for now.

Because class was waiting, and I had another long day ahead of me.

But deep inside... something had changed. Something was stirring, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for it.

---

After classes ended, I stood at the edge of the locker hallway, my heart pounding louder than the chatter and footsteps echoing around me.

Students brushed past me, lost in conversations or tapping furiously on their phones and smartwatches. My fingers hovered over my own phone, uncertain.

But then I took a breath, pushed down the hesitation, and tapped Zenon’s contact.

The phone barely rang once before his voice answered, cool and crisp as ever.

"Yes?"

"Professor Zenon..." I hesitated. "Are you... in your office? I wanted to go through the yearbook, if it’s still okay."

"You can come," he said — and hung up.

I blinked. That was it?

A small frown crept onto my face. I tapped his name again, calling back before my overthinking could talk me out of it.

He picked up again, this time with a touch of surprise in his tone. "Yes?"

"Which office?" I asked quickly before he could end the call again. "You didn’t say."

"The administrative building," he replied, and again, click — the call ended.

I stared at my phone for a second, then sighed. At least now I knew where to go.

I turned to my locker, grabbed my backpack, slung it over my shoulder, and made my way across campus.

My smartwatch projected a small navigation arrow over my vision lens, guiding me through the winding walkways.

The afternoon sun filtered through the tall, leafy sycamores, casting dappled shadows over the grey stones.

I didn’t need to text my roommates — I’d already told them during lunch that I wouldn’t be coming back to the dorm right away.

Cambria had only nodded, and Tamryn reminded me to eat something first. They didn’t ask any further questions.

The admin building loomed ahead, sleek and towering, its glass panels catching the fading sun. I entered through the side door, took the elevator up two floors, and stood outside Zenon’s office.

I knocked lightly.

"Come in."

I opened the door and stepped in after a moment of hesitation. It was... different from his Academic block office. Warmer, somehow.

The light wasn’t too harsh, and there was a sitting area by the window — a plush two-seater sofa and a sleek glass table in front of it.

A tall potted plant stood beside the wall, and near the far end was a water dispenser and a compact fridge. The entire room smelled faintly of sandalwood and lemon balm.

Zenon was at his desk, typing something on his laptop. Without looking up, he said, "You can sit."

I walked over to the sofa and dropped into it, feeling the cushions ease under my weight.

My gaze immediately snagged on the tray on the table — a small mountain of carefully arranged macarons, chocolate-dipped pretzels, and dried fruit rolls in gold paper.