Chapter 2 The Birth Mark

Pain was the first thing I felt when I opened my eyes. It was not just an ordinary ache in my body, it was a deep pulling sensation that came from-I don't know where-which seemed to have taken away all my strength.

I heard faint voices, it seemed to come from a long distance.

"She's still breathing, thank the Moon."

I blinked against the blinding white light above me, then I realized it was already morning. Just then, I saw a strange face hovering over me. I opened my eyes clearly to see a tall but lean figure that looked too old to be alive but still glowing with strange serenity. Her eyes were pale and her mouth black.

"You're awake," she said softly. Stay still and don't move. You are safe now."

"Who are you?

"My name is Mariya. I found you collapsed and lying lifeless here in the woods, but luckily for you, I usually pass here, so I happened to have found you on time.

I tried to sit up, but pain lanched through my side. My breath caught and I felt weak instantly.

"Careful," she warned, gently placing a hand on my shoulder. "Your body's been through something fierce." You were burning up with a fever, and you kept muttering strange words in your sleep. I think you are..."

She hesitated.

I turned my head slowly toward her. "I'm what?"

Mariya studied me carefully. "You're carrying life inside you, meaning you are pregnant."

Pregnant! The word stuck in my ear. There was silence for a little moment.

I blinked again. "No, that can't be true."

"But it is, you are pregnant, and I can tell you that for sure.

I was mute and confused for a while. How could I be pregnant, I muttered in my heart.

He rejected me and now his child is inside me.

"No," I whispered again, this time anger in my voice. He rejected me, he said I was nothing. How could the Moon Goddess still tie us like this?"

Mariya sighed and helped me sit against a tree trunk. "Sometimes things that happen are things we may never understand. Fate doesn't bind us to what we want but what must be. You must embrace yourself and become strong for you and your baby."

Tears rolled down my eyes. "I don't want this."

"You may not have wanted it, but it's already happened and the child you carry is innocent, "Mariya said again.

I stared into the distant trees, everywhere looking strange.

"I don't know how."

Mariya smiled faintly. "Then let me show you."

---

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Mariya took me deep into the mountain trails, to an old cottage nestled high above the valley. A place that is hidden and safe, surrounded by thick woods.

I gave birth under a full moon to a baby boy. Leo.

He came out screaming like a warrior, with silver flecks in his eyes and a tiny crescent birthmark over his heart.

I cried when I held him-for what I had lost and for what I had gained.

And I cried because I knew one day, he'd want to know who his father was.

Mariya never rushed me. But she never let me wallow either.

"Come," she'd say each morning. "The wolf inside you is restless, it's time to make her rest."

And so, the training journey of my new life began.

Mariya taught me how to fight, how to center my mind and keep my emotions from controlling my shift. How to breathe when rage threatened to unravel me. How to strike without mercy, how to endure pain without showing it

"You are not just an omega," she said one morning, tossing me a staff. "You are now a mother and a fighter. You don't have to beg the world anymore to see your worth. You must show them."

We trained through the wind, through the cold, even through rain. Most times my muscles screamed at the constant pull, my wolf snarled in frustration, but I never gave up. I kept on pushing.

I did it because I needed to be strong for myself and my son. Because I didn't have to let Evan's betrayal define me.

---

One evening, after training, Mariya handed me a small blade. It was simple but looked so deadly.

"This belonged to my mother," she said. She taught me how to fight when the world tried to break me. Now, I'm passing it on to you."

"Why me?"

"Because the ones who are broken know how to fight the hardest."

I held the blade in my hand and felt a part of myself lock into place.

That night, while Leo slept in his crib, I stood beneath the moon and let my wolf rise. My shift was smoother now, more powerful. Her fur was darker and her eyes sharp.

I was no longer an omega-I was now a fighter and a warrior.

---

The next morning, while Mariya bathed Leo in the wooden tub, which was unlike her, she usually insisted I do the bathing.

The room was quiet except for the sound of water trickling, and suddenly Mariya froze.

I turned just in time to see her eyes widen, her entire body going rigid.

"Mariya?" I called, standing at the door. "What is it?"

She didn't answer.

Her fingers trembled as they gently brushed behind Leo's ear again, her expression showing that something was wrong.

And then-

She screamed, "It's the same mark, Lila!"

"What mark?"

"The same mark you have-Leo has it too. This is not ordinary."

"You're confusing me, Mariya. What is not ordinary?"

Before I could finish, Mariya ran out, so hastily that I had to run after her, forgetting I had left Leo behind.