Chapter 15: Outside the House

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Outside the House

In the end, Selena escaped. Like a gazelle fleeing a lion with a shopping addiction. Azura could only stand there, hands on her hips, breathing heavily, watching the fluffy wolf tail disappear into the treeline like a white flag of surrender.

Dammit.

A few dozen minutes ago, when Selena had transformed into her wolf form, Azura’s brain had short-circuited with pure, unfiltered scientific curiosity. It was her first time seeing a real-life werewolf transformation! The bones cracking, the fur sprouting, the snout elongating—it was like a nature documentary but with more screaming and existential dread.

She had to get a closer look.

So she chased harder. Faster. More desperately.

But to Selena, it probably looked like a psychopath with a reusable bag was having a mental breakdown in her direction. So Selena ran faster. And faster. And eventually, she was just a speck in the distance, leaving Azura in the dust—a sad, sweaty, bag-wielding monument to her own failure.

For the first time since waking up in this body, Azura felt genuine disappointment that Cora—her dormant, sulky, passive-aggressive wolf—had chosen to go on an indefinite strike.

Thanks for nothing, Cora. Really. Great timing.

She turned around, ready to find Jonathan and lament her fate, when something caught her eye.

A bracelet.

Tattered. Made of string and carved wood. Lying in the grass like a forgotten relic from a medieval summer camp.

Azura picked it up, squinting at it. Her brow furrowed. She’d seen this before. Somewhere. When? Where?

Then it hit her like a truck made of nostalgia.

"This... isn’t this Selena’s bracelet?!" Her eyes sparkled like she’d just found a winning lottery ticket. "It must have fallen off while she was fleeing for her life! YES! This is PERFECT! Now I have an excuse to meet her later!"

She slipped the bracelet onto her wrist with the glee of a treasure hunter claiming their prize.

"Returning lost jewelry to its rightful owner~ How kind and thoughtful of me~ Surely this will make her trust me~"

---

Several hundred meters away, in the safety of the servants’ quarters, Selena suddenly froze mid-sip of water. A chill ran down her spine. Her wolf whimpered.

Something terrible is about to happen again. I can feel it.

---

"AZURA!"

Azura nearly jumped out of her skin.

She spun around to see a man barreling toward her like a freight train made of muscle and enthusiasm.

Blond hair. Large build. Fierce face that looked like it could scare children—but somehow, he was smiling like a golden retriever who’d just been told it was walk time.

Who the hell is this?!

Azura’s internal scream was so loud she was surprised it didn’t echo.

He called me by name without "miss"! Is he a friend? A distant cousin? A secret lover?! A—a neighborhood dog trainer?!

The man laughed, slapping her shoulder with enough force to almost send her flying.

"I heard some interesting things about you today! Your brother looked like his soul left his body during the pack meeting! I thought he was gonna ascend to the Moon Goddess right there!"

He laughed again, completely oblivious to the fact that Azura was internally combusting.

Okay. Okay. Calm down. He was at the pack meeting. That means he’s either important or just very nosy.

Is he Jonathan’s friend? A high-ranking pack member? The guy who sells overpriced wolfsbane at the black market?!

She smiled nervously, her brain buffering like a laptop with too many tabs open.

"Ha... haha... yeah... my brother... very dramatic... love that for him..."

WHO ARE YOU?!

He looked at Azura with amusement, like a man watching a particularly confused raccoon try to open a trash can. His eyes traced her expression, drinking in every twitch and flicker of panic.

"I also heard that you’ve changed—even the way you torment Selena has changed. So it’s true after all!"

"....."

Mr. Stranger, are we enemies that you’d slander me like this?!

Who’s tormenting Selena?! That’s proof of love! Proof of sincerity! I was being FRIENDLY! FRIENDLY WITH A CAPITAL F! I brought her snacks! Non-poisonous snacks! That’s called CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, you overgrown golden retriever-looking man!

But before she could defend her honor, the man suddenly froze mid-sentence. His eyes went distant—mind link, probably—and then, without warning, he grabbed her shoulders and started pushing her toward the parking lot like she was a shopping cart that needed to be relocated.

"Alright! Alright! Even when he’s busy, your brother still finds time to scold me through the mind link!" He laughed, completely unbothered. "Jonathan is busy with pack business, so he told me to take you home. He says you’re sick. Come on, let’s go now!"

Azura’s feet scrambled against the ground as she tried to stop her involuntary movement.

"WHAT?! I’m not sick! I’m perfectly healthy! I’ve never been more—"

She was already being shoved into the passenger seat of a black SUV. The door closed. The engine started. And her fate was sealed.

The man drove like he was being chased by his own enthusiasm.

Azura, who considered herself quite the conversationalist, had finally met her match. The man did not stop talking. Not once. Not for a single second. It was like someone had injected him with verbal espresso.

He talked about himself. He talked about Jonathan. He talked about yesterday’s incident when Adrian rejected Selena—complete with dramatic reenactments and sound effects. He talked about his family. He talked about his love life. He even talked about his grandfather, who apparently once wrestled a bear and won.

Azura sat there, eyes wide, nodding like a bobblehead, her brain struggling to process the firehose of information being blasted at her.

By the time she pieced everything together, she had gathered the following intel:

- This man’s name is Vincent.

- He is the Gamma of the pack.

- He is best friends with Jonathan AND Adrian.

- He is already married to his fated mate, Caroline—one of Azura’s friends.

- He has no concept of "inside thoughts."

- And, most importantly: Jonathan and Adrian are currently investigating something in the forest near the pack. Possibly a group of rogues keeping an eye on them.

So that’s where her brother was.

Not long after, the car finally stopped in front of the house. Azura reached for the door handle, ready to escape and process everything, when Vincent’s voice stopped her.

"Azura, actually... I don’t want to say this, but..." He frowned, his cheerful demeanor faltering for the first time. "Why can’t I smell your wolf scent? I only smell Selena’s scent all over you."

Azura froze.

"I—"

"—Oh! No need to answer!" He waved his hand dismissively, his grin returning like the sun breaking through clouds. "I’ll ask Jonathan! He told me earlier not to listen to anything you say anyway since you’re sick. Okay, gotta go! I need to go join Alpha and Jonathan. See you later, Azura!"

And with that, he rolled up the window and drove off, leaving Azura standing alone in front of the house, her mouth opening and closing like a fish that had just been told the ocean was a myth.

"... Jonathan... what exactly did you mean when you told your friend I was sick? And why does my gut tell me that the ’illness’ he mentioned isn’t, say, a cold or a fever—but more like a ’my sister has contracted a severe case of ’being a completely different person.’ It’s highly contagious. Avoid eye contact?"

She shook her head, then looked down at the bag in her hands—the bag of snacks and clothes meant for Selena. Still full. Still untouched. Still a monument to her failure.

Her shoulders slumped.

She couldn’t even bribe a girl to like her. What had her life become?

Selena had looked at her like she was offering poisoned apple slices wrapped in lies. Which, okay, historically fair—but still! This was supposed to be the start of her redemption arc! Where were the angelic choirs? The slow-motion reconciliation scene? The emotional background music?!

Instead, she got a slammed door and a lingering sense of existential defeat.

She sighed, trudging toward the front door. She pulled out her keys, unlocked it, and was just about to step inside when—

’Azura.’

She froze. Her eyes went wide.

A voice. In her head. Not her own voice. Not a thought. Jonathan’s voice.

For a split second, she thought she was having a stroke. But then her brain—bless its isekai-fueled knowledge—connected the dots.

THE MIND LINK! THE INFAMOUS TELEPATHY OF WEREWOLF PACKS!

Her heart raced with excitement. She wanted to reply—oh, she wanted to reply so badly. But she had no idea how. What if she accidentally broadcasted her deepest, darkest thoughts? Like how sometimes she wanted to grope her new body? Especially the—you know—the twins? The twins that were currently sitting pretty in her bra?

Or what if she accidentally sent Jonathan a mental image of her chasing after wolves and trying to hug and kiss them like pervert?

No. Better to stay silent. Silent and mysterious. Like a potato.

Fortunately, Jonathan didn’t seem to expect a reply.

’Azura, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner. I’ve been really busy, which is why I could only have Vincent take you home. It looks like I’ll be coming home very late—or not at all until tomorrow morning. Alpha Adrian is still weak from the backlash of the rejection, so I have to take over some of his work. Don’t wait up for me.’

And just like that, the connection cut. Like a phone call where the other person hung up before you could say goodbye.

Azura stood in the doorway, blinking.

"...Okay, got it," she mumbled to the empty air, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. She locked it, leaned against it, and let out a long, weary sigh.

Great. Alone in a house. In a world she didn’t understand. With a brother who was off doing mysterious werewolf things. And a reputation so bad that even the nicest pack members treated her like a ticking time bomb.

Just as she was about to shuffle toward the kitchen to drown her sorrows in whatever snacks she hadn’t given to Selena—

Outside, not far from the Williams house, shadows moved between the trees.

Four figures. Silent. Stealthy. Predatory.

One of them stopped, tilting his head.

"According to Noah’s report, her house isn’t far from here."

Another man’s eyes flickered gold, his breathing growing ragged. He stopped in his tracks, a low growl rumbling from his chest.

"Something’s pulling me... Do you guys feel it too?" He turned his head sharply, staring toward the housepack with an intensity that bordered on obsession. "It’s our fated mate... She’s in this pack! We have to find her!"

Before he could bolt, a silver-haired man grabbed him by the scruff of his collar, yanking him back like a misbehaving puppy.

"Calm down. We all feel it too." His tone was sharp, controlled. "But right now, we focus on the mission first. The girl. Then we deal with the mate business."

The golden-eyed man let out a frustrated growl but nodded, forcing himself to follow.

They moved deeper into the territory until they stopped in front of a house.

A familiar house.

"This is the place, Alphas." A shadowy figure pointed at the door. "The girl you’re looking for—she lives here."

And inside that house, oblivious and exhausted, Azura was currently raiding the refrigerator, completely unaware that her peaceful evening was about to be shattered.