🌘 Chapter 36 — The Betrayer
Rain hammered against the windows of the pack house.
Ivy stood in the library, staring at the old photograph Jake had found.
Their parents.
The mysterious wolves behind them.
And Elias.
The name felt strangely familiar.
Not because Ivy remembered him...
But because something inside her did.
A faint pressure formed behind her eyes.
Then—
FLASH.
A little girl running through the same halls.
Her mother's voice.
"Stay away from Elias, Ivora."
Ivy's breath caught.
She dropped the photograph.
Jake immediately noticed.
"What did you see?"
"I remembered him."
Jake went still.
"What?"
"Our mother warned me about him."
Jayden stepped closer.
"What exactly did she say?"
Ivy closed her eyes, trying to hold onto the memory.
"She said... he wasn't loyal to our family."
Jake's expression hardened.
"Then we've got our answer."
"No," Ivy whispered.
Everyone looked at her.
Her violet eyes slowly opened.
"We don't."
She picked up the photograph.
"If Elias betrayed our parents, why did he survive?"
Silence.
Jake stared at the image.
"That's a good question."
The Old Pack Records
Jake led them deeper into the library.
At the back was a locked room covered in ancient symbols.
"My adoptive father told me never to open this," Jake said.
Aslam raised an eyebrow.
"That sounds like exactly why we should open it."
Jake almost smiled.
"Agreed."
Ivy placed her hand against the door.
Nothing happened.
She frowned.
Then Jake placed his hand beside hers.
The symbols suddenly glowed.
Purple.
Silver.
The door opened.
Everyone stared.
Jayden looked between them.
"Apparently sibling bonding comes with magical privileges."
Ivy laughed softly.
"Don't get jealous."
"I wasn't."
"You definitely were."
For a brief moment, the tension disappeared.
Then they entered.
The room contained only three things.
A broken sword.
An ancient book.
And a sealed box.
Jake approached the book.
Its cover bore the symbol of the Silverlight Pack.
He opened it.
The first pages described their parents.
Alpha Dominik.
Luna Elira.
Keepers of the First Seal.
But several pages had been ripped out.
Jake frowned.
"Someone removed the records."
Ivy noticed something underneath the book.
A small piece of parchment.
She picked it up.
There was only one sentence.
The betrayal came from within.
Jayden's expression darkened.
"Elias."
Jake nodded.
"Most likely."
But Aslam shook her head.
"Maybe not."
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward the broken sword.
"Look at the crest."
Jake picked it up.
His face changed.
"This isn't Elias's crest."
"Then whose is it?" Ivy asked.
Jake turned the sword over.
A symbol was carved into the metal.
A black crescent surrounded by three claws.
Ivy suddenly felt dizzy.
She knew that symbol.
Not from memory.
From her dreams.
"The man in the forest..."
Her voice trembled.
"That's his symbol."
Meanwhile — James
James sat in his apartment, staring at his reflection.
His eyes had changed.
A faint silver ring surrounded his pupils.
He touched the glass.
"What am I?"
Behind him, the lights flickered.
He spun around.
No one was there.
Then a voice whispered:
"You know what you are."
James backed away.
"No."
"You were chosen."
"Leave me alone!"
"You belong to the bloodline."
James shook his head.
"I don't want this."
The voice became softer.
"Neither did Ivy."
James froze.
For the first time, he understood.
The stranger hadn't chosen him randomly.
He had chosen him because James was connected to Ivy.
And that connection went far deeper than friendship.
The Warning
Back at the pack house, Ivy suddenly collapsed against the table.
Jayden caught her.
"Ivy!"
Her eyes glowed.
She wasn't seeing the library anymore.
She was somewhere else.
A forest.
Fire.
A little boy crying.
Her brother.
Jake.
But someone else was there.
A young man standing behind their parents.
Elias.
And beside him...
stood another figure.
The same dark-eyed man from her dreams.
Ivy heard Elias whisper:
"Once the children are separated, the seal will be ours."
Then her vision changed.
Her mother looked directly at Ivy.
Not young Ivy.
Present-day Ivy.
"Don't trust the one who comes bearing your father's name."
Ivy gasped.
The vision disappeared.
Jayden held her shoulders.
"What happened?"
Ivy looked at Jake.
"Your father."
Jake froze.
"What about him?"
"My mother said not to trust the one who comes bearing his name."
Jake's face went pale.
"Our father's name was Dominik."
Ivy shook her head.
"No."
She swallowed.
"She said the one who comes bearing your father's name."
The room fell silent.
Then the library doors slammed shut.
BOOM.
Everyone turned.
A voice echoed through the room.
"Very clever, Ivora."
Ivy's blood ran cold.
The candles extinguished one by one.
Jake stepped in front of her.
"Show yourself."
A figure appeared at the end of the corridor.
Black coat.
Dark eyes.
A calm smile.
Elias.
But something was wrong.
His eyes weren't human.
They glowed silver.
"I've been waiting twelve years to meet you again."
Ivy stepped forward.
"You killed my parents."
Elias smiled.
"No."
He tilted his head.
"I merely helped them meet their fate."
Jake's wolf growled.
"You were there."
"I was."
Jake lunged—
But Ivy grabbed his arm.
"Wait."
Elias looked directly at her.
"You want the truth?"
Ivy's eyes burned purple.
"Tell me everything."
Elias smiled.
"Oh, little Keeper..."
He stepped backward into the darkness.
"You're not ready for the truth."
And then he disappeared.
On the floor where he'd been standing lay a single object.
A silver pendant.
Identical to Ivy's.
Jake stared at it.
Then whispered:
"There's another Keeper."
Ivy looked at him.
"Who?"
Jake slowly shook his head.
"I don't know."
From upstairs came a sudden cry.
Xander.
Ivy's heart stopped.
"Xander!"
She and Jayden raced toward the stairs.
Jake followed.
And behind them, the silver pendant began to glow.
End of Chapter 36