The morning after Malrik's emergence came with no light.
Clouds cloaked the sky in thick layers of gray, hiding the sun from view as though the heavens themselves recoiled from what had unfolded the night before. The land lay silent not with peace, but with the heavy stillness of mourning, of tension, of secrets on the edge of revelation.
I hadn't slept. I'd barely moved. The echo of Malrik's words rang through my mind like thunder that refused to fade.
"You will have to choose. Pack… or Power."
The phrase clawed at the corners of my sanity.
Then there was my father alive, standing at Malrik's side. That image, more than any words, was what broke me. My father had been my light, my protector, the man who gave me hope and guided me until the day he'd been taken from me.
But he wasn't taken.
He left. And worse he allied himself with the man threatening everything I'd fought to protect.
The icy sting of betrayal settled deep in my chest.
When the bell tolled across the valley, I knew what it meant. The sacred chime, once used only for declarations of war, succession, or betrayal, rang with an urgency that turned blood cold in every wolf who heard it.
The council had convened.
And I was at the center of it.
Kieran waited outside my quarters, his posture rigid, eyes alert. He said nothing at first, only looked at me with that knowing weight he always carried. When I stepped out, he offered me a nod.
"You don't have to face them alone," he said.
"I do," I whispered. "But thank you for walking beside me anyway."
We moved through the pack grounds in silence. Wolves lined our path not as a show of honor, but of suspicion. The power I had displayed at the trial, the throne that appeared before me, and the bloodline I now carried had made me something more and something other to them.
Some nodded in respect. Others turned away, uncertain.
But none saw me as just Aurora anymore.
Now, I was Moonborn.
The council chamber loomed ahead, carved into the bones of an ancient tree said to predate even the oldest Alpha lines. Vines hung like curtains, and runes glowed faintly along the bark.
Inside, the chamber was already full.
The Elders sat high on their crescent stone bench, cloaked in their ceremonial gray robes. Lucian stood near the center, flanked by two Betas. His face was unreadable, his presence a storm waiting to break.
Vira's gaze landed on me immediately.
"Aurora Quinn," she said. "Come forward."
I stepped to the center of the room.
She gestured to the space beside me. "You stand not as a mere wolf today, but as a bearer of ancient power. The pack deserves to understand who you are… and who you may become."
"Do you want me to apologize for what I am?" I asked calmly.
"No," she replied. "We want to know if you are a threat."
The air grew tense.
Lucian spoke, his voice laced with steel. "She is not a threat. She is one of us."
"But she carries a power we do not understand," Elder Saran said. "A power Malrik claims is tied to the throne. To dominion over all werewolves. Can we trust she will not be seduced by that call?"
I turned to them.
"I didn't choose this," I said. "I didn't summon Malrik. I didn't ask to see my dead father standing beside him. But I am here. I am alive. And I've made my choice this pack, not that throne."
"Words," Elder Marcus muttered. "We need more than that."
Vira nodded solemnly. "Then let her be tested. Let her walk the path of the Flame."
A hush fell across the room.
Lucian's head snapped toward her. "The Flame hasn't been touched in a century. It nearly killed the last Alpha who entered it."
"She is not just Alpha-blooded," Vira said. "She is Moonborn. If she is to lead, if she is to stand against Malrik… she must awaken all that she carries."
"Then I'll go," I said before anyone else could speak. "I'll face the Flame."
Lucian took a step forward. "Aurora—"
"I need to know what's inside me. And so do you."
He looked at me then really looked and gave a tight nod.
"Then I'll prepare the warriors. If you don't return…"
"I will," I said. "I have to."
Three nights later, beneath the light of a half-moon, I stood at the mouth of the Flame Cavern.
It yawned like a wound beneath the roots of the oldest tree in the packlands. The entrance was lit by pale blue lanterns, casting flickering shadows across the runes that marked the way in.
Kieran walked with me to the edge.
"I don't like this," he admitted.
"Neither do I," I said. "But something's coming. Malrik… the Blood Eclipse… My father. I need to be ready."
He didn't argue. Just rested a hand on my shoulder.
"I'll be here when you come out."
I stepped into the darkness.
The air inside the cavern was warm unnaturally so. Each step deeper brought the scent of smoke, ash, and something ancient.
At the center of the cavern was the Flame itself.
It wasn't a fire in the usual sense. It was a shallow pool of glowing white-gold energy, flickering as if alive. Runes encircled it, etched into obsidian stone. I knelt beside it and reached forward.
The moment my fingers touched the surface, the world exploded.
I stood in a sky full of stars, surrounded by cosmic mist.
Before me stood a figure draped in moonlight—a woman with silver-white braids, her eyes burning brighter than any flame.
"You are the echo and the spark," she said.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I am Lyra, the First Flame, the first Moonborn Alpha. The one who bore the prophecy long before it was a prophecy. You walk in my footsteps."
"Why me?"
"Because your blood sings. Because the world is breaking. Because power must choose the brave… or the broken. You are both."
She stepped closer and placed her palm over my heart.
Pain lanced through me. Visions filled my mind:
—Malrik standing atop a battlefield, the ground scorched beneath his feet.
—Wolves with glowing eyes marching in formation.
— Lucian, bloodied and roaring in rage.
— My father, weeping at my feet.
— A throne. Empty. Waiting.
Then the fire moved. Not across my skin but inside me.
My blood lit with it.
Moonlight poured from my veins. Symbols glowed on my arms. The runes of the old bloodline.
And just like that, I understood.
Malrik hadn't lied. I was the last key to a line of power the world had forgotten. But I wasn't his key. I was my own.
When I came back to myself, the cavern was dark.
Kieran rushed forward.
"Your eyes, they're glowing."
"I saw her," I whispered. "The First Flame. She showed me what's coming."
He helped me up. "And what do we do?"
I turned toward the open night.
"We prepare. Because Malrik's not just calling to me anymore."
In the distance, a new howl rose haunting, powerful.
Dozens of others joined it.
Moonborn were awakening across the land.
The war for the future had begun.