Some truths were buried to protect the pack. Others …to control it.
Kieran
I didn't sleep at all, every time I closed my eyes, I saw the mark again.
That strange symbol was stuck in my mind, It spun like a storm, sharp around the edges, and looked like something pulled straight from a nightmare. It wasn't just a mark, It wasn't a sign or a message.
It was a warning.
And I couldn't stop thinking about what it meant.
Before the sun came up, I left the sleeping quarters, the sky was still dark, and the cold air bit at my skin as I walked across the grounds, so I headed straight to the Council House. It was the oldest building in the pack, made of stone, tall and quiet. That's where the elders met, and that's where the answers were.
I didn't knock, the guards at the door saw me and stepped aside as they didn't ask any questions, no one ever did when I looked like this.
Inside, the council chamber felt colder than the air outside, and where elders sat around the long table, looking like they'd been waiting.
Elder Rurik sat in the middle, his face was cold, as usual, with sharp eyes that missed nothing.
Elder Myla sat to his left, she used to hold me when I was a child, and there was worry in her eyes.
Elder Halden sat silently at the end of the table, He hardly ever spoke, but I knew he listened to everything.
"You're early," Rurik said, folding his hands in front of him.
"I didn't come for small talk," I said. I pulled a folded paper from my coat and slammed it on the table, "This was burned into the palm of a boy who nearly attacked the Luna, he wasn't himself, and he was being controlled."
All three elders looked at the drawing
Myla gasped softly.
Halden looked away for a second.
Rurik didn't even blink.
"I want the truth," I said, "No more lies."
"That symbol," Myla whispered, her fingers shaking as she reached for the edge of the paper, "should have been destroyed."
"Why?"
"Because it is not meant to be seen," Rurik said. "It is from a time before this pack. Before the Council, that mark belongs to a group that tried to destroy everything we built."
"The Moonbrand Order," Halden added quietly.
I frowned, "I've never heard of them."
"You were never supposed to," Rurik said. "They were Lunas who turned against the Alphas, they believed they didn't need to be ruled, they followed the moon alone, and they believed their power came from within."
"Is Selene one of them?" I asked. My throat was dry.
"She carries their blood," Rurik said. "Her family line was supposed to end a long time ago."
"She doesn't remember anything," I said. "She doesn't know what's inside her."
"Then keep it that way," Rurik said, his voice was hard, "If she awakens… if she becomes what they were… she will be unstoppable, and dangerous."
"She's not a threat," I said, "She saved the boy, she protected the pack."
"She is Viktor Blackthorn's daughter," he replied, "that's all anyone needs to remember."
I stared at them, the same elders who trained me, and taught me everything I knew, now I saw what they were hiding.
They didn't fear Viktor.
They feared Selene.
They feared what she could become.
"I won't hide her," I said, "I'll protect her."
"If she rises as a Luna," Rurik said, standing slowly, "she will rise as something we cannot control."
I walked out of the Council House, the cold air hitting my face as I stepped into the early light, my heart was racing, my thoughts wouldn't stop, the paper with the mark was still in my hand.
Then I saw someone standing near the garden wall.
Lucian.
He leaned against the stone, arms crossed. He looked tired, and angry
"You went to the elders," he said.
"I had to.
"They won't save her."
"I'm not asking them to."
Lucian's eyes flicked to the paper. " then you'd better be ready because people are starting to talk, the mark is showing up and the story is spreading, so if she awakens…"
"What happens?" I asked.
He looked me in the eye, the his voice dropped.
"They'll kill her before you even realize what's happening."
Selene
I woke up with a loud gasp, It felt like I had been holding my breath for hours, my chest ached, and my skin was damp with sweat. The dream was already fading, but I knew something important had happened, I knew something inside me had changed.
It was like a door in my mind had opened, I didn't even know it was there before, but now it was wide open, and I could feel something waiting behind it.
I sat on the edge of the bed, trying to calm down, but my hands were shaking.
Later that day, I stayed quiet, I didn't want to see anyone. The maids wouldn't meet my eyes, some moved out of my way like I was something dangerous, I even heard them whispering when they thought I couldn't hear.
Lucian had spoken against me and now they were all afraid.
I couldn't blame them, me I didn't even know what I was anymore.
So I left the house and started walking, I passed the greenhouse, the training yard where the warriors were sparring, and I didn't stop until I reached the northern woods.
I didn't know why I went there
I just felt pulled in that direction like something in the trees wanted me to come.
The forest was quiet.and the farther I walked, the more everything else faded away, no voices, footsteps, it was Just wind moving through the leaves.
Then that was when I saw it.
An old ruin, half-covered in vines and moss, stone arch stood by itself, broken and leaning, in the middle was a large flat stone, like a table or an altar.
I stepped closer, my heart was beating fast again.
I reached out, and the second I touched the stone I had memory fragments.
I was a little girl, I was barefoot and standing on cold stone.
A woman stood beside me, holding my hand tightly, her voice was warm, but her eyes looked sad.
People stood around us in long robes, and they were chanting with their faces covered.
"You were born for this," the woman whispered, brushing my hair away from my face.
"I'm scared," I said.
She knelt down, "I know, Selene, but you have to be strong."
They lifted me and laid me down on the stone.
The chanting got louder, then the pain started.
Fire shot through my shoulder, and I screamed.
I felt something being carved into me. Something sharp and burning , the mark.
"Forgive me," the woman whispered through her tears, "Forgive me, my little Luna."
Then everything went black.
Selene
I dropped to my knees in the dirt, breathing hard, My whole body was shaking.
I pulled my shirt aside with trembling hands.
There it was,
A faded mark near my collarbone, It looked like a scar, but I knew it was more.
It had been there all along.
I didn't just get this mark, I had always had it.
I wasn't cursed, but I was chosen.
I walked back to the estate as the sun started to set.
Something felt off, The whole place was too quiet and too tense.
A maid rushed past me,
"Kieran is looking for you," she said, wide-eyed, "Something happened."
I ran to the war room.
Kieran stood at the table, fists clenched, staring at something I couldn't see.
"What is it?" I asked, breathless.
He looked up at me, his voice was low.
"The mark appeared again."
I blinked, "Where?"
"In the Council chamber."
"Was it burned?" I asked.
"No," he said, he pulled back a cloth,
"This time it was written in blood.