Maya's POV
"Take Maya and run!" Derek shoved me toward Elder Rosa as the rogue leader's words echoed through the courtyard. "Get her to the safe house!"
"I'm not leaving you!" I grabbed Derek's arm, fear flooding my chest. The rogues wanted me, which meant everyone I cared about would die guarding me.
"Maya, go!" Derek's eyes blazed with desperate love. "Please!"
Before I could argue, Rosa gripped my wrist. Power shot through me like lightning, and suddenly I could hear every thought in the courtyard.
The girl is the key to everything, the rogue boss was thinking. With her blood, we can break any pack tie, control any Alpha.
My blood went cold. They didn't just want to sell me. They wanted to use my Moon Blessed powers to destroy packs from the inside.
"I can hear them," I whispered to Rosa.
Her eyes went wide. "Your skills are awakening. The danger is triggering your history."
Around us, chaos exploded. Derek and Ethan changed into their wolf forms, ready to fight. Sarah shocked everyone by shifting too, standing with them instead of cowering. The three Alphas faced twenty rogues, impossible odds.
Tell the Alpha we have his mate's parents, one rogue thought to his boss. That should make him cooperate.
"My parents?" I breathed. They'd been dead for ten years. How could the rogues have them?
Rosa's face went white. "Child, your parents aren't dead. They've been prisoners all this time. The rogues have been waiting for you to come into your strengths."
The world tilted around me. Everything I'd believed about my life was a lie.
"Maya!" Derek's thought voice suddenly filled my head, clear as if he were speaking aloud. The mate bond was letting us converse telepathically. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes," I thought back, amazed.
"I need you to trust me. When I give the signal, run toward the forest. There's something there you need to see."
"Derek, I won't leave you to die!"
"You won't be leaving me. You'll be saving all of us. Trust me."
The rogue leader raised his hand, and his fighters tensed to attack. "Last chance, Alpha. Give us the girl or—"
"Now!" Derek's voice burst in my mind.
I ran toward the trees, Rosa beside me. Behind us, the sounds of war erupted – snarls, growls, and the terrible sound of claws on flesh.
"This way!" Rosa pulled me deeper into the trees. "There's something you need to understand about your heritage."
We reached a small area where moonlight streamed down like silver water. In the middle stood a stone altar covered in ancient symbols.
"What is this place?"
"The Moon Temple. It's been hidden from the pack for generations." Rosa put her hands on the altar and spoke words in a language I didn't recognize.
The symbols began to glow, and suddenly the air filled with ghostly figures – dozens of women in flowing dresses, all with the same silver marks on their wrists that I had. "Previous Moon Blessed omegas," Rosa explained. "They're here to help you understand your power."
The ghostly women surrounded me, their words whispering in my mind: You are more than you know. The rogues fear what you could become.
One soul stepped forward – a woman who looked exactly like me, only older. "Maya, I'm your grandma's grandmother. The Moon Blessed power runs in our genes."
"What power? I don't understand!"
"You can break any mate tie or strengthen any true bond. You can heal wounds that should be deadly. And most importantly..." She smiled sadly. "You can see the truth in anyone's heart."
"I don't want power! I just want Derek to be safe!"
"Then use your gift, child. Look at the rogue leader with your true eyes. See what he's really planning."
Back in the courtyard, I could hear the fight raging. Through my bond with Derek, I felt his pain as claws raked across his chest. He was losing.
I closed my eyes and reached out with senses I didn't know I had. Suddenly, I could see the rogue leader's mind like an open book.
His real plan wasn't to sell me. He wanted to force me to break the mate ties of every mated pair in the territory, turning the wolves against each other. Then he'd use my blood in a rite to make himself immortal.
But there was more. Hidden in the forest around us were fifty more rogues, waiting for the cue to attack. Even if Derek and the others won this fight, they'd be killed by the reinforcements.
"There are more coming," I gasped to Rosa. "Too many. Everyone will die unless..."
"Unless what?"
The ghostly grandmother stepped closer. "Unless you claim your full power. But Maya, there's a price. Accepting your roots will change you forever. You'll become something beyond a normal wolf."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll become a Moon Guardian. Immortal, powerful, but never able to have children. Never able to live a normal life." Her face was heartbroken. "I made that choice once. I saved my pack but lost the chance to have a family with my mate."
My heart shattered. If I saved Derek, I could never give him the family he earned as Alpha.
But if I didn't save him, he'd die.
Through our bond, Derek's words reached me again, weaker now: "Maya, whatever you're thinking, don't do it. I can feel your fear. Please, just run. Save yourself."
"I can't lose you," I whispered, tears running down my face.
"And I can't live knowing you gave everything for me. Choose your own life, Maya. Choose happiness."
But how could I be happy knowing I let the man I loved die to save myself?
The ghostly women watched me with understanding eyes. They'd all faced this same impossible choice.
"There might be another way," my great grandmother said suddenly. "But it's never been tried. It could kill you both."
"Tell me."
"If your mate accepts part of your Moon Blessed power, sharing the load, you might both survive the transformation. But if his body rejects the power..."
"He dies anyway."
"Yes. And the pain of the failed bond could destroy your mind."
I felt Derek weakening through our link. Blood loss, fatigue, and the overwhelming number of enemies were taking their toll. He had minutes left, maybe less.
"Maya!" Rosa grabbed my arm. "The rogues have broken through! They're coming this way!"
I could hear them crashing through the trees, getting closer. In seconds, they'd find the temple and either kill Rosa or force me to watch them beat her.
The spirit grandmother held out her hand. "Choose now, child. Accept your power alone and save your pack, knowing you'll never have the life you dreamed of. Or try to save both yourself and your mate, risking everything on an unknown magic."
Behind me, the wild voices got closer: "Find the girl! The boss wants her alive!"
Through the mate bond, I felt Derek collapse, his wolf form changing back to human as his strength gave out. In his mind, I saw Sarah and Ethan fighting furiously to protect him, but they were overwhelmed.
"I'm sorry, Derek," I whispered. "I'm so sorry."
I reached for my grandmother's ghostly hand, ready to accept the power that would save everyone but destroy our future together.
But just as our fingers touched, another voice rang through my mind – not Derek's, not the spirits', but something else entirely.
Something dark and old and hungry.
Hello, little Moon Blessed, it purred. Did you really think you could escape me so easily?
The ghostly women around me screamed and began to fade. My grandmother's eyes went wide with fear.
"No," she whispered. "He's found you. The Shadow Wolf has found you."
"Who's the Shadow Wolf?"
But the spirits were fading, their power no match for whatever was coming. Rosa grabbed my shoulders, her face white with total fear.
"Maya, listen to me. The Shadow Wolf is the opposite of Moon Blessed power. He feeds on broken bonds, destroys true mates, and he's been hunting our bloodline for ages."
The temperature in the clearing dropped twenty degrees. Frost began forming on the trees even though it was summer.
"He's here," Rosa breathed.
From the darkness between the trees, something emerged that made every rogue look like an innocent puppy. It was huge, black as midnight, with eyes that burned like red fire. Ancient evil rolled off it in waves.
When it spoke, its voice was like breaking glass: Found you at last, little Moon Blessed. You have something that belongs to me. "What could I possibly have that you want?"
The Shadow Wolf smiled, showing teeth like silver blades. Your power, child. Your blood. Your very soul. You see, every Moon Blessed omega who has ever lived has been meant for the same fate – to feed my hunger and make me unstoppable.
My grandmother's spirit made one last frantic attempt to reach me: "Maya! The mate bond! If Derek accepts your power now, together you might be strong enough to—"
Her voice cut off as the Shadow Wolf's laughter filled the clearing.
Oh yes, little one. Call your mate. Bring him here. I do so enjoy ruining true love.
Through our bond, I felt Derek somehow find the strength to stand, felt him running toward me despite his wounds. He was coming, just like the Shadow Wolf wanted.
And I realized with horror that I'd led the man I loved straight into a trap that had been three centuries in the making.