ARIA'S POV
"The ritual requires your blood."
Elder Mira's words barely register before another explosion rocks the fortress.
Dark magic pulses through the air like poison, making my skin crawl and my wolf whimper in fear.
"We need to move!" Mira pulls me away from the balcony. "Now!"
"Wait—what ritual? How is Vivienne even here? She's—"
"A traitor just like your father said you were." Mira's grip is iron-strong despite her age. "But unlike you, she actually betrayed her pack. Made deals with dark forces. All to take what should be yours."
We run through corridors filling with smoke. Nightshade wolves rush past us, heading toward the source of the explosion.
"Where's Kael?" I gasp.
"Fighting your sister's dark magic at the south wall. He doesn't know what she really wants." Mira jerks me down a different hallway. "He thinks this is just another attack. He doesn't understand—"
A wolf leaps from the shadows.
Not Nightshade. Silvercrest.
I recognize him—one of Dante's elite guards.
He shifts mid-leap, becoming a man with a knife aimed at my heart.
My wolf surges up instinctively. I shift faster than I ever have before, my smaller silver wolf form barely dodging the blade.
The guard crashes into the wall behind me.
Elder Mira moves with shocking speed, slamming her walking stick into his temple. He drops like a stone.
"There will be more," she says calmly, as if she didn't just knock out a trained warrior. "Vivienne sent assassins throughout the fortress. All targeting you."
I shift back, breathing hard. "Why? Why does she want me dead so badly?"
"Because she discovered the truth about your mother's bloodline. About what you really are." Mira pulls me forward again. "And she wants that power for herself."
We reach a heavy wooden door. Mira pulls out an ancient key and unlocks it, revealing a spiral staircase going down into darkness.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere safe. Somewhere I can tell you everything before your sister kills you for it." She lights a torch on the wall. "Move!"
I follow her down the stairs, my heart pounding so hard it hurts.
The staircase seems endless, going deep underground. The air grows colder with each step.
Finally, we reach the bottom.
A small room carved from rock. Shelves line the walls, filled with ancient books and scrolls. Symbols are painted on the floor—protection wards, I realize.
"We're in the fortress's oldest chamber," Mira explains, locking the door behind us. "Built by the first Nightshade Alpha three hundred years ago. The wards here will hide us from dark magic. For a little while, at least."
"Tell me," I demand. "Tell me everything. What am I? What's Moonborn? Why does Vivienne want to kill me?"
Elder Mira looks at me for a long moment. Then she walks to one of the shelves and pulls down an ancient book, its pages yellow with age.
"Twenty-three years ago," she begins, "there was a pack called Moonshadow. Small but powerful beyond measure. They were the last of the Moonborn bloodline—wolves blessed directly by the Moon Goddess herself."
She opens the book, showing me drawings of massive silver wolves with glowing violet eyes.
My eyes.
"Moonborn Alphas were different from regular wolves," Mira continues. "Stronger. Faster. They could command other wolves with just their voice. Make the earth shake with their power. Some said they could even speak to the Moon Goddess herself."
"That's impossible."
"Is it?" Mira's eyes bore into mine. "You've felt it, haven't you? That something inside you that doesn't quite fit? That power you can't access no matter how hard you try?"
I have. Every single day of my life.
"Silvercrest feared the Moonborn," Mira says, her voice hard now. "Your father—Marcus—he was just a young warrior then, but ambitious. He convinced the other packs that Moonborn wolves were dangerous. That their power made them a threat to everyone."
"So they killed them?"
"They slaughtered them." Mira's hands tremble on the book. "Burned their territory. Murdered every Moonborn they could find. Men, women, children. They wanted the bloodline extinct."
Horror crawls up my spine. "My father did this?"
"Led the attack himself. Made his reputation on their corpses." She turns the page, showing a drawing of wolves burning. "But they missed one. A young woman named Elena Moonshadow. She escaped, pregnant and terrified. She changed her name, hid her wolf, suppressed her power with ancient magic."
"What was her new name?"
"Celeste."
The world tilts.
"My mother?" I whisper.
"Your mother." Mira nods. "She married Marcus to hide. Gave him children, hoping to protect her secret. Your siblings—Dante and Vivienne—they're half Moonborn, but the bloodline diluted through Marcus. They have no special power."
"But I do?"
"You're pure Moonborn through your mother's line. The last true heir to that bloodline. The most powerful Alpha alive—if your power ever awakens."
My legs give out. I sink to the floor, mind reeling.
"That's why I'm weak," I say numbly. "My mother suppressed my power. To protect me."
"To hide you." Mira kneels beside me. "But suppressed power doesn't disappear. It builds. Grows. Waits for the right moment to break free."
"What moment?"
"The mate bond." Her eyes are sad. "When a Moonborn completes the mate bond with their true mate, the suppression shatters. All that power comes flooding back at once."
Kael. The mate bond with Kael.
"That's why my father sent me to die," I breathe. "Not because I'm weak. Because I'm—"
"The biggest threat to his power he's ever faced." Mira helps me stand. "Once your power awakens, you could challenge him for Alpha. You could expose his crimes. You could destroy everything he's built on the bones of your mother's people."
Anger burns through my shock. "He knew. This whole time, he knew what I was. And he—"
"Tried to murder you before you became strong enough to fight back." Mira's voice is gentle. "I'm sorry, child. But your family has never loved you. They've only ever feared you."
The pain in my chest is worse than any physical wound.
"And Vivienne?" I ask. "How does she know?"
"Your sister is clever. Ambitious. She found your mother's hidden journals two years ago. Discovered the truth about the Moonborn bloodline. About you." Mira's expression darkens. "But instead of telling your father, she kept it secret. Started researching dark magic. Looking for a way to steal your dormant power for herself."
"That's impossible."
"Not with the right ritual. The right sacrifice." Mira grabs my shoulders. "Vivienne has been planning this for years. Tonight, she brought dark magic users into Nightshade territory. She's going to perform the blood ritual that will transfer your Moonborn power into her body. But it only works if you're alive during the ritual. She needs your blood flowing while she—"
The door explodes inward.
Vivienne stands in the doorway, beautiful and terrible, her eyes glowing with unnatural power.
"Hello, little sister," she purrs. "Thank you for making this so easy."
Behind her, five wolves in dark robes step into the room. Magic users. Their hands crackle with the same dark energy I felt earlier.
"The wards—" Mira gasps.
"Were designed to stop regular magic." Vivienne smiles. "Not what I've learned." She walks toward me slowly. "Did the old woman tell you everything? About what you are? What I'm going to take from you?"
I back away, my wolf rising to fight.
"Don't bother shifting," Vivienne says. "My friends here will put you down before you finish transforming. I need you alive, but I don't need you conscious."
"You're my sister," I whisper.
"I'm the daughter who deserves that power." Her smile vanishes. "I'm the one who's been strong my whole life. Who's earned respect and fear and loyalty. Not you. Never you. You're just a mistake Mother made trying to hide her shameful bloodline."
"Vivienne, please—"
"Please?" She laughs. "You're going to beg? That's perfect. Very fitting for the weakest wolf in Silvercrest." She nods to the magic users. "Take her. Carefully. I need her blood pure and untainted."
They move forward, hands glowing with power that makes my skin burn.
Elder Mira steps between us. "You'll have to go through me first."
"Gladly." Vivienne flicks her wrist.
Dark magic slams into Mira, throwing her against the wall so hard I hear bones crack.
"No!" I scream.
The magic users grab me. Their touch is ice-cold, burning and freezing at the same time. My wolf tries to fight, but whatever power they're using locks my muscles.
I can't move. Can't shift. Can't fight.
Vivienne walks up to me, pulling out a silver knife carved with symbols I don't recognize.
"This won't hurt," she lies, pressing the blade against my wrist. "Well, actually, it will hurt more than anything you've ever felt. The ritual requires your pain to work properly."
Blood wells up where the knife cuts my skin.
"But don't worry," Vivienne continues, "once I have your power, I'll make sure to kill you quickly. Sister's mercy and all that."
She's going to do it. Actually do it.
Steal my power. Kill me. Take everything.
Just like my family has been taking everything from me my whole life.
No.
Something inside me cracks.
Not breaks. Cracks open.
Like a door that's been locked for twenty-three years finally starting to give way.
Power floods through me—just a trickle, but enough.
Enough to make Vivienne's eyes go wide.
"Impossible," she breathes. "You haven't completed the mate bond yet. Your power shouldn't—"
The trickle becomes a stream.
My skin starts to glow. Soft violet light, like moonlight made solid.
The magic users holding me cry out, jerking their hands back as if burned.
"Stop her!" Vivienne screams. "The ritual—do it NOW!"
But it's too late.
The door inside me doesn't just crack.
It explodes.
Power erupts from my body in a wave of pure silver light.
The magic users are thrown backward. The walls shake. The air itself seems to bend around me.
And for the first time in my life, I feel whole.
"Aria?" Vivienne's voice is small now. Scared.
I look at my hands. They're glowing with violet light. My wolf—I can feel her fully now, not suppressed or weak but powerful.
"You wanted my power?" I hear myself say, but my voice sounds different. Echoes with something ancient. "Come and take it."
Vivienne's face goes pale.
Then the ceiling caves in.