The silence after my transformation was worse than the pain.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Even the fire seemed afraid to crackle.
I stood in the center of the clearing, heart pounding, the strange silver-black mark along my collarbone still glowing faintly beneath my skin. My eyes hadn't returned to normal. I could feel it—the way their gazes locked onto them.
One silver.
One shadowed obsidian.
A curse.
Or a crown.
I didn't know which.
"She's unnatural," someone whispered from the back of the circle.
The word sliced deeper than claws ever could.
Unnatural.
I hadn't asked for this.
The Blood Moon still loomed overhead, swollen and red, as if watching the consequences of its choice unfold.
Alpha Darius stepped forward again, but slower this time. Not with authority.
With caution.
"Elara," he said carefully, "explain what just happened."
Explain?
I barely understood it myself.
"I saw two wolves," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "One silver. One shadow. They merged. They said I carry both."
Murmurs rippled through the pack.
"Impossible."
"Shadow wolves were eradicated centuries ago."
"This is a bad omen."
My chest tightened.
Shadow wolves.
The stories.
They weren't just villains in bedtime warnings. They were wolves born tied to the Veil—creatures said to draw power from the darkness between realms. Dangerous. Unstable. Feared.
And now I carried their mark.
Alongside something celestial.
The wind shifted suddenly, colder than before.
I felt it first.
A pressure at the edge of the forest.
Watching.
Not the same presence from before.
This one was physical.
Real.
Boots crushed leaves beyond the tree line.
Every wolf turned sharply.
A tall figure stepped into the firelight.
He wasn't from our pack.
That much was obvious.
His cloak bore the crest of Ironfang Territory—a black wolf head split by a jagged silver scar. His eyes were sharp amber, calculating and cold.
Behind him stood three warriors.
Armed.
Arrogant.
Alpha Darius stiffened.
"Alpha Corvin," he said tightly. "You were not invited."
The stranger's gaze slid past him.
Directly to me.
"I wasn't aware this was a private spectacle," Corvin replied smoothly. "Especially not one involving a Moonbound."
The word hit the clearing like thunder.
"How do you know that term?" Darius demanded.
Corvin smirked faintly.
"Because some of us still study the old prophecies."
His eyes never left mine.
"You weren't supposed to manifest here," he added softly. "Not in Blackridge."
A chill crawled down my spine.
Not supposed to?
The pack shifted uneasily around me.
Alpha Darius stepped between us, possessive instinct flaring.
"She is my pack member."
"For now," Corvin said calmly.
That single phrase ignited something inside me.
Heat.
Then shadow.
The air around my skin flickered faintly, silver light threading with darkness like smoke curling in reverse.
Corvin noticed.
His expression sharpened.
"Interesting."
I didn't know what he wanted.
But I knew one thing clearly—
He wasn't surprised.
He had been waiting.
"You will leave," Darius ordered.
Corvin didn't move.
"You don't understand what she is," he said quietly.
"And neither do you," Darius shot back.
Corvin's warriors tensed.
So did ours.
The clearing felt one breath away from war.
And somehow—
This was my fault.
"Stop."
The word left my mouth before I could think.
But when I spoke, it carried.
Not loudly.
But with weight.
The wind stilled instantly.
Even the fire lowered.
Every wolf looked at me.
Including Corvin.
I swallowed, forcing control over the strange energy coiling in my veins.
"I don't belong to anyone," I said.
The words felt dangerous.
Necessary.
"I'm not a weapon. Not a prophecy. Not a bargaining piece between Alphas."
Corvin tilted his head slightly.
"And yet you are all three."
Anger flared.
This time, the ground beneath my boots cracked faintly.
Silver light pulsed outward in a small shockwave.
Not violent.
But undeniable.
Several wolves stumbled backward.
Corvin's smile faded.
So did Darius's certainty.
They were both realizing something at the same time.
This wasn't pack magic.
It wasn't shadow corruption.
It was something older.
"You feel it too," Corvin murmured.
I did.
The watcher from before.
Closer now.
Pressing against the edges of reality.
The trees at the far end of the clearing darkened unnaturally.
Not from lack of light—
But from something swallowing it.
A ripple split the air between the trunks.
And from it—
A shape stepped forward.
Tall.
Cloaked in shifting shadow and faint silver mist.
Not fully wolf.
Not fully human.
Ancient.
Every wolf dropped to one knee instinctively.
Even Alpha Darius.
Even Alpha Corvin.
I didn't.
I couldn't.
Because its eyes—
Matched mine.
One silver.
One void-black.
"The Moonbound rises," the figure said, its voice echoing as if spoken from a cavern beneath the earth.
"And the packs tremble."
No one dared speak.
The presence turned toward me slowly.
"You carry balance that was fractured long ago."
My pulse thundered.
"Why me?" I whispered.
It studied me with unsettling calm.
"Because blood remembers what the world forgets."
The clearing grew colder.
"You are not born to serve a pack," it continued.
"You are born to test them."
A low rumble spread through the wolves around us.
Fear.
Defiance.
Instinct.
"You will divide them," the ancient one said softly.
"You will expose them."
"And through you… the old war will awaken."
The Blood Moon above flickered violently.
A crack of distant thunder split the sky.
And in that moment—
I understood something terrifying.
This wasn't just about power.
It was about history.
And I had just become its center.
The ancient figure's gaze sharpened.
"Choose carefully, Moonbound," it warned.
"For every choice you make… the world will answer."
Then—
It dissolved into shadow and silver light.
Gone.
Silence crushed the clearing.
No one looked at me the same way anymore.
Not with doubt.
Not with pity.
But with fear.
And fear…
Is where wars begin.