Chapter 4 4.

The sun rose over the Silver Moon territory not with its usual golden warmth, but with a sickly, pale light that seemed to drain the color from the trees. Inside the Pack House, the atmosphere was even grimmer. The celebration of the previous night had left a hangover of unease rather than triumph. Alpha Kaelen sat in his high-backed chair, his hand wrapped in a thick bandage where he had spilled his blood to sever the bond.

The wound should have healed within minutes-his Alpha regeneration was the pride of the lineage-but instead, it throbbed with a dull, persistent ache, the edges of the cut weeping a dark, sluggish fluid.

​Beside him, Cynthia was talking, her voice a shrill backdrop to the ringing in his ears. She was dressed in the finest silks, already acting the part of the Luna, but the pack members moving through the hall wouldn't look her in the eye. They moved with slumped shoulders, their wolves unusually quiet.

​"Kaelen, you aren't listening," Cynthia huffed, slamming her palm on the table. "The decorators need to know if we are proceeding with the Bond Union ceremony on the night of the New Moon. We have to show the other packs that the Silver Moon is stable."

​Kaelen looked down at his bandaged hand. "Stable," he repeated, the word tasting like ash.

​"The Mute is dead by now," Cynthia continued, her eyes gleaming with a cruel satisfaction. "The scouts said the blizzard in the Forbidden Wastes was the worst in a decade. No wolf-less girl could survive an hour, let alone a night. You did what was necessary for the pack, Kaelen. A Luna must be a pillar, not a shadow."

​Kaelen opened his mouth to agree, but a sudden, violent tremor shook the floor. It wasn't an earthquake; it was a spiritual shockwave. Every wolf in the room gasped, clutching their chests as a low, vibrating hum resonated through their bones. It felt as if a heavy weight had been dropped onto the pack's collective soul.

​The heavy oak doors burst open, and Tanya ran in, her face devoid of its usual arrogance. She was trembling so hard she could barely stand.

​"Alpha," she wheezed, falling to her knees. "The borders. Something is happening at the Northern border."

​Kaelen stood, his chair screeching against the stone. "Is it a rogue raid? If it's just scavengers, deal with them."

​"It's not a raid, Alpha," Tanya whispered, looking up with wide, terrified eyes. "It's the forest. The trees... they're turning."

​Kaelen didn't wait for an explanation. He shoved past Cynthia and ran toward the Northern perimeter, his heart hammering against his ribs. As he reached the edge of the cleared land, he skidded to a halt. The pack guards were standing in a line, their weapons lowered, staring in mute horror at the boundary line.

​On the other side of the border, the Forbidden Wastes were no longer white with snow. A creeping frost of obsidian black was spreading across the ground, killing the grass and turning the ancient pines into pillars of dark glass. But that wasn't the worst part.

​At the very center of the dead zone, stuck into the earth like a grave marker, was the silver dagger Kaelen had used to reject Elara. It had been twisted into a shape that no longer resembled a weapon-it looked like a blooming flower of jagged metal.

​And then, the sound began.

​It started as a whisper in the wind, but it rapidly grew into a chorus of voices. It wasn't the howling of wolves; it was a song. A haunting, melodic vibration that seemed to come from the earth itself. The lyrics were in a tongue so ancient that Kaelen's modern wolf couldn't translate them, but the intent was clear: The debt is called. The throne is empty.

​"What is this?" Kaelen roared, grabbing a guard by the collar. "Who did this?"

​"We didn't see anyone, Alpha," the guard stammered. "The black frost just... it just appeared. And then we heard the voice."

​"What voice?"

​The guard swallowed hard. "A girl's voice, Alpha. It sounded like... like Elara. But it couldn't have been. It was too loud. It felt like it was inside my head."

​Kaelen felt a cold sweat break out across his brow. He looked back at his bandaged hand. The wound chose that moment to burst open, the silver-edged rejection scar turning a violent, bruised purple.

​The twist he didn't see coming was beginning to manifest in his very blood. For centuries, the Silver Moon Alphas believed they were the masters of the moon's light. They believed that by rejecting "defects," they were keeping the bloodline pure. But as Kaelen stared at the black frost, a memory from the Shaman's forbidden scrolls surfaced.

​The Purebloods weren't just powerful wolves; they were the anchors. They were the only ones who could hold back the "Void"-the primordial darkness that the Rogue King served. By rejecting Elara, Kaelen hadn't just gotten rid of a weak girl; he had broken the seal that kept the Silver Moon territory safe from the abyss.

​Suddenly, the wind died down. The forest went deathly silent.

​From the dark trees of the Forbidden Wastes, a single figure emerged. It wasn't Elara, and it wasn't the Rogue King. It was a messenger-a tall, skeletal man dressed in rags, his eyes replaced by glowing silver orbs. He carried a parchment made of human skin.

​The messenger didn't speak with his mouth. The voice boomed directly into the minds of every Silver Moon wolf present.

​"The King of Rogues sends his greetings to the Alpha of the Pebble," the voice mocked. "He thanks you for the gift you threw into the snow. He found it... illuminating."

​Kaelen snarled, his eyes flashing gold. "Where is she? Where is Elara? If she is his prisoner, I will burn his fortress to the ground."

​The messenger laughed, a sound like dry leaves skittering on a tombstone. "Prisoner? You misunderstand, little Alpha. You did not throw her to the wolves. You threw her to her people."

​The messenger tossed the parchment across the border. It landed in the black frost, which didn't harm it.

​"She has a message for you, Kaelen," the messenger said, his silver eyes glowing brighter. "She said to tell you that the vow of silence is broken. And when she speaks your name again, it will be the last thing you ever hear."

​The messenger vanished into a swirl of black smoke, leaving only the parchment behind. Kaelen stepped forward, his boots crunching on the obsidian grass. He picked up the scroll.

​There was no writing on it. Instead, as he touched it, a vision slammed into his mind. He saw Elara, but she wasn't the cowering girl he had rejected. She was sitting on a throne of bone, her white hair flowing like a river of diamonds, her hand resting on the head of a massive, black-furred wolf that could only be Caspian. She looked directly at Kaelen through the vision, and for the first time in his life, Kaelen felt true, soul-crushing fear.

​Because in the vision, Elara was smiling. And behind her, the moon was turning black.

​Kaelen dropped the scroll, gasping for air. His power felt like it was draining out of him, leaking into the ground through his unhealed wound. He looked at his pack-his strong, proud warriors-and saw that they were all pale, their eyes darting around as if the shadows themselves were growing teeth.

​The rejection wasn't just a personal choice. It was the first domino in the collapse of the world as they knew it.

​"Back to the Pack House!" Kaelen yelled, his voice cracking for the first time. "Summon the Council! Tell them... tell them the Pureblood has returned. And she isn't coming home. She's coming for revenge."

​As they retreated, the black frost continued to spread, inch by inch, claiming the Silver Moon's land for a Queen who no longer had any mercy left to give.