Chapter 5 The Moonshadow Rises

Nyra's POV

Five years.

I've spent five years building something from nothing. Five years learning to control the power that nearly consumed me. Five years becoming someone I barely recognize.

The Moonshadow. That's what they call me in whispers.

I stand in the safe house, watching another omega sleep peacefully for the first time in months. Her name is Lena. Seventeen. Bruises on her arms from an alpha who decided she was his property. She arrived three days ago, terrified and broken.

Now she's safe.

"She's doing better," Maya says from the doorway. She's been with me for four years, one of the first omegas I saved. Now she helps run the network. "Asked about training this morning."

"Good." I turn away from the sleeping girl. "The trauma counselor?"

"Arrives tomorrow. And we have two more coming in from the eastern territories. Sisters. Their pack alpha tried to sell them."

My hands curl into fists. The silver marks on my skin glow faintly, responding to my anger.

"We'll take them," I say. "Always."

Maya nods. She's seen me angry before. Seen what I can do when that anger gets loose. "The network's getting too big to hide much longer. People are asking questions."

"Let them ask."

Over the past five years, I've built something the packs can't ignore anymore. Safe houses scattered across the forbidden territories. A network of wolves, mostly omegas but some betas too, who believe the system is broken. We shelter the abused. Protect the vulnerable. Give them choice when the world offers none.

And I fund it all with the treasures hidden in Shadowpine Forest. Relics from the old pack wars. Gold and jewels abandoned when wolves fled the cursed woods. No one dares enter to reclaim them.

Except me.

"Nyra," Maya says carefully. "The invitation arrived."

I go still. "Show me."

She hands me a thick envelope, sealed with the crest of the Alpha Council. My fingers trace the wax seal. I know what's inside before I open it.

The Blood Moon Summit.

Every five years, the ruling packs gather to negotiate territory, trade agreements, power distribution. It's political theater, a chance for alphas to posture and smaller packs to beg for scraps.

I've never been invited before. Why would I be? I'm no one. A dead omega who wandered into forbidden lands and never came back.

Except I'm not dead.

And they know it now.

I break the seal and read. The language is formal, diplomatic. They're inviting the Moonshadow to attend as an independent representative. To discuss "territorial concerns" and "unauthorized activities."

They're scared.

Good.

"Are you going?" Maya asks.

I look at the invitation. At the date. Three weeks from now.

He'll be there, my wolf says. She's been quiet lately, conserving strength. But she's awake now, alert. Kael Draven. Your mate who isn't your mate.

The corrupted bond pulses in my chest. It's always there, a constant reminder. Over five years, I've learned to live with it. The burning-freezing sensation has become background noise. But sometimes, in quiet moments, I feel him on the other end of it.

His guilt. His regret. His carefully controlled longing.

It makes me furious every time.

"Yes," I tell Maya. "I'm going."

She bites her lip. "Is that wise? They could try to bind you. Trap you. Use you."

"They can try."

I've spent five years mastering the ruins' power. Learning its limits. Understanding what I can and can't do. I'm not the terrified omega who fled into Shadowpine anymore.

I'm something else entirely.

"Besides," I continue, "it's time they saw what they created."

Three weeks pass in preparation.

I train harder, pushing my power to its limits. Test new applications of the lunar magic. The ruins respond to my will now, bending reality in small ways. Shadows lengthen at my command. Silver light erupts from my palms. I can sense omegas across vast distances, feel their pain like echoes in my bones.

And I can fight.

Not with claws and teeth, though my wolf is deadly when unleashed. With pure power. I've practiced on rogues who thought they could take what I've built. None of them succeeded.

Maya helps me prepare politically too. She's gathered intelligence on every pack that will attend the summit. Their alliances. Their weaknesses. Their secrets.

Including Kael Draven's.

The Silverclaw Pack is prosperous. Powerful. Respected. Kael has ruled for five years with cold efficiency, making no mistakes, showing no weakness. He's exactly what an alpha should be.

And he's miserable.

I can feel it through the bond. Buried deep, carefully hidden, but there. A hollow ache that mirrors my own.

Does it hurt him like it hurts us? my wolf asks.

"I don't care."

Liar.

Maybe I am lying. Maybe part of me wants him to suffer. Maybe part of me still remembers that moment when the bond snapped into place and I felt chosen for the first time in my life.

But mostly I just feel tired.

The night before I leave for the summit, I stand in front of the mirror in my private quarters.

The woman staring back is a stranger to who I was five years ago. Silver hair falls in waves past my shoulders. The lunar marks trace visible patterns up my arms, across my collarbones, disappearing beneath my clothes. My eyes are darker than they used to be. Harder.

I look dangerous.

I am dangerous.

Maya knocks softly. "The dress arrived."

She brings it in on a hanger. Black silk that catches the light, elegant and severe. No embellishments. No softness. Just clean lines and perfect tailoring.

I dress slowly, watching my reflection transform. The silk hugs my body, flowing like liquid shadow. The neckline is high enough to be formal but low enough to hint at the marks beneath. When I move, silver flashes at my wrists.

Maya helps with my hair, leaving it loose but styled. No jewelry except for a single ring on my right hand, carved from moonstone found in the ruins.

"You look terrifying," she says with satisfaction.

"Good."

But my hands shake as I smooth the silk over my hips.

This is it. After five years of hiding, of building power in the shadows, I'm walking back into the world that destroyed me. Back to face the alpha who rejected me in front of hundreds.

Back to Kael.

Are you ready? my wolf asks.

"No."

Going anyway?

"Yes."

Because ready or not, it's time. Time to show them what happens when you break someone and they refuse to stay broken. Time to prove that omegas aren't weak, disposable, or worthless.

Time to make Kael Draven look me in the eyes and see exactly what his rejection created.

I pick up the invitation, running my fingers over the embossed letters one last time. The Blood Moon Summit. Three days of politics, power plays, and carefully controlled violence.

I smile at my reflection. Cold. Deliberate.

Let them see the Moonshadow.

Let them fear what's coming.

And let Kael feel, through our corrupted bond, the moment I step into that summit hall.

I turn away from the mirror, black silk whispering with the movement.