Chapter 3 The Silent One's Secret

Kael hadn't slept.

Not since the mark.

Not since the storm of silver light erupted from Selene's body the moment their bond sealed.

She'd collapsed, bleeding and glowing, and ever since, the East Wing of the compound had been under quarantine. The fire she'd unleashed still smoldered in the walls-too hot for normal water, too wild for control. Half the pack believed a rogue witch had infiltrated their home.

Kael let them believe it.

The truth? Far worse.

Selene wasn't a witch.

She wasn't just a mute rogue.

She was something else. Something old. Something powerful.

And she was his.

He stared at her through the magic-etched glass of the infirmary's isolation room. She hadn't woken in two days, though her vitals were steady, her heartbeat strong. The mark he'd given her glowed faintly on her neck. It pulsed in time with his own heartbeat-whether he wanted it to or not.

"She's not safe here," Ronan said behind him.

Kael didn't turn. "She's mine."

"That's not what I said."

"You meant it."

Ronan's boots echoed across the stone floor. His Beta was calm, controlled-always was-but his voice carried tension tonight.

"You felt it, didn't you? When she screamed. That thing inside her. Whatever she is-it's older than any wolf. Hell, it's older than the mountains."

"I know."

"Then you also know she doesn't belong here. She's not one of us, Kael."

Kael finally turned. "She's mine."

Ronan didn't flinch. "And if that claim gets the entire pack killed?"

Kael's jaw tensed.

They both knew the truth.

The moment he marked her, a pulse had gone out-like a beacon. Something ancient stirred. Not just within her. Beneath the earth. In the bones of the mountain. Something watching.

Waiting.

And now, they were all on a clock they couldn't read.

Kael ordered every tracker in the region to dig into Selene's past. Pack records. Magical registries. Bloodline codices. Even witch-borne ancestry lines.

They found nothing.

No name. No birth certificate. No territory claimed. No guardian registered.

It was as if she'd appeared out of thin air.

But wolves didn't just happen.

Ronan was the first to find something strange.

"She's got burn marks," he told Kael. "Symbols. Hidden beneath her skin. You can't see them unless you're in full shift."

"Burn marks?" Kael echoed.

Ronan nodded. "Ancient. I only caught a glimpse during a healing scan. They're like... branded inside her muscles."

Kael's blood chilled. "What kind of marks?"

Ronan held up his palm. A rune shimmered faintly across his skin. "This one."

Kael went still.

He recognized it.

From a prophecy scroll buried in the sealed archives under the mountain. One forbidden even to Alphas.

The sigil of the Silent One.

A weapon born in silence. The last of a bloodline wiped out in the Witch Wars.

She wasn't just a rogue.

She was a remnant.

A living prophecy.

Selene woke two nights later.

No explosion. No fire. Just... silence.

Her silver eyes opened slowly, scanning the infirmary, until they landed on Kael sitting at her bedside.

He stood immediately. "Selene."

She blinked once. Then slowly sat up.

"You remember me?" he asked quietly.

She nodded.

"Do you know who you are?"

Another nod.

"Then you know what I did to you."

Her gaze didn't waver. Her hand drifted up to her neck-fingers brushing over the mark.

Still, she didn't speak.

"Please," Kael murmured. "I need answers."

Selene looked down at the tray beside her bed. Papers. Pens. A silver scalpel.

She picked up the scalpel.

Kael moved forward, alarmed. "Don't-"

But she didn't cut herself.

She carved the air.

One long slash.

Then another.

Then a circle.

The silver shimmered behind her strokes, as if space itself remembered what she wrote.

And then blood bloomed-from the air.

A sigil took form between them. Glowing. Pulsing. Burning.

Kael stared.

He'd seen it before.

Not just in prophecy scrolls.

But in a nightmare.

When he was a boy, barely shifted, a seer had touched his forehead and screamed. Her dying words had burned into his skull.

"Beware the Silent One. She will wear your mark-and carry your doom."

His hands trembled.

"You..." he whispered. "You're her."

Selene's silver eyes locked on his. Then, finally-he heard her voice.

Not aloud.

Not spoken.

But inside his mind.

"You should have let me die."

The next morning, the council demanded a meeting.

The compound's high chamber filled with alphas, betas, and elders-all of them looking to Kael for answers. Rumors had spread. Half the pack was whispering about prophecy. The other half was whispering about war.

"She's a witch-spawn," one of the elders spat. "You brought a cursed one into our sanctuary."

"She's mute. She's dangerous," another snapped. "Your mate bond has compromised your judgment, Alpha."

Kael stood at the head of the chamber, every inch the dominant Alpha. "Selene is mine. She's under my protection."

"She's a threat!"

"She's a prophecy!"

"She's not a wolf!"

Kael's snarl silenced them. "She is what the Moon gave me. If you want to challenge my decision, challenge me. Right here."

Silence fell.

No one moved.

Not even Ronan.

But Kael knew it was only a matter of time.

That night, Kael returned to Selene's room.

She stood by the window, moonlight pouring over her bare shoulders. She wore a thin shirt, the curve of her back smooth-except where the scars glowed.

The branded marks Ronan mentioned-sigils hidden beneath her skin-glimmered faintly, like embers under flesh.

"You were tortured," Kael said quietly.

She didn't move.

"You were hidden. Bound. Made to forget."

Still nothing.

Kael stepped closer. "Who did this to you, Selene?"

Her thoughts brushed his mind again. "They feared me."

"Who?"

"Everyone."

"Why?"

She turned slowly, moonlight catching in her eyes.

"Because I was born to end them all."

Kael stood frozen.

A chill crawled down his spine.

"You... you were made to destroy wolves?"

Her gaze didn't flicker. "I was made to balance what the Moon broke."

"The Moon gave us order."

"The Moon gave you chains. I was born to break them."

Kael's wolf surged inside him-furious and confused.

"But you're my mate."

She walked toward him slowly. "You marked me. You unlocked me. You made a choice."

She lifted her hand.

Pressed her palm against his chest.

"Now you'll face the consequences."

At that moment-every ward in the infirmary shattered.

Glass cracked. Runes sizzled.

Alarms blared across the compound.

Kael grabbed her shoulders. "What did you do?"

Her eyes glowed.

"They're coming."

"Who?!"

But Selene collapsed into his arms-unconscious again.

From the hallway, Ronan burst in. "We've got company!"

Kael turned, still holding Selene. "What kind?"

Ronan's face was pale. "Wolves. Dozens. All marked with the same sigil she just drew in blood."

Kael's breath caught.

"She's not the only one," Ronan said grimly.

And then-far below the mountain-the earth rumbled.

The ancient seals cracked.

And a voice neither man had heard in centuries whispered on the wind:

"The Silent Ones rise again."