Chapter 2 Blood of the Moonborn, Blood, Bones, and the Beast Within

Arielle sat in silence as the morning sun filtered through the crystalline ceiling of her new chamber. The light was softer here than in the Bloodmoon Pack-it didn't sear; it caressed. But that did nothing to ease the storm inside her.

The Wolf King had left her with a truth too heavy to carry. His parting words still echoed in her skull like a curse:

_"You are not the omega they told you you were. You are my daughter. The last Moonborn."

She gripped the edge of the fur-lined bed, nails digging into the cover until her knuckles whitened.

A princess.

A royal.

The blood of the first wolves ran through her veins. And she had lived eighteen years believing she was barely worth a glance.

No.

Made to believe that.

The betrayal stung worse than Kade's rejection. Because this-this was her entire life. Her identity. Everything she thought she was-a burden, a weakling, invisible-was a lie crafted by those who swore to protect her.

Why hide her?

Why leave her in a pack that treated her like trash?

Why let her be broken?

A knock echoed through the chamber. The massive stone door opened a crack, and a slim figure stepped through. A woman, graceful and silent as shadow, dressed in deep green robes lined with silver embroidery.

"Princess Arielle," she said with a bow. "The King requests your presence."

Princess.

The word still felt foreign.

Arielle rose on shaky legs. Her body still ached, but she didn't flinch. She would not appear weak. Not here. Not anymore.

The woman's name was Sera, and she guided Arielle through the labyrinthine halls of the palace. Every wall glimmered with runes, and the air pulsed with power-old power that made her skin tingle. She passed soldiers in black and silver armor who saluted her with quiet nods, though none dared meet her eyes.

It was like stepping into another world-one she was supposed to belong to.

But belonging didn't come easy when your whole life had been rejection.

Sera led her into a vast chamber where Lucien waited by a towering window overlooking the frozen peaks of the North. Snow blanketed the land below, but within the palace, fire and magic kept everything warm.

He didn't turn as she approached.

"How much of what I told you do you remember?" he asked, voice like steel cloaked in velvet.

"All of it," she said, chin high.

"Good. Because there is more."

He turned to face her. Arielle stiffened under the weight of his gaze-not cruel, not kind. Just assessing.

"You were born under the Blood Moon," Lucien said. "A rare celestial event that occurs once every hundred years. Wolves born on that night are gifted-or cursed. It depends on who you ask."

She swallowed. "Gifted how?"

"Enhanced senses. Superior strength. Command over pack instincts. But more importantly..." His eyes narrowed. "You carry the ancient bloodline of the first Alpha Queen. You have a claim not only to my throne, but to every pack across the realm."

Arielle staggered back a step.

Lucien walked toward her, slow and deliberate. "That's why you were hidden. Many would have killed you before you came of age."

"And my mother?"

Pain flickered in his eyes, gone in an instant. "She died protecting you."

Arielle clenched her jaw. That pain in her chest-the ache that had always felt like something missing-it was her mother. A phantom absence she could never name.

Lucien gestured to the window. "You have a choice, Arielle. Remain hidden, or embrace your legacy."

"What legacy?" she snapped. "I don't know anything about being a queen. I was raised to clean floors, not command armies."

Lucien didn't flinch. "Then learn."

Silence fell between them.

"Why now?" she asked. "Why reveal all this now?"

"Because the North is fracturing. The packs grow restless. And your appearance has already begun to stir the balance. The Bloodmoon Pack will not rest after losing you."

She froze. "You mean Kade."

Lucien's jaw tightened. "He marked another in your place. But he will come back. And when he does, it won't be out of love. It will be out of fear."

Her stomach twisted. The memory of Kade's voice still haunted her.

"You're nothing to me."

"Let him come," she said coldly. "He won't find the same girl he left behind."

Lucien nodded. "Then you must begin your training."

"Training?"

He motioned, and a second door opened behind him.

Out stepped a woman tall and fierce, with braids like whips and eyes that gleamed with fire.

"Meet General Kaelen. She will teach you how to fight. How to command. How to be feared."

Kaelen smirked. "You ready to bleed, Princess?"

Arielle looked between the two of them. Her heart beat faster, but it wasn't fear now. It was something else.

Resolve.

"I was born bleeding."

Kaelen grinned wider. "Good. Then you might survive."

The courtyard of the Nightfall stronghold looked more like a war camp than a palace. Jagged stone walls loomed overhead, and the air was thick with the scent of sweat, blood, and raw power. Soldiers trained like animals-slashing, snarling, shifting. No one showed mercy. No one dared to be weak.

Arielle stood at the edge, her heart pounding so loudly she swore the whole fortress could hear it.

General Kaelen towered before her. Clad in jet-black armor that shimmered with silver runes, he was every bit the nightmare they'd warned her about. Scarred. Ruthless. Deadly. And for some gods-forsaken reason, he had been ordered to train her.

"You look like you could break with a breeze," Kaelen growled, his voice like gravel dragged across steel. "But orders are orders."

He tossed her a wooden sword that felt more like a log in her hands. She nearly dropped it.

"Day one: Survive. That's it," he said with a cruel grin. "If you can do that, maybe I'll teach you something."

Then he attacked.

No warning. No mercy.

Arielle barely raised the sword in time before his blade struck it with such force it ripped from her grip and clattered across the stone floor. Her knees buckled from the shock.

"Pathetic," Kaelen snarled. "You're not a warrior. You're a ghost in rags."

A group of soldiers snickered in the distance. Her cheeks burned.

But she didn't cry.

Instead, she scrambled for the sword again. Her palms were scraped and bleeding. Her breath came in shallow gasps. But she picked up the weapon, turned back, and faced him again.

He raised a brow. "Well. Maybe you're not completely useless."

Then the real training began.

For hours, Kaelen beat her down.

Not enough to kill-just enough to hurt.

He struck at her legs, her arms, her ribs. Made her block, dodge, fall, rise. Every part of her screamed in pain. Her vision blurred with sweat and tears.

But still, she stood.

Again and again.

By nightfall, she was covered in bruises, her lip was split, and her knuckles were raw.

"Go on then," Kaelen barked. "Crawl back to your pretty golden room and cry."

Arielle looked up at him through swollen eyes. Her voice was barely a whisper.

"No."

Kaelen's expression froze.

She stood slowly, shoulders trembling. "I won't stop. Not until I make you regret every strike."

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then he smiled.

And it was the first real smile she'd seen him give anyone.

That Night

Arielle collapsed onto the silk sheets of her unfamiliar bed, muscles burning like fire.

But her mind... her mind was alive.

Somewhere beneath the pain, something was changing.

She stared at her hands. Fingers that had trembled hours ago now felt strange. Stronger. She curled them into fists. A heat pulsed beneath her skin - not fever, but power.

Foreign. Ancient.

Something... woke.

She didn't understand it, but she felt it. Like a whisper in her blood, echoing a truth she couldn't quite grasp.

She wasn't just training her body.

Something inside her - something buried deep - was clawing to the surface.

The Days That Followed

Kaelen pushed her harder.

Dawn to dusk, he worked her into the dirt.

But each day, she rose faster. Her reflexes sharpened. Her wounds healed quicker than they should've. Her pain lessened. Her senses heightened.

The omega was disappearing.

And something regal, feral, and terrifying was being born.

The soldiers noticed. At first, they mocked her. Then, they watched her. And then, they feared her.

Whispers spread.

"She doesn't break."

"She heals too fast."

"Her eyes - they glow at night."

On the fifth day, during a sparring match, Arielle disarmed one of Kaelen's top warriors - a Beta twice her size - with a single movement.

Kaelen stood at the edge of the ring, arms crossed, unreadable.

"Where did you learn that move?" he demanded.

Arielle panted. "I didn't. It just... happened."

Kaelen narrowed his eyes. "It wasn't instinct. It was memory."

A shiver ran down her spine.

That Evening

Kaelen summoned her to the old war library.

It was built into the mountain itself - ancient, damp, and filled with weapons, scrolls, and wolf relics that hummed with magic.

He slammed an old leather-bound book onto the table in front of her. The title was written in archaic symbols that pulsed faintly in the candlelight.

"What is this?" she asked.

He didn't answer. Just flipped through the pages until he reached a faded illustration.

A silver-haired she-wolf - glowing with power, surrounded by kneeling warriors.

"She was the last true queen of our kind," Kaelen said softly. "And she had eyes like yours."

Arielle stared.

The resemblance was unsettling.

"She vanished before you were born," he continued. "Assassinated, they said. But her daughter... was never found."

Her throat went dry. "You think I'm-"

"I don't know what I think," Kaelen said, voice low. "But your blood isn't just royal. It's legendary."

The air grew thick with silence.

Arielle's world tilted.

She was no longer just a lost girl from a cruel pack.

She might be the last heir of the ancient queen. The one destined to rise when the realm was broken.

And it was very, very broken.

In the Shadows

Elsewhere in the fortress, King Lucien watched her from the shadows.

He'd seen the change in her gait. The defiance in her stare. The way the moonlight touched her skin like it knew her soul.

"She's awakening," he murmured to himself.

A soldier bowed beside him. "Should we tell her?"

"Not yet," Lucien said. "Let her fight. Let her bleed. Let her choose her own fate."

He turned, cloak billowing behind him.

"But keep an eye on Alpha Kade. If he steps foot into my realm, he dies."