LUNA OF THE NIGHTBORN
img img LUNA OF THE NIGHTBORN img Chapter 3 Marked and Taken
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Chapter 6 The Bond That Breaks img
Chapter 7 The Stranger's Truth img
Chapter 8 Beneath the Hunter's Moon img
Chapter 9 The Vale of Shadows img
Chapter 10 The Girl with My Face img
Chapter 11 He Who Wears the Crown img
Chapter 12 The Howl Beneath the Ashes img
Chapter 13 The Path of Flame and Bone img
Chapter 14 The Monster Within img
Chapter 15 The Blood Oath img
Chapter 16 Embers Beneath the Skin img
Chapter 17 Ashes in Her Veins img
Chapter 18 The Other Nightborn img
Chapter 19 Shadows Over Bloodline img
Chapter 20 The Bond That Burns img
Chapter 21 The Moon's Gate img
Chapter 22 Shadows That Bleed img
Chapter 23 Moonborn img
Chapter 24 The Ashen Tether img
Chapter 25 Shattered Boundaries img
Chapter 26 The Veil Between img
Chapter 27 Let Them Come img
Chapter 28 Shards of Moonlight img
Chapter 29 Rise of the Marked img
Chapter 30 Ashes and Ascension img
Chapter 31 The Other Chosen img
Chapter 32 Trial by Flame img
Chapter 33 The Unraveling Veil img
Chapter 34 Beneath the Marked Moon img
Chapter 35 Born of Light, Forged in Fire img
Chapter 36 Shadows Don't Sleep img
Chapter 37 Beneath the Hollow Crown img
Chapter 38 The Vessel and the Crown img
Chapter 39 Shadows in the Light img
Chapter 40 The Price of Fire img
Chapter 41 The Echo and the Flame img
Chapter 42 The Waking Marks img
Chapter 43 What Lurks Beneath img
Chapter 44 When Fire Remembers img
Chapter 45 Flame Against the Dark img
Chapter 46 What Sleeps Beneath img
Chapter 47 The Pulse Beneath the World img
Chapter 48 The City That Waited img
Chapter 49 Flame Against the Forgotten img
Chapter 50 Ember Crowned img
Chapter 51 Beneath the Light That Remains img
Chapter 52 The Fire That Chose Her img
Chapter 53 Flame Remembers Flame img
Chapter 54 Beneath the Cracked Sky img
Chapter 55 It Breathes Below img
Chapter 56 Beneath the Breathing Stone img
Chapter 57 The Heart That Waits img
Chapter 58 The Reckoning Flame img
Chapter 59 Voice of the Flame img
Chapter 60 The Hollow King's Wake img
Chapter 61 The Flame That Remembers img
Chapter 62 Beneath the Mountain's Heart img
Chapter 63 When Stone Begins to Breathe img
Chapter 64 The Threshold of Flame img
Chapter 65 The Marked and the Forsaken img
Chapter 66 Shrine of the Lost Flame img
Chapter 67 Ashen Cradle img
Chapter 68 Descent img
Chapter 69 Vessel of Flame img
Chapter 70 The Shadow Below img
Chapter 71 The Knock Beneath img
Chapter 72 Beneath the Breathing Root img
Chapter 73 Bleeding Root img
Chapter 74 Breathing Root img
Chapter 75 The Ember's Echo img
Chapter 76 The Ember That Watches img
Chapter 77 The Burn that Remembers img
Chapter 78 The Burden of Flame img
Chapter 79 The Howl in the Roots img
Chapter 80 Shattered Oath img
Chapter 81 Ash and Oath img
Chapter 82 Footprints in the Dark img
Chapter 83 The Ash That Remembers img
Chapter 84 Beneath the Pulse img
Chapter 85 The Other Half of the Oath img
Chapter 86 Beneath the Bones img
Chapter 87 When the Flame Knows Your Name img
Chapter 88 Chains of Memory img
Chapter 89 The Choice That Waits img
Chapter 90 When the Locks Give Way img
Chapter 91 Between Fire and Frost img
Chapter 92 Out of One Trap img
Chapter 93 The White That Watches img
Chapter 94 The Door Beneath the Fog img
Chapter 95 Beneath the Shattered Basin img
Chapter 96 Beneath the Collapse img
Chapter 97 Whispers of Stone img
Chapter 98 Guardians of the Forgotten img
Chapter 99 The Altar of Ash and Flame img
Chapter 100 The Shatter of Chains img
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Chapter 3 Marked and Taken

Elara fell through silver.

The world had cracked apart the moment her fingers touched Ronan's. One second she was standing in the courtyard of the Moonfang stronghold, Kael's roar echoing behind her-then she was weightless. Pulled into something vast and colorless, a void humming with cold energy. Her body twisted, her thoughts scattered.

No ground. No sky. Just rushing wind and silver light.

When she hit something solid again, it felt like waking up from a nightmare-except the nightmare had followed her here.

Elara hit the ground on her knees, breath catching in her throat. The air around her was heavy with fog and a strange, pulsing heat that seemed to rise from beneath the earth.

She gasped, trying to gather her bearings.

Wherever this was... it wasn't home.

The ground beneath her hands felt like stone, but it glowed faintly beneath her touch. Soft, almost alive. Like the surface was breathing in time with her.

"Elara," came a voice, low and steady.

She looked up sharply.

Ronan stood a few feet away, arms crossed, silver eyes glowing softly in the darkness. He looked perfectly at ease, like stepping through realms was just another walk in the woods.

She pushed herself to her feet, legs unsteady. Her mark was still warm, still tingling at her neck like it had a pulse of its own.

"Where are we?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

"A sanctuary," he replied simply. "Hidden between folds of this world and the next. They can't follow you here."

"They?" she echoed, heart pounding.

"Kael. The pack. Anyone bound to the laws of the old world."

Elara backed away slightly, suddenly aware of the unfamiliar terrain around her. The place looked like a forgotten temple swallowed by mist. Towering stone arches stretched above, broken in places and covered in black ivy. The moon overhead looked different-dimmer, tinged with red.

Nothing felt stable. The air itself shimmered like it was stitched together from magic and memory.

"You didn't ask me before you brought me here," she said.

"You didn't say no."

"I didn't get the chance."

Ronan studied her for a moment, then stepped forward slowly. "You were about to be hunted, Elara. Whether you realize it or not."

She frowned. "Kael wouldn't hurt me."

"Wouldn't he?" Ronan's voice lost its softness. "He rejected you in front of the pack. Then he saw your mark and ordered you removed. That wasn't fear. That was control slipping through his fingers."

Elara looked down, arms crossing over her chest. The image of Kael's cold expression flashed through her mind-his voice so final, his judgment unshakable.

She didn't respond.

"I didn't take you to harm you," Ronan said gently. "The opposite, actually."

"Then what do you want?" she asked quietly.

He was silent for a beat. "To protect what's been hidden."

She blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Instead of answering, he reached into the folds of his coat and pulled out a small mirror-like disc. He handed it to her.

"Look."

Elara hesitated, then took the disc and angled it toward herself.

At first, she only saw her reflection-her tangled hair, flushed cheeks, wide eyes. But then the mark began to glow again, and her reflection changed.

A woman stood in the mirror instead. Tall. Regal. Her hair long and silver. A crown of stars on her head. The same glowing symbol burned near her jaw.

"That's..." Elara's breath caught. "Who is she?"

"She was the first Nightborn," Ronan said softly. "A daughter of moonlight and shadow. A guardian of forgotten magic. And your ancestor."

"No..." Elara shook her head. "That's not possible. I'm just-"

"Ordinary?" he offered. "Were you ordinary when the light burst from your skin? When the ancient mark chose you? When you vanished into silver and left your Alpha behind?"

Elara's fingers tightened on the disc.

"I didn't choose this."

"I know." His voice softened again. "But sometimes destiny doesn't ask permission."

She sank down onto a nearby stone bench, overwhelmed. "Why me? Why now?"

"Because the balance is shifting," Ronan said, looking up at the moon. "The Nightborn are awakening again, and the old blood calls to the new. You're not the first. But you may be the last hope."

Elara stared down at her hands. They looked the same-but she didn't feel the same. Something ancient stirred under her skin, and her emotions tangled with it. Fear. Curiosity. Power.

And Ronan...

He was watching her carefully, his silver eyes unreadable.

She glanced at him. "What are you?"

"I'm a protector," he said simply. "Of your kind. Of our truth."

"You're Nightborn too?"

He nodded once. "Different lineage. Same blood."

Silence stretched between them, thick and charged.

Then Elara whispered, "That voice in my head... was that you?"

He smiled faintly. "No. That wasn't me."

Her eyes narrowed. "Then who-"

Before she could finish, the air rippled.

A sound-deep, metallic, and distant-rippled across the sanctuary like thunder rolling through water.

Ronan stiffened. "We're not alone."

"What is it?" Elara asked, rising to her feet.

His eyes scanned the mist around them. "Something breached the veil. That shouldn't be possible."

"You said no one could follow us here."

"I said no one should be able to," he corrected.

The sound came again-closer this time. A rumble. A groan. A whisper layered in shadows.

Then shapes began to form in the mist.

Elara stepped back.

From the fog emerged tall figures-cloaked in black, faces hidden, eyes glowing with violet fire. They moved like smoke, graceful and unnatural.

"Who-what are they?" she whispered.

"Wraithborn," Ronan said grimly. "They guard the threshold between worlds. They shouldn't be here unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless someone sent them."

The Wraithborn moved closer.

Elara's mark flared again, searing like fire under her skin.

"They're reacting to me."

"They're drawn to your power," Ronan said. "We need to leave. Now."

He stepped forward, lifting his hand-but the nearest Wraithborn raised its arm, and the magic twisted mid-air, shattering Ronan's spell in a burst of violet sparks.

"They blocked it," he growled.

"How do we stop them?" she asked.

"We don't."

He grabbed her hand again, and this time, he didn't ask.

A violent wind burst from beneath them, silver light exploded, and the sanctuary cracked beneath their feet.

Elara's last image was of the Wraithborn reaching for her-before the world shattered again.

They were not alone. And now they were hunted in more than one realm.

            
            

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