Chapter 3 The Shadow, The Sun and The Moon

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**Tasha's POV**

I told myself it was just a dream.

Just a strange, vivid dream brought on by too much sun and not enough water.

But even as I stared at my reflection in the mirror the next morning, I couldn't shake the feeling that something had changed.

The golden flicker in my eyes was gone, but my skin still felt warm like an ember that hadn't fully cooled. My pulse thrummed in my ears, a restless beat that made my entire body feel on edge.

I clenched the edge of the sink. Get a grip, Tasha. It was nothing.

Just a dream.

Just my imagination.

I turned away from the mirror, determined to ignore the nagging unease in my chest.

Yet, as I moved through the day, the world felt... different.

The morning air smelled sharper, layered with scents I had never paid attention to before, the dampness of the grass, the faint perfume on my mother's clothes, even the lingering spice of breakfast long after the plates had been washed.

I heard things, too.

The rustling of leaves outside sounded almost like whispers. Distant footsteps seemed clearer than they should have been. A heartbeat, no, several heartbeats, thudded softly in the background, as if the world itself was alive in a way I had never noticed.

I was imagining it.

I had to be.

I spent the rest of the morning trying to shake it off. College prep, shopping lists, plans with Mina, normal things. Things that should have been enough to distract me.

But the feeling lingered, creeping into my bones like a shadow I couldn't escape.

Then, the lights flickered.

I was in the kitchen, rinsing out my glass when the overhead bulbs dimmed, just for a second. The hum of the refrigerator faltered, and the air itself seemed to still.

Then, just as quickly, everything returned to normal.

I stared at the ceiling, my heartbeat picking up.

Was that... me?

No. No, that was ridiculous. A power surge. A coincidence.

But deep inside, something whispered: You know better.

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**Mina's POV**

I noticed it before Tasha even said a word.

She wasn't acting different, not exactly. She still made sarcastic jokes, rolled her eyes at my ridiculous theories, and still walked besideke she always did.

But her energy was off.

She was distracted. Unsettled.

I caught her rubbing her temples more than once, as if trying to shake off a headache she wouldn't admit to having.

"Tasha, are you okay?" I finally asked as we browsed through notebooks at the store.

She blinked, as if I had snapped her out of something. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."

Liar.

Something was bothering her. I knew it, but I also knew better than to push.

So I just nodded. "Alright. But if you turn into a zombie or something, I get first dibs on your room."

She snorted. "You'd just steal my books."

"Obviously."

She laughed, but it didn't reach her eyes.

I didn't know what was going on with her, but one thing was clear, Tasha was changing.

And whatever it was, it scared her.

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**Lycan Alpha's POV**

The visions came as they always did, flashes of a world just beyond my reach.

Her world.

A girl with wild curls, warm brown skin, and fire in her eyes. A girl who had no idea who she truly was.

Tasha.

Her name carried power, even if she didn't know it yet. Already, she was shifting the balance between realms, pulling me closer without realizing it.

I stood at the edge of the void, staring into the swirling mist that separated my world from hers. The veil shimmered, rippling like water, revealing glimpses of her life, her laughter with her best friend, the way she absently traced patterns in the sand, the way her head tilted toward the night sky as if drawn to the moon without understanding why.

She was awakening.

A part of her could feel me, even if she didn't understand it yet.

And I could feel her.

The pull was relentless, a thread woven into my very existence. No matter how many times I tried to push it down, it remained, an ache in my chest, a hunger in my bones, a whisper in the wind that carried her name.

Then, tonight, beneath the watchful gaze of the moon, I felt it.

A fracture in the magic that had bound us apart.

She had touched something. A remnant of our world.

The moment her fingers brushed that ancient symbol in the sand, a shockwave rippled through the barriers, reaching me across the veil. The air around me vibrated, and for a brief, breathtaking moment, I could see her as clearly as if she were standing before me.

The veil between our worlds was thinning.

I felt it in the way my power stretched toward her, in the way her soul responded, hesitant but curious, like a wolf sniffing the air before stepping into the unknown.

She wasn't ready to accept the truth yet. She was fighting it.

But I could not stay silent.

I reached for her, sending the faintest whisper through the threads of existence.

A shiver along her spine. A flicker of light in the corner of her vision. A voice, too soft for her to fully register, brushing against her subconscious.

Tasha.

She stiffened, breath hitching, fingers tightening around the edge of the counter.

She had heard me.

Her soul knew me.

I exhaled, golden eyes burning as I gazed through the barrier that separated us.

I am coming for you, my Luna.

And when I do, nothing will stand between us.

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**The Chains of the Past**

Her parents had done this.

They had sealed her away, buried her essence beneath layers of human normalcy. They had stolen her from me.

They thought they were keeping her safe.

They were wrong.

Did they truly believe they could keep her caged forever?

I exhaled slowly, forcing down the frustration that burned in my chest. Once, I might have understood their fear.

Because I had lived it.

I was only a child when my world was set on fire.

My father, the strongest werewolf to ever walk this earth.

My mother, the last of her kind, a vampire queen whose bloodline had been hunted to extinction.

Their love had been a crime. I was proof of it.

A hybrid. An abomination. A prophecy they feared.

The night the war came for us, I should have died with them.

But the ancient witch found me before the flames could take me. She pulled me from the ruins, from the ashes of my family's slaughter, and took me into the shadows where no one could reach me.

She raised me in the in-between places, where time did not move as it did for others, where reality twisted upon itself, where magic thrived in its rawest form.

And she trained me.

She whispered prophecies of an Alpha who would unite the supernatural world. Who would break the cycle of war and bloodshed?

She said it would be me.

For years, I refused to believe it.

But fate does not ask for permission.

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**The Rift Between Us**

Now, the signs were clear.

The girl in my visions. The one meant to stand beside me.

My Luna.

I stepped forward, allowing the realm to shift around me. The mist curled at my feet, stretching toward the veil like ghostly fingers.

I had crossed between realms before. I had walked through dimensions, slipped through time, and bent the laws of existence to my will.

But this barrier was different.

It pulsed with an ancient energy, warning me. Pushing me back.

Her parents' magic was strong. Too strong.

My jaw clenched. They had no right.

For years, they had stolen her from me. Kept her from her destiny.

But fate had already begun its course.

She was remembering.

Slowly. In fragments. But it was happening.

She would notice the changes soon, the sharpness of her senses, the whispers in the wind, the way her soul would call out for something she couldn't name.

And when she did, I would be waiting.

Because nothing in this world, or any other, could keep me from her.

Not even the gods themselves.

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