THE ALPHA WHO COULDN'T FORGET ME

The moment Alpha Kael rejected me, my wolf stopped recognizing him.

For twenty three years, I had believed there was nothing in this world more certain than the bond between a wolf and her mate. I had imagined finding mine beneath a silver moon, feeling our wolves recognize each other, and finally understanding why every love song sounded like a promise meant for me.

I had never imagined standing before the entire Black Moon Pack while the man I loved looked me in the eyes and wished I had never been his.

The Great Hall was packed.

Pack elders occupied the seats nearest the ceremonial platform. Warriors stood along the stone walls, their black uniforms reflecting the firelight. Families crowded together beneath the enormous windows, whispering about the red moon that had appeared above the mountains shortly before the ceremony began.

I barely noticed any of them.

My attention was fixed on Kael.

He stood beneath the carved emblem of the Black Moon Pack, dressed in his ceremonial black coat. His dark hair was neatly combed, and the silver Alpha ring on his right hand caught the light whenever he moved.

He looked exactly as he always had.

Powerful. Untouchable. Beautiful enough to make me forget every sensible thought that had ever crossed my mind.

But he had not looked at me once since I entered the hall.

That frightened me more than the red moon.

"You're staring at him again," whispered Mara, my closest friend, beside me.

I forced a small smile. "I'm allowed to look at my mate."

Her expression changed.

"Lena, perhaps you should wait until after the ceremony before calling him that."

I turned toward her.

"What are you talking about?"

Before she could answer, the ceremonial bell rang.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The conversations died immediately.

Elder Rowan stepped onto the platform, carrying the ancient silver bowl used to witness the recognition of newly awakened mates. His white hair fell across his shoulders, and his cloudy eyes moved over the gathered wolves before settling on me.

"Tonight, under the witness of the Moon Goddess, we gather to recognize the bond between our Alpha and his chosen mate."

My heart leaped.

His chosen mate.

Those words were enough to silence every doubt I had carried into the hall.

Kael had been distant for weeks. He had canceled our meetings, stopped visiting the old oak tree where we used to talk until sunrise, and refused to explain why his hands sometimes trembled whenever I asked about our future.

But he had promised me that everything would make sense after the ceremony.

I had held on to that promise because I loved him.

Because three months earlier, he had taken my hands beneath that same oak tree and told me that no matter what the elders wanted, no matter what the pack expected, I would never face the world alone.

I had believed him.

That was my first mistake.

Elder Rowan raised his hand.

"Alpha Kael, step forward and speak your declaration."

Kael moved.

My breath caught as he descended the platform and approached me. For one foolish moment, I thought he would take my hand. I even lifted mine slightly, remembering how he used to brush his thumb over my knuckles whenever he wanted to reassure me without speaking.

His gaze dropped to my fingers.

Then he walked past my outstretched hand.

A few people noticed.

The embarrassment burned through me, but I lowered my arm before anyone could see it trembling.

Kael stopped in front of the ceremonial bowl.

"Before this pack," he began, "I have a declaration to make."

His voice was steady.

Too steady.

I stepped closer.

"Kael?"

He did not look at me.

"I have considered my responsibilities as Alpha, the future of this pack, and the consequences of the bond I am about to address."

The words made no sense.

What responsibilities? What consequences?

We had discussed our future countless times. I had never asked him to choose between me and his pack. I had never demanded that he abandon his duties or sacrifice his position.

All I had wanted was the man who had promised to love me.

"Kael, you're frightening me."

His jaw tightened.

For one brief second, his eyes met mine.

I saw something there that I could not understand.

Not hatred.

Not indifference.

Fear.

Then he turned toward the elders.

"I cannot accept this bond."

The hall erupted into whispers.

I stared at him, certain I had misunderstood.

"What?"

Kael faced me.

His expression hardened.

"Lena of the Black Moon Pack, I reject you as my mate."

The words struck so deeply that I forgot how to breathe.

My wolf surged against the inside of my chest.

Mate!

She had waited for him as desperately as I had. Every time Kael entered a room, she had stirred. Every time his scent reached me, she had settled with a happiness I had never been able to explain.

Now she clawed at my insides, searching for a bond that was being torn away.

I grabbed Kael's wrist.

"No. Look at me."

He glanced at my hand.

"Let go."

"You promised me."

His expression did not change.

"You promised you would explain everything after the ceremony. You told me to trust you."

"Lena."

"Tell them you're joking."

Someone in the crowd laughed.

The sound was small, quickly swallowed by the silence, but I heard it.

My cheeks burned.

I had spent years imagining what it would feel like to stand beside Kael as his mate. I had imagined the pack celebrating us, Mara crying happy tears, and the elders finally accepting that the girl they considered ordinary could become the Alpha's greatest source of strength.

Instead, I stood before hundreds of witnesses, begging the man I loved to acknowledge that he had once loved me too.

Kael pulled his wrist free.

"I never promised you a future."

The lie was so cruel that I almost wished he had slapped me instead.

"You said you wanted children with me."

His eyes flickered.

"You said we would build a home beyond the eastern river when your duties became less demanding. You said that when everything was over, we would leave this place for a while and remember what it felt like to be two people instead of an Alpha and the woman everyone expected him to marry."

My voice broke.

"Did you forget all of that?"

For the first time, Kael looked as though he might answer honestly.

His fingers curled into fists.

Then Elder Rowan spoke.

"Enough. The Alpha has made his decision."

I turned toward the old man.

"How can he do this without explanation?"

"An Alpha is responsible for the survival of his pack."

"And I'm not part of his pack?"

The elder's silence answered me.

Something inside me changed.

Until that moment, I had been waiting for Kael to rescue me from the humiliation he had created. I had been waiting for him to look at me and reveal that there was some terrible reason behind his words.

But the elders were already looking away.

The warriors were watching the Alpha.

And Kael stood motionless, allowing the entire pack to witness my destruction.

I released his wrist.

"Look at me," I whispered.

He did.

"Was any of it real?"

His throat moved.

For a heartbeat, the hall disappeared. There was only the man beneath the oak tree, holding my hands and telling me that I was the one person he could never bear to lose.

Then his face became unreadable again.

"No."

My wolf made a sound I had never heard before.

It was not a growl.

It was a sob.

She retreated so deeply into my mind that I could no longer feel her presence. The sudden emptiness frightened me more than the pain. My wolf had been with me since childhood. Even in my darkest moments, I had never been alone inside my own body.

Now there was nothing.

I staggered backward.

Mara caught my elbow.

"Lena, come with me."

I shook my head.

If I left now, I would leave with nothing but the memory of Kael's rejection. I wanted him to see what he had done. I wanted him to understand that I was not a promise he could make and break whenever duty demanded it.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand.

"Very well, Alpha."

Kael's expression shifted.

I straightened my shoulders.

"You have rejected me before this pack. I will not beg you to change your mind."

A murmur passed through the hall.

I looked directly into his eyes.

"But remember this night. You may have the authority to reject me, but you do not have the right to decide that my life ends here."

I turned away from him.

I had taken only three steps when pain exploded through my chest.

I screamed.

The sound ripped out of me before I could stop it. I dropped to my knees, clutching my heart as heat spread beneath my skin.

The ceremonial bowl shattered.

Every flame in the Great Hall went out.

Darkness swallowed the room.

For one terrible second, hundreds of wolves stood frozen in the silence.

Then the windows began to crack.

One by one, thin silver lines spread across the enormous panes. The red moon hung above the mountains, brighter than before, its light pouring into the hall like blood.

Someone whispered a prayer.

Another voice shouted for the guards.

I could hear Mara calling my name, but her voice seemed impossibly far away.

Something was waking inside me.

It was not my wolf.

I knew my wolf.

This presence was older, buried beneath something so deep that I had never felt it before. It moved through my veins like fire, filling my lungs, my hands, and the space behind my eyes.

Then a voice spoke inside my head.

Run.

I froze.

Who are you?

The answer came with a wave of terror so powerful that my teeth began to chatter.

Run before he remembers you.

I lifted my head.

Across the darkened hall, Kael was staring at me.

His face had lost every trace of color.

"What did you do?" I whispered.

He did not answer.

He was looking at my eyes.

I raised a trembling hand toward my face, but before I could touch it, the Great Hall doors burst open.

A wounded man stumbled inside.

Blood covered his clothes. His breathing was ragged, and one hand clutched his side. Two guards rushed toward him, but he pushed them away and searched the hall with desperate eyes.

When he found me, he stopped.

Then he fell to his knees.

"She's alive."

Elder Rowan dropped the silver staff he had been holding.

The old man's face had gone white.

"No," he whispered. "That is impossible."

The stranger looked toward the red moon.

"The seal has broken. The bloodline has awakened."

His gaze returned to me.

"The Moon's forgotten daughter is alive."

The hall erupted into chaos.

I struggled to my feet, shaking so badly that Mara had to support me.

"Who is he talking about?" I demanded.

No one answered.

I turned toward Kael.

He was already moving toward me.

"Stay away from me," I said.

He stopped as though I had struck him.

"Lena, listen to me."

"You rejected me. Whatever is happening, it has nothing to do with you."

His eyes flickered toward the windows.

"You don't understand."

"Then explain it!"

For the first time since I had known him, Alpha Kael looked like a man who had run out of lies.

Before he could speak, the stranger rose to his feet.

"Take the girl alive!" he shouted. "The master wants her before the moon sets."

Warriors drew their swords.

The wounded stranger smiled at me, revealing teeth stained with blood.

"And if her eyes have already changed, kill everyone who has seen them."

My stomach turned.

Behind Kael, the largest window shattered.

Glass rained across the stone floor.

Mara screamed as the warriors rushed to shield the elders. Somewhere in the darkness, a child began to cry.

Kael seized my hand.

I tried to pull away.

"Don't touch me!"

"Do you want to live?"

The question stopped me.

He leaned closer, his voice low enough that only I could hear.

"I know you hate me. You have every reason to. But if those men take you, there will be nothing left of you to save."

"Why?"

His grip tightened.

"Because your mother did not die the way you were told."

The room seemed to tilt.

My mother had died when I was five. That was what I had been told all my life. There had been no grave, no funeral I could remember, and no explanation beyond a few quiet words from the people who had raised me.

I had spent years learning not to ask questions.

Now Kael was telling me that the one person I had never been allowed to grieve properly might not be dead.

I stared at him.

"What do you know about my mother?"

His lips parted.

Then his gaze shifted past me.

His expression changed from fear to horror.

"Lena," he whispered. "Don't look at the windows."

Of course, I looked.

In the broken glass, beneath the crimson moon, I saw my reflection.

My hair was still dark. My face was still mine.

But my eyes had changed.

They shone silver at the center, surrounded by a ring of deep, unnatural red.

The ancient voice returned.

This time, it did not tell me to run.

It whispered a name.

A name I had never heard before.

Yet the moment it entered my mind, every warrior in the Great Hall fell to his knees.

Even Alpha Kael bowed his head.

And somewhere beyond the mountains, something answered.

I felt it inside my bones.

Whatever had been buried beneath the Black Moon Pack for centuries had finally found me.

And it was coming home.

For three seconds, nobody moved.

Hundreds of wolves knelt on the floor of the Great Hall, their heads lowered toward me. The warriors who had been ready to draw their swords now trembled beneath the weight of something they could not understand.

Even Elder Rowan was on his knees.

But I remained standing.

I did not feel powerful. I felt sick.

My eyes burned as though someone had poured fire into them. My fingers were numb, and the strange voice inside my head had gone silent.

Then I looked at Kael.

He was kneeling too.

The man who had rejected me before the entire pack, who had looked into my eyes and claimed that everything between us had been a lie, was bowing his head before me.

I should have felt satisfied.

Instead, I remembered his expression when he said he had never loved me.

The memory hurt more than the strange power moving through my body.

"Get up," I whispered.

Nobody moved.

I raised my voice.

"I said get up!"

The windows rattled.

Every candle in the hall burst into flames.

A wave of pressure swept through the room, forcing several warriors to clutch their chests. I stumbled backward, horrified by what I had done.

The silver light in my eyes brightened.

Then everything stopped.

The silence that followed was worse than the chaos.

Kael slowly lifted his head.

His gaze met mine, and I saw something I had never seen in him before.

Not fear of an enemy.

Fear of me.

"Everyone out," he ordered.

Nobody obeyed immediately.

His voice became a roar.

"NOW!"

The warriors scrambled to their feet. Families hurried toward the exits, dragging their children behind them. The elders followed, though Rowan remained long enough to stare at me with an expression that made my skin crawl.

He looked as though he had spent his entire life preparing for a nightmare and had finally watched it come true.

When he reached the doorway, he turned toward Kael.

"Do not make the same mistake your father made."

Kael's expression hardened.

"Leave, Rowan."

The elder disappeared into the corridor.

Within moments, only Mara, Kael, the wounded stranger, and I remained in the Great Hall.

Mara still held my arm.

"Lena," she whispered, "your eyes."

"I know."

"No, you don't understand. I have never seen anything like that."

"Neither have I!"

My voice came out sharper than I intended.

She flinched.

Guilt struck me immediately.

"Mara, I'm sorry."

She shook her head and pulled me into a tight embrace.

For a moment, I allowed myself to lean against her. She was the only person in that room who had not knelt because some ancient force had commanded it. She had stayed because she was afraid for me.

That mattered.

Then she pulled away and looked at Kael.

"What did you do to her?"

Kael said nothing.

Mara stepped toward him.

"You rejected her. She nearly collapsed, the windows exploded, and now the entire pack is bowing to her. You knew something would happen, didn't you?"

"Not this."

"That isn't an answer."

"Mara," I interrupted.

She turned toward me.

"Please. I need to know what is happening."

Her anger softened.

"Then we're leaving. We can figure this out somewhere else."

She reached for my hand.

Kael moved between us.

"No one is leaving this hall until I know what has awakened inside her."

I stared at him.

"You don't get to decide that anymore."

His jaw tightened.

"Lena, this is not about our bond."

"Really? Because you seemed perfectly comfortable making decisions about our bond a few minutes ago."

Pain crossed his face.

Good.

For once, I wanted him to feel something.

"You stood in front of everyone we know and told me I meant nothing to you," I continued. "You watched me break, Kael. You didn't even have the courage to tell me why."

His eyes lowered briefly.

"I know."

"No, you don't."

My voice trembled, but I refused to stop.

"You don't know what it felt like to hear you deny every moment we shared. You don't know what it was like to look around that room and realize that hundreds of people were watching me beg someone to love me."

I swallowed.

"And now that something strange has happened to me, suddenly you want to protect me."

He stepped closer.

"I never wanted you to suffer."

"Then why did you reject me?"

He opened his mouth.

The wounded stranger laughed.

It was a dry, ugly sound that made all of us turn.

"Because he was afraid of what you would become."

Kael moved so quickly that I barely saw him cross the room.

He seized the stranger by the throat and slammed him against a stone pillar.

"One more word," Kael growled, "and I'll tear your tongue out."

The stranger smiled despite the hand crushing his throat.

"There he is. The great Alpha Kael. Still pretending that violence can bury the truth."

Kael tightened his grip.

I rushed forward.

"Let him go!"

Kael looked at me.

For one brief moment, he hesitated.

I saw the struggle in his face, the instinct to obey the person he had once claimed as his mate fighting against the authority he had always possessed.

Then he released the stranger.

The man dropped to the floor, coughing.

I approached him cautiously.

"Who are you?"

He wiped blood from his mouth.

"My name is Darius. I served the royal bloodline before your pack erased it from history."

"Royal bloodline?"

"The first rulers of the wolves. The ones who existed before the modern packs, before the councils, before your precious Alpha titles."

He looked at my eyes.

"And you are the last surviving heir."

I shook my head.

"No."

"Your mother carried the blood of the first queen. She hid you among ordinary wolves when the royal family was slaughtered."

"My mother was not a queen."

"That is what they wanted you to believe."

I stepped away from him.

I wanted to laugh. I wanted to scream. I wanted someone to tell me that the entire night was a terrible dream and that I would wake up tomorrow with an ordinary wolf, an ordinary life, and a broken heart that would eventually heal.

Instead, Darius reached inside his torn coat and produced a small silver pendant.

I recognized it immediately.

My mother had worn that pendant every day of her life.

After she died, I searched for it for years. I had asked the people who raised me, searched the old rooms, and even returned to the house where we had lived together.

Nobody had ever found it.

Now it rested in the palm of a stranger who claimed my mother had been a queen.

I reached for it.

Darius pulled his hand away.

"Not yet."

"Give it to me!"

"The pendant will recognize your blood. But once it does, the people hunting you will know exactly where you are."

"People hunting me?"

His expression darkened.

"The same people who murdered your family."

My stomach twisted.

"Who murdered them?"

Darius looked at Kael.

And Kael looked away.

That single movement told me more than either of them had intended.

I turned toward the man who had once promised to protect me.

"You know who killed my mother."

Kael remained silent.

"Answer me!"

"I know who ordered the attack."

The words barely reached my ears.

"Who?"

He looked at me, and for the first time that night, his expression held no authority.

Only shame.

"My father."

The world seemed to go quiet around us.

Alpha Kael's father had died six years earlier. The pack remembered him as a strong ruler who had protected the Black Moon territory during a brutal war.

I had admired him.

He had once given me a blanket when I fell asleep outside the training grounds as a child. He had smiled at me, called me a stubborn little wolf, and told me that courage was more important than strength.

I had never imagined that the same man could have ordered my mother's death.

"You're lying," I whispered.

"I wish I were."

"You expect me to believe that your father murdered my family, and you knew about it all this time?"

"I learned the truth recently."

"How recently?"

Kael said nothing.

"Before tonight?"

His silence answered me.

I took another step backward.

"So you knew."

"Lena, listen to me."

"You knew my life was built on a lie, and you let me keep living it."

"I was trying to find a way to protect you."

"By rejecting me?"

His face tightened.

"I thought severing the bond would prevent your bloodline from awakening."

Darius laughed bitterly.

"You thought you could break an ancient bond and silence a queen's blood? You really are your father's son."

Kael lunged toward him again, but I raised my hand.

"Don't."

He stopped.

I looked at him, trying to understand how the man I loved had become someone I barely recognized.

"You could have told me the truth."

"I couldn't risk it."

"You could have trusted me to decide what risks I was willing to take."

His eyes shone with something painful.

"I know."

"No, Kael. You don't get to say that and expect me to forgive you."

I wiped my tears away.

"I loved you. I would have faced anything with you if you had simply trusted me enough to tell me what was happening."

He lowered his head.

For a moment, I saw the man from beneath the oak tree again.

Then I remembered the rejection.

I turned away.

"Take me to my mother's grave."

Mara looked at me in confusion.

"Lena, you know where it is?"

"I know where they told me it was."

I faced Darius.

"If you're telling the truth, prove it."

He studied me for several seconds before nodding.

"There is something you must see first."

He walked toward the shattered windows.

Beyond them, the forest stretched beneath the red moon. The trees moved in the wind, their branches casting long shadows across the grounds.

Then Darius pointed toward the northern mountains.

"Your mother's grave is not in the cemetery."

My breath caught.

"Where is it?"

"She has no grave."

I felt Mara's hand tighten around mine.

Darius turned back toward me.

"Because your mother did not die that night."

I stared at him.

For years, I had mourned a woman whose final moments I could barely remember. I had kept her old scarf beneath my pillow and whispered questions into the darkness, hoping that somehow she could hear me.

Now a stranger was telling me she might still be alive.

"Where is she?" I demanded.

Darius's expression became grim.

"That is what we must discover."

A distant howl rose from the forest.

Then another answered it.

Kael moved toward the windows, his entire body suddenly tense.

"What is it?" Mara asked.

He drew the ceremonial dagger from his belt.

"Someone has crossed the eastern boundary."

Darius went pale.

"That's impossible. The seal should have kept them away."

A third howl sounded.

This time, it came from directly outside the Great Hall.

Kael turned toward me.

"Whatever happens, stay behind me."

I looked at him, remembering the promise he had broken.

"No."

He stared at me.

"I won't hide behind you while everyone else decides what my life will become."

Before he could answer, a massive black wolf emerged from the darkness beyond the broken windows.

Its eyes were completely white.

And around its neck hung a silver pendant identical to the one Darius held in his hand.

The wolf looked directly at me.

Then, inside my mind, the ancient voice returned.

My daughter.

I stopped breathing.

The voice trembled with grief.

At last, I have found you.

The black wolf lowered its head.

And from somewhere deep within the forest, a woman began to scream my name.

"Lena!"

The scream came from beyond the broken windows.

I knew that voice.

I had not heard it since I was five years old, but some part of me recognized it before my mind could understand what was happening.

My mother's voice.

I ran toward the window.

Kael caught my arm.

"Don't!"

"Let go of me!"

"Look at the wolf!"

I turned.

The enormous black wolf stood beyond the shattered glass, its white eyes fixed on me. Snow white mist curled around its paws, although the night was not cold enough for frost.

It did not growl.

It did not bare its teeth.

It simply watched me with an expression that was almost human.

Then it lowered its head again.

The ancient voice inside me whispered.

Come home, my daughter.

My knees weakened.

"Did you hear that?" I asked.

Mara stared at me.

"Hear what?"

"The voice."

She shook her head slowly.

I looked at Darius.

He had gone completely still.

"You heard it," I said.

He swallowed.

"I heard nothing, Lena."

"Then why are you frightened?"

He did not answer.

Another scream came from the forest.

My mother's scream.

I tore my arm from Kael's grip and ran toward the doors.

This time, he followed.

"Lena, wait!"

I ignored him.

The corridors of the pack house blurred as I ran past frightened servants and warriors rushing toward the eastern boundary. My lungs burned, but I kept moving.

I had spent eighteen years believing my mother was dead.

Eighteen years of birthdays without her. Eighteen years of trying to remember the sound of her laughter. Eighteen years of wondering whether she had been afraid when she died.

If she was alive, I needed to see her.

If someone was hurting her, I needed to help.

And if this was another cruel lie, I wanted to look the person responsible in the eyes.

I reached the eastern courtyard and stopped so suddenly that Kael nearly collided with me.

The forest stretched before us.

Between the trees stood a woman wearing a long white dress.

Her dark hair fell over her shoulders, and one hand rested against the trunk of an ancient oak. Her face was hidden in shadow, but I could see that she was trembling.

"Mother?"

The woman lifted her head.

I could not see her eyes clearly.

But I saw her smile.

It was the same smile I remembered from childhood, the one that had appeared whenever I ran into her arms after a nightmare.

My heart broke open.

"Mother!"

I took a step toward her.

The woman shook her head.

"Don't come closer, Lena."

I stopped.

Her voice was softer than I remembered, weakened by years of pain.

"Please," I whispered. "I've been looking for you."

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I know."

"Why did you leave me?"

She pressed a hand over her mouth.

"I never wanted to."

"Then why didn't you come back?"

She looked toward Kael.

The moment she saw him, her expression changed.

Fear.

Pure, unmistakable fear.

"Get away from my daughter," she said.

Kael stepped forward.

"I didn't know she was still alive."

My mother laughed, but there was no happiness in the sound.

"You knew enough to reject her."

The words struck him.

He lowered his gaze.

I turned toward him.

"What does she mean?"

He did not answer.

I looked back at my mother.

"Please tell me what's happening. Everyone keeps talking about my bloodline, the royal family, and some seal. I don't understand any of it."

She took a shaky breath.

"Your father was a good man, Lena."

I froze.

"My father?"

"Yes."

I had never known my father. Whenever I asked about him, my mother used to kiss my forehead and tell me that some questions were too painful to answer.

After she disappeared, the people who raised me said he had died before I was born.

Now a stranger had told me that my mother was alive, and she was speaking about my father as though she had seen him yesterday.

"Who was he?"

Before she could answer, a low growl rolled through the trees.

My mother turned sharply.

Her face drained of color.

"They've found us."

Darius appeared behind us, breathing hard.

"How many?"

My mother looked at him.

"Enough."

The black wolf emerged from the trees and positioned itself between her and the courtyard. Its white eyes began to glow.

Then the forest came alive.

Dozens of wolves stepped out from between the trees.

Some were enormous, their coats darker than the night. Others were pale and almost translucent beneath the moonlight. All of them wore silver collars engraved with symbols I had never seen before.

The warriors behind Kael raised their weapons.

"Protect the Alpha!" someone shouted.

My mother shook her head.

"No. Protect Lena."

The wolves attacked.

Everything happened at once.

A warrior was thrown against the courtyard wall. Another disappeared beneath a mass of black fur. The air filled with snarling, breaking stone, and screams.

Kael shifted before my eyes.

His bones cracked as dark fur spread across his body. Within seconds, an enormous black wolf stood where the Alpha had been.

He leaped toward the nearest attacker and knocked it away from me.

I stumbled backward.

Another wolf charged directly toward my mother.

"NO!"

The word tore from my throat.

The world flashed silver.

The attacking wolf stopped in midair.

Its body trembled as though an invisible hand had seized it. Then it was thrown backward, crashing through two trees before landing heavily on the ground.

Every wolf in the courtyard froze.

I stared at my hands.

I had not touched it.

I had barely moved.

My mother looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Lena."

I could hear the pain in her voice.

"What am I?"

She shook her head.

"You are my daughter."

"That's not an answer!"

A sudden blast of pain tore through my skull.

I dropped to my knees.

Images flooded my mind.

A magnificent palace beneath a silver moon.

A woman wearing a crown of white gold.

A man holding a newborn baby against his chest.

Fire.

Blood.

And a voice screaming that the child must survive.

I clutched my head.

"Stop!"

The images vanished.

When I looked up, the entire courtyard had fallen silent.

Every wolf was staring at me.

Even Kael had returned to his human form. Blood ran down his arm, but he seemed unaware of the wound.

My mother hurried toward me.

This time, I did not run to her.

I could not.

Too many years of grief stood between us.

She stopped a few steps away.

"Lena, please."

"Tell me the truth."

Her shoulders shook.

"I wanted to come back for you. Every day, I wanted to come back."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because the people who killed your father were waiting for you to awaken. If I returned, they would have found you."

I swallowed painfully.

"And now?"

She looked toward the red moon.

"Now they already have."

A horn sounded from the mountains.

Darius spun toward the forest.

"That's not possible."

My mother grabbed my shoulders.

"Listen to me carefully. You cannot trust the council. You cannot trust the elders. And whatever Kael tells you, remember that his family helped destroy ours."

Kael stepped forward.

"My father made those decisions. I was a child when the attack happened."

My mother turned on him.

"But you were old enough to inherit his secrets."

He had no answer.

I looked between them.

"Enough. I'm tired of everyone speaking in riddles."

My mother released my shoulders.

Then she reached into the neckline of her dress and pulled out a small silver chain.

A ring hung from it.

The moment I saw the symbol engraved on its surface, the mark beneath my collarbone began to burn.

It was a crescent moon surrounded by seven stars.

I had seen the same symbol in my dreams since childhood.

My mother placed the ring in my palm.

"Your father wore this when he was alive. It belongs to you now."

The metal warmed against my skin.

Then a thin line of silver light appeared across its surface.

My mother's eyes widened.

"No."

I looked at her.

"What?"

She grabbed my wrist.

"Lena, whatever happens, do not let the ring complete the circle."

I stared at the ring.

A second line of light had appeared.

Then a third.

"What does that mean?"

She looked toward Kael.

For the first time, I saw genuine hatred in her eyes.

"It means the person who betrayed your father is still alive."

Kael went completely still.

My mother took a step backward.

"And he is standing right behind you."

I turned.

An elderly man stood at the entrance to the courtyard, surrounded by a dozen armed warriors.

Elder Rowan.

His white hair stirred in the wind.

His gaze settled on the ring in my hand.

Then he smiled.

"After eighteen years," he said quietly, "the princess has finally found her crown."

He raised one hand.

Every warrior behind him drew a silver blade.

"Take the girl alive."

His eyes moved to Kael.

"Kill anyone who tries to protect her."

For a moment, Kael did not move.

Then he stepped between Rowan's warriors and me.

My mother reached for my hand.

Darius raised his weapon.

And Elder Rowan's smile widened.

"Forgive me, Your Highness," he said. "But your father should have killed you when he had the chance."