Chapter 43: The Aftermath

There was no sound.

Then there was too much sound.

The explosion threw me back. Heat. Stone. Light so bright I saw white.

Kai’s arms around me. His body shielding mine.

We hit the ground hard.

"Lila!" Kai’s voice. Muffled. "Lila, can you hear me?"

I blinked. Ears ringing. "Yeah," I croaked. "I’m— I’m okay."

"Don’t move," Kai said. But he was already moving. Checking me. Hands on my face, my arms, my ribs.

"I’m fine," I said. "Are you—"

The world came back in pieces.

Smoke. Dust. People yelling.

Marisol: "Get the medics!"

Mason: "Perimeter! Now!"

Torren: "The Gate! Look at the Gate!"

I turned.

The Gate was gone.

Not cracked. Not broken.

Gone.

Where it stood was just a crater. 10 feet wide. Black stone. And in the center: a swirling hole.

Not a Gate. A wound in the air.

And it was still open.

"That’s not good," I whispered.

Kai helped me sit up. His shirt was torn. Blood on his temple. But he was looking at me like I was the one bleeding.

"You’re bleeding," I said, touching his face.

"It’s nothing," Kai said. "Did anything come through?"

As if on cue, something moved in the hole.

A hand. Pale. Claws.

Then another.

"SHOOT!" Mason yelled.

Silver rounds. The guards opened fire.

The hand jerked back. Vanished.

The hole pulsed. Like it was breathing.

Torren was already chanting. Elder language. Old words.

Marisol ran to us. "Are you hurt? Both of you?"

"We’re okay," Kai said. "What is that?"

"A tear," Torren said. He didn’t stop chanting. "The Gate didn’t explode. It tore. And now there’s a rip between here and there."

"Can you close it?" Marisol asked.

"Not like this," Torren said. "I need time. Hours. And I need both of you."

He looked at me. At Kai. "The Moon and the Alpha. The same as before."

Kai stood. Pulled me up with him. "Tell us what to do."

---

Two hours later.

We were in a circle. Salt. Runes drawn in chalk.

Me and Kai in the center. Hands joined. Marks burning.

The tear pulsed 10 feet away. Every 30 seconds, something tested it. Claws. Shadows.

The guards fired every time.

"I’m tired," I admitted. My head was pounding.

"Almost there," Kai said. His voice was steady. But his hand was shaking. "Just keep breathing with me."

In. Out. In. Out.

Torren’s voice rose. Louder.

The air got cold. The tear started to shrink.

"Yes," Marisol breathed. "It’s working."

90%. 80%. 50%.

Then my phone buzzed.

In my pocket.

I shouldn’t have looked.

But I did.

Photo.

Me and Kai. Right now. In the circle.

Taken from the woods.

"They’re here," I said.

Kai’s eyes snapped open. "What?"

"They’re watching," I said. "Right now."

The tear stopped shrinking. Stuck at 30%.

Torren cursed. "Something’s anchoring it. From the other side."

"How?" Mason asked.

"Someone with blood ties," Torren said. "Someone from this pack."

Everyone went quiet.

"Vex," I said.

Kai went still. "What?"

"She quit Frost," I said. "But her blood is still Frost. And she’s been here. She knows where the Gate was."

Kai stood. "Where is she?"

As if in answer, a branch snapped in the woods.

Vex stepped out.

Alone. Hands up. No weapons.

But her eyes were wrong. Black. Veins of red under her skin.

"Kai," she said. Voice layered. Like two people talking. "Give her to us. And we’ll close the tear."

Kai stepped in front of me. "You’re not taking her."

Vex smiled. But it wasn’t her smile. "Then we take her anyway. And we take you too, Alpha. Our Alpha."

The tear pulsed. Widened back to 40%.

"She’s possessed," Torren said. "Or channeling. Break the connection and we can close it."

"How?" I asked.

"Her," Torren said. "You’re Moon. You can sever it."

I looked at Vex. My ex-best friend. The girl who taught me how to do eyeliner. Who cried at my graduation.

"Vex," I said. "Come back."

Vex tilted her head. "She’s not here anymore, Moon."

The mark on my neck burned.

Kai squeezed my hand. "You don’t have to do this."

"Yes I do," I said.

I stepped forward. Out of the circle.

"Lila!" Kai grabbed my arm.

"I have to," I said. "Or the tear never closes."

I walked to Vex. 10 feet. 5 feet.

Up close, I could see her. Under the black.

Vex. Scared. Trapped.

"Hey," I whispered. "It’s me."

Vex’s mouth opened. But it was the other voice. "Too late, Moon."

"Is it?" I said. I reached up. Touched her face.

The Moon mark flared.

Light. White and gold.

Vex gasped. The black in her eyes receded. For a second, she was just Vex.

"Lila?" she whispered. Real. Hers.

"I’ve got you," I said.

Then the light exploded out of me.

---

When I opened my eyes, I was on the ground.

Kai was holding me.

Vex was on her knees. Crying. Human eyes again.

And the tear was gone.

Just black stone. And silence.

Torren exhaled. "It’s closed."

No one moved.

Then Vex looked up. "I’m sorry," she said. "They got in my head. After I quit. They said they’d make me important again."

Marisol walked to her. Didn’t touch her. "We’ll deal with this later."

Mason was already on his radio. "Lockdown. Search the woods. Now."

Kai helped me sit up. "You did it," he said. "You saved her. You saved us."

"I’m so tired," I said.

"I know," Kai said. He lifted me. Carried me.

As we walked past the crater, I saw it.

At the bottom. Half-buried in the stone.

A shard. Red. Pulsing.

And carved into it: a symbol I didn’t recognize.

But Kai did.

He stopped walking.

"That’s the Morozov crest," he said. "Old version."

"From when?" I asked.

"From before the pack split," Kai said. "From before Frost and us were enemies."

He picked it up. It was warm.

"Which means," Kai said quietly, "this wasn’t Frost."

"Then who?" I asked.

Kai looked at the woods. At the dark.

"Family," he said.