Two

ISOLDE POV

Alara had always been… quiet.

Secretive.

In the two years we had known each other, I realized there were huge parts of her life she had never shared with me. She laughed, she cooked terrible pasta, she stole my hoodies like it was her personal mission in life… but when it came to herself?

Walls.

Always walls.

Sometimes I’d catch her staring at nothing, her expression distant, like she was somewhere else entirely. When I asked, she’d just smile and say, “It’s nothing.”

I used to think she just needed time.

Now, sitting in the sterile hospital room while machines breathed for her, I realized how little I actually knew about my own twin.

The police had given me the bag she had with her when they found her.

They said she was discovered unconscious on the ground… naked… in an alley on the edge of the city.

No witnesses.

No cameras.

Just a body that looked like it had been thrown from a war.

Even now, I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

Alara wasn’t reckless. She wasn’t the type to get into trouble. If anything, she lived like someone constantly looking over her shoulder.

Which made everything worse.

I sat down in the chair beside her bed and pulled the worn canvas bag onto my lap.

My hands hesitated for a second before opening it.

Inside were a few simple things… her wallet, a phone with a cracked screen, a set of keys… and a small black notebook.

A diary.

Or at least it looked like one.

I frowned and flipped it open.

The first lines made me pause.

“For a thousand years, the Goddess had blessed the Lycans with her mark, a symbol of purity, strength, and power. Those born without the Moon Mark were considered cursed… and were killed.”

I blinked.

Then frowned harder.

“…What?”

I closed the notebook slowly and stared at the front cover.

Was this her diary…

Or was she writing a script?

Because what the hell was this?

Lycans?

Moon marks?

It sounded like something out of a fantasy novel or one of those late-night supernatural shows people binge-watch.

I shook my head and opened it again, flipping to the next page.

More strange notes.

Symbols.

Half-written sentences.

Names I didn’t recognize.

My eyes skimmed down the page until something finally stood out.

A town name.

Ravenmoor.

Under it… a house address.

17 Blackthorn Lane, Ravenmoor.

And beneath that…

Password… LunarGate_13

I stared at the page for a long moment, the quiet beeping of the machines filling the room.

This wasn’t random.

Alara didn’t write random things.

Everything she did was deliberate.

Which meant this… whatever it was… mattered.

My eyes slowly lifted to the hospital bed.

To my sister lying there, broken and silent.

“Alara…” I whispered.

My fingers tightened around the notebook.

“You'd better wake up and explain..”

But deep down…

I knew she couldnt be able to give the answer I needed anytime soon..

Which meant if I wanted answers…

I was going to have to find them myself.

And it looked like those answers were waiting in Ravenmoor.

Without wasting any more time, I made arrangements for someone to stay with Alara.

A caregiver. A professional nurse the hospital recommended. Someone who could watch her, monitor the machines, and call me if anything changed.

Leaving her there felt wrong.

Every instinct in me screamed to stay by her side, to sit in that cold chair and wait for her to wake up.

But the name she gave me before the coma echoed in my head like a drumbeat.

Cairos Veylan.

If there were answers, they weren’t in that hospital room.

They were out there.

I drove straight to my apartment after leaving the hospital. The place looked the same as it always did—clean, quiet, a little empty.

For a moment I just stood there in the doorway.

Two years ago, Alara had been the first person to step inside this place and call it home.

Now it just felt like four walls again.

I forced myself to move.

I grabbed a duffel bag from the closet and started packing. Clothes first… jeans, shirts, jackets. Then essentials. My laptop, phone chargers, a flashlight, and a pocketknife I’d bought years ago but never really used.

Cash.

All the cash I had saved went into an envelope. If this turned into something messy, I didn’t want to rely on cards that could be tracked.

Within twenty minutes, everything I needed was thrown into the back of my truck.

I didn’t bother leaving a note for anyone.

There was no one to leave it for.

The engine rumbled to life as I pulled out of the parking lot, the city lights of Valemont glowing behind me in the rearview mirror.

Ravenmoor.

Six hours away.

Six hours to think.

Six hours for the anger simmering inside me to grow sharper.

The highway stretched endlessly in front of me as the city slowly faded into dark countryside. Buildings gave way to forests, long empty roads, and the kind of silence you only hear far away from people.

The farther I drove, the darker the sky became.

Somewhere around the third hour, the moon rose above the trees.

Full.

Bright.

Watching.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.

“Cairos Veylan,” I muttered under my breath.

The name felt heavy in my mouth.

Whoever he was… whatever he had done to Alara…

I was going to find him.

And when I did….

The truck sped down the empty road, cutting through the night as the sign finally appeared on the roadside hours later.

Welcome to Ravenmoor.

Population: 1,942.

The town looked… wrong.

Not abandoned.

But quiet in a way that made the back of my neck prickle.

Old street lamps cast pale yellow light onto narrow roads. The buildings were small, rustic, almost frozen in time. Most of the windows were dark even though it wasn’t that late.

It felt like the entire town was holding its breath.

I slowed the truck as I drove deeper in, my eyes scanning the unfamiliar streets.

Then suddenly… a figure appeared out of nowhere, right in the middle of the road.

I slammed on the brakes, the truck screeching to a stop just inches from him. My heart slammed against my ribs, adrenaline surging through every vein.

“What the… ” I muttered, throwing the truck into park and hopping out, my anger immediately overtaking fear.

The night air was cold, but it couldn’t touch the fire inside me.

He didn’t flinch. Didn’t even move aside. Just stood there, tall, impossibly calm, as if he owned the dark road itself.

And the moment my eyes locked onto him… I knew

Knew without a doubt.

He was the same man.

The man who had hurt Alara.

The man who had tried to kill her.

Cairos Veylan.