CHAPTER-8: CLAWS AND CONSEQUENCES

Zoe’s POV

After our glorious escape from Asheville, we were met by a fuming Alpha—who also happened to be my dad—right at the edge of Diamond Ville.

“Hello, Dad! Did you miss me?” I chirped, planting an innocent kiss on his cheek.

“Virelle called,” he said, ignoring my attempt at charm.

“What about her, Dad?” I asked, feigning cluelessness.

“She’s agreed not to throw you three into the Red Room—if you go back after one week and never pull a stunt like this again,” he said in his best angry-Alpha voice. It was mostly an act. He’d crack soon.

“But Dad, we don’t want to go back to Asheville! This is our home—it only makes sense to learn in the place where we actually belong!” I wailed. “Please don’t send us away.”

“My silly child,” he sighed, pulling me into a long hug, arms wrapping tightly around my waist.

Yeah, he missed me—even if it had just been a few hours.

“Zoe, let’s go inside and talk. Alex, bring the others. I want to tell you all something,” he said, ushering us into his truck.

* * * * *

“Zoe! My baby!” Mom cried, enveloping me in her arms the moment I stepped inside our mansion.

“I missed you so much, Mom!” I sobbed into her chest. Her embrace felt like everything I’d been aching for.

“My sweet girl, I missed you too,” she whispered, rubbing my back. Then she pulled away slightly to check us all for injuries. “Did any of you get hurt?”

“Relax, Mom! No one got hurt!” I said, half-laughing.

“I heard about the rogue ambush on your way back,” Dad jumped in. “How could you take such a risky route?”

“Dad, we’ve trained our whole lives. We handled them—it was over before it even started.”

“That’s not the point!” he barked. “They were ex-warriors. One wrong move and—”

He cut himself off, exasperated.

“Dad, we just wanted to come home. Being away from all of you... it crushed us.” I wiped my tears as they began falling again, this time real.

“George, please,” Mom said, gently pushing Dad and his Beta out the door. “Go back to your pack work. Let me have my girls.”

Once he left, Mom turned back to us with a mischievous grin and arched brow.

We burst into laughter as we spilled everything—our escape, the rogue fight, our wild journey. By the end, our sides ached.

“Well,” Mom smirked, “what matters is that I won the bet with your Alpha and saved your butts!”

“What bet, Luna?” Lyra asked, eyes wide.

“That you’d return before nightfall. Your father had to cave when he lost.”

“What were your conditions?” Seris asked, grinning.

“One: You all stay here for a week. Two: No punishments whatsoever.”

That called for a group hug. We tackled Mom with all the love we had.

Sigh. Mothers really are the best. What would I do without mine?

“Zoooooe! Wake up, dearie! We’re going shopping with Lyra and her mom!” Mom announced at the crack of dawn.

“What about Seris? Isn’t she coming?” I asked groggily, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“She’s down with a fever. Her father’s got her under care,” Mom replied as I sat up.

* * * * *

“Mom... where are we going?” I asked, blinking at the unfamiliar path as we drove past the mall and into thick, shadowy woods.

“You’ll see soon,” Leena—Lyra’s mom—answered. “We’re five minutes out.”

We soon rolled up to a massive stone structure near a serene lake surrounded by rugged cliffs and cherry blossoms.

“This,” Leena announced, “is Peace Land. You’ve heard the boys talk about the Red Room? That illusion was modeled after this place. This is where we trained—vamps and wolves alike—when we were your age.”

“Why haven’t we ever been here before?” Lyra asked, wide-eyed.

“But you have,” Mom smiled.

Then it hit me.

That breeze.

That eerie hum in the trees.

“This is the same place!” I gasped. “Just... from the front view!”

“Yes,” Mom nodded. “Your father and I chose the most dangerous stretch of these woods to train the younglings. We wanted you to be more than strong—we wanted you immune to vampire spells and their mind games.”

“So that’s how the boys survived so long in the Red Room…” Lyra said, voice trailing.

She and her brother were uncanny when it came to strategy—calm thinkers, photographic memories, always calculating.

“Do you remember the ‘Drown & Run’ sessions?” Leena suddenly asked.

How could we forget?

Those soul-snatching exams where they’d toss us off the cliff into that colorless lake.

Not just a swim—no.

The waves would twist our bodies painfully. And inside? Sea creatures. Shadows. Mind-bending illusions.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

Once thrown in, we were on our own. No boats. No help. Just one goal: swim across and survive.

As we got older, the trials got harder—until the final test, when all the creatures we’d ever faced came at us at once.

Somehow, we survived. Barely.

Looking at that lake now made me nauseous.

“Come, baby,” Mom said, hugging me close. “I have something to show you.”

She led us into a cave carved behind the structure and handed me a pendant—simple, with a white wolf claw dangling in the center.

“Let me put it on you,” she whispered, clasping it gently.

The moment the claw touched my skin—it vanished.

Lyra received one too. Hers had a red claw.

“Keep this secret. Not even your fathers can know,” Mom warned. “These are made from our own claws—to bypass mindlink blockers.”

“They’re both blessed... and cursed,” Leena added. “They only work when the claw decides it must pass a message.”

“You’ll feel a slight heaviness when that moment comes,” Mom said.

“And no one else can see them—only you. A powerful vampire may sense its presence but can’t trace it,” Leena added.

“So... Virelle could feel it?” Lyra asked.

“She might,” Mom admitted. “But we made these in total secrecy. I doubt she’ll understand their use.”

“What worries me,” Leena said, turning to Mom, “is why she didn’t sense Zoe exiting the gates. That’s... off.”

“What do you mean?” I asked carefully.

“She means,” Mom said, “that something’s not right. And it’s time we told you everything.”

She opened the mindlink.

To all of Shadow Gang.

“They deserve to know everything before the Great War begins,” she said solemnly.

“As you say, Luna,” Leena agreed.

* * * * *

CHARACTER SKETCH:

SHADOW GANG MEMBERS:

Zoe Stone – Leader

Draven – Zoe’s Beta

Lyra – Draven’s sister

Seris – Draven and Lyra’s adopted sister

Kael – Third in command

Damon – Fourth in command

ALPHAS:

Talon Green – Green Moss Pack

Lucan Cohen – Ocean Spirit Pack

Corwin Dixon – Moon Shine Pack

Valen Anderson – Crystal Blood Pack

Zarek Rexter – Silver Bow Pack

ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS:

Virelle – Headmistress, Asheville

Kacy – Virelle’s Secretary