Chapter 3: No Way Home.

The light blazed from Tamara like liquid silver, hot enough to make everyone flinch. Even Lilith, ever composed, took a step back from the doorway, her perfect smile faltering.

“How intriguing,” Lilith mused, head tilted. “Your mother's light was cold as ice, but yours burns as hell.”

“Get out,” Tamara managed, the words pulled from some place deep inside, a place she didn't even know existed.

Lilith laughed, a cold, mocking sound. “Oh, my little niece. You're in no position to give orders. You don't even know what you are.”

The light flared, turning everything around her into a hot haze.

“Tamara,” Kai said quietly, his gaze fixed on Lilith. “You need to chill.”

“Chill?” Tamara's voice broke. 

“Your dead girlfriend just showed up and called me her niece! 'Chill' went out the window like, ten minutes ago.”

“She's not my girlfriend,” Kai snapped, his voice hard.

“Mate,” Lilith corrected, stepping into the cabin, unfazed by the light. “We were mates”, Kai. Or have you forgotten the promise you made?”

“You died,” he said, his voice raw. “Right in front of my eyes.”

“I fell off a cliff,” Lilith countered, a sly smile on her lips. “There's a difference.”

Tamara's light flickered, dimmed. The room was stifling, but she felt cold, right down to her bones.

“Three years,” Kai whispered, his eyes haunted. “I mourned you for three freak'n years.”

“And moved on pretty fast after that, didn't you?” Lilith's silver eyes locked on Tamara. “Tell me, niece, has he mentioned the mate bond? How it's supposed to be forever? One soul, one body, for all eternity?”

“Enough,” Marcus warned, stepping forward.

Lilith waved a hand, and Marcus went flying, slamming into the wall hard. He didn't move.

“Marcus!” One of the other wolves rushed to his side.

“He's fine,” Lilith said, sounding bored. “Just resting.” She turned back to Tamara. 

“Now, where were we? Oh, yes. The mate bond. Wolves only get one true lover, sweetie. So Kai either lied to me back then, or he's lying to you now.”

The light sputtering around Tamara died out, leaving them in near darkness, lit only by the moonlight pouring through the broken door.

“That's not true,” Kai said. “Sometimes, when a lover dies—”

“But I didn't die,” Lilith cut him off. “I was rescued, by your father, Tamara. He pulled me from the fall and took me home. Where you belong.”

“My father's dead,” Tamara said, but the words felt flimsy, unreal.

“Not even close.” And he's waiting for you. Lilith held out a pale hand. “Come with me, and I'll show you what you really are. What your mother always kept you from knowing.”

“She's full of shit,” Kai warned. “Don't listen to her.”

“Really?” Lilith smiled, a predatory glint in her eye. “What do you even know about any of this? You've been in this world for what, an hour? And already they've got you glowing like a light bulb and running from Hunters. Is that the life you want?”

Tamara's head swam. Everything was happening too fast. This morning she was a chill college student focusing on a photography assignment. And now she was some kind of magical hot mess with a dead aunt who wasn't dead.

“I just want to go back to my dorm,” she mumbled.

Everyone stared.

“I want my old life back. I want to go back to my normal life. Before all of this.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Lilith said, and for the first time she sounded almost kind. “There's no going back. The moment your power woke up, every supernatural thing for miles knew about it. You're on everyone's radar now.”

“She's got a point,” Kai admitted. “But Tamara, believe me, don't trust her. Ever. Your mother—”

“My mother lied to me!” It burst out of her, raw and angry. “My birthday, my father, what she was. She lied about everything. My whole life is a fat lie.”

Thunder rumbled, even though the sky was clear.

“Tamara,” Kai said softly. “Do you feel that? You're doing it again.”

She looked down. Silver light seeped from her skin like mist, burning into floor.

“I can't stop it, I can't control it,” fear gripping her.

“I can teach you,” Lilith offered. “Your father and I, we know what you are. These wolves?” She gestured to the others. “They only know fear and violence. That's why the Hunters chase them.”

“The Hunters chase us because you cut a deal with them,” Kai snarled.

Lilith's smile turned sharp. “Prove it.”

The air went thick with tension, charged with something dark and electric.

“I need air,” she mumbled, pushing past them, towards the door.

“Tamara, wait”— Kai reached out.

She flinched back. As if he was a fire that burned anything that touched it. “Don't. Just…don't.”

She stumbled from the cabin into the cool air, the moon broken. Or maybe it was all inside herself.

“Tell me it's a dream,” she whispered to the trees. “ A terrible dream." 

" I'm afraid not,” Lilith said, floating beside her like smoke. “But I know how you feel. When we first learned what we were, we got sick.”

“We?" 

"Your father and I aren't wolves, dear. We're older, rarer. Moon Children, they called us once. Back when magic was real.”

“If my father's alive, why didn't he find me?”

“Your mother's magic hid you. Even from him. He's been searching you for nineteen years.”

“Twenty,” Tamara corrected. “It's my birthday today, apparently.”

Lilith's eyes flashed. “Twenty? Already? She looked at the moon. This is bad, Tamara.”

“What is it?”

But Lilith grabbed her arm, “We got to go. Now.”

“Don't touch her!” Kai roared, exploding from the cabin, bone cracking, shifting.

“You Idiot!” Lilith spat. “Look at the moon!”

Everyone looked up. The crack spread, branching over the full moon.

“The Awakening,” Marcus gasped, leaning in the doorway. It can't be.

“What's the Awakening?” Tamara asked.

“The end,” Lilith said softly. “Only the beginning, depending on who wins.”

A howl echoed, then many.

That's not our pack, Kai said, fully wolf.

“Nope,” Lilith said. “Those are the Ferals. All rage and crazy.” She faced Tamara. “They will come for you.”

“Then we need to move. Right now!” Marcus said.

“Where?” Lilith said. “The cabin is not safe. The campus is crowded with Hunters.”

“There is another place,” Kai said.

“The pack house? That's too obvious.” Marcus asked.

“No. Not the pack house.” Kai’s golden eyes found Tamara’s. " Your mother had another safe house. One she never told anyone about. Except me.”

“Then how do you know about it?” Tamara asked.

“ Because that's where she kept your father’s things. The things she didn't want you to find, until you're ready.”

“This is too much. I'm not ready for any of this!”

Another howl, closer this time. In the trees, eyes began to appear. Not golden like Kai’s pack. These were red. Hungry.

“I think they have found you.” Lilith said, watching.

“Ready or not, here they come." 

One exploded from the forest—a wolf wrong in every way. Too big, too many teeth, foam dripping from it's mouth. It headed straight for Tamara. 

Kai met it mid-leap, and they crashed together in a tangle of fur and fury.

“Run,” he roared.

But Tamara could not move. Because more were coming. Dozens of them, all wrong, all hungry, all focused on her.

A wave of silver exploded from her.

A roar shook the forest. Not wolf. Something bigger. Older. 

“No. He wouldn't. Not yet." Lilith breathed.

" Who?” Tamara asked.

But she already knew. Somehow, in her bones, she knew.

Her fathers was coming.

And he wasn't human either.