Chapter 35: Five Years Later

 

[Five Years Later]

The Silver Moon Elite Academy was the most prestigious preschool for high-ranking wolf pups. It was a place of polished marble, organic snacks, and tiny Alphas-in-training.

"Mr. Blackwood, Mrs. Blackwood... thank you for coming on such short notice."

The Principal, a beta female who looked like she hadn't slept since 2021, was trembling as she sat across from us.

Killian sat in the tiny plastic chair, looking absurdly large and dangerous. He was wearing a tailored black suit, but the aura of a predator still leaked out of him. Beside him, I tried to look like a normal, concerned mother, but it was hard when my five-year-old daughter was currently levitating her juice box in the corner of the room.

"Nyx, put it down," I whispered.

Nyx, with her pitch-black pigtails and violet eyes, didn't even look at me. She just let the juice box drop. Splat.

"So," Killian said, his voice a low rumble that made the Principal’s pens rattle. "Why are we here? Did Lucian break another training dummy?"

"No, actually," the Principal squeaked. "Prince Lucian has been... exemplary. He is the most popular boy in school. He shares his toys. He protects the smaller pups. He is a literal sunbeam."

"Then what's the problem?" Killian narrowed his eyes.

The Principal hesitated, then pulled out a tablet and slid it across the desk. It was security footage from the playground.

We saw Lucian, looking like a mini-Killian with golden hair, standing in front of a group of younger pups. A ten-year-old bully from the senior class—a boy twice Lucian’s size—was trying to take a ball away.

Lucian didn't fight. He just stood his ground, radiating that calm, Alpha authority he had inherited from his father.

"Leave them alone, Leo," mini-Lucian said on the recording. "It’s not yours."

The bully pushed Lucian. Lucian stumbled back but didn't fall.

Then, the camera shifted.

In the background, sitting on a swing set, was Nyx. She wasn't playing. She was holding a tattered black teddy bear, watching the scene with narrowed violet eyes.

As the bully raised his hand to punch Lucian, something happened.

The shadows beneath the bully’s feet suddenly stretched. They turned into long, black claws that wrapped around his ankles.

The boy shrieked as he was yanked backward. He didn't just fall; he was dragged across the grass by invisible hands.

Then, the shadows lifted him five feet into the air and hung him upside down from a basketball hoop.

Nyx never moved. She just took a sip of her juice.

"He's still up there," the Principal whispered, her voice shaking. "He’s been screaming for twenty minutes. Our security team can't get him down. The shadows... they bite."

Killian looked at the footage. Then he looked at Nyx.

I expected him to be angry. I expected a lecture about 'discretion' and 'hiding our secrets'.

Instead, Killian let out a dark, proud chuckle.

"Good height," he muttered. "The form on that shadow-tether was perfect."

"Killian!" I hissed, elbowing him in the ribs.

"What?" he looked at me, completely unrepentant. "He touched her brother. He’s lucky she didn't feed him to the garden gnomes."

Killian stood up, looming over the Principal.

"My daughter was defending her brother from an unprovoked attack by a senior student," Killian stated, his Alpha tone making the Principal’s knees knock together. "If anything, you should be apologizing to us for your lack of supervision."

"But... the shadows! The Dark Magic!" the Principal gasped.

"It was an optical illusion caused by the sun," Killian lied, his face as stone-cold as the day of the Presentation Ceremony. "And if I hear a word about 'Dark Magic' again, I will reconsider my family's very generous donation to this academy."

Ten minutes later, we were walking out of the school.

Lucian was skipping ahead of us, oblivious to the drama. Nyx was riding on Killian’s shoulders, her tiny hands tangled in his hair.

"Nyx," I said, trying to sound stern. "We talked about this. No shadows at school."

Nyx leaned down, looking at me with those swirling violet eyes.

"He hit Lucian," she said. It was the first thing she had said all day. Her voice was tiny, but it had a chill that made my hair stand on end.

"He didn't hit him, honey, he just pushed—"

"He meant to hit him," Nyx corrected. "I saw his heart. It was black."

Killian stopped. He reached up and tucked a strand of black hair behind Nyx's ear.

"Did you, now?" he asked, his voice filled with a terrifying kind of pride.

"Yes, Daddy. So I put him in the hoop. Shadows like the hoop. It's high up."

Killian grinned, a fierce, wolfish expression. He looked at me, and I saw the same thought in his eyes: She’s getting stronger. The 'Destroyer' is starting to wake up.

"Next time," Killian told his daughter, "Wait until you're off-camera. I’ll teach you how to scramble the sensors."

"Killian Blackwood!" I groaned. "You are going to raise a super-villain!"

"No," Killian said, pulling me close and kissing my forehead. "I'm raising a Blackwood. And the world better get used to it."

As we walked to the car, I looked at my two children.

The Golden Boy and the Shadow Girl.

They were beautiful. They were powerful. And they were going to be the biggest marketing sensation the wolf world—and the internet—had ever seen.