Chapter 5 — The Stranger Called Ardan

Lila’s POV

When I wake up, I’m not in the forest anymore. My nose fills with the scent of smoke, crushed herbs, and wet stone. A rough wool blanket lies over me, heavy and scratchy. There’s a faint hum in the air — like magic around me.

Every inch of my body aches. My bones feel like they've overgrown my skin overnight. My veins are hot and thrumming as if electrified by lightning.

The relic.

Flashes of how it burned when I touched it sweep through my mind. The flash of silver light, the pain tearing through my body, my wolf howling inside me and then finally everything going black.

Now, I’m awake. But something in me feels off.

Different.

“Where am I?” I whisper to myself, my voice cracking as I try to sit up.

“Safe,” a voice answers.

I turn toward it reaching for the dagger stashed in my now torn boot. The silhouette of a man stands in the doorway — tall, broad, with dark silver streaked hair. His eyes catch the light of the flames, glowing like liquid moonlight.

I point my dagger at him. "Who are you?"

He gives me a deadpan look as if that's supposed to answer my question.

“You’ve been unconscious for three days,” he says calmly. “Your body couldn’t decide which of your forms to stay in whether human or turn wolf. You were lucky it didn’t tear itself apart.”

My pulse accelerates. “Who are you?” I repeat.

"Did you hit your head hard enough to forgot our introduction already?" He questioned.

"What?"

"Ardan," he replies simply. “And you, girl, carry something the world thought long extinct.”

I frown. "What are you talking about?"

He steps closer, slow and deliberate. “You touched a relic made to answer only to the Moonblooded.”

Chills run down my spine upon hearing that word. “The Moonblooded? That’s just a children's nighttime story.”

His lips twitch — not quite a smile. “Every myth was truth once, before fear turned it into a bedtime warning.”

He kneels beside me, lowering his voice. “The Moonblooded are wolves chosen once in a century by the Moon Goddess herself. Born into this world under her blessing, carrying with them fragments of her power. Your kind can heal faster, fight longer, and call upon the light that destroys corruption. But the gift is double-edged — it burns just as easily as it blesses.”

I stare at him, blood pulsing in my ears. “And you think I’m one of them?”

“No I don't think, I know you are. The relic would’ve killed anyone else,” he replies. “You are alive because that power was waiting for you; inside you — hidden, recessive, and buried in your bloodline.”

He pauses, studying me. “Tell me, child — did your mother ever tell you of the first Alpha Queens?”

"No." I shake my head.

“They were Moonblooded,” he says. “They ruled not with claws violence and tyranny, but with light. But when their power grew too strong, fear crept in. The councils began to fear them and in a plan to secure their authority and their heads they erased their name from history, slaughtered their lines, and swore the Goddess would never choose again.”

I can barely breathe. “But she did.”

“Yes.” His gaze sharpens, fierce and reverent. “She chose you.”

A bitter laugh slips from me. “Then she made a mistake.”

He shakes his head. “The Moon doesn’t make mistakes, Lila. Only demands.”

The words sink into me like a brand — heavy, unrelenting.

“So what happens now?” I whisper.

Ardan’s expression sharp and knowing.

“You learn,” he says. “Or you burn."

"You learn what it means to be a creature of both light and wrath.”

He gets up and moving for the door only to stop half way. Turning back, he says, “Rest tonight. Tomorrow, I will teach you how to survive what you now are. The Moon gives power freely… but never without a price, She will always ask for something in return.”

And for the first time since Kael rejected me, I didn’t feel broken.

I felt chosen.