Chapter 6: Shadows on the Cave Wall

The silvery glow radiating from the ancient cave runes pulsed in rhythm with Kael’s frantic, shallow breathing. Outside the barrier, the fog swallowed the black-cloaked hunters, but the silence inside the stone chamber felt far more suffocating.

​Selene knelt over Kael, her knees digging into the cold gravel floor. The black, ink-like tendrils of the hunter's curse had reached his jawline, throbbing like dark lightning beneath his pale skin. His silver eyes were unfocused, staring up at the vaulted ceiling as if seeing ghosts.

​"Kael, stay with me!" Selene shouted, slapping his burning cheek with a trembling palm. "Who killed my parents? Who gave Thomas the poison?!"

​"The... Silver Lunas," Kael rasped, his hand tightening around her wrist until her bones groaned under the pressure. "Your bloodline... wasn't destroyed by rogues, Selene. It was... wiped out. Erased from within the High Council..."

​Selene felt the air leave her lungs. Wiped out. All her life, Beta Thomas and Elder William had told her that her parents were traitorous low-bloods killed in a pathetic rogue raid. It had been the lie used to justify keeping her as a servant, whipping her, and locking her in dark cells.

​"Why?" she whispered, a tear escaping her eye and splashing onto Kael's forehead. "Why target my family? Why target you?"

​"Because..." Kael choked out, black liquid trickling from the corner of his mouth, "...the Silver Lunas hold the blood-seal to the First Alpha's vault. The ancient magic in your veins holds the power over life and death... and my father... my father sold them out to buy his throne."

​The confession hung in the damp air like a blade. Selene pulled her hand back as if scorched.

​His father. The previous High Alpha. The man Kael succeeded.

​"Your family destroyed mine?" Selene gasped, horror and betrayal twisting her gut. The mate bond between them shrieked in protest, a violent storm of magnetic attraction fighting against raw, agonizing grief.

​"I didn't... know," Kael groaned, his vision swimming as his body convulsed. "I found... the ledger in my father’s vault... three nights ago. That’s why... why I tried to push you away... why I banished you! I wanted you... far from the council... far from him..."

​"Him?" Selene demanded, leaning closer as Kael’s pulse stuttered dangerously. "Who is he?!"

​"The Shadow Hand..." Kael’s voice dipped into a deathly whisper. "The arch-hunter. He isn't outside the pack, Selene... he sits on... the Elders' council..."

​Before Selene could demand a name, Kael’s head snapped back against the stone floor. His back arched in a violent spasm, a low scream tearing from his throat as the black veins flared violently. The dark corruption reached his temples. His silver eyes rolled back, his pulse died, and his body went completely limp.

​"Kael!" Selene screamed, grabbing his head. "No! No, no, no, Kael, wake up!"

​Panic clawed at her throat. She looked down at the silver, crescent-shaped birthmark on her collarbone—the seal of the Silver Lunas, the ancient bloodline capable of binding and restoring wolf souls. The White Wolf's prophecy echoed in her mind: One will die so the other may reign, and the blood of the Moon will demand its payment.

​"Demand its payment," Selene whispered, her eyes widening in realization.

​Without thinking, Selene grabbed a sharp piece of flint from the cave floor and dragged it across her left palm. Deep crimson blood welled up from the wound. She pressed her bleeding palm directly over Kael’s still heart, letting the ancient, dormant power in her veins ignite, and pressed her lips against his icy ear.

​"You don't get to die on me, Kael," she snarled through her tears. "You owe me answers!"

​Instantly, a blinding flash of white and silver light erupted from her mark. The cave trembled as raw magic surged from her blood into his chest, purging the dark curse like fire on dry straw.

​Outside the cave, an ear-splitting screech rent the night air—a sound that was half-human, half-demon.

​Kael’s lungs gasped for air as he sat up violently, slamming Selene back against the cave wall. His eyes snapped open—glowing with an ethereal, blinding golden light.

​At that exact second, the runic barriers protecting the cave entrance shattered like glass.

​Standing in the newly opened archway was Beta Thomas, holding a glowing black blade in his hand, flanked by Elder William and six fully transformed warrior wolves.

​"Look at that, boys," Thomas sneered, stepping over the broken runes with a cruel smile. "The orphan girl just opened the vault for us."