CHAPTER FIVE

The whisper echoed long after it stopped, slithering through the corners of my mind like smoke. I stood frozen, my breath caught somewhere between denial and dread. I wasn’t sure if it was real, or if my exhaustion had finally begun to play tricks on me. But my wolf was alert, ears up, pacing just beneath my skin.

That voice knew my name.

Not in the way strangers do.

In the way ancient things do.

We scanned around finding nothing, no source of the voice.

Kael took my hand and led me inside his grip was tight, and tension rippled off him like a second skin.

“You felt it too,” I said.

He didn’t speak. That was enough of an answer.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, my voice sharp.

Kael didn’t move. His gaze was calculating, his body still. “You need to come with me.”

“Answer me first.”

“No time,” he growled. “The Black Ash Council is waiting”.

That pulled me up short.

“They weren’t supposed to arrive for another moon cycle, but they’re here now. And they’ve asked for you by name.”

My blood ran cold. “Why would they know me?”

Kael’s jaw clenched. “Because prophecy always comes with witnesses. And enemies.”

He didn’t give me time to argue. I followed him through the winding halls of the pack house, heart pounding, every step heavier than the last. Whispers trailed behind us from servants and guards alike. They stared, not just at him—but at me. Like I was something dangerous. Something sacred. Or both.

The Council waited in the ceremonial room—a cold, high-ceilinged space lined with silver and obsidian. I felt the magic woven into its stones, humming underfoot like a quiet threat.

There were six of them.

Each draped in robes the color of moonlight, hoods casting their faces in shadow. Only their eyes showed—and they were all silver. Not gray. Not pale. Silver. Like liquid metal watching, judging, knowing.

Kael bowed. I did not.

One of them stepped forward, tall and reed-thin, with a voice like dried leaves scraping across stone.

“She bears the mark,” he said.

“What mark?” I snapped, even as my skin crawled with heat.

Another council member spoke, a woman with a voice softer but no less chilling. “The bond of blood. Of prophecy. She was born under the Crimson Moon.”

Kael turned toward them, protective tension radiating from every line of his body. “You said this was a political visit.”

The woman smiled—faint and humorless. “Everything is political, Alpha. Especially when power begins to stir in forgotten places.”

They turned to me, the silver-eyed man stepping closer. I fought the urge to flinch as he studied my face like a riddle he’d waited years to solve.

“You should be dead,” he said softly. “And yet… here you stand. Fire in your blood. Ash on your past. A mistake the fates couldn’t erase.”

Kael growled. “Enough.”

But I raised a hand. I wanted to hear more. I needed to.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

The man’s eyes glittered. “You are the harbinger. The one whose presence stirs the balance between packs. Between realms. Others’ve watched your rise with unease.”

“Others?”