Deception and Identity
That morning was quieter than normal in the packhouse, but it wasn't reassuring. Like the quiet before a storm, it was heavy. I was sitting on the side of my bed when there was a loud, authoritative knock. The door opened and Aiden entered before I could respond. I tried to hide my nervousness by mumbling, "Good morning to you, too." He didn't answer. Rather, his gaze skimmed over me, evaluating. He urged, "Come with me," in a tone that left no space for disagreement. Every step I took echoed in the empty hall as I followed him. He ushered me into a little office that seemed menacing despite its lack of furnishings. Leaning against the door with his arms folded, Aiden shut it behind us. He gestured to the chair across from his desk and said, "Sit." I sank into the seat and obeyed after hesitating. I could feel the weight of his unwavering, penetrating stare bearing down on me. He started by saying, "Let's cut the pleasantries." "What brought you here, and who are you reallyetended to be perplexed and blinked. "As I said, I'm Iris, a renegade seeking refuge. There is nowhere else for me to go. His voice was low yet piercing as he said, "Rogues don't just stumble onto pack territory without a reason." Furthermore, they don't live as long as you say they do. Therefore, let me ask you again: who are you? Despite my racing heart, I maintained a bland demeanor. I said steadily, "I'm not sure what you want me to say." "I've already been honest with you." He leaned forward with his hands on the desk between us as his eyes narrowed. "You're telling lies." The charge lingered, and I made myself maintain my composure. "I'm not." He continued in a softer but no less forceful tone, "You don't act like a rogue." "When someone challenges you, you don't bat an eye. You're not afraid. For someone who has spent their whole life running, it is not typical. I looked him in the eye and shrugged. "Perhaps I'm just more adept than most at hiding it." His jaw was clenched as he regarded me for a long time. “You’re concealing something,” he eventually remarked. "I sense it." I leaned forward a little and whispered hastily, "I'm not a threat." "I promise that I am not here to hurt anybody. All I want is an opportunity to start fresh. He took a while to reply. Rather, he stood up straight and crossed his arms once again. Finally, he responded, "All right." "You may remain for the time being. But be aware that I will be observing you. I answered, "Thank you," but his words seemed more like a threat than a gesture of goodwill. He paused before stepping out after turning and opening the door. "And, Iris?" "Yes?" "Don't make me feel bad about this." I needed to get my thoughts straightened out after the grilling. Aiden's assumptions were way too accurate, and the atmosphere in that room had been oppressive. I moved silently and lightly as I made my way through the packhouse. There were a lot of rooms and halls in the building that I knew quite well. However, it seemed strange to be here as Iris almost like stepping into someone else's memories. I heard sounds coming from the council chamber, so I stopped outside. Curiosity overcame me, and the door was open. When I looked through the crevice and saw who was within, I gasped. Damon and Lyra. Their voices were harsh yet low, and they stood near. I strained to hear what they had to say as I leaned in. With an irritated tone, Lyra said, "She's still sniffing around." "I don't believe her." "Calm down," Damon said with ease. “She’s just a rogue. Soon enough, Aiden will find it out and send her on her way. Lyra narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. Could she be more than a rogue? What if she has some knowledge? "She doesn't," Damon said in a cocontemptuouslyermore, it wouldn't matter even if she did. We have already triumphed. Lyra grinned and eased her stance a little. "You're correct. Yes, we were victorious. Nobody had any suspicions about Nadia's disappearance. My blood boiled as I heard my name on her lips. It was all I could do not to scream into the room as my hands clenched at my sides. “And now, I’m Luna,” Lyra said, her voice brimming with contentment. I am respected by the pack. They come after me. I've won loyalty that Nadia could never hope to command. Damon laughed. "I regret that she was so unsophisticated. made everything too simple. I had heard enough. I couldn't afford to lose control of my wrath, even as it threatened to swallow me. Not quite yet. My foot snagged on the rug's edge as I turned to go, and the sound reverberated across the corridor. "What was that?" I froze at the sharpness of Lyra's voice. I waited while holding my breath. Damon paused, then said. Most likely, just one of the patrols. Don't stress about it. I didn't stick around to hear what they had to say. I hurried back to my room, making sure my footsteps were quiet. Their comments kept coming back to me, and my mind was racing. They believed they had triumphed. They believed they were secure. They were mistaken. The moonlight was now softly shining through the windows, making the passageways darker. I couldn't go directly to my room, even though I should have. My feelings were too erratic and unfiltered. I had to breathe. The fresh wind calmed my racing thoughts as I slipped out a side door and into the cold night. I could see the woodland in front of me, its shadows appealing and deep. How come you're out here? I was surprised by the voice and turned to find Aiden standing behind me. His eyes were keen and inquisitive, yet his face was inscrutable. My heart accelerated as I hurriedly added, "I couldn't sleep." "All I needed was some fresh air." He moved closer and said, "At this hour?" "Yes," I said, refusing to back down. "Is that an issue?" I could feel the weight of his scrutiny from the intensity of his stare. "You've been moving stealthily," he said in a low voice. I started to refute it, but then he was in front of me, backing me up against the wall with his hands on my arms. With a roar, he shouted, "Who are you? Raced in my chest as I gazed up at him. His presence, his fragrance, his cloclonednsensess ovewerewering. I momentarily lost my ability to breathe. My voice trembled as I eventually replied, "I told you." "My name is Iris." He said, his grasp a little tighter, "Don't lie to me." You've been behaving strangely ever since you got here. What do you have to conceal? I met his eyes and emphasized, "I'm not hiding anything." As his gaze swept over mine, I briefly believed I saw a glimpse of something recognition? He re. Stated, "You're lying," but this time, his tone was gentler, almost unsure. I didn’t answer, couldn’t respond. The air was heavy with unsaid facts, and the tension between us was oppressive. His voice was no more than a whisper as he repeated, "Who are you?" We were stopped by footsteps, and Aiden let go of me, taking a step back as one of his patrolmen came up. The wolf nodded politely and said, "Alpha." "A problem exists at the southern border. You are necessary to us. After a last, inquisitive glance at me, Aiden turned to follow the patrol member. With a mixture of comfort and fear, I watched him go, my chest constricted. He was approaching the truth too closely.The Silver Moon Valley stood silent, a world torn between ruin and rebirth. Ash drifted like morbid snowflakes, settling over the scarred earth and the splintered trunks of ancient trees. The once-proud packhouse now lay in smoldering ruins, its walls reduced to charred stones, its aura of safety gone. Wolves gathered in hushed clusters around the clearing, their gazes fixed skyward at the fractured moon. The great celestial body hung above them, its jagged crack pulsing faintly as if it were a living wound.Aiden knelt in the heart of the destruction, his fingers buried in the dirt where Iris had vanished. His nails bit into the cold soil as though he could claw through realms and drag her back from whatever void had claimed her. His voice came low, hoarse, and unyielding.“She’s not gone.” The words trembled like fragile glass. “She can’t be.”Damon stood a short distance away, his usual smug confidence stripped away. His arms were folded tight, and his expression—often unreadable—
The air was heavy with ash and blood as Iris stood in the shattered remnants of the Silver Moon Packhouse. Flames still licked the stone walls, casting flickering shadows across the carnage. Wolves lay injured and broken, their howls a mournful chorus that made the very earth tremble. Above, the Rift pulsed with malevolent energy, its crimson glow searing the sky like an open wound.Aiden knelt at the edge of the wreckage, his body trembling with barely contained darkness. Black veins spiderwebbed beneath his skin, the mark of Valeborne’s corruption spreading deeper. His sword clattered to the ground as he clutched his head.“I—I can’t hold it back,” he growled, his voice a guttural snarl. “It’s consuming me.”Iris dropped to her knees beside him, her hands glowing faintly with silver light as she pressed them against his chest. “No! I won’t let him take you. Stay with me, Aiden!”He lifted his head, his eyes glowing faintly red. “You’ll have to stop me… before I lose myself.”“No,” I
The Silver Moon Pack burned.Ash filled the air as flames licked the ancient walls of the packhouse. Screams of wolves and the roar of shadow beasts blended into a single, deafening cacophony. Iris stood on the ridge above, her Hollow Star mark blazing as she watched Lyra’s army surge through the valley like a tide of darkness.“They’re already inside,” Selene gasped beside her, ice crackling from her fingers. Her white hair was streaked with soot. “We’re too late.”“No,” Iris said firmly, her golden eyes flashing. “We still have time to save the survivors.”She turned to Damon, who stood at her other side, his twin blades humming with restrained power. “Split our forces. Selene, take the western flank and hold the bridges. Damon, with me—we take the packhouse.”Damon nodded grimly. “If we don’t make it…”“You will,” Iris said sharply. “I’m not losing anyone else tonight.”Scene 1: Breaching the ShadowsThe trio plunged into the chaos. Iris led the charge, her silver fire blazing a pa
The world trembled on the brink of collapse.From the shattered heavens, crimson rifts splintered across continents like jagged wounds. The sacred lands of the Silver Moon Pack were the first to fall under a creeping tide of shadow as Valeborne’s unholy power seeped into the world. Once-vibrant forests twisted into skeletal groves, rivers thickened into black sludge, and an eerie, mournful howl spread across the lands as the realms’ fragile balance fractured.At the edge of a darkened Rift, Damon stood, fists bloodied from pounding against the obsidian wall of shadows that pulsed faintly with life. His voice, hoarse yet defiant, echoed into the void. “Aiden! Do you hear me? I swear, I’ll bring you back.”Behind him, Iris emerged from the Circle of Flames, her body shimmering with celestial energy. Her silken hair floated as if in water, haloed by golden fire, and her Hollow Star mark blazed with silver and sapphire threads. The Moon Goddess’s essence now coursed through her veins, h
The wind howled like a chorus of the damned as Aiden staggered back from Damon’s monstrous transformation. Black wings spread from Damon’s shoulders, blotting out what little light remained in the sky. His horns gleamed with raw shadow magic, and his crimson eyes burned with Valeborne’s power.“Aiden, go!” Damon roared, his voice layered with Valeborne’s guttural tone. “I can’t hold him back for long!”But Aiden didn’t move. His grip on his lunar blade tightened as memories of every battle they’d fought together flashed through his mind. He couldn’t abandon Damon—not now, not ever.“Not a chance,” Aiden growled. “You’re still in there. I’m not leaving you to him.”The Rift above pulsed violently, sending streaks of black lightning arcing across the fortress. Lyra watched from the altar’s remains, a cruel smile curling her lips.“Foolish Alpha,” she sneered. “You can’t save him. You can’t even save yourself.”Scene 1: The TemptationThe shadows around Aiden shifted. A whisper curled in
The sky brooded over Silver Moon Valley, bloated with rolling storm clouds veined with lightning. The air was thick with ozone and the acrid scent of scorched earth, remnants of the recent skirmish that had left the once-pristine land fractured and blackened. Trees lay toppled, their trunks twisted like snapped bones, and the soil itself seemed to hum with restless energy. Damon and Aiden stood on the jagged plateau, staring at the churning Rift where Iris had been taken. Each breath they drew was laced with unspoken dread.“She’s alive,” Damon murmured, his crimson eyes glowing faintly, betraying the turmoil beneath his calm exterior. “I can feel her mark—it hasn’t gone dark.”Aiden’s jaw tightened, his fingers curling into fists. “We’ll bring her back. But first…” He swept his gaze over the decimated battlefield, where scattered survivors clung to their wounds and fear. “…we have to deal with the mess she left behind.”The Silver Moon Pack was shattered. Warriors wandered aimlessl