FAZER LOGIN~Ronan~A cold wind rushed past us.Beyond them lay a room unlike anything I had ever seen.There were no cradles this time.Instead, a circular pool occupied the center of the chamber. Its surface was black and perfectly still. Around it stood twelve stone pillars, each bearing the name of an ancient werewolf clan.At the far end of the room stood a glass enclosure.Inside it was a small bed.And on that bed lay a child.Lisa gasped.The child looked about four years old. His dark hair fell across his forehead, and his hands rested peacefully on his stomach.A silver mark covered his chest.He looked exactly like Milo.Not almost exactly.Exactly.The same face. The same small nose. The same shape of his mouth.Even the faint scar above his left eyebrow was identical.Milo lifted his head from my shoulder."That's him."Lisa covered her mouth."Oh, my God."Aurel hurried past us and stopped before the glass enclosure.His face crumpled."You're awake."The child on the bed didn't mov
~Ronan~"Lisa, don't move!"I caught her wrist just as she took her first step toward the staircase.She looked at me with tears in her eyes."Ronan, you heard that voice. It sounded like me.""I know.""What if there's really a child down there?""Then we'll find out what it is before we let it get near you."The voice came again."Mommy?"Lisa flinched."Please don't leave me here."I felt her struggling against my grip."Lisa, look at me."She turned toward me, but her eyes kept drifting toward the darkness."I have spent my entire life believing I knew who my family was," she whispered. "My mother is alive. A child I have never met is calling me his mother. And now everyone expects me to stand here and do nothing.""I'm not asking you to do nothing. I'm asking you to let me protect you.""And what if that child needs me?"I had no answer.Because I had heard the same thing in her voice that I had heard in Milo's whenever he was frightened and needed his mother.Whatever was beneat
~Lisa~Silence settled over the chamber.Milo's fingers curled into Ronan's shirt.My mother continued."The Circle believed your son would become the perfect heir. He carried two powerful bloodlines, and his unusually early wolf awakening convinced them that the prophecy had finally begun.""But they were wrong," Elias said.My mother nodded."They misunderstood the prophecy. They believed Milo was the child who would restore the King. They never considered that he might be the child who could destroy him."Ronan's arms tightened around Milo."Then what does the other child have to do with this?"My mother looked toward the floor."That child was born before the prophecy was rewritten."Aurel lowered his head.Daniel began to tremble."And when the Circle discovered what he could do," my mother continued, "they tried to erase him from the royal bloodline.""Who is he?" I asked.My mother opened her mouth.A terrible scream rose from beneath us.The sound shook the chamber, sending du
~Lisa~"My Queen, the other child has awakened."The voice came from beneath the floor.My mother's fingers tightened around Ronan's arm, and the color drained from her face."No," she whispered. "It cannot be happening yet."I dropped beside her."Mother, what other child? What are they talking about?"She looked at me, but her eyes kept returning to Milo. He was still in Ronan's arms, his chest glowing with two different colors. Gold spread across one side of the mark, while silver covered the other.Aurel stood beside the broken cradle, shaking his head."No. He wasn't supposed to wake up."Ronan held Milo closer."Someone had better start explaining what is happening to my son."My mother tried to stand, but her legs failed her. Ronan caught her before she fell again."Don't waste time asking questions," she said breathlessly. "We have to leave.""Not until you tell me what you know," I insisted.Her gaze met mine.For the first time since I had seen her emerge from the cradle, I
~Lisa~Ronan went rigid.The voice was no longer coming from the darkness alone. It seemed to fill every corner of the chamber, slipping through the walls and rising from the floor beneath our feet."You have no idea what she sacrificed for you."Ronan bared his teeth."Whatever you are, stop using her face."The woman sighed."I see he hasn't told you everything, Lisa."I looked at Ronan.He looked just as confused as I felt."What hasn't he told me?"The woman's smile widened."Ask him why he never searched for you after you disappeared."My heart stopped.I turned toward Ronan."What?""Lisa, listen to me.""Did you know where I was?""No.""Did you know I was pregnant?"His silence lasted only a second, but it was enough to hurt."I suspected," he said. "My father told me you might be carrying a child, but he never told me where you were."The woman's face twisted with amusement."Half a truth. How convenient."Ronan's grip tightened around my hand."Don't listen to her.""Then te
~Lisa~The moment the figure reached for me, Ronan pulled me behind him."Don't touch her!"The creature stopped.Its hidden face turned toward Ronan, and a low laugh escaped from beneath its crown."You still believe your strength can protect her."Ronan's claws extended. "Come closer and find out.""Ronan, don't!" Elias shouted.But the warning came too late.The shadows rushed forward.Ronan swung at them, but his claws passed through the darkness as though he were fighting smoke. The force of the movement sent him stumbling, and the shadows wrapped around his arms.I screamed his name.Then something inside me burned.I grabbed the silver moon pendant hanging around my neck, and the moment my fingers closed around it, the entire chamber flashed white.The shadows released Ronan.The creature staggered backward.For the first time, I saw something beneath its crown.Not a face.A wound.A deep, black opening where its face should have been, surrounded by lines that looked like crac







