The Lost Beta 16 - Ashes and Reckoning

Over the moonshadow, the sun rose. Pack paints the horizon in gold and ash with a spooky silence. The smokey smell of burning buildings filled Emily's nostrils as she stood at the tree line, her arms encircling herself. Their borders were damaged by the aftermath of the renegade attack, but her mind was more broken than the ground. Knowing about her lineage became an uncontrollable blaze she couldn't put out, as her mother's haunting words from the ancestral temple lingered in her mind. 

Alexander silently stepped in from behind her and held her hands. They remained quiet; there was no need for conversation. Both of them had lost too much and seen too much. But something strong stirred beneath the debris. A unity born not of tradition, but choice. A pack remade. "They must not win," Emily said in a whisper as she turned to face him. Not again.”

She was in grief but her heart ached more. It was guilt. For surviving. For forgetting. For coming back only to bring more destruction. Alexander could sense her turmoil, his grip tightening. "Your return saved us, not doomed us," he said firmly. But even he couldn’t quiet the storm brewing in her heart.

Through the haze, pack members gathered around what was once their training ground. Repairs had begun, but with every stone lifted, questions were unearthed. Who orchestrated the rogue attack? Why now? And most troubling, how had they gotten past the protective barriers without a trace?

Emily's wolf stirred uneasily. A memory not hers shimmered across her mind's eye, a woman cloaked in fire, whispering betrayal beneath the moonlight. It vanished before she could grasp it fully, leaving her breathless. She knew then: the danger wasn’t over. It had just begun.

As Emily and Alexander moved deeper into the wreckage, they found strange markings along the stone walls and signs scorched into the ruins. Not werewolf, not witch. Something older. Something forbidden. Emily felt tense as her fingers lingered above the markings. A sudden cold enveloped her. "These weren’t meant to be seen," she murmured.

Alexander called for Sage Loren, the oldest mystic of the Moonshadow Pack. The woman arrived shrouded in her usual blend of herbs and incense, but her face paled as she examined the sigils. "This is bloodcraft," she whispered, her voice trembling. "This hasn’t been used since the fall of the Shadow Court."

Emily felt the earth shift beneath her. The Shadow Court had ruled long before the packs were divided, before the wolf gods disappeared into legend. Their magic was outlawed, erased from lore. And now it had returned etched into the very heart of her pack's destruction.

But the sigils weren’t just warnings. They were instructions. A chart guiding to something concealed under the ancient temple remains. Emily's heartbeat intensified. Although she did not know why, deep inside of her she needed to follow it.

The others were consumed by fear but Emily stepped aside and quietly followed the path. She didn't inform Alexander. Not until she found out what lay beneath. With a flashlight in hand, she ventured into the ruins by herself and discovered a stone door marked with her birth symbol. 

She placed her palm against the stone, her hand shaking. It moaned open after hissing.

Compared to the wind outside, the air inside was cooler. stale. old. Emily entered a spacious room with moonstone and obsidian carvings. The walls were painted with murals of wolf-goddess queens, each with a crescent moon on top and clad in combat armor. She recognized one of them. The face in the mural was hers.

No, not hers. Her ancestor.

With each stride she made, the chamber started to pulsate with a low murmur. On it was a scroll on top of an altar in the left side of the room, it was crimson wax sealed. The room's vibrations in an instant was in sync with Emily's heartbeat. In her head, her wolf was eagerly prowling. Hungry. She reached for the scroll and unsealed it.

The words written inside weren’t just history, they were prophecies. And not a passive one. It spoke of a coming war between corrupted Alphas and the blood-marked heirs of the Moon Queens. Of a rebellion led by a forgotten bloodline. Her bloodline.

Emily gasped, staggering back. The truth crashed over her like a wave. Her mother hadn’t just been a rogue leader. She had been a Queen in exile. And Emily, she was the heir to a dynasty long buried beneath lies and fear.

But the scroll ended with a warning: Beware the twin flames. One will awaken your power. The other will try to destroy it.

Emily returned to the surface cloaked in silence. The scroll hidden beneath her cloak felt like it burned against her skin. Alexander met her at the edge of the ruins, he was worried sick. "You went alone," he said, not accusingly, but with worry.

"I had to. Something’s coming, Alex. I can feel it. We’re not prepared."

He walked beside her toward the packhouse, his jaw tight. "Tell me everything. No more secrets. Not between us."

Emily hesitated, then handed him the scroll. As he read, his expression turned grave. "This... this changes everything."

"It does. And there's more. The prophecy mentions a second flame. Someone who will try to destroy me."

Alexander stiffened. His mind flashed to the prisoner they had captured after the attack. A lone wolf who had claimed to know Emily. Claimed to have loved her in the past. His eyes, filled with unsaid fear as it met hers. "He must be seen. "Now."

The cell was shrouded in darkness and tension filled the atmosphere accompanied with secrets. Emily stepped inside, and the rogue prisoner lifted his head slowly. His face looked familiar though it was bruised. "You don’t know me?" he asked softly.

Emily shook her head. "Should I?"

"We were promised, Emily. Before the fire. Before they took your memories. I was your mate."

The room spun. Alexander growled low behind her, but she held up a hand. "You're lying."

"No. I was cast out. They said I wasn't worthy. But I never stopped searching for you. Until they caught me."

Her heart raced. Could this be the second flame? Could the bond she felt for Alexander be wrong? Manufactured? Or worse manipulated? The prisoner leaned forward, eyes pleading. "Let me prove it. Let me help you remember."

That evening the moonlight guided Emily through the stone path as she strolled through the gardens. The rogue's remarks worried her deeply. A promised mate. A stolen past. Could it be true? Or was it another trap? Her memories had returned in fragments, but not everything had been restored.

Alexander found her, his expression unreadable. "If there's any truth to what he said... we need to know."

"And if he's lying?"

"Then we end it. But if he’s telling the truth, Emily, it changes everything."

Her chest hurt. "I hope it doesn't alter anything." I want you."

"I want you too. But I want the truth more. We both deserve that."

They were uncertain of which course would save or destroy them as they stood beneath the moon, caught between duty and love.

Meanwhile, a darker force simmered deep inside the woodlands that bordered the Moonshadow domain. The rogue leader who had orchestrated the attack met with a cloaked witch under the cover of night. They exchanged blood, symbols, and whispered promises.

"She’s awakening too fast," the witch muttered. "We must stall her. The ritual isn’t ready."

"And the second flame?"

"He will remember. And when he does, he will choose destruction."

The rogue grinned. "Let her believe in destiny. Let her believe in love. It will be her undoing."

From the shadows, a familiar figure watched. An ally turned traitor. A betrayal yet to unfold.

The witch’s voice echoed in the wind: "The Queen may rise, but even Queens can bleed."

As the Blood Moon neared, the pack's energy shifted. Warriors trained harder. Defenses were fortified. But beneath the surface, trust eroded. Not all wolves supported Emily's assertion, and rumors of a secret prophecy spread like wildfire.

The wind was pulling Emily's coat as she stood on the packhouse balcony. The renegade inmate was escorted into the courtyard below to be interrogated. The moon cast a strange glow over him, almost protective.

Beside her, Alexander watched silently. "Whatever happens tomorrow... promise me something."

"Anything."

"Don't choose fate over your heart."

Emily nodded, but inside, her heart warred with her instincts. The second flame had been lit. But which man truly held the match?

She didn't see the silver-eyed traitor lurking in the woods, he waited patiently for an opportunity and struck an arrow aimed at her back.

Emily leaves the balcony when someone suddenly lets out a loud cry. The stone where her head had been a second ago was struck by an arrow that cut through the air. There were screams. Guards rushed in. But when they searched the trees, the assassin was already gone and had left behind a single, chilling message:

"The Queen must not rise.”