the memories

*CHAPTER 14: THE MEMORIES*

I woke up in the Luna bed.

Not the altar. Someone had carried me back. Kade's cloak was over me, Leo was curled against my side, breathing softly.

And my neck was warm.

I touched it. A mark. Not just a bite — a glowing white mark, shaped like a crescent moon with a tiny black wolf paw inside it.

Kade's mark.

I sat up fast and saw him. He was sitting on the floor beside the bed, asleep sitting up, his head on the mattress, his big hand holding mine even in sleep. His neck had a mark too — black, with a white paw inside.

We were truly mated. Both marked. Moon Goddess accepted it.

"You're awake," a soft voice said. Luna Rhea was by the fireplace. "You slept two days."

"Two days?" I whispered. "Leo—"

"He's fine. He refused to leave you. He ate, slept, told everyone his Mama has a glowy tattoo now." She smiled, but her eyes were worried. "Ani... after you marked... something happened."

"What?"

"The Moon Temple marks are old magic. When a white and black mate mark, the Goddess shows the pack the truth. To stop lies."

My stomach dropped.

"What truth?"

Luna Rhea stood and opened the Luna room door.

Outside, the whole pack square was silent. Hundreds of wolves were standing there, not training, not talking. Just standing. Looking at the pack house.

And in the middle of the square, white light was playing like a movie in the air.

My memories.

I saw myself, eighteen, in a white dress that was too big, standing in that same square five years ago.

I heard Kade's voice, younger, colder: _"I, Alpha Kade Black, reject you, Ani Grey, as my fated mate and Luna."_

I saw myself fall. I saw the rain. I saw myself walking away alone with a bag, bleeding from where I fell, no one helping.

I saw myself in the Black Forest, pregnant, crying, building a clinic with my mother's journal.

I saw myself giving birth to Leo alone, biting my hand so I wouldn't scream and attract rogues.

The whole pack was watching my five years.

Gasps. Crying. Mothers covering their pups' eyes.

Kade woke up when I gasped. He saw the light in the square from the window and his face went white.

"No," he whispered. "No, she didn't want them to see that. Stop it."

He ran outside, I followed, Leo still asleep on the bed.

Kade stood in the square and roared, "ENOUGH! Stop showing it!"

But the Moon Goddess didn't stop. It showed the last memory — me, last week, in the clinic, telling Leo, "Your Papa is a good man, he just made a mistake."

It showed Leo asking, "Will Papa ever come find us?" And me saying, "Maybe one day, if the Goddess is kind."

The light faded.

Silence.

Then an old warrior, Jonah who opened the gate for me, fell to his knees and shouted, "Forgive us, Luna! We watched you leave! We did nothing!"

One by one, the whole pack knelt. Not because Kade told them. Because they were ashamed.

Kade turned to me, his golden eyes full of horror.

"Ani, I'm so sorry. I didn't know it would show that. I—"

"It's okay," I whispered, even though my cheeks were wet with tears. Seeing it again hurt, but it also felt... finally seen.

Before he could answer, a horn blew at the border. Not a danger horn. A guest horn.

A group of wolves entered. Big, white-furred, scarred. White Mountain wolves. And in front was a tall man with silver hair and cold blue eyes.

Alpha Magnus of White Mountain. The Alpha who cursed Kade five years ago. My mother's old pack.

Magnus looked at my neck, at Kade's neck, at the fading white light in the square, and his face turned grim.

"So it's true," he said, his voice deep. "The white wolf has returned and taken a black mate. The prophecy is complete. And you have no idea what you have woken up."

Kade stepped in front of me, growling.

"Magnus, you are not welcome here."

Magnus ignored him and looked at me.

"Girl, what is your name?"

"Ani Grey. Elara's daughter."

His eyes widened. "Elara's? Elara is alive?"

"She died three years ago. In the Black Forest."

Magnus closed his eyes, pain crossing his face. "Elara was my sister. I thought she died hiding you. I cursed your mate because I thought Blood Moon killed her. I was wrong."

He knelt, to my shock, in front of me.

"Niece. You must come to White Mountain. Now. Your mark — the black and white mark — has awakened the Hollow. The old enemy that hunted white wolves fifty years ago and made us hide. It hunted Elara. Now it smells you and the pup. It is coming."

Kade's hand tightened around mine.

"What is the Hollow?" I asked.

Magnus looked up, his blue eyes terrified.

"A wolf with no wolf. A thing that eats white light. And it just woke up under White Mountain because you marked. And it is hungry for your son."

Leo chose that moment to run out of the pack house, rubbing his eyes, shouting, "Mama! I had a bad dream! A big dark thing was chasing me!"

The white pup's nightmare. And Magnus's warning at the same time.

Kade picked Leo up, holding us both.

Magnus stood.

"Decide, Luna. Stay here and let it come to your pack, or come to White Mountain where the old stones can protect the white pup. You have until sunset."

He turned and left, his white wolves following.

The pack looked at me. Their newly returned Luna. Their white healer who just showed them five years of pain. Now having to decide whether to leave again.

Kade whispered to me, his forehead against mine, his mark warm against my skin,

"Whatever you decide, we go together. You, me, Leo. No more leaving alone."