PROLOGUE

The full moon hung high above the trees, casting a silvery glow over the sleeping wilderness. It's light slipped through the branches and spilled across a small cottage hidden deep within the woods of the Blackwood pack.

Tonight the forest was unusually quiet. No sounds of nocturnal creatures, even the trees were silent.

Then a woman’s scream tore through the silence of the forest from the cottage.

“Please, Goddess, help me!”

The woman cried out, her claws digging desperately into the bedsheets as another contraction ripped through her body. Her sweat-soaked hair clung to her forehead, and her breathing came in short, painful gasps.

Her wolf howled inside her, restless and frantic. It could feel the pup struggling to enter the world, and every instinct urged it to protect it's child.

“Push!” the midwife urged, gripping her hand. “Come on, you must push!”

“I can’t!” she sobbed.

“Yes, you can. Don’t give up now, not when you’re so close.”

The midwife tried to sound reassuring, but fear was beginning to creep into her voice.

In all her years of delivering wolf pups, she had never witnessed anything like this. Most werewolf births lasted only a few seconds; their bodies were designed to withstand the transformation and the physical demands of childbirth. Even difficult deliveries rarely lasted more than a few minutes.

But this woman had been struggling for five terrifying hours, fighting to remain conscious.

“Listen to me,” the midwife said, leaning closer. “Your body cannot take much more. I need you to push with everything you have left.”

She nodded weakly.

“Your baby needs you alive.”

The midwife quickly positioned herself again.

“Now! Push!”

She gathered whatever strength remained in her body and pushed.

Then, with one final scream that seemed to shake the little cottage, she delivered her child.

For a moment, there was silence.

“Why isn’t he crying?” the woman whispered.

The midwife rubbed the newborn’s back, trying to stimulate his breathing. She checked his tiny chest, then his nose.

Nothing.

“No,” the mother whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Please, Goddess, not my child. Don’t take him from me.”

“Please…”

Then the newborn moved.

A tiny cry escaped his lips.

“A healthy male pup!” the midwife announced, her voice trembling.

The mother stretched out her arms.

“Give him to me.”

The midwife carefully placed the child against her chest.

She looked down at his tiny face and kissed him. Tears of relief fell onto his blanket.

And suddenly, a strange white light surrounded him. The glow was faint but unmistakable. It spread from the child’s body, filling the room with a warmth that seemed to push away the cold night. Suddenly, the fever burning through her body began to fade, and her breathing gradually steadied.

But the midwife wasn’t celebrating. She was staring at the child with an expression the mother couldn’t understand.

“What’s wrong with my son?”

The midwife approached slowly, examined the newborn again, then looked at the faint silver mark that had appeared near his chest.

“No…”

The midwife touched the mark, almost afraid of what she might discover.

“That light…” she whispered. “It healed you.”

The woman stared down at her child.

The midwife dropped to her knees.

“A Divine White Wolf. May the Goddess be praised!”

Then urgency replaced her astonishment.

“I need to get you a sorceress,” she said, rising quickly. “You’re barely alive, that healing was only temporal.”

When the sorceress arrived, she looked at the woman, then at the newborn resting against her chest.

“Your child is a Divine White Wolf. Do you understand what that means?”

The mother shook her head.

“His existence will change everything. His blood carries gifts that ordinary wolves can only dream of. He possesses the power to heal, and his nature is unlike anything the packs have seen in generations.

“But that power makes him a target.”

She reached for a small pouch and began preparing a protective spell, whispering words of incarnation.

A faint shimmer appeared around the child, but it disappeared almost as quickly.

“It won’t sustain you,” she said. “And it won’t protect him forever.”

The mother tightened her arms around her baby.

“Who would want to hurt a newborn?”

The sorceress looked at her with pity.

“Those who want to possess what he is.”

She moved closer and lowered her voice.

“You must leave.”

“Leave? Where would I go in this condition?”

“Anywhere the packs cannot find you. You must disappear before word of his birth spreads.”

“Listen carefully, mothers of children like yours rarely live long. You must take him to safety before it’s too late.”

A distant howl echoed through the forest.

The mother looked toward the window, her heart pounding.

For the first time that night, she understood the danger wasn’t over simply because her child had been born.

It had only begun.

She pushed herself upright, fighting the dizziness threatening to pull her back into unconsciousness. Her legs trembled as she climbed out of bed, but she refused to surrender.

A faint shimmer passed over her body as bones shifted and skin gave way to fur.

She lowered her head and carefully took the newborn between her teeth, holding him as gently as she could.

The midwife watched, tears gathering in her eyes.

“May the Goddess protect you both,” she whispered.

The she-wolf paused at the doorway.

For one brief moment, she looked back at the woman who had helped bring her child into the world.

Then she stepped into the night and disappeared between the trees, carrying the most precious and dangerous secret the supernatural world had ever known.

Somewhere beyond the forest, a prophecy was beginning to unfold.

In the heart of Blackwood, the young heir stirred in his sleep. His wolf stirred too, restless for the first time, as if it had just felt the birth of something that would one day belong to him.