Chapter 27 #2
I blink at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Eclipse Born.” The words drop from his lips like stones into murky water. “A rare bloodline, born of a shifter and a powerful witch. Your kind has the ability to control the wolves of shifters.”
Everything inside me goes still—my thoughts, even my breathing. “That’s impossible.”
“Is it?” He circles my chair menacingly.
“Long ago, the whole concept of kings having an official mate and a concubine arose because one of the women was always Eclipse Born. She provided heirs to the king that could help keep his family established in the monarchy. Control over every wolf in the kingdom, passed down through royal bloodlines.”
“You’re lying.”
“That’s why the Council began wiping them out,” he continues, ignoring my protest. “To weaken the power of the royal family. When the Eclipse Born disappeared, monarchs lost their supernatural edge. They became ordinary wolves playing at being kings.”
He pauses, studying my face as if savoring my dismay.
“It was just before they neared extinction that the Council realized the powers of the Eclipse Born are transferable”—Aldric smiles ominously at me—“if a ritual is followed correctly. However, there were only a handful left, and they had gone into hiding.”
“No,” is all I can think to say. “No, this isn’t real.”
“Tonight, your power is going to be harvested.” He gestures to someone or something behind me that I can’t see. “And then distributed among more suitable recipients.”
Alpha Gareth steps forward, his face twisted with cruel satisfaction. “Did you really think this was all coincidence, little wolf?”
I stare at him, my mind racing. “You knew the whole time. You knew what I was.”
“Of course I knew.” He laughs, the sound echoing off the stone walls. “Your grandfather was raising you so that he could sell you to the Council later. A nice little retirement fund, courtesy of his granddaughter’s rare bloodline.”
The words knock the wind out of me. My own family. My own flesh and blood.
“Your mother gave him a perfect opportunity,” Gareth continues, his voice growing venomous.
“Fell in love with that Eclipse Born rogue, got herself pregnant, and then came crawling back to daddy when she realized what kind of danger she was in. Your grandfather saw his chance: protect the Eclipse Born bastard and cash in later on.”
I feel sick as the pieces fall into place.
“But the old man didn’t trust anyone with his secret. Not even me.” Gareth’s eyes gleam with malice. “I had to figure it out myself. And when I did...Well, I realized I could get my own revenge on your slut of a mother.”
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?” Gareth’s smile is vicious. “I gave her a choice, little wolf. I could either kill her and end her misery quickly, or she could become my whore, warm my bed whenever I demanded it, and maybe I’d let both of you live a little longer.”
Fragments of memory slam into me like shards of glass. My mother’s face, pale and drawn. The way she would flinch whenever Gareth entered a room. How she would pull me close and whisper that we had to be very, very quiet when he was around.
Rage burns through my soul, but there’s nothing I can do.
“She chose to live,” Gareth continues, savoring the moment. “For you. She endured everything I did to her because she thought she was protecting her beloved, Eclipse Born daughter.”
“Stop,” I whisper, but the memories keep coming. My mother’s bruises that she tried to hide. The nights she would cry so quietly, she thought I couldn’t hear.
“Your grandfather was clever, though,” Gareth says, his voice turning bitter. “He had a witch conceal your wolf completely. Otherwise, I would have sold you to the Council years ago. The suppression meant I had to keep you hidden, keep you safe until you were...ripe for harvesting.”
I shudder as he leans closer, his nose inches from mine now.
“But down the line, when your mother was pregnant with my child, I gave her another choice. She could either abandon you, kill you, and become my proper mate, and I would give her a good life. Her and our child. Or she could give up our child and keep protecting you.” His smile is poison.
“She made the wrong choice. She chose you.”
My world tilts sideways as the full implication sinks in. “You had a child with her?” I can barely form the words, horror clawing at my throat. “I have a—I have a sibling?”
Gareth’s laugh is cruel and satisfied. He gestures toward Harper. “Say hello to your half-sister, Astra.”
The words don’t make sense. Can’t make sense. Harper—beautiful, cruel Harper who tried to kill me, who has been tormenting me for almost as long as I can remember—is my sister?
“No.” I shake my head so hard, my vision blurs. “No, that’s not possible.”
“Oh, it’s very possible,” Harper purrs, moving closer. “Our mother chose you over me. Chose a bastard half-breed over her own legitimate daughter.”
“She protected both of us—”
“She abandoned me!” Harper’s composure cracks, revealing the raw fury beneath. “She died protecting you instead of living and raising me! She gave up everything—my father, our pack, her future—all for her little Eclipse Born freak!”
“You are the reason she died,” Gareth snarls, his face still inches from mine. “If she had handed you over like she was supposed to, she’d still be alive. Harper would have had her mother. But no—she had to play the martyr for her half-breed bastard.”
The truth crashes down on me like a tidal wave. My mother didn’t die protecting me from some faceless enemy. She died choosing me over Harper. Over the life she could have had. Over the daughter she abandoned.
“She chose wrong,” Harper whispers, tears streaming down her face. “And now, you’re going to pay for it.”
Before I can respond, before I can even process what she’s saying, I see Lord Aldric nodding to and addressing someone behind me.
“Begin the ritual,” he commands. “We need to break the magical restraints first. Weaken the bindings on her wolf.”
Hands grab my head from behind, fingers pressing against my temples. I try to jerk away, but the ropes keep me locked in place.
“What are you doing?” I struggle against the grip. “What are you—”
Pain explodes through my skull. Not an external, surface pain, but something deeper. Something that tears at the very fabric of who I am.
I scream.
The magic that has been suppressing my wolf for twenty-four years doesn’t break gently. It shatters like glass, each fragment tearing through my body as it falls away.
My wolf—my poor, caged, forgotten wolf—erupts into my mind with the force of a hurricane.
She’s massive. Powerful. Ancient in a way that makes no sense for someone my age. And she’s absolutely, completely furious.
PROTECT. FIGHT. KILL.
The words slam into my mind like a freight train. This isn’t the tender awakening I used to imagine when I dreamed of finally meeting my wolf. This is violent and chaotic and overwhelming.
“Lucian,” I gasp, my body convulsing as my wolf tries to force a shift.
But I can’t shift. The restraints, the ritual—something is preventing the transformation even as my wolf claws desperately at the walls of my consciousness.
“Excellent.” Aldric’s voice sounds distant through the roar in my head. “The suppression is breaking down beautifully. Continue.”
The hands on my temples press harder, and another wave of agony crashes over me. This time, I feel something else breaking. Something deeper than magic.
“No,” I whisper, then louder, “NO!”
But they don’t stop. Whatever they’re doing, whatever ritual they’re performing, it’s tearing me apart from the inside.
Then, I hear it.
The screaming starts as a distant echo, bouncing off the stone walls like a war cry. Metal clashing against metal. Boots pounding on rock.
“What—” Aldric spins toward the entrance to this chamber, but the hands still press against my temples from behind.
The pain in my skull intensifies, yet through the agony, I hear the most beautiful sound in the world: Lucian’s voice roaring my name.
“ASTRA!”
Hope spreads in my chest like wildfire. He found me. Somehow, impossibly, he found me.
“Continue the ritual!” Aldric shouts, and the hands press harder against my temples. “Don’t stop!”
The chamber erupts into chaos. Men pour from shadows I didn’t even notice before—Aldric’s guards, more than I realized were here. They charge toward the entrance just as soldiers in royal colors burst through the doorway.
And leading them is the most magnificent wolf I’ve ever seen.
Massive and silver-black, with eyes like molten gold, Lucian in his wolf form is a force of nature. He tears through the first line of defenders like they’re made of paper, his jaws snapping with lethal precision.
“Kill the Prince!” Zari screams, backing toward the far wall. “Kill them all!”
The fighting intensifies, soldiers clashing with Aldric’s hidden guards. Steel clangs against steel, men cry out in pain and rage. Through it all, my wolf is going insane in my head.
PROTECT MATE! KILL ENEMIES!
She’s clawing at my consciousness, desperate to shift, to fight, to defend. But the ritual—whatever they’re doing to me—is keeping her caged while simultaneously setting her free. It’s agony and turmoil, and I can feel something vital flowing out of me with each second that passes.
“Almost there,” the man behind me mutters, his fingers digging deeper into my skull. “Just a little more—”
Lucian’s massive wolf form moves with deadly grace as he tears through two more guards, his claws raking across their chests before his jaws close around a third man’s throat.
But there are so many of them. Too many.
“Lucian!” I scream as more people emerge from the shadows, surrounding him and his men.
His golden, wolf eyes find me through the bedlam. The fury and desperation in his gaze nearly undo me.
“Let her go,” Aldric snarls over his shoulder toward the man behind me. “The wolf can’t help her now.”
The man gripping my head laughs, not releasing his hold on me. “I don’t think so. We’re far too close to completing our work.”
My vision blurs as another wave of strength is ripped from me. I can feel my wolf weakening, her struggles becoming more desperate and frantic.
“The Eclipse Born power is almost fully extracted,” the man behind me announces. “Just another minute—”
A roar of pure wolf rage comes out of Lucian’s mouth.
He lunges forward, but three guards with spears block his path.
He fights with terrifying ferocity, but I can see the weapons finding their marks.
A spear tip cuts across his flank, streaking his silver fur with red. Another lance catches his shoulder.
“Stop fighting them,” I gasp, terror making my voice shake. “There are too many!”
But he doesn’t stop. Can’t stop. His wolf form is magnificent and shocking as he tears through enemy after enemy, but I can see the wounds accumulating and the way his movements are becoming slightly less fluid.
As he fights, even more enemies pour into the chamber. Where are they all coming from? It’s as if Aldric has an entire army hidden in these tunnels.
Harper appears beside Zari, her face twisted with vicious satisfaction. “Corner the beast,” she calls out. “Make her watch him bleed.”
My wolf snarls so violently I nearly black out from the pain. She wants Harper’s blood. She wants to tear her throat out for threatening our mate.
PROTECT. KILL. MINE.
The ritual reaches a crescendo, and I scream as something fundamental is torn from my very soul. It feels like they’re pulling my wolf away from me piece by piece, draining the essence of what I am.
“Magnificent,” Aldric breathes, his eyes glowing with an unnatural light. “Such pure, Eclipse Born power. The Council will be very pleased.”
Lucian’s wolf rips out the throat of another guard but staggers as a spear finds his hindquarters. Blood mats his silver fur, and I can see him favoring his left rear leg as he continues to fight. He’s wounded, outnumbered, and more fighters keep coming.
Zari laughs, her voice cold and calculating. “Look at your precious prince now, Astra. Not so glorious when he’s bleeding, is he?”
Lucian’s response is another bone-deep snarl, but I can see the exhaustion in his movements now, the way his powerful frame trembles slightly. The blood loss is getting to him.
The man performing the ritual behind me makes a sound of triumph. “It’s working. The power is transferring beautifully. Soon, we’ll have everything we need.”
My wolf gives one last, desperate surge before something inside me snaps. The connection between us wavers, starts to fray. No! They’re severing the bond between me and my wolf. If they complete this ritual, I’ll lose her forever.
“Please,” I whisper, tears streaming down my face. “Please stop.”
But Aldric only smiles. “Don’t worry, dear. Before long, you won’t remember what you’ve lost.”
That’s when I see more guards arrive, flanking Lucian from both sides while he’s distracted fighting the ones in front. He doesn’t see them coming. In seconds, they’ll have him surrounded completely.
“Behind you!” I scream.
His ears flick at my voice, and he spins, snapping at one attacker as a spear shaft cracks across his ribs. He stumbles but keeps his footing, snarling as blood seeps through his silver fur.
“No!” I cry out, but the enemies keep coming. More and more guards pour into the chamber, and I watch in horror as they begin to overwhelm Lucian’s wolf through sheer numbers.
Zari steps forward, pulling a dagger from her dress. Her smile is pure poison as she watches the guards slowly corner my wounded mate.
“The mighty Prince Lucian,” she purrs. “You have nowhere left to run.”
His eyes find mine again, and even in his wolf form, I can see his fierce determination. He’s not giving up. Not ever.
“There are too many!” I sob, struggling against my bonds as more enemies surround him.
Then, something changes. The man behind me makes a strangled sound, and his hands tremble against my temples.
“What—” he gasps. “The power, it’s—it’s flowing back. This isn’t right.”
“What do you mean?” Aldric snaps, whirling around to face him.
“The extraction is reversing,” the man says, panic creeping into his voice. “Something is pulling the power back into her. I can’t stop it.”
Aldric’s face goes pale. “That’s impossible. Continue the ritual!”
“I’m trying!” The man’s voice cracks with fear. “But it’s as if something inside her is fighting back. Something…old.”
My wolf is howling now, a sound of pure rage and terror that only I can hear. And underneath it all, I can feel something else awakening. Something that makes the air around me crackle with electricity.
Harper takes a nervous step backward. “What is that?” she asks, her voice uncertain for the first time.
The lights flicker. The torches on the walls sputter and flare.
And somewhere deep inside me, something ancient and powerful opens its eyes.