Chapter 7 Footsteps In The Dark
LIRA POV
He turned to face me fully, his storm-gray eyes intense and searching. "What do you think a Luna's most important quality should be?"
The question caught me off guard. I squinted, thinking through my limited understanding.
"I think... protection? Taking care of pack members?" I replied, uncertainty threading through my voice.
"Exactly. And for twenty years, you've been the one person in this pack who needed protection most. Who better to ensure no one else suffers the same fate?"
Before I could respond, a commotion near the entrance drew our attention. A group of pack members entered, supporting a wounded wolf between them. I recognized him as Olive, one of the few people who had shown me any kindness during my imprisonment.
"What happened?" Kael demanded as they lowered Olive onto a makeshift stretcher, his alpha authority snapping into focus.
"Rogues, Alpha," one of the supporters replied, breathing hard. "Three of them attacked the eastern border. Olive fought them off, but..."
I could smell the blood—metallic and sharp—and see the deep claw marks across Olive's chest. Without thinking, I moved toward him, Selwyn guiding my instincts with sure purpose.
"Let me help," I said, kneeling beside the injured wolf.
"Lira, you don't have healing training," someone started to protest, their voice filled with doubt.
"I have Moonblood heritage," I interrupted, surprising myself with my own certainty. "Selwyn is telling me what to do."
I placed my hands over Olive's worst wounds, and silver light began to emanate from my palms. It felt natural, like breathing or walking something my bloodline remembered even if my human mind didn't understand it.
The wounds began to close under my touch, flesh knitting back together with supernatural speed. Around the room, pack members watched in awed silence as their supposedly worthless prisoner demonstrated power they'd only heard about in legends.
"Impossible," Elder John whispered, his voice trembling with shock. "Moonfire healing hasn't been seen in over a century."
"Nothing about tonight has been possible," Mira Voss said from her position near the wall, her tone dry but thoughtful. "Maybe it's time we stopped limiting ourselves to what we thought we knew."
I finished healing the worst of Olive's injuries and sat back on my heels, exhausted but exhilarated. For the first time in my life, I'd been able to help someone instead of being a burden.
Olive's eyes fluttered open, focusing on my face with wonder. "Lira? What did you... how did you..."
"It's a long story," I said softly, warmth spreading through my chest. "How do you feel?"
He sat up experimentally, testing his range of motion with careful movements. "Like I wasn't just torn apart by rogues. Thank you."
"Don't thank me. Thank Kael. He's the one who freed me," I said, gratitude threading through my voice.
Olive's gaze shifted to the new Alpha, and his expression grew serious. "Alpha, the rogues weren't random. They were looking for something. Someone."
"What do you mean?" Kael asked, his body tensing with predatory alertness.
"They kept asking about 'the silver wolf.' Said their leader had caught her scent and sent them to retrieve her."
Ice ran through my veins like frozen poison. "They were looking for me."
"How could rogues know about you?" Kael's voice carried a dangerous edge that made pack members step back. "You've been hidden for twenty years."
Garrick, still kneeling where we'd left him, spoke up with bitter laughter that grated against my ears. "You think we were the only ones who knew about Dmitri Ashborne's child? The night she was born, her power signature was felt across three territories. Every supernatural predator with half a brain has been waiting twenty years for her to surface."
"What kind of predators?" I asked, though dread told me I didn't want to know the answer.
"Rogue alpha collectors who traffic in powerful bloodlines," Garrick replied, his voice taking on a cruel satisfaction. "Witches who need Moonblood components for their darkest spells. Vampires who believe drinking Luna blood grants immortality."
Kael's hand moved to the small of my back again, a gesture that was becoming familiar and grounding. "None of them will touch you."
"You can't protect her from all of them," Garrick continued, enjoying our discomfort. "The moment she used her power tonight, every supernatural creature within a hundred miles felt it. They'll come for her."
As if summoned by his words, a howl echoed from the forest outside long, haunting, and definitely not from a Darkfang pack member.
Then another howl answered it from the opposite direction.
And another.
My blood ran cold. We were being surrounded.
"How many?" Kael asked Mira, who had moved to a window to assess the threat.
"At least a dozen. Maybe more," she replied, her voice tight with concern. "They're staying at the forest edge for now, but they're definitely positioning for an attack."
Kael looked around the room at his newly inherited pack—some loyal, some terrified, some still processing the night's revelations. Not exactly a force ready for battle against supernatural threats.
"Lira," he said quietly, turning to me with conflict clear in his storm-gray eyes, "I need to ask something of you that isn't fair."
I met his gaze, steeling myself. "What?"
"I need you to help me defend the pack. Your power is the only thing that might drive them back. But I won't force you to fight for people who've treated you as less than human," Kael said, his voice heavy with the weight of the request.
Around the room, pack members held their breath. I could feel their fear, smell their desperation. These were the same wolves who had ignored my suffering for twenty years. Who had whispered about my curse and crossed themselves when I passed by.
But they were also the only pack I'd ever known. And now they looked to me for salvation.
Selwyn stirred in my mind. What do you want to do?
"I want to prove I'm not the monster they thought I was," I whispered back.
Then we fight. Not for them, but for us. To show everyone what we really are.
I stood, feeling power course through my veins as my wolf fully awakened for the first time. Silver light began to emanate from my skin, and I could feel my eyes reflecting with lunar fire.
"I'll fight," I said, my voice carrying new authority that surprised even me. "But when this is over, things change."
The pack members nodded eagerly, relief flooding their scents. Outside, the howling grew closer.
"Together?" Kael asked, extending his hand to me.
I took it, feeling the mate bond surge between us. Although we hadn't formally bonded, I could still sense some part of him as I replied, "Together."
We turned toward the entrance just as the first rogue smashed through the reinforced doors, eyes glowing with hunger. But it wasn't alone.
Behind it came something that made even Kael step back in shock, a massive figure that was neither fully wolf nor fully human, covered in scars and radiating an aura of ancient malevolence.
"Well, well," it said in a voice like a grinding stone. "The little silver wolf finally shows herself. My master has been waiting a very long time to meet you, Moonblood."