Hidden Light

The skeleton's purple light cast strange shapes across the Stone Circle. Morning had come, but dark clouds blocked the sun. Everyone was tired, scared, and short-tempered. The last full moon before the barrier would fall was tonight.

Outside, wolves from five different packs prowled, watching. Inside, the Moonlight Pack argued in angry loops.

"We should attack first!" one wolf yelled.

"And get ourselves killed?" another fired back.

Near the edge of the circle, away from the others, sat a small figure. Noah was just ten years old, the youngest wolf in the pack. His brown hair fell into his eyes as he drew lines in the dirt with a stick. Nobody paid him any attention. Nobody saw the tiny silver marks starting to appear on his wrists.

Liam was the first to notice. He had gone to check on the children, to make sure they weren't too scared. When he sat beside Noah, the boy quickly pulled his arms down.

"What's wrong with your arms?" Liam asked gently.

"Nothing," Noah mumbled, looking away.

"Noah," Liam said, "you can trust me. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."

Slowly, Noah pushed up his sleeves. Silver markings, just like Liam's but much fainter, drew delicate patterns on the boy's skin.

Liam's breath caught. "How long have you had these?"

"They started last night," Noah whispered. "After that lady disappeared and the skeleton got bigger." His eyes filled with tears. "Am I going to die?"

"No," Liam said strongly. "These marks are special. They're part of who you are."

"But only you have them," Noah argued. "And everyone says you're different."

Liam thought carefully before answering. "I was told all my life that I was the only one. The Last Omega, they called me." He touched Noah's marks gently. "But I think that was wrong. I think there have always been more of us."

Noah's eyes widened. "I'm an Omega? But my dad says I'll be a strong Alpha like him someday."

"You can be strong and still be an Omega," Liam stated. "Being an Omega doesn't make you weak."

A shadow fell across them. Elijah stood there, his face blank.

"Liam," he said softly. "We need to talk."

Noah quickly pulled his sleeves down again, fear flashing across his face.

"It's okay," Liam comforted the boy. "Elijah won't hurt you."

Noah didn't look convinced. He scrambled to his feet and ran toward the other children.

Elijah watched him go. "What was that about?"

"You need to see something," Liam said, standing up. "But not here."

They walked to a quiet part of the circle. Aria was there with Sky, both looking tired from trying to use their powers against the barrier.

"What's happening?" Aria asked when she saw their serious looks.

"Noah has marks," Liam said simply. "Omega marks."

Silence fell between them as the weight of this news sank in.

"That's impossible," Elijah finally said. "There's only one Omega in each generation. That's what all our histories say."

"What if our histories are wrong?" Liam asked. "What if there have always been more Omegas, but they were hidden? Or their powers were suppressed?"

"Like your father," Aria reminded Elijah. "With his recessive Omega genes."

Elijah ran a hand through his hair, annoyed. "If this is true... if there could be more Omegas..."

"Then everything we thought we knew about pack structure is a lie," Liam finished.

A commotion broke out across the circle. Noah was floating three feet off the ground, silver light glowing from his hands. His father, a burly Alpha named Jackson, was trying to pull him down, panic on his face.

"Noah!" Jackson shouted. "Stop this right now!"

"I can't!" Noah cried, rising higher. "I don't know how!"

The entire pack gathered around, pointing and shouting. Some looked afraid. Others looked angry. A few looked... hopeful.

Liam rushed forward, pushing through the crowd. "Let me help him!"

"Stay away from my son!" Jackson growled, his eyes flashing Alpha-gold. "You did this to him!"

"I didn't do anything," Liam insisted. "This is who he's always been. Who he was born to be."

Marcus stepped between them before a fight could break out. "Enough! The boy needs help, not arguments."

Above them, Noah spun slowly in the air, silver light now streaming from his eyes as well as his hands.

"It's happening to me too," a teenage girl suddenly called out, pushing up her sleeve to reveal faint silver marks.

"And me," said an older woman, pulling down her collar to show similar markings on her neck.

One by one, wolves throughout the pack revealed hidden marks. Some had known for years but kept them secret. Others, like Noah, were experiencing their emergence for the first time.

"This changes everything," Elijah whispered to Liam.

"Not changes," Liam amended. "Restores."

Jackson looked around helplessly, then back at his floating son. His anger melted into fear. "Please," he said to Liam. "Help him."

Liam nodded and stepped forward. He raised his hands toward Noah, his own silver markings glowing in answer.

"Noah," he called. "Look at me. Focus on my voice."

The boy's frightened eyes found Liam's.

"The power isn't controlling you," Liam said firmly. "You control it. Feel it inside you. It's like a river. Right now, it's flooding. But you can guide it. You can direct where it flows."

Noah closed his eyes, his small face tightening with concentration. Slowly, he began to descend.

As his feet hit the ground, something strange happened. All the silver marks throughout the pack – on Liam, on Noah, on every wolf who had revealed their signs – began to glow in unison.

In the middle of the circle, the skeleton's purple light faltered, then strengthened again.

"What's happening?" Marcus asked.

"Balance," Aria breathed. "The truth is creating balance."

The ground beneath them trembled. The skeleton struggled, as if fighting against invisible chains.

"It's trying to break free," Sky whispered.

Luna's voice suddenly called from beyond the barrier. "Elijah! Liam! Can you hear me?"

Everyone turned to see Luna standing just outside the purple wall, her face streaked with dirt and blood.

"Luna!" Elijah rushed to the edge of the barrier. "What happened?"

"Thorne knows about Noah," she said urgently. "He knows about all the hidden Omegas. Morta told him."

"How could Morta know?" Aria asked.

"Because she's the one who hid them in the first place," Luna explained. "Centuries ago, she cast a spell to suppress Omega powers in most wolves. Only a few bloodlines remained pure."

"Why would she do that?" Elijah asked.

"Power," Luna said simply. "Divide and conquer. Alphas against Omegas. Old against new."

"How do you know all this?" Marcus asked suspiciously.

Luna looked over her shoulder nervously. "There's no time. Thorne plans to attack as soon as the barrier falls. But not to kill you – to capture you. He wants to use Liam's blood and Noah's to unlock the suppressed powers in all wolves."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Sky said.

"It is when you hear the rest," Luna insisted. "He'll control those powers using Morta's magic. He made a deal with her. She gets half the wolves, he gets half."

Before anyone could react, Luna gasped in pain, an arrow suddenly protruding from her shoulder.

"Luna!" Elijah shouted.

Through the trees appeared Thorne, bow in hand. "Hello, wife," he growled. "Sharing secrets again?"

Luna stumbled back, grabbing her shoulder. "Run!" she screamed to those inside the barrier. "The arrow – it's tipped with—"

She collapsed to the ground, her body convulsing.

Thorne smiled coldly at the trapped pack. "Moonlight is coming. Everything ends tonight."

Inside the circle, the skeleton suddenly broke free from the earth totally. It stood tall, its bones glowing purple. Its jaw opened wide, and from it came a voice they all recognized.

"Or perhaps," Morta said through the skeleton's mouth, "everything is just beginning."