Chapter 48 The New Threat

Chapter 48 The New Threat
The northern wolves arrived at dawn.
Aurora stood with her parents at the estate gates, watching them approach. There were a dozen of them, warriors, hunters, wolves who’d once been loyal to the northern packs. Now their eyes were red, their movements jerky, their faces slack with a hunger that wasn’t theirs.
Kael stepped forward, his ancient face grim. “The Red Plague.”
Selene’s blood ran cold. “That’s not possible. It’s been sealed for a thousand years.”
“Sealed in Victor.” Kael looked at Aurora. “In his blood. In his darkness. When he was bound, the plague was bound with him. And when he was sealed”
“It was released,” Aurora finished. “I let it out.”
Kael shook his head. “You didn’t let it out. You freed yourself. You freed your mother. The plague was never your burden to carry. It was his.” He looked at the red-eyed wolves. “But now it’s free. And it’s spreading.”
Damon stepped forward. “How do we stop it?”
“The same way we stopped Victor. We seal it.” Kael’s eyes found Aurora again. “In her.”
The silence was deafening.
Selene moved between Kael and her daughter. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Selene”
“She’s already carrying Victor. She’s already given enough. I won’t”
“You won’t what?” Aurora’s voice was steady. “Protect me? Hide me? Let others die while I stand here and watch?”
Selene turned. “Aurora”
“I can feel it.” Aurora touched her chest, where the darkness lived. “The plague. It’s calling to me. It knows what I carry. It wants what I carry.” She met her mother’s eyes. “I’m the only one who can stop it.”
Selene’s face crumpled. “You don’t know that.”
“Yes, she does.”
A new voice, Ancient and familiar.
Astra emerged from the trees, her white hair gleaming in the dawn light, her eyes fixed on Aurora. She looked older than Aurora remembered, thinner, frailer, as if she’d been waiting a very long time for this moment.
“The prophecy,” Astra said, “was never about your mother. It was about you.”
She crossed to Aurora, took her face in her hands. “The Luna of Prophecy wasn’t meant to end the war with Marcus. She was meant to bear the child who would end the plague. You were born for this. Your power, your darkness, your blood all of it was designed to contain what Victor unleashed.”
Aurora’s heart hammered. “And if I refuse?”
“Then the plague spreads. It consumes the northern packs, then the southern, then the east. It turns wolf against wolf, pack against pack, until there’s nothing left.” Astra’s eyes were kind. “You have a choice. You always have a choice but this is what you were born to do. This is what you were made for.”
Selene grabbed Aurora’s arm. “You don’t have to do this. There’s another way. There’s always another way.”
Aurora looked at her mother. At the woman who’d spent eighteen years dying to protect her. At the woman who’d finally, finally been given a chance to live.
“Mom.” She took Selene’s hands. “I love you. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything. But this is my choice. My fight. My destiny.”
Selene’s eyes filled with tears. “Rory”
“You spent eighteen years protecting me. Let me protect you now.”
She turned to Astra. “Tell me what I have to do.”