Chapter 15: Family Bonds

Emma's POV

The Ancient Pack spirit raised her hand, and suddenly everyone froze—Aldric, the soldiers, even the helicopters hovering overhead stopped moving totally.

"Time magic," Sarah breathed beside me. "I thought that was just a legend."

The spirit woman smiled sadly at me. "We have much to talk, young Moon Daughter, and very little time to do it. Even this spell cannot hold them forever."

My head was spinning. "I don't understand any of this. Yesterday I was just a college student. Now everyone's telling me I'm some kind of magical weapon."

"You are not a weapon," the spirit said strongly. "You are a healer. A bridge-builder. But like all great skills, yours can be twisted into something dark if the wrong people control it."

Sarah stepped closer to me, her eyes full of sorrow. "Emma, I know this is overwhelming, but you need to understand why I had to give you up."

"Do I?" I snapped, shocking myself with how angry I sounded. "Because right now it feels like everyone in my life has been lying to me. Even the people who raised me must have known I wasn't really human."

"They knew," Sarah admitted quietly. "But they loved you anyway. They were good people who wanted nothing more than to give you a normal life."

"Well, that worked out great," I said bitterly, pointing at the frozen soldiers around us. "Super normal."

The spirit woman spoke again. "Your anger is reasonable, child. But you must hear the full truth before time runs out."

She waved her hand, and suddenly images started appearing in the air around us like ghostly movies. I saw Sarah twenty-two years ago, heavily pregnant and running through a dark forest.

"The night you were born," the spirit explained, "Aldric attacked the Bloodfang pack territory. He had learned of the prophecy—that a child born during the lunar eclipse would have the power to join or destroy all supernatural beings."

In the vision, I watched young Sarah stumble and fall, clutching her stomach as wolves howled in the background. But these weren't normal wolf growls. They sounded wrong somehow, filled with an evil that made my skin crawl.

"What were those things chasing her?" I asked.

"Shadow wolves," Sarah said, her face pale at the thought. "Werewolves that Aldric infected with dark magic. They're bigger than normal wolves, but they can't think for themselves anymore. They just follow orders."

The vision changed, showing Sarah giving birth in a secret cave while the shadow wolves prowled outside. But the moment I was born, something amazing happened. Golden light erupted from baby-me, and the shadow wolves stopped striking. They sat down like confused pups, the darkness leaving their eyes.

"Your power purified them," the spirit explained. "Even as a newborn, you could heal the corruption in their souls."

"That's why Aldric wants me so badly," I realized with growing fear. "If he could control my power..."

"He could corrupt every supernatural being on Earth," Sarah ended. "And then purify them into perfect soldiers who obey only him."

The vision showed Sarah escaping with baby-me to the human world, tears streaming down her face as she gave me to a young couple—my adoptive parents.

"I visited you sometimes," Sarah said softly. "In secret. I watched you grow up, made sure you were safe and happy. It was the hardest thing I ever did, staying away when all I wanted was to hold you."

I felt my anger melting away, replaced by a deep sadness. "You gave up everything to protect me."

"You were worth it," Sarah said, reaching out to touch my cheek. "You are worth everything."

The spirit woman stopped us. "The spell is weakening. But there is more you must know."

The visions changed again, showing me something that made my blood freeze. It was Aldric, but not as he appeared now. This was Aldric from years ago, working with people in laboratory coats.

"He's been planning this for decades," the spirit said sadly. "Slowly building alliances with human governments, convincing them that supernatural beings are a threat that must be controlled."

I watched in horror as the vision showed Aldric helping humans build the moonstone weapons, showing them how to capture and experiment on werewolves.

"He's been using both sides," I breathed. "Making humans afraid of us while making us afraid of humans."

"A war between our species would weaken everyone," Sarah said. "Making it easier for him to take control when the dust settles."

"But there's something else," the spirit said, and her voice was full of fear. "Something we discovered too late."

The final vision showed Aldric standing in front of a huge machine that hummed with dark energy. Captured werewolves were joined to it with tubes and wires, their life force being drained to power the device.

"A corruption amplifier," the spirit explained. "He's been testing it on individual wolves, but if he can power it with your energy..."

"He could corrupt every supernatural being on the planet at once," I ended, feeling sick.

The frozen scene around us started to flicker. Time was running out.

"The machine is hidden in an underground facility," the spirit said quickly. "But we don't know where. You must find it and destroy it before—"

She vanished mid-sentence as the time spell broke.

Immediately, chaos exploded again. Soldiers raised their weapons, helicopters roared overhead, and Aldric's words boomed across the forest.

"Touching family reunion," he sneered. "But it changes nothing. You're still coming with me, granddaughter."

"Never," I said, surprised by how strong my voice sounded.

Aldric's smile turned nasty. "Oh, but you will. Because I have something you want."

He pointed to one of the helicopters, and my heart stopped.

A cage was being lowered from it, and inside was a man I'd never seen before but somehow recognized. He had kind brown eyes and graying hair, and he was looking around anxiously.

"Dad?" I whispered, staring at my adopted father—the man who had raised me in the human world.

"Emma!" he called out when he saw me. "Don't trust them! They said they'd kill your mother if I didn't—"

One of the troops hit him with the butt of his weapon, and my father collapsed.

"He's alive," Aldric said casually. "For now. As is your adoptive mother, back at our center. Funny thing about humans—they're so much easier to catch than werewolves."

Rage filled me like I'd never felt before. Golden light began spreading from my skin, and every tree around us started growing faster.

"You hurt them and I'll—"

"You'll what?" Aldric stopped. "Kill me? Destroy me with your healing power?" He laughed. "You can't hurt anyone, Emma. It's not in your nature. That's what makes you so wonderfully controllable."

He was right, and we both knew it. My power could only heal, never harm.

"Here's the deal," Aldric continued. "Come with me freely, help me power my machine, and your parents live. Refuse, and they die slowly while you watch."

I looked at Sarah, at Kai still kneeling with a weapon pointed at his head, at all the people who would suffer if I gave in.

Then I looked at my father in the cage, blood running down his face.

"I need proof they're alive," I said finally. "Both of them."

Aldric smiled victoriously. "Smart girl. Always thinking." He pulled out a phone and showed me a movie.

My adopted mother was tied to a chair in what looked like a laboratory. She appeared scared but unhurt. In the background, I could see the massive machine from the spirit's view.

"The facility," I breathed.

"Indeed," Aldric said. "Your new home. One way or another."

But as I stared at the movie, I noticed something he probably hadn't meant to show me. In the corner of the picture was a sign on the wall.

A sign that told me exactly where the cheating machine was hidden.

And it was in the last place I would have expected.