Bonus Chapter: Echoes Across Time

Bonus Chapter: Echoes Across Time
Twenty years had passed since the Shadow Wars ended, and Laura Ravenwood—no, Laura the Crimson Queen—slept peacefully in her chambers for the first time in months.

The room was warm, filled with the steady breathing of her four mates surrounding her. Lucian lay to her right with his arm draped protectively across her waist even in sleep. Dante was pressed against her back, his face buried in her hair. Zephyr occupied the space at her feet like he always did, claiming he preferred the cooler air there. And Nikolai had somehow ended up half on top of her, one leg thrown over hers in that possessive way he had even when unconscious.

Laura smiled faintly in her sleep, content and safe in ways she'd never imagined possible all those years ago when Kieran had tried to break her.

Then everything suddenly shifted.

The warmth disappeared first, replaced by a cold that went bone-deep. Laura's eyes snapped open, but she wasn't in her chambers anymore.

She stood in that space between life and death.

The void stretched endlessly in all directions, filled with stars that pulsed like heartbeats. Laura's breath caught because she recognized this place immediately—she'd been here before, twenty years ago when she'd been dying, when the Moon Goddess had blessed her and sent her back to fight.

"No," Laura whispered, turning in a slow circle. "Why am I here again?"

Her marks—the ones that had been dormant for years, only glowing faintly when she used her power—suddenly blazed to life across her chest and arms. The light was different though, not just the warm gold she was used to but it was mixed with a fiery hot silver.

Then she saw her.

A young woman materialized in the void, and Laura's breath stopped completely.

The girl couldn't have been more than nineteen or twenty, with dark hair that hung in wet tangles around her face and a torn wedding dress that had seen better days. But it was the marks covering her chest that made Laura freeze.

Pure silver marks that pulsed with divine energy, almost identical to Laura's own except for the pure color.

"Who—" Laura started to ask, but the words died in her throat.

The girl was dying. Laura could see it in the way her form flickered like a candle about to go out, in the way her eyes were dimming even as she fought to stay present. She reached toward Laura with desperate hands, her mouth moving to form words that came out distorted and broken.

"Please..." The word echoed strangely, like it was traveling through water. "...have to... warn..."

Laura took a step forward, her own marks flaring brighter in response to the girl's presence. "I can't understand you. What are you trying to say?"

The girl's form flickered harder, like something was pulling her away. She fought against it, reaching out again with urgency burning in her eyes that were starting to lose their light completely.

Then the images hit Laura all at once.

Flashes that assaulted her mind with brutal clarity—pale figures with eyes like blood moving through the darkness. Territories falling one by one as something spread like disease through the werewolf world. Bodies drained of life, left as husks that crumbled to dust. A threat so vast it made the Shadow Wars look like a prelude to the real horror.

And through it all, that girl's voice trying desperately to warn her.

"After the shadow comes the blood," the words finally broke through clearly. "After the darkness comes the thirst."

Laura gasped as more images flooded her mind. She saw herself during the Shadow Wars, exhausted and bloodied as she fought Kragoth's forces. And there in the background of her memories, barely visible, was this same girl appearing in brief flashes.

Tips that had saved Laura's life during the war suddenly made sense.

The purification ritual that had cleansed corrupted wolves—Laura had thought she'd figured it out herself, but now she saw this girl whispering the steps to her in a dream she'd immediately forgotten upon waking.

The weakness of the shadow wolves, how to strike their hearts and heads—Laura remembered the exact moment the knowledge had come to her during battle at crimson fang pack during that border patrol, but it hadn't been her own realization. It had been this girl, reaching across whatever impossible distance separated them to save her life.

Even the ability to purify the shadow wolves themselves, to reverse their corruption and save those newly turned—Laura had believed it was her divine blessing manifesting in new ways. But no, this girl had shown her how, had guided her hands through the process in visions Laura dismissed as instinct upon waking.

Even the portals. Laura saw herself standing at the Convergence Point after the war ended, staring at the ancient stones and wondering why they felt important. This girl had been there too, invisible and forgotten, trying to tell her that the portals could be used for travel, that they were more than just mystical curiosities.

But Laura had forgotten every single warning the moment she'd woken up, too consumed by the immediate war to hold onto visions that felt like fever dreams.

"No," Laura breathed out as the memories crashed over her. "No, you were there. You were there the whole time and I forgot. I forgot you."

The girl's form was barely visible now, dissolving like smoke caught in wind. But she fought harder, pushing against whatever force was dragging her back. Her hand stretched toward Laura one final time, fingers trembling with the effort.

"The veil," she managed to gasp out, and Laura saw it then in her mind—a massive barrier of magical energy separating their world from another. "The portals... power it. They've been... locked away. But the veil is... weakening."

More images flooded Laura's vision. Creatures that shouldn't exist, trapped on the other side of the world by ancient magic. Something ancient and hungry, her mind supplied with absolute certainty. An entire civilization of them, held back by a veil that was powered by the very portals Laura had dismissed as interesting but ultimately useless except for transportation after the war ended.

And the veil was failing.

Laura watched in horror as she saw cracks spreading through the magical barrier, saw pale hands reaching through the gaps, saw red eyes gleaming with hunger as they sensed weakness on the other side.

"When?" Laura demanded, reaching for the girl who was barely there anymore. "When are they coming?"

The girl's mouth moved but no sound came out. Her eyes, which had been dimming steadily, suddenly blazed with silver light one final time as she threw herself forward with everything she had left.

Her fingers touched Laura's forehead.

The contact was like lightning striking her directly in the skull. Laura screamed as power and knowledge and desperate warning all poured into her mind at once. She saw everything—every time this girl had reached out to her over the years, every warning she'd given, every tip that had saved Laura's life or the lives of her people.

All of it had come from this dying stranger who'd been fighting just as hard as Laura had, just from somewhere else, some other time or place that Laura couldn't understand.

And she'd forgotten her. Every. Single. Time.

"I'm sorry," Laura gasped out as tears streamed down her face. "I'm so sorry, I should have remembered, I should have listened—"

The girl smiled then, even as her form dissolved completely. It was a sad smile, understanding and resigned, like she'd known all along that this was how it would end.

"Save them," were her final words, crystal clear now. "They're coming and i failed. You're… she is the only one... who can stop them."

Then she was gone.

Laura stood alone in the void, her marks blazing so bright they hurt to look at. The knowledge the girl had given her settled into her mind with terrible clarity.

The creatures weren't here yet.

But they were coming.

The veil was weakening, cracks spreading wider with each passing day. And when it finally failed completely, they would pour through like a flood. An ancient enemy that had been locked away for so long, waiting for the werewolf world to weaken itself enough that the barrier could no longer hold.

And that moment was coming soon.

Laura's marks pulsed one final time before the void shattered around her.

She jolted awake with a gasp that was more like a scream, her entire body arching off the bed as her marks blazed with light they hadn't shown in years. The room flooded with silver-gold radiance that made all four of her mates wake instantly.

Lucian's hand found his weapon before his eyes were fully open, his body already moving to put himself between Laura and whatever threat had caused her marks to activate. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Dante's eyes shifted immediately, his wolf rising to the surface as he scanned the room for enemies. "I don't sense anything—"

"The windows," Zephyr said sharply, already moving toward them with deadly grace as he checked for intruders.

Nikolai was calculating before he was even fully conscious, his mind racing through possibilities as his green eyes took in Laura's expression. "You had a vision," he said, and it wasn't a question.

Laura sat there gasping, her chest heaving as the weight of what she'd just learned crushed down on her. Her hands shook as she pressed them against her face, trying to process the impossible information that had been shoved into her mind.

The girl. The warnings. The creatures.

"Laura." Lucian's voice cut through her panic, firm and grounding. His hand touched her shoulder carefully. "Talk to us. What did you see?"

She dropped her hands and looked at her four mates—these men who'd fought beside her through the darkest days of the Shadow Wars, who'd helped her become the Queen she was now, who'd given her twenty years of peace and safety.

And she was about to destroy that peace completely.

"I remember," Laura whispered, her voice shaking with emotion and fear and dawning horror. "I remember everything. All the warnings I ignored twenty years ago."

Dante frowned, moving closer. "What warnings? What are you talking about?"

"During the war," Laura said, her words coming faster now as everything clicked into place. "When I was fighting Kragoth, there was a girl. She kept appearing to me in visions, trying to warn me about things. She told me how to purify the corrupted wolves. She showed me how to kill the shadow creatures. She tried to tell me about the portals."

Her mates exchanged confused glances.

"You never mentioned any girl," Zephyr said carefully, his ice-blue eyes studying her face.

"Because I forgot her every time I woke up," Laura said, and tears started streaming down her face. "Every single time she reached out to me, I forgot as soon as I opened my eyes. I was too focused on surviving, too consumed by the war. But she was real. She was trying to save us."

"Laura—" Nikolai started, his voice taking on that soothing tone he used when he thought she might be having a breakdown.

"She just appeared to me again," Laura interrupted, her marks still blazing bright enough to cast shadows across the room. "She's dying. She used the last of her strength to reach me one final time. To make me remember. To warn me about what's coming."

Lucian's jaw tightened. "What's coming?"

Laura met his eyes, then looked at each of her mates in turn. She saw the concern there, the love, the readiness to face whatever threat she was about to describe.

But she also saw the peace in their expressions. The contentment of twenty years without war. The belief that the worst was behind them.

She was about to shatter all of that.

"The Shadow Wars weakened us," Laura said, her voice steady now even as her hands continued to shake. "We bled ourselves fighting Kragoth, lost so many of our people. We thought we'd won. We thought it was over."

She took a shuddering breath.

"But there's been a veil. A magical barrier powered by the portals, separating our world from another part of the continent. And on the other side of that veil, they've been locked away. Waiting. Watching us destroy ourselves."

"Who?" Dante demanded, his red eyes beginning to glow.

Laura looked at them, and they saw something in her expression they hadn't seen since the day they'd defeated Kragoth.

Genuine fear.

"Something ancient," she said, her voice trembling. "Creatures that feed on life itself. An entire civilization of them, locked away on the other side of the world. And the veil is failing."

The room went completely silent.

"That's not possible," Zephyr said finally, though he didn't sound convinced. "What kind of creatures are you talking about?"

"I don't know what they're called," Laura said quietly. "But they're real. Just like primordial mate bonds were real before I came along. Just like a Luna becoming an Alpha Queen was real. Just like defeating a primordial curse that had existed for thousands of years was real."

She stood up from the bed, her marks still glowing as she paced toward the window. The night outside looked peaceful, stars scattered across the sky exactly like they'd been in that void where the girl had appeared.

"She showed me," Laura continued, her voice barely above a whisper. "I saw them. Pale and fast and hungry. I saw our territories falling one by one. I saw our people drained and left as husks. I saw the end of everything we've built."

She turned back to face her mates.

"They're not here yet. But the veil is failing. And when it breaks completely, they'll come for us. For everything we have."

"When?" Lucian asked, and his voice had gone deadly calm in that way it did before battle.

"Soon," Laura said. "She couldn't tell me exactly when, but soon. The veil is weakening. When it fails, they'll come through. We don't have much time to prepare."

Nikolai stood up, his calculating mind already working through the problem. "If what you're saying is true—"

"It is true," Laura interrupted fiercely. "I know how it sounds. I know you want to believe I had a nightmare or that the vision was just stress. But look at my marks." She gestured to the silver-gold light still blazing across her skin. "They haven't glowed like this in twenty years. Not since the day we defeated Kragoth."

She met each of their eyes again.

"That girl has been trying to save us for two decades. She gave me the tools to win the Shadow Wars even though I forgot her every time. And now she's dying, and she used her last breath to warn me about this."

“So what are you saying Laura?” Dante asked with a frown.

Laura's voice dropped to barely a whisper.

"We're fucked," she said simply.

The words hung in the air like a death sentence.

Dante was the first to move, crossing the room to pull Laura into his arms. "Then we fight," he said against her hair. "Like we always do."

"This isn't like the shadow wolves," Laura said, her voice muffled against his chest. "I saw them, Dante. They're fast and they're smart and they've been planning this for centuries. And we're still recovering from the last war."

"Good thing we've had twenty years to prepare then," Lucian said, and there was steel in his voice now. "Even if we didn't know what we were preparing for."

Zephyr moved to the war table in the corner of their chambers, already pulling out maps. "We need to gather the Alphas. All of them. If this threat is as big as you say—"

"It's bigger," Laura interrupted quietly. "It's so much bigger than anything we've faced before."

Nikolai joined Zephyr at the table, his green eyes sharp with focus. "Then we start planning now. We fortify the borders, recall our scouts, send warnings to the other territories."

"And we find out everything we can about these portals," Lucian added. "If they're powering this veil, maybe we can strengthen it. Buy ourselves time."

Laura watched her mates shift into war mode, their minds already working through strategy and tactics. Part of her felt relief that they believed her, that they weren't dismissing her vision as madness.

But another part of her, the part that had seen what was coming in that girl's dying warning, knew that no amount of preparation would be enough.

Not for this.

She looked down at her marks, still glowing faintly now as the initial surge of power faded. Somewhere out there, that girl was dying. Or maybe already dead, having spent everything she had to reach Laura one final time.

And Laura didn't even know her name.

"Thank you," she whispered to the empty air, hoping somehow the girl could hear her across whatever distance separated them. "Thank you for not giving up on us. I won't forget again. I promise."

Her marks pulsed once in response, then went dark.

But Laura knew, with absolute certainty, that this was just the beginning.

The Shadow Wars had been a test.

What came next would determine if the werewolf world survived at all.

Guyyssss! I will be uploading the prequel soon. Forgive my silence!!! I lost access to my account and have just gotten it back today. Expect the prequel tomorrow! Need to work on some stuffs as hE prequel would be about Lyralei!