Chapter 161 The truth Moonlight holds

Chapter 161 The truth Moonlight holds
Chapter 161

RAVENNA

I laughed.

It was bitter and sharp, echoing over the silent woods like something broken. The sound carried far enough that I heard birds rustling in the trees nearby, panicked, their wings beating frantically as they fled.

I sighed so hard my chest ached.

"Why are you laughing?" Moonlight asked, her voice unbothered in my head.

"You must be joking," I said aloud, my voice hoarse. "I must be hallucinating all of this nonsense. This is what I get for being wicked. I am going mad now. Sputtering nonsense. Imagining things."

"You are perfectly stable," Moonlight replied calmly. "There is nothing wrong with you. This is real."

I shook my head, my breathing uneven. "I am human. I do not have all of this happening to me. I am not any of this. My father never told me I had a wolf. I don’t know why all these are happening to me. It feels so strange."

"Your father would never know if you had a wolf," Moonlight said gently. "Because you came out as a human. You did not show traces of having a wolf."

I stopped moving, my hands still trembling at my sides.

"Your mother's genes as a human overshadowed your father's genes as a werewolf," Moonlight continued. "It caused the gene to move to one side inside of you after your birth. Over the years, as you were growing up, the gene was growing too. You were a werewolf all this time. But it was tied down inside you somewhere. Hidden. And it needed a spark to make it burst out."

I stared at the ground, my mind racing, trying to process what she was saying.

"This was not your first shift," Moonlight said quietly.

My head snapped up. "What?"

"Your first shift occurred when you were seven years old. Three months after your father was captured."

I felt my heart race as I process what she said.

"Your mother panicked," Moonlight continued. "She thought those people would come after you if they found out who you truly were. Back then, everyone thought you were a powerless human. If the people who took your father found out you were a werewolf, they would have felt threatened. They would have come to kill you."

I wrapped my arms around myself, my claws pressing lightly into my skin.

"So, your mother made a big decision," Moonlight said. "She had you taken to a witch. A powerful one. The witch cast a strong spell on you to hide your werewolf nature and force me into a corner inside you. It was like a cage. I was always going to be a presence inside you, but I would never be unlocked. Not unless the spell broke."

I gasped, my voice barely a whisper. "Is this true?"

"I would never lie to you."

I sank back down onto the tree trunk, my legs too weak to hold me anymore.

"The only person who knew about this was your aunt Lila," Moonlight said. "And Lila refused to tell you anything because your mother made her promise not to disclose anything if you ever started asking questions."

I thought back to all the times I had asked Aunt Lila about my mother. About my childhood. She had always brushed me off, telling me to focus on the present instead of digging into the past.

"The witch told your mother the spell would never last forever," Moonlight continued. "She said eventually it would break. But by then, you would be old enough that no one would attack you or take you away."

I looked down at my hands, now returned to normal human hands, and felt tears prickling at the corners of my eyes.

"I was a werewolf all this time," I whispered. "All the pulls I had been feeling toward the full moon every time… it was actually you reacting."

"Yes," Moonlight confirmed. "It was me trying to break free. But it was impossible. I had been locked in for too long. And then your sister did you a favor by sending you to a wolf academy. That sped up loosening the spell."

I let out a shaky breath.

"What happens next?" I asked quietly. "What is going to happen to me?"

Moonlight paused.

"I cannot reveal anything to you at this stage," she said finally. "Because you are panicked, confused and hurt. And I do not trust that you would keep your mouth shut. I need you to remain clueless for now."

I felt a wave of disappointment wash over me. "Why?"

"Because if people ever found out who you truly are," Moonlight said firmly, "they would kill you. So, it is best to keep you in the dark for now. For your own protection."

I swallowed hard. "Alright. Fine."

"I am still dormant," Moonlight continued. "And I need to complete my shift to be fully present with you."

I looked up sharply. "Will it happen or not?"

"If after the third shift you do not fully shift," Moonlight said quietly, "you are going to die."

The words hit me like a physical blow. What the hell?

"Yes, we’ll die.” She replied as if she read my thoughts. “I have been locked up for too long," she continued. "It is like a cage. And I need to be free. Right now, I am more death than alive. You have to put your head down and ignore every other thing. You need to fully shift on the next full moon. Or else we are both going to die."

I stared at the ground, my chest tight, my breathing shallow.

"It is better for me to die anyway," I whispered.

"No," Moonlight said sharply. "The world needs you. The academy needs you. And your mate needs you. You cannot afford to die."

I shrugged bitterly. "Darius would never want to have anything to do with me. So, I am mate less."

"You do not know that," Moonlight said firmly. "Darius loves you deeply. Yes, he is heartbroken at what you did. Yes, he is going to need time to heal. But you are still his mate. He would not afford to lose you. If he does, he is going to die. Your lives are tied into a thread now."

I felt tears streaming down my face, but I did not wipe them away.

"Trust me on this," Moonlight said softly. "You must continue to fight. Because the future depends solely on you."

I nodded slowly, even though she could not see me.

"I am going to leave you now," Moonlight said. "And you must not speak a word of this to anyone except your father. Your father will know what to do after you explain everything to him."

"I promise," I whispered.

"Good."

And then she was gone.

The presence that had been inside me, the warmth that had been sitting beneath my ribs, disappeared all at once.

I felt the loss of it immediately.

And then the pain started.

It was sharp and sudden, shooting through my limbs like lightning. I gasped and fell forward, my hands hitting the ground hard.

My limbs broke.

I screamed.

The bones snapped and reconstructed themselves, shifting back into place with sickening cracks that echoed through the clearing. My claws retracted slowly, painfully, pulling back into my fingers. The fur that had covered my skin disappeared, peeling away like it had never been there at all.

I collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath, my body trembling violently.

Something heavy settled over me.

I looked down.

I was naked.

The cold bit into my skin immediately, sharp and unforgiving. I shivered, my teeth chattering, my arms wrapping around myself in a useless attempt to stay warm.

I tried to stay awake.

I tried to push myself up, to move, to do something.

But it was useless.

Sleep claimed me.