Chapter 6 The Prophecy
LIRA POV
Garrick's resistance crumbled under the pressure, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "Her mother went into labor during the eclipse. The birth was... unusual. Power radiated from the child, and Vera started having visions."
"What kind of visions?" Kael asked, his brows arching with sharp interest.
I held my breath, watching Garrick's face crumble as he spoke.
"She saw the future of werewolf kind. Multiple possible paths." Garrick's voice grew smaller with each word. "In some, the child united the packs and ushered in a golden age. In others, she brought about our extinction."
My heart hammered against my ribs. They were talking about me about visions of my future.
"And you decided the solution was to ensure she never had the chance to fulfill either destiny," Kael said, his voice cutting through the tension with cold authority.
"We thought if we kept her powerless, the visions couldn't come true. Either of them." Garrick's confession came out as barely a whisper.
I felt my sharp intake of breath echo in the silent hall. The full scope of what had been stolen from me crashed down—not just my freedom, but my potential to change the world.
"You were wrong," Kael said simply, his presence solid beside me. "Power suppressed is not power eliminated. You've spent twenty years creating the very thing you feared."
"What do you mean?" Garrick asked, panic creeping into his voice like poison.
Kael looked at me, and I felt something shift in his gaze—recognition of the growing strength in my eyes, the way my wolf was finally beginning to surface after decades of forced dormancy.
"You wanted to prevent her from becoming powerful enough to change werewolf kind. Instead, you've created a Moonblood Luna with years of rage and nothing left to lose. Tell me, Garrick," Kael's voice turned mocking, "which of those visions sounds more dangerous now?"
The old elder's face went pale as the implications sank in.
I spoke for the first time since entering the main hall, my voice quiet but carrying clearly through the silent room. "You killed my parents."
It wasn't a question. I could smell Garrick's guilt radiating from him like rot.
"The scouting mission that killed Dmitri wasn't random, was it?" Kael asked, his tone sharp as a blade. "You sent him into Darkfang territory knowing he'd be murdered."
"And my mother?" My voice was growing stronger, fed by years of suppressed rage. "She died in childbirth, but labor complications don't usually kill Luna wolves. What did you do to her?"
Garrick's silence was answer enough.
I felt the temperature in the room drop as power began to manifest more fully within me. The torches flickered, and several pack members stepped back in instinctive fear.
"Answer her," Kael commanded, his alpha voice brooking no defiance.
"We gave her silver-laced tea during labor," Garrick whispered, his words falling like stones in still water. "To weaken the birth bond and prevent her from passing too much power to the child. We didn't know it would kill her."
The lie was obvious in his scent. They had known exactly what the silver would do.
I went very still, feeling the air around me begin to shimmer with barely contained energy. The sharp scent of ozone filled my nostrils.
"You murdered my mother," I said, my voice carrying an echo that hadn't been there moments before. "You murdered my father. You stole twenty years of my life."
"Lira," Kael said quietly, and I could hear the recognition in his voice—signs of power building beyond my control. "Look at me."
I turned, and through the silver fire beginning to flicker in my gray eyes, I saw his storm-colored gaze steady and sure.
"I can feel her," I whispered, wonder and rage warring in my voice. "Selwyn is awake and she's so angry."
Around the room, pack members began backing toward the exits. They could sense the building power, the way reality seemed to bend around my awakening bloodline.
"She has every right to be angry," Kael said, his voice cutting through the chaos in my mind. "But don't let that anger consume you. You're stronger than what they made you believe."
Silver flames flickered around my fingers, beautiful and terrible. "They deserve to burn for what they did."
"Yes," Kael agreed without hesitation. "They do. But not here and definitely not like this. You're better than they are."
For a moment, the power continued building, threatening to tear free of my control. Then I took a shuddering breath and pulled it back, feeling it settle like a sleeping dragon in my chest. The silver flames faded, but the threat remained in my eyes.
"Justice," I said, looking directly at Garrick with newfound authority. "There will be justice."
The old elder collapsed to his knees, finally understanding the magnitude of what he'd awakened.
The main hall felt like a battlefield after the confrontation with Elder Garrick. Blood stained the stone floor, the scent of fear and death hung heavy in the air, and I could feel every eye in the room watching me with a mixture of awe and terror.
I was still learning to process the flood of sensory information now that Selwyn was awake. Every heartbeat in the room registered in my consciousness. Every scent carried layers of meaning I'd never noticed before. Every slight movement triggered my wolf's predatory instincts.
We are not prey anymore, Selwyn whispered in my mind. Never again.
"Are you all right?" Kael asked quietly, his hand still resting protectively on my back.
I nodded, though I wasn't sure it was true. Twenty years of believing myself broken and worthless didn't disappear in a single night, even with my wolf finally awakened.
"What happens now?" I asked, looking around at the pack members who had watched my suffering in silence for two decades.
"Now we establish a new order," Kael replied, his alpha voice carrying easily through the hall. "The lies end tonight. Lira Ashborne is under my protection as my mate and your future Luna. Anyone who threatens her threatens me."
An older female stepped forward from the crowd—I recognized her as one of the kitchen workers who had occasionally shown small kindnesses over the years.
"Alpha Kael," the woman said hesitantly, wringing her hands. "what about the pack law? The Luna trials?"
My stomach dropped like a stone. I'd heard whispers about the trials—brutal tests that potential Lunas had to pass to prove their worthiness to lead. Combat, strategy, endurance challenges that required years of training.
"There will be no trials," Kael said firmly, his voice cutting through my rising panic. "Lira's bloodline speaks for itself. She is Moonblood, the highest Luna heritage in our history."
"But she has no training," another voice protested from the crowd. "No experience leading."
"She has twenty years of survival experience that none of you could match," Kael cut them off, his words sharp as glass. "She's endured torture, isolation, and systematic abuse while maintaining her sanity and compassion. That's stronger leadership than any trial could test."
Warmth spread through my chest at his defense, but doubt still gnawed at me like a persistent ache. "Kael, maybe they're right. I don't know anything about being a Luna. I've never even been part of a pack properly."