Chapter 24: Blood Legacy

Calla's POV

"This is all your fault."

Lucas sneered at me, and I looked away as the Eclipse wolves dragged him toward the doors, but his eyes stayed locked on mine, accusing me.

I opened my mouth to respond, but Elder Miriam suddenly swayed on her feet.

"Elder?" Darius caught her arm. "Are you alright?"

She didn't answer. Her milky eyes were wide, staring at me like she'd seen a ghost. One hand clutched her chest, the other gripping her cane so hard her knuckles went white.

"The bond signature," she whispered. "I... I recognize it now."

"What are you talking about?" I moved closer.

"Your power. The way it feels." Her breathing was shallow. "I've felt it before. Years ago. Child, your mother, who is she?"

My stomach tightened. "My mother? She's... her name was Elena Hayes. She ran away when I was younger. Why?"

The elder's cane clattered to the floor.

Every wolf in the room went silent. Elder Miriam's face had gone completely pale, her hands shaking.

"Elena," she repeated. "Elena who claimed to be from a minor pack in the East?"

"Yes," I said slowly. "What does my mother have to do with—"

"Everything." The elder reached out and grabbed my shoulders. "Your mother didn't run away, child. She was taken. Because Elena Hayes wasn't her real name."

"What?"

"Your mother was Elena Shadowborne." Elder Miriam's voice trembled. "Morgana's daughter."

The ballroom erupted in shocked whispers. I felt Darius's hand on my back, steadying me.

"That's impossible," I said. "Morgana died two hundred years ago. My mother is only—"

"Morgana had a daughter before she was killed," Elder Miriam interrupted. "A little girl who escaped during the massacre. The Council searched for her, fearing she'd inherited her mother's power. But she disappeared. We thought she died."

"She didn't die," I whispered. My head was spinning. "She... she had me."

"Yes." The elder's hands tightened on my shoulders. "Which means you're not just any black and silver wolf, Calla. You're Morgana's granddaughter."

The whispers grew louder. Some wolves backed away from me. Others stared in horror.

"That explains the power," Darius said quietly. "Why it's so strong."

"It's more than that." Elder Miriam finally released me, bending to pick up her cane. "Your mother sealed your wolf. I can see it now, the remnants of the binding magic. She hid what you were to protect you."

"Then why did my wolf surface at all?" I asked.

"Because you're not just carrying your own power." The elder looked at me sadly. "You're carrying generations of suppressed power. Your mother's sealed wolf. Her mother's legacy. All of it dormant inside you until your eighteenth birthday triggered the first shift."

Sierra pushed through the crowd. "That's why she's so dangerous. It's not just her wolf. It's three generations of prophesied wolves all in one person."

"Precisely." Elder Miriam nodded. "And if Calla doesn't learn to control all that power, doesn't accept it and master it, she'll suffer the same fate as Morgana. The power will consume her."

"So teach me," I said desperately. "Help me control it."

"I can't." The elder's expression was grim. "Only one person can help you now. Someone who understands what it's like to carry Morgana's bloodline."

"Who?" Darius asked.

"Your mother." Elder Miriam met my eyes. "Elena is still alive, child. And she has the answers you need."

Relief flooded through me. "She's alive? Where is she?"

The elder hesitated. "The Midnight Prison."

The room went dead silent.

"No," Darius said immediately. "Absolutely not."

"What's the Midnight Prison?" I looked between them.

Sierra's face had gone pale. "It's where they put supernatural criminals who are too dangerous to execute. Rogue alphas. Dark witches. Wolves who've committed unspeakable crimes."

"Your mother was imprisoned there twenty years ago," Elder Miriam said quietly. "After the Council discovered who she really was. They couldn't kill her, the bloodline is too important. But they couldn't let her roam free either."

"So they locked her up." Anger burned in my chest. "For being Morgana's daughter. For something she didn't even do."

"They were afraid," the elder said. "Just as they're afraid of you now."

"Then I'll break her out." I stood straighter. All this while I thought she had left me. "If my mother has answers, if she can help me control this power, then I'm going to that prison."

"Calla, you can't." Darius grabbed my arm. "The Midnight Prison is suicide. It's guarded by the deadliest wolves in existence. No one has ever broken in or out."

"Then I'll be the first."

"You don't understand—"

"No, you don't understand." I pulled away from him. "My whole life, I thought my mother abandoned me. That she ran away because she couldn't handle having a defective daughter. But she was protecting me. Sealing my wolf to keep me safe. And now she's rotting in some prison for crimes she didn't commit."

"If you go to that prison, they'll capture you too," Sierra said. "Or worse, they'll kill you on sight. You're Morgana's granddaughter. They won't take chances."

"I don't care." My hands clenched into fists. "She's my mother. And I'm not leaving her there."

Elder Miriam watched me carefully. "You're willing to risk everything? Your life, your chance at unity, these bonds with Lucas and Darius?"

"To save my mother? Yes."

The elder smiled slightly. "Then perhaps you are Morgana's heir after all. She would have done the same."

"How do we get into this prison?" I asked.

"We don't," Darius said firmly. "Because you're not going."

"Yes, I am." I turned to face him. "With or without your help."

"Then with," he said after a long moment. "Because I'm not letting you walk into that place alone."

"Neither am I."

Everyone turned. Lucas stood at the doorway, having broken free from his guards. Blood dripped from a cut on his cheek, and three unconscious Eclipse wolves lay behind him.

"Lucas," Jackson started forward.

"Touch me and I'll rip your throat out," Lucas growled. He looked at me. "You're going to the Midnight Prison?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm coming with you." He stepped into the room, ignoring the weapons pointed at him. "Call it my penance. Or call it protecting my mate. I don't care which."

"You're under arrest," Jackson said.

"Then arrest me after." Lucas's eyes never left mine. "But I'm going with her to that prison. Because if anyone in this room understands what it's like to have a parent in prison, it's me."

Darius moved to stand beside me. "We don't need your help."

"Yes, you do." Lucas smiled without humor. "Because the Midnight Prison? It's run by my father. And I'm the only one who knows how to get inside."

The room erupted in shocked whispers again.

Elder Miriam raised her hand for silence. "Then it's settled. The three of you will go to the Midnight Prison. You'll find Elena and bring her back. But know this—" she looked at each of us "—many have tried to break into that prison. None have succeeded. And most never returned."

"Then we'll be the first," I said.

"We leave at dawn," Darius added.

Lucas nodded. "Dawn it is."

Jackson stepped forward. "Alpha Lucas, I can't let you—"

"You can and you will." Lucas's alpha command rolled through the room. "Because if we don't help her control her power, none of us will survive what com

es next."

He was right. I could feel it, the power bubbling under my skin. Three generations of suppressed wolf magic just waiting to explode.