Chapter 152 It-Girls' Trap
POV: Luna
The morning after the mate bond revelation, I was exhausted.
Two true mates. How was that even possible?
I'd barely slept, my mind churning with questions I couldn't answer.
"You look terrible," Nova said at breakfast.
"Thanks. That's what every girl wants to hear."
"I'm serious. When's the last time you actually rested?"
"Define rested."
"Luna—"
"I'm fine. Just stressed."
"About the dual mate thing?"
"About everything. The dual mate thing. The cleansing ritual tonight. The fact that someone's still out there orchestrating everything."
"One crisis at a time," Aria advised. "Today, we focus on protection duty. Tonight, we do the ritual. Tomorrow, we worry about mate bonds."
"Sounds like a plan."
After breakfast, I checked my mailbox out of habit.
There was a letter. Handwritten. No return address.
I opened it carefully.
Luna,
I hope this letter finds you well. I've been meaning to write for weeks but wasn't sure what to say.
By now you've probably heard I graduated and took a position with the Council. Alpha training program. It's what I always wanted, but leaving Silverwood was harder than I expected.
Leaving you was harder than I expected.
I know we never officially had anything. You were with Miguel, then dealing with his loss, then focused on surviving. But I want you to know that training you, watching you grow into the powerful wolf you are, was the highlight of my time at the Academy.
You'll always be special to me, Luna. Even if we're just friends. Even if we never see each other again.
I heard about Cole. About what he did. I'm sorry. You deserved better.
If you ever need anything, even just someone to talk to, reach me at this number: \[number\]
Stay safe. Stay strong. And remember what I taught you: trust your instincts. They've never been wrong.
\- Ryder
I stared at the letter, emotions swirling.
Ryder. My first mentor. The person who'd taught me to fight, to trust my wolf.
I'd been so caught up in everything else that I hadn't even thought about him graduating.
"You okay?" Liam asked, appearing beside me.
"Yeah. Just a letter from an old friend."
"Anyone I should be jealous of?"
"Maybe." I showed him the letter. "Ryder was my mentor. First year. We were close."
"Were you...?"
"No. But there was something. We never acted on it."
Through the mate bond, I felt Liam's slight jealousy. But also understanding.
"Do you want to contact him?" he asked.
"I don't know. Maybe. He deserves to know I'm okay."
"Then write him back. After tonight's ritual. When things calm down."
"Things never calm down."
"Fair point."
I tucked the letter away and focused on the day ahead.
Princess protection duty. Routine patrol. Should be simple.
Of course, nothing was ever simple.
Selene and I were walking the eastern grounds that afternoon when I felt it.
A tingle across my skin. Wrong. Off.
"Something's here," I said.
"Where?" Selene looked around.
"I don't know. But my wolf senses danger."
I took another step forward.
The ground beneath me exploded with light.
Magical chains erupted from nowhere, wrapping around my arms, legs, torso.
I couldn't move. Couldn't shift. Couldn't access my Eclipse power.
"Luna!" Selene ran toward me.
"No! Stay back! It's a trap!"
But she didn't listen. She tried to grab the chains.
They shocked her. She flew backward, hitting the ground hard.
Through the pack bonds, I called for help.
Trapped. Eastern grounds. Need assistance. Now.
Responses came immediately.
Within minutes, my friends arrived.
Nova tried to physically break the chains. They wouldn't budge.
Aria analyzed the magical signature. "This is sophisticated. Multiple layers of enchantment."
"Can you break it?" I asked through gritted teeth. The chains were getting tighter.
"Maybe. With help." She looked at Sienna and Lyric. "We need to work together. Layer by layer."
They formed a circle around me and began chanting.
The chains flickered. Weakened slightly.
"It's working!" Nova encouraged.
But then the trap adapted. New chains appeared, wrapping around Aria, Sienna, and Lyric.
"No!" I struggled harder.
"Stop!" Sienna shouted. "Struggling makes it worse!"
Liam and Aiden arrived together, having apparently been nearby.
"What happened?" Liam demanded.
"Magical trap. We need to disrupt the power source," Aria said.
Aiden circled the trap, studying it. "There. That symbol. It's the anchor point."
He pointed to a sigil carved into a nearby tree.
Liam went for it, but the moment he got close, the sigil released a burst of dark magic.
He was thrown back.
"It's protected," he gasped.
"Then we attack it together," I said. "Everyone who's not trapped, hit that sigil at the same time."
Liam, Aiden, Nova, and Selene coordinated.
"On three," Nova counted. "One... two... three!"
They attacked simultaneously. Physical force and magic combined.
The sigil cracked.
The chains loosened slightly.
"Again!" I shouted.
They attacked again. And again.
Finally, the sigil shattered.
The chains dissolved.
We all collapsed, gasping.
"Everyone okay?" I asked.
A chorus of pained affirmatives.
"What the hell was that?" Nova demanded.
"An It-Girls trap," I said. "Had to be. Too sophisticated for random rogues."
Aria was examining the shattered sigil pieces. "This is advanced curse work. Whoever designed this knew exactly what they were doing."
"Knew Luna would come this way," Sienna added. "This was specifically placed on her patrol route."
"Someone's watching us," Lyric said. "Tracking our movements."
I thought about Cole. About how he'd been feeding information to the It-Girls all year.
"We need to sweep for more traps," I said. "If there's one, there could be more."
We spent the next hour searching the eastern grounds.
We found three more traps. All designed similarly. All on routes Selene and I regularly walked.
"They're trying to separate you from the princess," Aiden observed. "Trap you. Leave her vulnerable."
"Then we change our routes," I said. "Make them unpredictable."
"And we go in larger groups," Liam added. "Safety in numbers."
We headed back to the Academy to report to the Headmaster.
But I felt it again. That sensation of being watched.
I turned quickly.
Movement in the trees. A figure. Too fast to identify.
"Did you see that?" I asked Liam.
"See what?"
The figure was gone.
But I knew what I'd seen.
Someone had been watching us. Watching me specifically.
Making sure the trap worked as planned.
At the Headmaster's office, we reported everything.
"This is escalating," he said grimly. "The It-Girls are getting bolder."
"Because their leader is in custody," I said. "They're desperate."
"Or someone new is leading them," Professor Cael suggested. "Someone more dangerous than Victoria."
That was a terrifying thought.
"What about Cole?" I asked. "Could he be organizing this from his cell?"
"Impossible. He's in magical suppression. Can't cast. Can't communicate magically."
"Then how are they coordinating?"
No one had an answer.
The Headmaster dismissed us with orders to stay vigilant.
Outside, Liam pulled me aside.
"Tonight. The cleansing ritual. Are you sure you want to do it?"
"We have to. That tracking sigil is calling things to you. It's too dangerous."
"But the trap today. You're already exhausted."
"I'll manage. I always do."
Through the mate bond, I felt his worry. His fear of losing me.
"I'll be fine," I promised. "We'll both be fine."
That evening, we gathered for the ritual.
The full moon was rising. Perfect conditions.
My friends formed a protective circle around us. Watching for threats.
Liam and I stood in the center. The ritual materials prepared.
"Ready?" Sienna asked. She'd be guiding the magical component.
"Ready," we both said.
The ritual began.
Sienna chanted in ancient wolf language. Words of cleansing. Purification. Release.
I held Liam's marked hand, channeling Eclipse power through our mate bond.
The sigil on his hand began to glow. Brighter. Hotter.
Liam gritted his teeth against the pain.
"Almost there," Sienna said. "Keep channeling."
I pushed more power through the bond.
The sigil pulsed violently. Then started to crack.
"It's working!" Nova exclaimed.
But then something went wrong.
The sigil, instead of dissolving, began to spread.
Dark lines crept up Liam's arm like veins of shadow.
"Sienna, what's happening?" I shouted.
"It's fighting back! The mark doesn't want to be removed!"
"Can we stop it?"
"Not without killing him!"
No. That wasn't acceptable.
I dug deeper into my Eclipse power. Into the otherworld connection.
Into Miguel's essence, still woven into my mark.
Help me, I begged. Please.
Miguel's warmth flooded through me.
The Eclipse power transformed. Became something purer. Brighter.
I channeled it all into Liam's mark.
Light met darkness. Battled. Warred.
Finally, the sigil shattered.
The dark lines dissolved.
Liam collapsed, gasping.
"Is he okay?" Aiden asked.
I checked through the mate bond. He was exhausted. In pain. But alive.
"He's okay."
The ritual was over. The tracking sigil gone.
But as I helped Liam to his feet, I saw something.
On the ground where the sigil had shattered.
A residual mark. Faint. Almost invisible.
The same symbol I'd seen before. The dark figure's calling card.
"Guys," I said quietly. "Look at this."
They gathered around.
"That's the mastermind's sigil," Aria breathed. "From the ritual. From the trap today."
"It's all connected," Sienna realized. "Cole. The It-Girls. Liam's family. The dark figure. They're all part of the same conspiracy."
"But what's the endgame?" Lyric asked. "What do they actually want?"
I looked at the sigil. At the symbol that kept appearing.
And I realized something.
"They want the otherworld," I said. "Not just to open it. To control it. To use its power."
"For what purpose?" Nova asked.
"I don't know. But it's bigger than we thought. Bigger than just Eclipse power or royal bloodlines."
The sigil pulsed once, as if confirming my words.
Then it faded completely.
Leaving us in darkness.
With more questions than answers.
And the certainty that the real fight was still ahead.