Chapter 85 Purifying the Past
“Mom, stop. Please. It’s me. It’s Elowen.” I backed away as she advanced. Her eyes flat. Empty. Nothing of the woman who’d birthed me was visible in that mechanical stare.
“Target identified. Moonsilver threat. Eliminate.” Her hand reached for my throat. Fast. Trained. Deadly.
Lycian caught her wrist. Held her back. “We need to restrain them. Before they hurt someone. Before they hurt you.”
“No. I can fix this. I can purify the programming. Like I did with Elena. Like I did with the enhanced wolves.” I reached for my power. For the silver light. Found nothing. The suppression drug was still blocking everything that made me Moonsilver.
My father moved. Silent. Efficient. Grabbed a scalpel and lunged at me.
Elena intercepted. Her elbow struck his temple. He dropped unconscious. The scalpel clattered to the floor.
“They’re too far gone,” Elena said. Breathing hard. “Twenty-two years of conditioning. You can’t undo that.”
“I have to try. They’re my parents.” I knelt beside him. Touched his face. Still warm. Still alive. “How long until the drug wears off?”
“Hours. Maybe more. We don’t have that. The facility is collapsing. We need to evacuate. Now.” She restrained my mother as she struggled.
“Then we take them with us. Restrain them. Transport them. Get them somewhere safe where I can work.” I looked at Lycian. “Can we move them?”
“We can try. But if they wake and attack, we may have to make hard choices.” His voice was grim.
“No. We save them. That’s not negotiable.”
I felt his conflict through the bond. Then he nodded. “Okay. We try. But we do it smart.”
We secured my parents to silver lined restraints and transport gurneys. Both unconscious. Both breathing. Still worth fighting for.
Another explosion shook the facility. Closer.
“That was level C,” Elena said, checking her comm. “The children hit the main supports. We have maybe five minutes before total collapse.”
“Then we move. Fast.” Lycian pushed my father’s gurney. “Elena, take the mother. Elowen, can you walk?”
“I can run if needed.”
We moved through smoke filled corridors as freed prisoners rushed past us. Some helping others. All running for freedom.
Outside was chaos. The parking area was packed with survivors. Wolves. Humans. Everyone Nightshade had taken.
Damien appeared, covered in soot. “Everyone’s out. All prisoners accounted for. The children are safe. Mission accomplished.”
“And Nightshade? Tessa?” I searched the crowd.
“No confirmation. She probably escaped through an emergency route.”
“No time to look,” Lycian said. “We go. Now.”
We loaded my parents into a medical transport. Secured them. Then drove fast. Away from the collapsing facility. Away from everything Nightshade had built.
Behind us, the facility imploded. Falling into itself. A controlled demolition triggered by the children’s charges. Dust and debris mushroom into the sky.
But nobody. No confirmation. No proof that Nightshade had died inside.
Which meant she was still out there. Still planning. Still three steps ahead.
We drove for an hour. To a safe house, the freed prisoners had secured. Remote. Hidden. Off every grid.
Inside, we set up a makeshift medical bay. Laid my parents on beds. Monitored their vitals. Waited for them to wake. For me to regain my power. For the moment when I could try to save them.
Clara arrived with supplies. Medicine. Food. Comfort. She stopped when she saw my parents. Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Mary. Elian. Oh my god. They’re really alive.”
“For now. But programmed. Turned into weapons.” I touched my mother’s hand. Cold. Limp. “I need to purify them. Break the programming. Give them back themselves.”
“Can you do that? After twenty-two years?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to try.” The drug was wearing off. The suppression fading. My power slowly returning. “Give me another hour. Then I’ll know if it’s possible.”
Lycian stayed beside me. Constant. His hand in mine. His presence through the bond is steady and reassuring.
“Whatever happens,” he said quietly. “You tried. You fought. You gave them a chance.”
“What if trying isn’t enough?”
“Then you let them go. You grieve. You survive. You keep living the life they died to give you.” He squeezed my hand. “But I think you’re stronger than any programming.”
“I hope you’re right.”
An hour later, my power returned. Silver light flowed through my hands. My wolf present. Ready.
I placed my hands on my mother first. Let the light sink into her. Searching the programming. Finding it buried deep, woven through every neuron, every thought.
This wasn’t like Elena or the enhanced wolves. This was total. A personality rebuilt from nothing.
But underneath, buried beneath years of conditioning, I felt her. The real her. Small. Trapped. Still there.
Mom, I thought. Can you hear me? It’s Elowen. I’m here.
A flicker of awareness. Recognition.
Then the programming pushed back.
I pushed harder. The silver light burns away layers of conditioning. Of orders. Of false memories and forced loyalty.
My mother’s body convulsed. Fighting. The programming is resisting. Desperate to maintain control.
Through the bond, I felt Lycian’s strength. Flowing into me. Supporting me. Giving me everything he had.
Together, his voice reminded. We do this together.
I pulled on his strength. On the bond. On everything we’d built. Channeled it all into my mother. Into freeing her. Into giving her back her life.
The programming shattered. Like glass breaking. Like chains snapping. Like a prisoner finally seeing sunlight after decades in darkness.
My mother gasped. Her eyes are clearing. Color returning. Life returning.
“Elowen?” Her voice was hoarse. Broken. But real. “My baby. You’re so grown. So beautiful.”
“I’m here, Mom. You’re safe. You’re free.” Tears streamed down my face. “I got you out. You’re coming home.”
“Your father. Where’s your father? Is he—” She tried to sit up. Weak. Shaking. Twenty-two years of suspended animation are taking their toll.
“He’s here. I’m going to purify him next. Get him free too.” I moved in with my father. Placed my hands on his chest. Let the light flow.
His programming was different. Deeper. More violent. More resistant.
But I was ready. Was stronger. Had my mother’s success proving it was possible.
I reached into his mind. Into the darkness. Into the prison they’d built around his true self.
Found him. Hiding. Scared. But alive. Still him beneath everything.
Dad. It’s me. It’s Elowen. Time to come home.
The programming fought. Harder than my mother’s. More desperate. More dangerous.
My power started failing. Draining too fast. I've used so much already. Didn’t have enough left.
My mother’s hand touched mine. Silver light flowed from her. Into me. Into my father.
“Together,” she whispered. “We save him together. Like we should have saved each other.”
Her power joined mine. Moonsilver meeting Moonsilver. Mother and daughter united. Unstoppable.
The programming didn’t stand a chance. It shattered. Broke. Disappeared like it had never existed.
My father woke. Gasping. Confused. His eyes found my mother first. Then me.
“Mary. You’re alive. You’re free.” His voice cracked. “And Elowen. Our little girl. Look at you. All grown. All-powerful. All everything we hoped you’d be.”
We collapsed together. All three of us. Crying. Holding each other. A family reunited after twenty-two years. A miracle. A gift. A second chance.
Lycian stepped back. Giving us space. Giving us this moment. Through the bond, I felt his joy. His relief. His love for me was so fierce it hurt.
“Thank you,” I sent the thought to him. For believing. For supporting. For giving me your strength when I needed it most.
Always. Forever. That’s what mates do. His warmth wrapped around me through the bond. Now enjoy this. You earned it.
Hours passed. Talking. Catching up. Learning who they’d become. Who I’d become. Building bridges across twenty-two years of separation.
Then my phone buzzed. The new one Damien had given me. Secure. Encrypted. Supposedly untraceable.
One message. One video. One final threat.
I opened it. Felt my blood run cold.
Tessa. Alive. Standing in what looked like another facility. Bigger. More advanced. Surrounded by screens showing hundreds more glass chambers. All full. All waiting.
“Congratulations,” she said. Voice calm. Measured. “You destroyed one facility. Freed one batch of prisoners. Saved your parents. Well done. Really. I’m impressed.”
She gestured to the chambers. “But that was the test site Alpha. This is command central. Where the real Project Genesis subjects are stored. Where the real work happens. Where I’ve been the whole time while you celebrated your little victory.”
She smiled. That fake smile. The one that had fooled me for four years.
“Seventy days. That’s how long you have. Then I activate everyone. Then I release an army you can’t stop. Can’t defeat. Can’t survive. And this time?” She leaned closer to the camera. “I’m not giving you a chance to surrender. I’m not offering deals. I’m just going to win. See you at the end of the world, bestie.”
The video was deleted. The phone went dead. Fried. Unusable.
And I realized with horrible clarity. We hadn’t won. We’d barely survived. The real battle hadn’t even started yet.