Chapter 223 Chapter 223
Chapter 223 Chapter 223
Theo
The walk from the Alpha house to the old meeting hall couldn’t have taken more than ten minutes.
It felt like an hour.
No one said much as we crossed the compound. The rain had eased into a light drizzle, leaving the ground damp beneath our boots and the air carrying that fresh scent that always followed a summer storm. Wolves stepped out of our way as we passed. Some nodded respectfully. Others couldn’t hide their curiosity, especially when their eyes landed on Ellie.
I caught it every single time.
They weren’t staring because she was human anymore.
They were looking at the fresh marks along her neck.
The whispers had changed.
Months ago, she’d been the human.
Then she’d become the Moon-Blessed.
Now…
She was the Alpha triplets’ mate.
Our Luna.
Ellie shifted a little closer to me as another pair of warriors lowered their heads respectfully when we passed.
“They’re looking at me.”
Blake smiled beside her.
“They are.”
“It feels strange.”
“It’ll take getting used to.”
She looked up at me.
“Does it ever stop feeling strange?”
I thought about that honestly.
“No.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“No?”
“You just stop questioning whether you deserve it.”
For a moment, she didn’t answer.
Instead, she slipped her hand into mine.
It wasn’t because she was nervous.
It wasn’t because she needed reassurance.
It was simply… natural.
That realization settled warmly inside my chest.
A few months ago, Ellie barely allowed herself to stand beside us in public.
Now she reached for us without thinking.
Marcus, walking a few steps ahead with Rowan, glanced back over his shoulder.
A smile tugged briefly at his mouth before he looked forward again.
He’d noticed.
I had a feeling everyone had.
The old meeting hall came into view through the trees.
It hadn’t been used in years.
Most of the pack preferred the newer council building closer to the Alpha house, leaving this one to age quietly beneath layers of ivy and moss. The stone walls had darkened with time, and the wooden shutters hung slightly crooked from decades of weather.
It looked abandoned.
Except…
It wasn’t.
Four patrol wolves stood outside waiting for us.
The youngest among them stepped forward immediately.
“Alpha.”
Theo—that is, I—nodded.
“Report.”
“The entrance is secure.”
“No one has gone farther than the first landing.”
“Good.”
He hesitated.
“But…”
I sighed internally.
There was always a “but.”
“The air coming from below…”
His voice dropped.
“…it doesn’t smell right.”
Blake frowned.
“What does that mean?”
The young wolf looked uncomfortable.
“It smells…”
He searched for the right word.
“…old.”
Blake blinked.
“It’s a tunnel.”
“I know.”
“So…”
“I’ve never smelled anything like it.”
That got my attention.
Sebastian’s too.
He stepped toward the narrow stone staircase hidden behind a section of collapsed wall.
“I’ll judge that myself.”
The patrol wolves stepped aside.
The staircase disappeared into darkness.
Water dripped steadily somewhere below, echoing softly through the stone passage.
Ellie stared down into it beside me.
“It almost feels like it’s…”
She stopped talking.
“What?”
I asked.
She frowned.
“I don’t know.”
She placed one hand lightly against her chest.
“It feels familiar.”
Every instinct inside me sharpened.
“Familiar how?”
“I’ve never been here.”
“I know.”
“But…”
She closed her eyes for a second.
“It feels like I’ve dreamed about this place.”
Nobody spoke.
Because every one of us remembered the dreams she’d described months ago.
The silver forest.
The woman calling her name.
The stone doorway she could never quite reach before waking.
Rowan slowly turned toward her.
“What exactly does it feel like?”
Ellie opened her eyes again.
“I don’t know how to explain it.”
She looked embarrassed.
“It’s like…”
She searched for the words.
“…when you hear a song you haven’t listened to since you were a child.”
Blake looked at her.
“You recognize it.”
She nodded immediately.
“Exactly.”
“I don’t remember being here.”
She looked toward the darkness below.
“But something inside me does.”
A chill slid down my spine.
Rowan walked to the top of the stairs.
His weathered hand rested lightly against the ancient stone wall.
“The journals never said the Moon-Blessed would discover the gate.”
He looked back at Ellie.
“They said…”
His voice softened.
“…the gate would call her.”
Silence settled over all of us.
The rain continued falling gently outside.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Then…
Ellie took one hesitant step toward the staircase.
She wasn’t trying to.
I could see it on her face.
Her body had simply…
Moved.
She froze immediately.
“I…”
She looked down at her own feet.
“I didn’t mean to.”
Blake was beside her instantly.
“You okay?”
She nodded too quickly.
“I think so.”
But her eyes never left the darkness below.
Sebastian crouched beside the first stone step.
His fingers brushed across centuries-old dust before lifting to examine something caught in the dirt.
He frowned.
“What is it?”
I asked.
He held up his fingertips.
Black powder.
Not dirt.
Not ash.
Something else.
Rowan’s face lost every trace of color.
“No.”
Marcus looked at him sharply.
“What?”
Rowan slowly descended the first two steps before kneeling beside Sebastian.
He rubbed a little of the powder between his fingers.
When he looked up again, I saw genuine fear in his eyes for the first time since I’d known him.
“This isn’t from the tunnel.”
“What is it?” Blake asked.
Rowan swallowed.
“It’s from the seal.”
“The seal?”
“The magic.”
None of us moved.
Rowan stood slowly, staring into the darkness below.
“Someone didn’t force the gate open.”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“They broke the protection keeping it closed.”
The words settled over us like a physical weight.
Ellie instinctively reached for the pendant beneath her shirt.
The silver warmed against her skin.
I felt it through our bond before she even spoke.
“It’s hot.”
My head snapped toward her.
“What?”
She pulled the pendant free.
The ancient silver wasn’t glowing.
But it was warm enough that she shifted it from one hand to the other.
“It wasn’t doing this before.”
Rowan stared at it.
Then at the staircase.
Finally…
At Ellie.
“I was wrong.”
Nobody breathed.
“I thought they were hunting the Moon-Blessed.”
He slowly shook his head.
“No.”
His voice carried a terrible certainty.
“They’ve already found what they wanted.”
A heavy rumble echoed from somewhere deep beneath the earth.
Not loud.
Not violent.
Just enough to make dust drift from the ceiling of the tunnel.
Every wolf on the staircase stiffened.
Then…
From somewhere in the darkness below…
Came the unmistakable sound of footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
And climbing toward us.