Chapter 65 MORRISON'S ARRIVAL
MORRISON'S POV
The child's power tastes like victory on my tongue.
I stand on the hillside overlooking Dark Night territory and watch silver light explode from the packhouse. Feel the shockwave ripple through the air. Sense the unprecedented power that just manifested in a five day old infant.
Three hundred and seventeen years I have waited for this moment. Three centuries of manipulation and planning and sacrifice. And finally the key to godhood cries in her father's arms.
"Sir." My second approaches with tablet in hand. "The power surge registered on our equipment. Estimated output is ten times what the True Luna produced at full strength."
"Luna isn't just powerful." I smile at the irony of her name. "She's transcendent, exactly what the prophecy promised."
"Jake's forces are in retreat. The assault failed. Should we commit our reserve units?" My second waits for orders.
"No need." I start walking down the hill toward the battlefield. "The fighting has served its purpose. Time to collect my prize personally."
"Sir you can't go alone. The True Luna has four mates and fifty warriors still standing. Even weakened they're dangerous."
"Dangerous to you perhaps." I don't slow my pace. "But I didn't survive three centuries by being weak or careless. I survived by being better than everyone who ever challenged me."
The memories surface unbidden. I let them come while I walk. Let them remind me why this matters so much.
ENGLAND, 1708
I was dying. Twenty-four years old and bleeding out from a rival pack's ambush. My father's pack scattered. My mate dead in my arms. Everything I loved destroyed because we were too weak to defend ourselves.
"Help me." I gasped at the old woman who found me. "Please. I don't want to die."
"Everyone dies, boy." She knelt beside me with eyes that held centuries of knowledge. "The question is what you're willing to pay to postpone it."
"Anything, everything. Name your price."
"Your humanity." She placed withered hands on my chest. "I can give you time. Hundreds of years. Power beyond imagining. But you'll lose the ability to love. To feel genuine connection. You'll become something other than wolf. Something more and less."
"Do it." I didn't hesitate. "Save me."
The ritual took three days. She carved symbols into my flesh. Fed me blood mixed with herbs I couldn't name. Chanted in languages older than England itself.
When it ended I was immortal, powerful, and empty.
My mate's body lay cold beside me and I felt nothing, just calculating awareness that her death was unfortunate but ultimately meaningless.
That's when I knew the old woman had told the truth. My humanity was gone. Only purpose remained.
FRANCE, 1756
I founded The Veritas with twelve other wolves who sought power above all else. We studied bloodlines, tracked genetics, and learned to manipulate wolf society from shadows.
"The prophecy speaks of a True Luna." One of my co-founders read from ancient texts. "Born of forbidden love, bonded to four mates. Capable of reshaping our entire species."
"Then we create her." I made the decision without hesitation. "We arrange the circumstances. Control the bloodlines. Manufacture the prophecy's fulfillment."
"That could take centuries."
"I have centuries." My voice held absolute certainty. "And when we finally create the True Luna we'll use her power to complete the Ascension ritual. Become gods among wolves instead of just long lived manipulators."
AMERICA, 1823
The first True Luna candidate died during awakening. Too much power too fast. Her mind shattered and her body followed.
"We miscalculated." My chief researcher looked devastated. "The bloodlines weren't compatible enough. The power was unstable."
"Then we try again." I studied her corpse with detachment. "Adjust the genetic combinations. Factor in mate bond variables. Perfect the formula."
We tried eleven more times over two centuries. Each True Luna either died or went mad. Each failure taught us something new.
Until Alicia.
PRESENT
I reach the battlefield as the last of Jake's forces retreat with wounded wolves on both sides. Bodies everywhere. The smell of blood and silver and defeat thick in the air.
"Morrison!" Ray's voice carries across the carnage. "You coward! Sending others to fight while you hide!"
"I wasn't hiding." I keep walking calmly toward the packhouse. "I was observing. Learning. Waiting for the best moment to act."
Warriors move to intercept me. Twenty wolves at least. All of them exhausted and injured but determined to protect their Luna and her child.
I raise one hand. Speak a single word in the old language. The word that cost me fifty years of life force to learn.
Every wolf on the battlefield freezes, not metaphorically. Literally frozen in place like statues. Unable to move or speak or even blink.
The magic is ancient and forbidden. It costs a year of my accumulated life with each use, but three hundred years of immortality means I can afford the price.
I walk through the frozen warriors like they're furniture. My footsteps echo in the unnatural silence.
Ray stands rigid at the packhouse entrance. His eyes are wide with shock and fury but his body refuses to obey his commands. Kai frozen mid lunge. Logan reaching for a weapon he can't grasp.
And Monty. Sweet loyal Monty frozen while holding baby Luna against his chest. The infant blinks and moves freely. My magic doesn't work on her, because her power is too great. Too pure.
"Hello Luna." I stop in front of Monty and his immobile form. "I've waited so long to meet you."
Luna's silver eyes track my movement. She doesn't cry or seem afraid. Shr just watches with ancient awareness that confirms everything I suspected.
She's not just powerful, she's conscious. Understanding things no five day old should comprehend.
"You're wondering who I am." I reach out slowly and Luna doesn't flinch. "I'm the man who arranged your entire existence. Your grandmother Elara was mine to command. Your grandfather's affair was my design. Every choice your parents made was guided by my hand."
I touch Luna's cheek gently. Her skin is warm. Thrumming with power that makes my own magic feel insignificant.
"The Ascension ritual requires three components." My voice is soft like I'm teaching a lesson. "A True Luna's willing sacrifice. Her child's unprecedented power. And a conduit strong enough to channel both without breaking."
I pull a silver knife from my coat. The blade is old and covered in symbols that match the ones carved into my flesh three centuries ago.
"Your mother will provide the sacrifice once I threaten to kill you. You'll provide the power because you have no choice. And I'll provide the conduit." I press the blade against my palm. "Three centuries of life force channeled through True Luna magic. It will make me immortal in ways I've only dreamed. Make me a god walking among wolves."
Luna's tiny hand wraps around my finger. The touch sends electricity through my nervous system. Her power recognizing mine.
"Yes you're stronger than me right now." I smile at her infant wisdom. "But you're untrained. You’re controlled by instinct instead of will. Give me ten years and I'll be the one teaching you to use that power properly. Give me twenty and you'll worship me as father and creator both."
From deeper in the packhouse I hear Alicia's voice. Weak but desperate. "Luna? Baby where are you?"
"Your mother calls." I take Luna carefully from Monty's frozen arms. "Time to reunite you. Let’s begin the ritual that will change everything."
The magic holding the wolves in place will last another hour. By then the Ascension will be complete. I'll have ascended to godhood and every wolf in North America will kneel before me or die.
I walk toward Alicia's voice carrying Luna like a prophet carrying salvation. The packhouse is destroyed but the sub levels remain intact. That's where I'll find the True Luna.
Luna doesn't cry as I carry her through corridors littered with bodies. She just watches me with those knowing silver eyes. Understanding perhaps that resistance is futile. That her power will serve my purpose whether she wants it to or not.
"Almost there little one." I descend stairs toward the medical wing. "Just a bit further, then you and your mother will help me become something the world has never seen. A wolf god. The first of a new species. The beginning of true evolution."
I push open the door to the medical wing and find Alicia being tended by Sarah. My True Luna looks up and sees me holding her daughter and her face transforms from pain to pure maternal rage.
"Give her back." Alicia tries to stand and fails. "Morrison give me my daughter."
"Soon." I set Luna down gently on a nearby table. "But first we need to discuss terms. Your cooperation in exchange for Luna's life. Your willing participation in the Ascension in exchange for her survival. It’s simple a transaction really."
"I'll kill you first." Alicia's eyes begin glowing silver. "I'll tear you apart before I let you use my daughter."
"You'll try." I pull out a second blade. This one meant for her. "But you're exhausted and wounded, barely able to stand. While I'm three hundred years old and sustained by magic you can't begin to understand. So here's how this works."
I press the blade against Luna's tiny throat and every wolf in the building who is frozen suddenly screams in their minds and the sound of their mental agony is the sweetest music I have ever heard.