Chapter 69 THE PRICE OF POWER
Logan's POV
Monty's resurrection should not be possible.
I watch him from across the medical wing, noting every detail that screams wrong. His chest rises and falls, but there is no wolf scent coming from his skin. His eyes track movement, but they lack the golden shimmer that comes with shifter healing. The temperature of his body registers cooler than it should, yet he breathes, moves, and speaks.
But he is not alive.
Not in any way that matters to our kind.
"How long has it been?" I ask the healer quietly.
She checks her notes without looking up. "Six hours since he woke. Vitals are stable but weak, but no wolf presence is detected. The bond to Luna remains, but it is the only thing keeping his body functional."
"And if Luna is taken away?"
Her silence is answer enough.
I turn back to my books, spreading them across the table until the surface disappears beneath ancient texts. Most are written in languages nobody speaks anymore, but I have been translating desperately since Monty opened his eyes. My fingers are stained with ink, and my eyes burn from hours of reading faded script. The candle beside me has melted down to a stub.
True Luna magic is not well documented. The last one existed a thousand years ago. Most packs dismissed the stories as legend or myth designed to explain unexplainable events during chaotic times.
But what I have found terrifies me more than Morrison ever did.
"Logan." Ray's voice cuts through my concentration. He sounds exhausted. "Tell me you found something useful."
I do not look up from the page I am translating. "Define useful."
"Something that explains what Luna did to Monty or tells us how to fix it."
"I cannot fix it." I flip another page, scanning the faded text for anything I might have missed. "True Luna magic does not work that way. It is not healing magic or resurrection magic. It is creation magic."
Ray moves closer. The floor creaks under his weight. "Creation?"
"Luna did not heal Monty's injuries or reverse his death. She created a new anchor for his consciousness using her power as the tether." I point to a passage I translated hours ago. The words are barely visible on the yellowed parchment. "True Lunas can create life force where none exists."
"That sounds like a good thing."
"It would be." I finally meet his eyes. "If creation magic was not completely neutral."
The implication hangs between us.
Ray's face hardened. "Neutral how?"
"True Luna power has no moral compass. It responds to the wielder's intent and emotion without any filter or restriction. If Luna grows up learning compassion and control, she could save countless lives." I pause. "But if she grows up afraid or angry or corrupted by the wrong influences, she could destroy everything she touches without even meaning to."
"You are saying our baby is dangerous."
"I am saying she has the potential to become more dangerous than Morrison ever was." I pull out another text, this one bound in cracked leather that smells of mould and centuries. "The Veritas wanted Luna because they understood what she represents. She has ultimate power with no inherent alignment, it’s like a blank slate that could be moulded into a weapon or a saviour depending on who controls her formative years."
Ray slams his hand on the table hard enough to make the candle jump. "Nobody controls my daughter."
"Then you better pray she controls herself." I push the book toward him. "Because history suggests that is unlikely."
He stares at the open page. The illustration shows a young woman with silver eyes standing amid ruins. "What is this?"
"It’s an accounts from the last True Luna. Her name was Isadora. She lived a thousand years ago during the fracture wars." I watch his face as he explains.
"I know the fracture wars." Ray's voice is tight. "Three kingdoms destroyed, and an entire bloodlines wiped out. The event that created the modern pack system because the old one collapsed completely."
"Yes." I tap the page. "What you do not know is that Isadora caused it."
The color drains from Ray's face. "What?"
"She was born during peacetime to a small pack in what is now the eastern territories. By all accounts she was a gentle and kind child. Everything a True Luna should be." I turn to another page showing a crude illustration of a girl no older than ten holding flowers. "But she was untrained. Nobody alive remembered how to teach True Luna magic properly. The knowledge had been lost for generations. So she learned through trial and error."
"And?"
"And her first major mistake killed sixty people when she tried to heal a plague victim but created a new disease instead. One that spread faster and killed more efficiently than the original." I point to the text describing victims bleeding from their eyes. "Her second mistake collapsed a mountain when she tried to create a shelter during a storm. The avalanche buried two villages. Her third mistake resurrected a dead king who immediately started a war that consumed three kingdoms before anyone could stop him."
Ray is silent. His hands grip the edge of the table.
I continue because he needs to hear all of it. "Isadora spent the last decade of her life trying to undo the damage she caused. She tried to heal the plague she created but only made it worse. She tried to stop the resurrected king but he had become something twisted that fed on her power. She tried to rebuild what she destroyed but her creations always turned corrupted." I turn to a page showing Isadora older and hollow-eyed. "In the end, she took her own life to prevent herself from making things worse. She walked into the ocean wearing stones and let the water claim her."
"Luna is not Isadora."
"No. But she faces the same dangers Isadora did." I pull out the oldest text. The one I found buried at the bottom of the archive. "Before she died, Isadora kept a journal. Most of it was destroyed but a few pages survived. The last entry was written the night before she drowned herself."
"What did she say?"
I read the words I have memorized after staring at them for hours. My voice sounds strange in the quiet room. "I destroyed three kingdoms before they stopped me. Pray the next one is wiser."