Chapter 24 Lessons Written in Bone
POV: Mina
I rolled up my sleeves and stared at my arms in the dim light of the abandoned arena.
The scars had always been there. Thin white lines crisscrossing my forearms, some barely visible, others more pronounced. I'd assumed they were from my childhood—injuries from beatings, accidents, the general brutality of growing up invisible and unwanted.
But now, with my Oracle power awakening and my sight sharpening, I saw the truth.
They weren't scars. They were runes.
Hundreds of them, delicate and precise, woven into my skin like lace. When I focused my power, they began to glow faintly silver, revealing patterns and symbols that formed a complete magical language.
Instructions. Training sequences. Combat spells designed specifically for a non-shifted Oracle.
My mother had done this. Before she died, before she sealed our power and sent us down the river, she'd encoded everything I'd need to survive directly into my flesh.
A manual written in bone and blood.
I traced one of the symbols with my finger, and knowledge flooded into me. Not words, but understanding. Muscle memory that had been waiting seventeen years to activate.
Lunar Binding. A spell to immobilize opponents without touching them.
I held out my hand and focused on the rune, letting the knowledge flow through me. Silver light pooled in my palm, then shot forward in threads that wrapped around a broken column across the arena.
The threads tightened, and the stone groaned under the pressure. I could feel the binding holding, could sense exactly how much force I was applying. With a thought, I could crush the column or simply hold it in place.
I released the spell and the threads dissolved.
My hands were shaking, but not from fear. From excitement. From power finally understood and controlled.
I turned my attention to the next rune.
Silver Voice. Command resonance that could force obedience through sound.
I opened my mouth and focused on the symbol burned into my left forearm. When I spoke, my voice came out layered with power, resonating at a frequency that made reality itself pay attention.
"Kneel."
The command rippled through the arena. Dust motes froze in mid-air. The broken stones around me vibrated with the force of the word.
If there had been anyone alive in this room, they would have dropped to their knees involuntarily. The Silver Voice didn't ask. It commanded reality to obey.
I stopped speaking and the effect faded. My throat hurt—using the Voice was physically taxing—but it worked. It actually worked.
The third major rune revealed itself when I focused on the pattern running up my right arm.
Shadow Step. Short-range spatial manipulation. The ability to tear through space and emerge somewhere else.
This one was more complex. Required visualization and precise control. I studied the rune sequence carefully, absorbing the technique.
Then I focused on a spot across the arena, about twenty feet away. I felt for the space between here and there, found the seam in reality, and pulled.
The world lurched. For a fraction of a second, I existed nowhere. Then I was standing exactly where I'd visualized, having crossed twenty feet without taking a step.
I stumbled slightly, disoriented by the sensation. But I'd done it. I'd moved through space itself.
The runes contained dozens of other techniques. Smaller spells, defensive wards, offensive strikes. Each one carefully designed for an Oracle who couldn't shift, who had to fight with magic instead of claws and fangs.
My mother had given me everything I needed. I just had to learn to use it.
I spent hours practicing in the abandoned arena.
Shadow Step became smoother with repetition. I could cross the arena in three jumps now, landing precisely where I intended. The disorientation faded as my mind adapted to the sensation of existing briefly outside normal space.
Lunar Binding grew stronger. I could immobilize multiple targets simultaneously, create barriers of woven silver that nothing could pass through. The threads responded to my will like extensions of my own body.
The Silver Voice required more caution. Each time I used it, my throat burned worse. But I learned to modulate the power, to speak commands that were less destructive but still effective.
"Rise." Broken stones lifted from the floor.
"Still." The dust in the air froze completely.
"Break." A column cracked down the middle without me touching it.
I was so absorbed in training that I almost didn't hear the footsteps approaching the arena.
Almost.
I spun around, power already gathering in my hands, ready to defend myself. The Council must have found me. Must have tracked me to this hidden space despite the weak wards.
But it wasn't Council agents who entered the arena.
It was an upperclass Alpha I recognized from combat training. Tall, heavily muscled, with the kind of cruel smirk that said he enjoyed hurting people weaker than himself.
He'd been one of the ones who'd watched Logan brutalize me without intervening. Had probably enjoyed the show.
"Well, well," he said, his voice echoing through the empty space. "The freak Sterling, hiding in the basement like a rat. Heard the Council's looking for you. Something about forbidden magic."
I reached for my notepad, but he was faster. He crossed the arena in seconds and slapped it out of my hands, just like Marcus had done in the hallway.
"I don't think so," he sneered. "Time for you to answer some questions, Sterling. Starting with what the fuck you really are."
He grabbed for my shirt, clearly intending to slam me against a wall the way they'd done before.
But this time, I was ready.
This time, I fought back.
I didn't move. Didn't dodge. Didn't even flinch.
I just spoke one word, my voice layered with Silver Voice power.
"Stop."
The command hit him like a physical wall. His forward momentum ceased instantly, his body freezing mid-grab. His eyes went wide with shock and terror as he realized he couldn't move, couldn't even breathe unless I allowed it.
"Kneel," I said, my voice still resonating with power.
His legs buckled. He dropped to his knees on the broken arena floor, muscles straining against the command but unable to resist. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he fought the compulsion and lost.
I walked around him slowly, studying him like he'd studied me during all those training sessions. Watching me suffer and doing nothing.
"You've been waiting for a chance to hurt me," I said quietly, my normal voice now, though the threat in my words needed no magical enhancement. "Just like Logan. Just like all the others who think being mute makes me weak."
I raised my hand, and Lunar Binding threads shot out, wrapping around his arms and torso. He couldn't move at all now, held in place by magic he didn't understand and couldn't fight.
"I could crush you," I continued, tightening the threads slightly. He gasped in pain. "Could break every bone in your body without touching you. Could make you scream until your voice gave out."
Through the threads, I felt his heart racing with pure terror. He understood now. Understood that he wasn't the predator in this scenario.
He was prey.
For a moment, I was tempted. Tempted to hurt him the way he'd hurt others. To make him feel the fear and pain he'd inflicted without thought.
But Rafe's voice echoed in my memory. "Don't lose yourself to revenge, sister."
I released the bindings and the Voice command simultaneously. The Alpha collapsed forward, gasping for air, his whole body shaking.
"Leave," I said simply. "And if you tell anyone what you saw here, I'll make sure the next time isn't so merciful."
He scrambled to his feet and ran, practically falling over himself in his haste to escape. I watched him go, my hands still glowing faintly silver with residual power.
I'd won. Without shifting, without even touching him, I'd won.
But something was wrong.
The arena was reacting to what I'd done. The old wards, weak as they were, had sensed the magic. The walls were humming, just like they had in the hallway when I'd bled. The Academy itself was responding to Oracle power being used within its boundaries.
And this time, I'd used a lot of it.
The humming grew louder, resonating through the stone. Runes I hadn't noticed before began glowing on the ancient walls—old protective wards, older than the Academy itself.
Oracle magic. This arena had been built by Oracles, for Oracles. And it was recognizing me.
The recognition sent a pulse of power through the building that would be felt by anyone sensitive to magic.
Which meant the Council agents upstairs definitely felt it.
And through the mate bond that was forming faster every day, I felt three familiar presences react with alarm.
The Trio had felt it too.
But there was something else. Something deeper.
My wolf, which had been silent and sealed my entire life, stirred inside me. Not trying to emerge yet—the seal still held that back—but definitely aware. Definitely conscious.
And it spoke for the first time.
Let me out.
The voice was mine but not mine. Female and fierce, ancient and powerful. My wolf wasn't some beast to be controlled. It was part of me that had been locked away, and it wanted freedom.
Not yet, I thought back. Ten more days. When the seal breaks naturally. I promise.
The wolf growled but subsided. It understood. Forcing the shift now would destroy us both. We had to wait.
But it was getting harder to wait. The seal wasn't just breaking—it was being answered. My wolf was pushing from the inside while my Oracle power pulled from the outside, and the two forces were tearing the spell apart faster than it should have been possible.
I had ten days. Maybe less.
I needed to learn everything I could before the transformation, before everything changed.
I turned back to the runes on my arms, ready to continue training.
Then I smelled them.
Three distinct scents, all familiar. All dangerous.
The Elite Trio had found me.
I heard their footsteps in the corridor outside the arena. Heard Jax's cold voice giving orders, Logan's aggressive snarl, Asher's calculated response.
They'd tracked me here. Whether through the mate bond or through following the magical signature, they'd found my hiding place.
And this time, I had a feeling they weren't going to leave without answers.
The door to the arena opened, and three silhouettes appeared in the doorway, backlit by the corridor lights.
"Hello, Sterling," Jax said, his voice echoing through the ruined space. "Or should we call you Oracle?"
Through the bond, I felt their determination. Their obsession. Their desperate need to understand what I was and why their wolves were claiming me as mate.
I looked down at my arms, at the runes still glowing faintly silver, and made a decision.
No more running. No more hiding.
If they wanted answers, I'd give them answers.
But on my terms.