Chapter 33 Secret Of The Moon Goddess
Tiara jerked upright with a gasp, her lungs burning as if she had been running for hours. Her hands trembled violently, glowing faint silver. The vision hadn’t just touched her, it had ripped through her entire body.
Damien burst into the tent at the same instant, breathless and wild-eyed. “Tiara!”
She looked up at him, pupils still glowing with moonlight. “I saw her,” she whispered. “The Moon Goddess.”
Damien froze mid-step.
Before he could speak, Tiara rose to her feet and grabbed his forearm, her voice shaking. “She showed me something, something buried deep inside the Council’s power structure.”
“Tell me.” Damien’s tone softened, but there was urgency beneath it. “Everything.”
Tiara paced, pressing her fingers to her temple as flashes of the vision struck her again: white fire, a broken throne, a chained wolf howling at a cracked moon.
“The Council’s strength comes from unity,” she murmured. “But their weakness… comes from the same place.”
Damien stepped closer. “Explain.”
“They have one anchor.” Tiara met his gaze. “A single wolf. The Council uses their power to control him and through him, they influence every Alpha. If we break that anchor, we break the Council.”
Damien’s brows drew together. “A council power conduit… controlled through a wolf?” He exhaled sharply. “That would change everything.”
Tiara nodded firmly. “We don’t need to fight all twelve Council Alphas. We only need to sever their anchor.”
Damien’s mind was already moving—politics, power, strategy snapping together like gears. “If the anchor falls, the Council collapses into infighting. And we strike from the outside while they’re busy tearing each other apart.”
Tiara stepped closer, voice low. “We attack on two fronts.”
Damien’s lips quirked. “Exactly.”
But her eyes hardened. “I want to lead the strike force personally.”
Damien’s expression shifted instantly. “No.”
“Damien..”
“I said no.” He closed the distance between them, gripping her shoulders. “You’re too important. Your mother just returned. NightFang is still moving. The pack needs you here.”
Tiara’s jaw clenched. “My visions wouldn’t come unless I was meant to act on them.”
“And I’m telling you,” Damien growled softly, “that a vision isn’t worth your life.”
Her eyes flared. “So I should sit here while others fight for me? While the Council hunts us?”
He swallowed hard. “I’m asking you to trust me.”
Tiara stepped out of his hold but didn’t walk away. Her voice dropped. “Then trust me too.”
For a moment, neither spoke. The tension sat thick between them, filled with worry, pride, anger, and the unspoken fear of losing each other.
Damien finally exhaled, running a hand through his hair. “What exactly did the Goddess show you?”
Tiara closed her eyes, reliving the terrifying beauty of the vision.
“A chamber beneath the Council hall,” she whispered. “Hidden by ancient runes. A wolf chained in silver. His howl shakes the entire Council’s power.”
Damien stiffened. “A weaponized wolf…”
“A weaponized Alpha,” Tiara corrected. “He isn't just any wolf. He is their conduit. The source they draw power from.”
Damien inhaled sharply. “If that’s true, then this is bigger than we imagined.”
Tiara nodded. “We’re not fighting twelve Alphas. We’re fighting a Council being fed power by an enslaved one.”
Damien moved to the map table, scanning various marks he had made earlier. “If they’re hiding something like this, then the Moon Council isn’t stable. It means they’re desperate.”
Tiara stepped beside him. “Which means we have the advantage.”
Damien pointed to one of the marked borders. “If we can locate the chamber, and if we can weaken their anchor even slightly, the rest collapses.”
“But the vision wasn’t just about the Council,” Tiara said quietly. “There was something else…”
Damien turned to her sharply. “What did you see?”
She swallowed, her voice barely above a whisper. “I saw him. Shadow.”
Damien’s wolf stilled inside him.
Tiara continued, “He was standing beside me. As an equal. And behind us… the battlefield burned red. A Blood Moon.”
Damien stepped closer, searching her expression. “What does it mean?”
Tiara lifted her gaze to his. “It means our bond will either save us… or destroy us.”
Damien reached for her hand, threading his fingers through hers. “Then we fight for the version where we survive.”
She let out a shaky breath. “You’re too confident.”
“And you worry too much,” he said gently.
“Someone has to,” she murmured.
Damien leaned forward, forehead brushing hers for a brief, grounding moment. “We’ll figure this out together. But not if you get yourself killed rushing into visions without a plan.”
Tiara pulled back slightly, frustration flickering across her face. “The Goddess shows me things for a reason.”
“And I interpret them for a reason,” he countered. “You see the spiritual path. I see the political one.”
Her lips parted but before she could argue again, a howl shredded the air outside the tent.
Beta Rowan burst in without waiting. “Alphas trouble.”
Damien shifted instantly. “NightFang?”
“No.” Rowan shook his head, chest heaving. “Worse.”
Tiara felt her wolf stir, hackles rising. “Speak.”
Rowan held up a small wooden emblem, painted with a moon crest split down the middle.
Tiara’s eyes widened.
Damien cursed under his breath. “The Moon Council’s infiltrator mark.”
Rowan nodded, swallowing tightly. “It was found at the west perimeter. Freshly placed. Meaning…”
“They’re inside our territory,” Damien finished.
Tiara stepped forward. “How many?”
Rowan hesitated. “We… don’t know. But we do know one thing.”
Tiara stiffened. “Say it.”
“A scent trail leads toward the training grounds. The Council sent elite spies. They’re not here to scout.”
His throat tightened.
“They’re here to kill someone.”
Damien’s eyes darkened instantly. “Who?”
Rowan looked at Tiara.
“You,” he whispered.
Silence. Heavy. Cold.
Tiara’s heart slammed against her ribs. Damien’s wolf surged to the surface, ready to tear through anyone in their path.
“Where are they now?” Damien demanded.
Rowan swallowed. “We lost track of them.”
Tiara straightened, fury simmering beneath her skin. “Then we find them.”
Damien grabbed her wrist. “Not alone.”
She squeezed his hand once. “Together.”
But even as they stepped out of the tent—
A shadow moved behind them.
A w
hisper of steel.
A scent of Council magic.
Tiara spun instantly but not fast enough.
A blade of silver sliced through the air, cutting toward her throat.