From Revenge To Luna

Chapter 9: Secrets of the Moon

The clearing felt alive with energy, ancient and unyielding. The towering stone pillars surrounding us pulsed with a faint, unseen power, like they had witnessed the rise and fall of countless generations. Isolde moved through the sacred space with a quiet grace, her long green cloak whispering against the damp earth.

Kieran walked beside me, his shoulders tense, while Callum trailed a few steps behind, his hand never straying far from his blade. Despite his earlier skepticism, I could tell he felt it too—the shift in the air, the weight of something far older than any of us, pressing in on all sides.

Isolde gestured for us to sit near a low stone altar at the heart of the clearing. I hesitated before lowering myself onto the cold rock, my wolf restless beneath my skin.

“You come seeking knowledge,” Isolde said, her voice like the wind rustling through ancient trees. “But knowledge always comes with a price.”

I met her gaze, unflinching. “We’re willing to pay it.”

Her lips curved in something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Are you?”

A gust of wind swept through the clearing, carrying the scent of damp moss and something older, something that smelled like the forgotten corners of the world. Isolde lifted her hands, and the symbols carved into the stone pillars began to glow, faint at first, then brighter.

Callum shifted beside me. “What kind of magic is this?”

Isolde ignored him. Instead, she turned to Kieran. “You, of all people, should have come to me sooner.”

Kieran’s jaw tightened. “I had my reasons.”

Isolde studied him for a long moment before finally nodding. “Very well. Then let us begin.”

She reached out, pressing her fingertips to my forehead. The moment her skin touched mine, my vision swam. The world around me faded, swallowed by darkness.

Then the memories came.

I was no longer in the clearing. Instead, I stood on the edge of a vast battlefield, the sky overhead choked with smoke. Wolves clashed in brutal combat, their snarls and howls filling the air. The scent of blood was thick, and the ground was littered with the fallen.

A figure stood at the heart of it all, watching with cold calculation. Elias Thorn.

He was taller than I’d imagined, his dark hair swept back, his expression unreadable. But his eyes—his eyes burned like molten gold, filled with a hunger that sent a chill through me.

“This war was inevitable,” his voice echoed through the vision. “The old ways must fall so that a new order can rise.”

A shadow moved behind him, stepping forward. My breath caught.

Mason.

Mason’s face was hard, his jaw clenched. “You’re playing with forces you don’t understand, Thorn.”

Elias turned to him, unfazed. “On the contrary, I understand them better than anyone. The Moon Goddess is nothing but a relic of a dying age. It’s time we took our fate into our own hands.”

The scene shifted again. The battlefield melted away, replaced by the image of a massive stone altar bathed in silver light.

The Lunar Altar.

Ancient. Sacred. Powerful.

At its base, I saw figures bound in chains, wolves kneeling in submission. Elias stood over them, his arms outstretched. Dark energy swirled around him, wrapping around the altar like living shadows.

Then the vision shattered.

I gasped, lurching forward as I came back to myself. My body trembled, my breath coming in ragged gulps.

Isolde watched me with quiet patience. “Now you see.”

I pressed a hand to my forehead, willing the dizziness away. “He—he’s planning to use the altar. To take the Moon Goddess’s power for himself.”

Kieran cursed under his breath. “If he succeeds…”

“He will sever the bond between the Moon and her children,” Isolde finished for him. “There will be no more fated mates. No more guidance from the Goddess. No more balance.”

The weight of her words settled heavily over us.

Callum broke the silence. “How do we stop him?”

Isolde’s gaze flicked to him, something unreadable in her expression. “You.”

Callum stiffened. “What?”

“The hunter who is not a hunter,” Isolde murmured. “The man who walks between two worlds.”

The firelight flickered, casting shadows across Callum’s face. His expression was unreadable, but I saw the muscles in his jaw tighten.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, his voice low.

Isolde smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “Oh, but you do.”

A sharp wind howled through the clearing, as if the very forest was reacting to her words.

I turned to Callum, my heartbeat thudding in my ears. “Callum…?”

He didn’t look at me. His fists clenched at his sides.

Isolde’s voice was almost gentle. “It’s time to stop running from the truth.”

The fire crackled. The wind whispered secrets through the trees.

And Callum finally looked at me, his eyes filled with something raw, something broken.

“I’m not just a hunter,” he admitted.

The world seemed to tilt on its axis.

“Then what are you?” I whispered.

Callum’s gaze flickered to Kieran, then back to me.

“I’m one of you.”

Silence.

For a heartbeat, none of us spoke. Then, everything changed.