Chapter 13: A Mother Unseen
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đź“– Chapter 13: A Mother Unseen
Part 1: A Stranger in Her Own Home
The Crescent packhouse loomed in front of me, familiar… yet foreign.
I stepped onto the porch. The guards didn’t bow. Didn’t nod.
They didn’t even see me.
The moment my foot crossed the threshold, a weight settled on my chest.
I could feel the house rejecting me. The walls shivered with memory.
The door creaked open on its own, and inside—Liam sat on the staircase, talking to someone.
“Who are you talking to?” I asked, softly.
He looked up.
Right through me.
“I’m telling Lyra a story,” he said, giggling.
I staggered back, my heart a splintered drum.
“I’m right here,” I whispered.
But he didn’t hear.
Not him.
Not even Axel when he walked in behind me, his face suddenly pale.
“Who opened the door?” he asked the guards.
“They said… no one’s entered, Alpha.”
I was the mother who no longer existed.
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đź“– Chapter 13: A Mother Unseen
Part 2: Council of Shadows
Later that night, Axel summoned the Crescent Council.
Their faces were grave, the firelight casting harsh lines across their eyes.
“She went into the Mirror Grove,” he told them.
Mira, the seer, gasped. “Did she speak with the cursed twin?”
“She did more than that,” Axel said.
“She made a pact.”
“Then the Grove has claimed her,” said Elder Ren. “She no longer belongs to the world of wolves.”
“But she’s still alive!” Axel slammed his fist on the table. “She’s the Luna!”
“Not anymore,” Mira said quietly. “She’s become a veiled one.”
Ren added, “Her soul has been overwritten by the Grove’s judgment. If the child she bore calls to the spirit instead of her, she will fade.”
I stood in the corner of the chamber, screaming.
But none of them heard.
Except one.
Marissa.
She turned slowly toward the shadow where I stood.
And whispered—
“I warned you.”
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đź“– Chapter 13: A Mother Unseen
Part 3: Dreamwalker
That night, I tried to sleep beside Liam.
I curled against the bed.
I could still feel the warmth of his body.
But my arms passed through him.
I watched his eyes flutter.
And then… he spoke in his sleep.
“Lyra,” he whispered. “I want to stay with you.”
“No,” I whispered, heart breaking. “You belong with me.”
“Mommy doesn’t see me,” he said.
Tears rolled down his cheeks. I reached for them.
But my fingers caught nothing.
Then—his eyes snapped open.
But they were glowing silver.
Not his eyes.
Lyra’s.
“You took the Grove’s gift,” she said through his lips. “Now you’ll pay the price.”
His small hands pushed against the sheets.
“Don’t fight it,” the spirit whispered. “He’ll forget you soon.”
And with a jolt, Liam gasped awake, truly awake.
“Who are you?” he said into the darkness.
And my world broke again.
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đź“– Chapter 13: A Mother Unseen
Part 4: Fading Footsteps
The next morning, I followed Axel into the woods.
He paced and muttered, flipping through the old Crescent records.
“There has to be a way,” he said.
“I’m still here,” I told him. “Axel, I’m trying.”
His breath caught.
He turned. For a moment… he almost saw me.
Then it vanished. Like fog in the sunlight.
He whispered, “I miss you.”
I walked closer. “Then believe in me.”
His head tilted—eyes flicking toward me like he sensed my shape.
But then he stepped away.
“I’ve already lost you,” he said.
At the packhouse, Liam drew pictures with a blank space where I should have been.
In the forest, the Grove whispered.
One week.
That was all I had left.
Unless… I found the child Lyra had traded places with.
The one who lived in her shadow.
The one no one remembered.
The one who might be… me.
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🫧 Teaser – Chapter 14: Forgotten Girl
In Chapter 14, Aurora journeys deep into the ruins of the old pack nursery, where records were burned—and secrets were buried.
She finds a name scratched out from every file.
But not erased from memory.
Because something... remembers her.
And it’s not done yet.
Chapter 14: Forgotten Girl
If no one remembers your name—do you still exist?
What if the only one who does… wants you gone?
- Writer
