Bound By Moonlight

Chapter 3

The great hall of the Shadowclaw Pack was akin to nothing so much as a cathedral carved out of living stone. Columns twisted upwards like trees of immense antiquity, their surfaces carved with the same mysterious symbols Liana had seen in the canyon. Crystal formations embedded in the ceiling diffused a soft, otherworldly light that appeared to lend even the most mundane objects a hint of enchantment.

Liana perched on a bench carved from a dark wood, still trying to get her head around everything that had happened in the space of a few hours. The heavy cloak Kael had wrapped about her was scented with cedar and something unique to him, that wild scent that made her pulses flutter even when she was trying to be rational about their impossible situation.

"You're handling this pretty well," a woman who appeared to be in her fifties said, though there was something in the way she held herself that suggested she was far older than she seemed. She introduced herself as Mara, the pack healer, and her keen eyes seemed to pierce into Liana's very soul. "Most humans who tumble into our world spend the first few days in hysterics."

"I'm not sure I qualify as 'most humans,'" Liana replied, watching as pack members padded down the hall with fluid ease. Some carried what appeared to be reports or messages, others were clearly engaged in whispered conversations that ended when they noticed her watching. "And I'm not sure this qualifies as 'handling it well.' I'm starting to feel like I'm trapped in someone else's dream."

Mara took a seat next to her, her movements deliberate and slow. "Share your dreams with me, child. The ones you've been having for months now."

Liana tensed. "How do you…"

"Know about them?" Mara's smile was gently sympathetic. "Because I've been dreaming too. About a young woman with power in her blood and wolves in her soul, stumbling blind toward a destiny she doesn't understand. The question is, are you ready to learn the truth about who you really are?"

Liana was cut off from responding by a commotion at the hall entrance. Kael came in with two men who resembled him closely enough to be relatives, though their faces were much less amiable than his had been. The shorter of the two, a stout man who appeared to be a blacksmith and was radiating carefully contained hostility and was speaking in low, angry tones.

"completely irresponsible, bringing her here without consulting the council. Have you any idea what you've done?"

"I've saved her life, Daxon," Kael replied in the long-suffering voice of one who'd fought this battle many times. "The rogues were closing in. Another few hours and…"

"Another couple of hours and she'd be their problem, not ours." Daxon's voice carried down the hallway despite his obvious attempt to keep the conversation private. "We have enough threats to deal with without introducing a human girl into the equation."

"She's not just a human girl." This was from the third man, whose silvered temples and aura of command marked him as someone important in the pack structure. "Are you, Miss Rivers?"

There was a cessation of all conversation within the hall. Liana could feel each pair of eyes turning her way, weighing and measuring, and felt the uncomfortable sensation of being a specimen under a microscope. She looked to Mara for guidance, but the healer merely nodded in encouragement.

"I don't know what I am," Liana said finally, her voice carrying further than she'd intended in the sudden silence. "Three days ago, I was an herbalist in a small town. Now I'm sitting in what appears to be a magical mountain fortress, having been rescued from monsters that can't possibly exist by a guy who claims he's been dreaming about me for months. So be patient with me if I'm not quite certain how to answer your question."

A few members of the pack chuckled at her directness, and she felt a little of the tension in the room ease. The silver-haired man moved toward her with slow, measured steps, his pale eyes so similar in hue to Kael's that they must be related, imbibing every feature of her face.

"My name is Marcus Thorn," he said, inclining his head in a gesture that was both courtly and elegant. "I am the pack's Beta, and Kael's uncle. And I think you know more about what you are than you're letting yourself acknowledge."

Liana stood, meeting his gaze upward despite the intimidation factor of standing in a room full of supernatural beings who could probably tear her apart without breaking a sweat. "Then someone had better quit speaking in riddles and inform me of what's going on. Because I'm tired of feeling like I'm only getting half of every conversation."

Marcus glanced at Kael, who nodded once. "Take her to the moonstone chamber," Kael said. "Let her see for herself."

"That's not…" Daxon began.

"It's not your decision to make," Kael cut him off with gentle authority. "She has a right to know. Especially if the rogues are already tracking her scent."

Mara rose from the bench, her hand extending to Liana's elbow in a comforting touch. "Come, child. There are things you need to see, truths that have been hidden from you your entire life. But I have to warn you, once you have knowledge, there is no going back to the innocent world you have known previously."

They left the great hall through a corridor that seemed to burrow farther into the mountain itself. The air grew cooler as they descended, and the crystalline lights became fewer. Soon they were walking by torchlight, their footsteps echoing off stone walls marked by increasingly intricate symbols.

"These symbols," Liana said, following one particularly complex pattern with her fingertips. "I've seen them before. In dreams, I think, but also. it's as though I should be able to read them."

"You should," Marcus said from the door. "They're written in the old language, the one your people spoke before they learned to live hidden among humans."

"My ancestors?" Liana stopped. "What do you mean? My people have lived in and around Windmere for generations. We're just as human as anyone."

Kael moved forward to stand beside her, his presence soothing even amidst the stress of their circumstances. "Your adoptive family, perhaps. But not your blood relatives. Not the ones who gave you the dreams and the calling and the ability that's been growing stronger every day."

They arrived at a heavy wooden door bound in iron that glittered despite its obvious age. Marcus reached somewhere in his robes and produced an ornate key that he fitted into the lock, turning it with a sound like distant thunder. The door groaned open, and Liana caught her breath at the sight within the room.

The room was circular, its walls covered in what appeared to be a single, unbroken mural painting of the history of the werewolf people. But it was the center of the room that drew her attention, a white stone pedestal that glowed from within, and suspended above it, a crystal the size of her hand that pulsed with silver light.

"The Moonstone," Mara breathed. "The heart of our people's power, the source from which all pack bonds flow. It has rested here for three centuries, since the final one of the Lunar Heirs died in the great purge."

Liana found herself drawn to the pedestal despite the protests of her logical mind. The closer she got, the stronger the draw, until she was directly in front of the hovering crystal. This close, she could see that it wasn't empty as shadows moved in its depths, shapes that might have been memories or might have been prophecies.

"What's it doing?" she whispered, watching as the shadows started to move faster, boiling like thunderheads in the depths of the crystal.

"Recognizing you," Kael whispered. "It knows what you are, even if you don't."

The crystal blazed brighter, and suddenly the shadows within it resolved into visions. Liana saw herself, but not as she currently was, a tall, confident version of herself stood before her, power radiating from her like heat from a forge. Silver light gleamed in her eyes, and wolves sat at her feet in postures of complete devotion.

And the vision changed, showing her a battle of werewolves fighting werewolves, blood soaking the earth beneath a full moon. She saw Kael fall with a spear in his chest, saw herself screaming as she cradled his body. The vision changed again, showing her a great hall with robed figures, their faces hidden but their intent clear as they chanted over what looked like an altar prepared for sacrifice.

"No," Liana whispered, shrinking away from the pedestal. "Make it stop."

But the visions would not be shaken and more quickly now the images of love and betrayal, of death and power, of choices that would echo for generations. She saw a woman who looked almost identical to her standing before a burning building, weeping as she gave an infant to a stranger. She saw wars fought in moonlight, saw great beasts running through forests older than civilization. But all of it, every last bit of it, seemed to have occurred already.

And in the middle of it all, one thing became crystal clear: she was not human. Had never been human. Was something far more dangerous and far more important than she'd ever imagined possible.

The crystal's light flared once more, then settled into its usual rhythm. Liana was kneeling, her entire body shaking with the intensity of what she'd experienced. Strong hands drew her to her feet, Kael's hands, she recognized, warm and firm and oddly familiar in spite of everything that had happened.

"The Moonstone does not lie," Marcus whispered. "What you saw, it's not all possible futures. Some of it is the past, some of it is what will occur unless we can change the course we're on."

"What am I?" Liana demanded, though she was no longer certain she wanted to hear the answer.

"You are the last of the Lunar Heirs," Mara whispered. "The last female born of the Alpha lines that once led our people. The last chance we have to break a curse that has haunted the werewolf nation for three centuries." Mara whispered this.

"And the ultimate goal of those who would see that curse continue indefinitely," Daxon added darkly from the doorway. "Which is why bringing her here may have been the worst mistake in pack history.

As if in response to his words, a howl echoed over the mountain, a different cry from the pack's feral song, darker and hungrier. Another followed, and another, until the rocks beneath them appeared to vibrate with the sound of approaching danger.

"They've found us," Kael said, his hand reaching for the sword at his side. "The rogues are here."

And as the howling came closer, Liana knew that her new life, whatever it was, was going to be tested by fire and blood before she'd even had time to discover what it was.