Chapter five
1546 Words
Roxie's POV
"You're supposed to be dead." My voice cracked as I stared at the man who shared my silver eyes.
"Death is... complicated for our kind." He stepped forward, and every wolf in the room tensed. Power radiated from him in waves that made even Raptor's presence feel small.
"Don't come any closer," Raptor warned, still holding me against him.
My real father smiled. "Protective already? Good. She'll need that." His gaze found mine. "Hello, Roxanne. You look just like your mother."
"My mother who's apparently alive and a witch?"
"Among other things." He tilted his head, studying me. "The binding is breaking faster than expected. We have less time than I hoped."
"Who are you?" Katya demanded, her tablet scanning frantically. "The readings are... this is impossible."
"I'm someone who's been watching from the shadows for twenty-three years." His expression darkened. "Watching Darius Blackwood raise my daughter to believe she was weak. Watching him suppress her true nature."
"Darius isn't my father?" The words tasted like ash.
"He's your mother's second mate. A convenient cover." He laughed bitterly. "She needed somewhere to hide you. He needed an heir after his first mate died barren. A simple arrangement until..."
"Until what?"
"Until he realized what you were. The power you carried. Then he spent years ensuring you'd never discover it." His eyes flashed. "Every 'failed' shift, every moment of weakness—all manufactured. He's been poisoning you since you were five."
The room spun. "What?"
"Wolfsbane, diluted in your food. Just enough to keep you weak, but not enough to kill." His fists clenched. "I couldn't interfere. The accords—"
"You let him poison me?" Rage flooded through me, and the silver light around my skin pulsed brighter.
"I had no choice!" he roared, and the windows rattled. "The moment I revealed myself, the treaty would be void. Every supernatural faction would have the right to claim you."
"They're coming anyway," Raptor said coldly.
"Yes." My father's gaze shifted to him. "Because she found her true mate. The one thing we didn't account for."
"Why does that matter?" I asked.
"Because a bonded Original can access their full power without losing their mind." He moved closer, and this time Raptor didn't stop him. "Unbonded, the power consumes you. Bonded..."
"Bonded, she becomes the most powerful being in existence," Katya whispered.
"Or dies trying," my father added grimly. "The transition has killed every Original attempt in the last thousand years."
"Then we don't complete the bond," I said.
"Too late." My father pointed at where Raptor held me. "It's already started. Your wolves have chosen. Fighting it now will only make the transition worse."
I looked up at Raptor. "You knew?"
"I suspected." His jaw tightened. "When you stopped my episode. My wolf recognized yours as his anchor."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Would it have changed anything?"
No. It wouldn't have. The pull between us was undeniable, even when I was trying to deny it.
"There's more," my father said. "Marcus and Vera's betrayal wasn't random. Darius orchestrated it."
"Why would he—"
"To break the binding. He knew emotional trauma would crack it, but he needed you away from the pack when it happened. Banishment ensured you'd be vulnerable when the witches came."
"He sold me out?"
"He tried to. But he didn't count on you finding sanctuary here. Or finding your mate." He smiled coldly. "He certainly didn't count on me breaking my cover."
"So what happens now?" Raptor asked.
"Now, we prepare. The black moon rises in three days. When it does, Roxanne will either ascend or—"
"Die," I finished. "Great options."
"There is a way to increase your chances." My father pulled out an ancient-looking vial. "Dragon's blood. My blood. It will accelerate the awakening, give you time to adjust before the moon."
"That sounds dangerous," Katya said.
"Everything about this is dangerous." He held out the vial to me. "But would you rather face the transition over three days, or have it hit you all at once?"
I reached for it, but Raptor caught my hand.
"What aren't you telling us?" he demanded.
My father's expression turned grim. "The acceleration will be... painful. And she'll need an anchor throughout, or the power will tear her apart."
"Me," Raptor said. It wasn't a question.
"You. And the process will complete your mate bond. Permanently. Irrevocably."
I pulled my hand back. "Then we find another way."
"There is no other way." My father's voice gentled. "Roxanne, I know this is overwhelming—"
"Overwhelming?" I laughed, and it sounded hysterical. "I just found out my entire life is a lie. My father isn't my father, my mother is alive, I'm some mythical creature that shouldn't exist, and now you want me to permanently bond with a man I met yesterday?"
"A man your wolf chose," my father corrected. "The mate bond doesn't lie."
"It did with Marcus."
"No. Marcus was never your true mate. That was another of Darius's manipulations. A false bond, created through drugs and proximity."
I felt sick. "Everything was a lie?"
"Not everything." Raptor's voice was quiet. "Your strength. Your intelligence. The way you protected this pack despite having no reason to. That was all you."
"The weaponry," my father added, looking impressed. "You inherited that from your mother. She was quite the inventor before she gave up magic."
"Give me the vial," I said suddenly.
Everyone turned to stare at me.
"Roxie—" Raptor started.
"I'm tired of being weak. Of being lied to. Of having no control." I met my father's eyes. "Give me the vial."
He handed it over, and the moment it touched my skin, it began to glow.
"When?" I asked.
"Now would be best. Before—"
An explosion rocked the compound. Alarms screamed to life.
"What's happening?" I demanded.
Tor burst through the door. "We're under attack! Silverstone Pack, the witch coven, and..." He paused, looking terrified. "Something else. Something big."
"Dragons," my father said grimly. "They've sensed her awakening power."
"Dragons are extinct," Katya protested.
"No. They're just very good at hiding." He turned to me. "We're out of time. Drink it now, or—"
Another explosion. Closer this time.
"The northern wall is down!" someone screamed over the intercom.
I uncorked the vial and drank it in one swallow.
The effect was immediate. Liquid fire raced through my veins. I screamed, dropping to my knees as my body began to shift—but not into a wolf.
Scales rippled across my skin. Wings tried to tear from my back. My bones cracked and reformed.
"Hold her!" my father commanded Raptor. "She needs an anchor!"
Raptor pulled me against him, and I felt our mate bond blaze to life—a golden thread connecting our souls. The pain lessened but didn't stop.
"The building won't hold if she fully shifts," Katya warned.
"Get everyone out," Raptor ordered. "Now!"
People scattered, but Raptor didn't move. He held me tighter as my body fought between forms—wolf, human, dragon, witch—all trying to emerge at once.
"Choose one," he whispered in my ear. "Focus on one form."
"I can't—"
"You can. You stopped my curse. You can control this."
Another explosion. The roof started to collapse.
"Raptor, get out!" Tor yelled.
"Not without her."
I forced myself to focus, pulling on our mate bond for strength. Human. I needed to be human for now.
The shifting stopped, but the power didn't. It coiled inside me, waiting.
"We need to move," my father said. "They're coming."
We stumbled outside to find chaos. Wolves fighting witches. Witches fighting dragons. Dragons fighting everyone.
And in the center of it all stood Darius Blackwood—the man I'd called father for twenty-three years.
"Hello, daughter," he said coldly. "Time to come home."
"She's not going anywhere with you," Raptor snarled.
"Oh, but she is." Darius smiled. "You see, I may not be her blood father, but I raised her. And according to pack law, that gives me certain rights."
"You poisoned me!"
"I protected the world from you." His expression hardened. "Do you know what Originals become? Gods. Destroyers. The last one nearly ended the world."
"That's not—"
"Your mother." He cut me off. "The last Original was your mother. And she chose to bind her power rather than risk what she might become."
I froze. "What?"
"Did daddy dearest forget to mention that?" Darius laughed. "Your mother isn't just a witch, little Roxanne. She's the Original who almost destroyed everything. And you..." His eyes gleamed. "You inherited her power and his dragon blood. You're not just an Original. You're something worse."
"What am I?" I whispered.
But before anyone could answer, the sky cracked open.
A woman descended from the clouds, power radiating from her in waves that made everyone—wolf, witch, and dragon—fall to their knees.
Everyone except me.
"Hello, my daughter," she said, and I recognized the voice from my dreams. The lullabies I thought I'd imagined.
My mother.
The Original.
The destroyer of worlds.
And she was smiling at me like I was her greatest creation.
"It's time you learned the truth about what you really are."
- Writer
