Chapter 16: Alone at Dawn
337 Words
Dawn broke cold and silent.
Maya stood at the edge of the Moonshadow ruins alone, just like Caelen had said. The bond with Kade tugged at her chest, screaming at her to turn back. But she didn’t.
She needed answers.
The ruins were all that remained of her mother’s pack. Crumbling stone walls, overgrown with vines, and the faint smell of old smoke in the air. Twelve years ago, this place burned.
“You came,” Caelen said, stepping out from the shadows.
Maya crossed her arms. “Talk. Now.”
Caelen studied her for a long moment. “You look like her. Same eyes. Same defiance.”
“My mother.”
He nodded. “Lyra Blackwood was one of the strongest Alphas of her time. She refused to bow to the Blood Fang. So they wiped her pack out. But she saved you.”
“How do I know you’re not lying?” Maya asked.
Caelen pulled something from under his cloak. A small silver locket, dented and scorched. He opened it. Inside was a photo of a woman with Maya’s exact eyes, holding a baby.
“That’s you,” he said quietly. “And that’s Lyra.”
Maya’s throat tightened. She reached for the locket with shaking hands. It was warm, like it remembered her.
“Why are you telling me this now?” she asked.
“Because the Blood Fang isn’t the only threat,” Caelen said. “There’s something older waking up. And it’s hunting bloodlines like yours. You’re not just Kade’s mate, Maya. You’re the key to stopping it.”
Before she could respond, a howl echoed through the ruins. Not a wolf. Something deeper. Wrong.
Caelen’s face darkened.
“They found us,” he said.
Maya’s wolf surged forward, fear and rage mixing in her chest.
“Then let them come,” she said. “I’m done running.”
The ground shook. And from the treeline, something stepped out that wasn’t human, wasn’t wolf.
The fight for Moonshadow had just begun.
- Writer
