Chapter Eight – Marked by the Moon
709 Words
Kael stood motionless in the clearing, his gaze locked on Elior. The boy had unknowingly drawn a crescent into the dirt with a stick, the mark glowing faintly in the moonlight—just like Lyra’s had, years ago when the Moon Goddess had chosen her as Luna.
But this was different. This was deeper.
Kael’s breath caught. A child… with the Moon’s mark?
Lyra’s silence was as telling as a scream. She stood just behind her son, eyes shifting nervously between Kael and the ground. Her arms were stiff at her sides, every muscle taut.
“Where did he learn that?” Kael’s voice was low, tight with a tremor he couldn’t hide.
Lyra opened her mouth, then closed it again. The truth hovered between them like fog.
“He didn’t learn it,” she finally said. “It comes to him.”
Kael crouched beside Elior, his Alpha instincts swirling with something primal and ancient. The mark shimmered again—pure silver. Not just a symbolic crescent. No, this was a spiritual tether. He reached out slowly.
“Elior,” he said gently. “Can I see your hand?”
The boy looked up with cautious curiosity. “You’re not mad?”
Kael hesitated. “No. I promise.”
Elior opened his palm. A soft pulse of silver light flickered beneath the skin, and then—faint, but unmistakable—a second symbol emerged. A smaller crescent nested inside a sun-like circle.
Kael fell back, stunned.
Two marks.
One from his pack’s Goddess, and one from the Solara bloodline—the rival pack to the north. Impossible. Unheard of. Yet, there it was—etched by divine will on his son’s skin.
“My ancestors once said,” Kael murmured, eyes wide, “that a child marked by more than one lineage would either unite or destroy us.”
Lyra flinched.
Kael rose to his feet slowly, his voice steel-edged. “How long have you known?”
“Since he turned five,” she whispered. “The dreams began earlier. Symbols. Visions. Sometimes even… voices. I took him to the old oracle in the wildwood. She saw the marks and told me what he was.”
Kael turned away, pacing. “And what is he, Lyra?”
She hesitated. “The Moon’s bridge. The prophecy foretold of one who would link rival packs, bloodlines divided by centuries of war.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “You should’ve come to me.”
“I was protecting him,” she said sharply. “From the packs. From you.”
Kael whirled. “I would never harm him.”
“You rejected me, Kael. You nearly mated another. I didn’t know what you’d do if you found out you had a son born under a prophecy.”
Pain flashed in Kael’s eyes, but he didn’t deny it.
A low growl echoed from the trees—Kael’s Beta, Roran, stepping out with a stunned look.
“You need to see this,” Roran said, breathless. “The elders… they sensed something tonight. Energy. Divine. The Seer is calling for you.”
Kael looked back at Elior. The boy was staring up at the stars, unaware of the weight now resting on his tiny shoulders.
“We need to protect him,” Kael muttered. “No matter what.”
Lyra stepped closer. “Then you’ll help us?”
He nodded slowly. “Yes. But know this—if word spreads, others will want him. For power. For fear.”
“I know,” she whispered. “That’s why I came back.”
Kael turned to Roran. “Tell no one what you’ve seen. Not yet.”
Roran nodded. “What should I tell the elders?”
Kael took one last look at Elior’s glowing hand. “Tell them the Moon has not abandoned us.”
As Roran disappeared into the trees, Lyra and Kael stood in silence, the boy between them—unaware of how many lives his very existence would change.
Kael reached out and gently touched Elior’s shoulder.
“Do you know what the Moon means when it speaks to you, little one?”
Elior looked up, eyes impossibly bright. “She says… my time is coming.”
Kael’s blood ran cold.
- Writer
