Breaking Shadows
1328 Words
Third Person POV
Elara didn't waste time with small talk. The moment Kaine's wolves were out of earshot, she pulled out her leather journal and started asking questions. Medical questions, mostly when the curse started, how often the blackouts happened, whether I remembered anything during the transformations.
I answered honestly because lying seemed pointless. She was either going to help or she wasn't. My cooperation wouldn't change the outcome, but it might buy me enough time to figure out what she really wanted.
"The curse came from Morganna Thorne," I said, watching Elara's face for a reaction. "A witch. She practiced dark magic in my territory. I executed her three years ago, and she cursed me with her dying breath."
Elara's pen stopped moving across the page. "Morganna Thorne?"
"You know the name?"
"Everyone knows the name." She closed her journal slowly. "Morganna Thorne was one of the most powerful witches in the northern territories. She was also completely insane. What was she doing in your lands?"
"Ritual sacrifices. We found three bodies drained of blood near the old stone circle. All young wolves from neighboring packs." The memory still made my jaw tight. "I gave her a trial. She admitted everything, said she was building power for something bigger. I couldn't let that stand."
"So you killed her."
"I executed her according to pack law. There's a difference."
Elara opened her journal again, but she didn't write anything. "Did she say anything? Before she died?"
"She put her hand on my chest and spoke in a language I didn't recognize. Old words. They felt wrong, like they were cutting into my skin even though she wasn't holding a blade." I rubbed at my chest without thinking. Sometimes I could still feel the cold burn of her palm. "That night, during the full moon, I changed and killed twelve of my own wolves. I woke up covered in their blood with no memory of how it happened."
Elara was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke again, her voice was softer. "And it's been the same every full moon since?"
"Every single one. Complete transformation. Zero control. I wake up hours later with a body count and no memory." I stood, unable to sit still anymore. "I've tried everything. Silver chains strong enough to hold a full-grown Alpha. Iron cages blessed by three different shamans. I even had a witch from the coastal packs put binding spells on me. Nothing works. The beast breaks through everything."
"Because it's not a beast," Elara said. "Not really."
I turned to look at her. "What?"
She stood and moved to the window, staring out at the ruins beyond. "Morganna Thorne didn't curse you with a separate creature. She didn't put a monster inside you. What she did was worse than breaking your soul apart. The beast you become during the full moon isn't something foreign. It's you. The parts of yourself you've buried and controlled your entire life. Your rage. Your fear. Your capacity for violence. She took all of that and ripped it free from your conscious mind."
The words hit harder than I expected. "That's impossible."
"Is it?" Elara turned back to face me. "Think about it. When you transform, do you become something completely different, or do you become more of what you already are? An Alpha protects his pack. But an Alpha also kills threats without hesitation. You've spent your whole life balancing those instincts. Morganna's curse destroyed that balance."
I wanted to argue, but the truth of it settled into my bones like cold water. Every person I'd killed during the blackouts had been a threat in some way. Scouts on my territory. Hunters tracking me. Rogues looking for weakness. The hikers had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but even they'd been carrying silver weapons. My subconscious had marked them as danger.
"If that's true," I said slowly, "then there's no cure. You can't fix a broken soul."
"You can't fix it," Elara agreed. "But you can put it back together. Make the pieces whole again."
"How?"
She hesitated, and I saw the thinking in her eyes. She was deciding how much to tell me, weighing truth against survival. Finally, she spoke. "There's a ritual. The Moonstone Ritual. It's old magic, older than the packs, older than most written records. It requires specific items and has to be performed in a place where the barrier between this world and the spirit world is thin."
"And you know how to do this ritual?"
"I know where to find the instructions. I know most of the items we'd need." She crossed her arms. "But there's a problem."
"Just one?"
"The ritual requires a sacrifice. Not blood sacrifice life force. Someone has to willingly give up part of their life energy to bind your broken soul back together. And that someone has to share a blood connection with the person who cast the original curse."
The pieces clicked into place. "That's why you're really here. You're connected to Morganna Thorne."
Elara's face showed nothing. "She was my grandmother."
The confession hung in the air between us. I should have been angry, furious, even. The granddaughter of the witch who'd destroyed my life was standing in my home, claiming she wanted to help. But anger required energy I didn't have anymore.
"So this is revenge," I said. "Finish what your grandmother started. Lead me through some ritual that completes the curse instead of breaking it."
"If I wanted revenge, I would've let Kaine execute you in front of his entire pack." Elara's voice was sharp now, defensive. "Do you think I want to be here? Do you think I want anything to do with my grandmother's mess? She was a monster. She hurt people. She deserved what you did to her."
"Then why help me?"
"Because I'm tired of watching people die for her mistakes." Elara's hands clenched into fists. "Morganna didn't just curse you. She started something bigger. There are others out there, wolves she experimented on before you. Most of them died. The ones who survived are worse than your complete loss of humanity, killing without any pattern or reason. If I can break your curse, maybe I can break theirs too."
I studied her face, looking for the lie. All I saw was exhaustion and something that looked like real desperation.
"Kaine doesn't know about the sacrifice part, does he?" I asked. "About you being connected to Morganna."
"Kaine knows I have knowledge of old magic. He doesn't know why." She met my eyes. "If he finds out, he'll kill me. Not because of what my grandmother did, but because having that kind of blood connection makes me dangerous to him."
We stood there in the ruins of my father's study, two people trapped by circumstances neither of us had chosen. Outside, I could hear Kaine's wolves settling into patrol positions. They'd watch us every moment, waiting for an excuse to finish what their Alpha had started.
"Seven days," I said. "That's not enough time to perform a ritual like that."
"No," Elara agreed. "Which means we need to run. Tonight, before the patrols settle into routine. I know places we can go, sacred sites where the old magic still works. We gather the items, perform the ritual, and break your curse before the next full moon."
"And if we get caught?"
"Then Kaine kills us both, and your entire bloodline dies with you." She shrugged. "But you were already dead the moment he walked through that door. This way, at least you have a chance."
I looked around my father's study one last time. Three years I'd spent here, alone with my guilt and my curse. Three years of waking up to blood and bodies. Three years of being the monster everyone said I was.
Maybe it was time to try being something else.
"Alright," I said. "We run tonight.”
- Writer
