Chapter 9 – The Moon temple
644 Words
They followed Elias through the forest.
No one spoke. Not even Aiden. The air grew colder with every step, the trees stretching upward like the ribs of some giant creature. Rina felt it—the forest was watching. Recognizing her.
It knew she was coming.
After nearly an hour, the trees opened into a wide clearing. Broken stone pillars, worn and half-buried by moss, stood in a circle. In the center, a cracked stone slab sealed a hole in the ground.
Rina whispered, “Is this…?”
Elias nodded.
“The Moon Temple.”
Aiden’s jaw was tense. Luka scanned the area, every sense alert. Even the wind refused to enter the clearing.
Rina approached the slab. Something deep inside her chest felt heavy—like her heartbeat had begun keeping time with something older, something alive.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The heartbeat of the earth.
“Touch it,” Elias said.
Rina froze. “Why me?”
“Because it will only answer to you.”
Aiden stepped forward quickly. “She’s not ready.”
Elias’s eyes were calm. “The moon doesn’t wait for readiness. It waits for blood.”
Rina looked at Aiden. She expected anger, maybe fear. Instead, she saw trust.
A shaky breath escaped her lips. She placed her palm on the stone.
The crescent on her wrist flared, silver fire.
A c***k of light raced across the slab. It split open with a low rumble. The ground trembled—soft at first, then like something stirring after a long slumber.
Luka grabbed her arm. “Rina—”
But she didn’t pull away.
A voice spoke. Not outside. Not audible.
From beneath her skin. Something ancient had been waiting inside her all along.
“Moon Keeper…
Daughter of the silver mark…
The blood remembers.”
Rina gasped, clutching her chest.
Luka tried to steady her, but Aiden was already at her side. Elias simply knelt beside the open entrance, eyes calm and knowing.
“What did you hear?” Aiden asked softly.
Rina shook her head, voice trembling.
“I heard… words. Like a memory. But it wasn’t mine.”
Elias pointed to the dark stairway descending into the earth, a low silver glow lighting the steps.
“This temple holds the first records of the bloodlines… and the name of the true Alpha.”
Rina swallowed. “You said he was alive.”
“He is,” Elias replied. “But his spirit has been divided across generations… pieces stored in the bloodlines… waiting for the Marked One to make him whole again.”
Aiden froze. Rina turned to him. He wouldn’t meet her eyes.
Suddenly—he stumbled.
Luka caught him, but the change was happening too fast.
Aiden’s body shook, claws beginning to form.
“It’s… too close to the full moon,” he panted. “I can’t… control it.”
Rina stepped toward him.
“Aiden—listen to me. Stay with me.”
But Elias grabbed her wrist sharply.
“If the Alpha smells your blood now—he will choose. And if he chooses the beast… Aiden will never return.”
Aiden’s golden eyes shifted. They were no longer human.
He was hunting her.
Rina’s heart thumped—no longer her own heartbeat. Something else answered in its place.
The moon is rising, the voice whispered within her.
And someone must answer it.
Rina did something she had never done before.
She stepped forward—past Luka, past Elias—directly in front of Aiden.
She raised her wrist. The crescent symbol burned like silver fire.
“Aiden.” Her voice was calm.
“Look at me. Not the curse.”
The beast inside him trembled. Claws stopped forming. Eyes flickered—gold to brown… brown to gold.
He was fighting.
And for the first time…
Rina didn’t feel fear.
She felt power.
- Writer
