Blood memory
1225 Words
The clearing went silent.Even the wind seemed to stop moving through Blackwood Forest.Lyra Vale stood frozen in Darius Nightfang’s arms, her breathing shallow and uneven as fragments of memory continued flashing violently through her mind. Silver flames. Screams.
Blood staining white marble floors.
And a woman with icy eyes smiling while someone died.
Lyra pressed trembling fingers against her temple.
“It felt real,” she whispered.
Kael stepped forward immediately.
“What exactly did you see?”
Darius’s arm tightened protectively around her waist before Kael could come closer.
The movement did not go unnoticed.
kael silver eyes darkened instantly.
But Lyra barely registered the tension between them.
Her pulse thundered painfully as another fragment slammed into her consciousness. A little girl crying.
A moon-shaped pendant. A woman kneeling before her
beautiful silver hair flowing down her back. Run, Lyra.
The voice echoed so clearly that Lyra gasped aloud.
Her knees nearly gave out again. Darius steadied her.
“Easy.” “She spoke to me,” Lyra breathed. Kael frowned.
“Who?” “My mother.”
The words sent unease rippling through the clearing.
Moonshadow blood memories were ancient legend.
Most wolves believed they were myths.
Yet no one looking at Lyra now could deny the impossible unfolding before them.
Darius exchanged a grim glance with Kael.
“She’s accessing ancestral memory,” he said quietly.
Kael’s expression hardened.
“That should not be possible this early.”
Lyra looked between them sharply.
“You both know more than you’re telling me.”
Neither answered immediately. That only deepened her anger.“My entire life has been a lie,” she snapped. “Stop hiding things from me.” Darius sighed softly.
“He’s right about one thing.” Kael shot him an irritated look.“The Moonshadow line was feared because their memories pass through blood.” Lyra’s stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means,” Kael said grimly, “every heir carries echoes of their ancestors.” The thought chilled her.
“So I’m seeing my mother’s memories?”
“Not only hers.” Darius’s voice lowered.
“You may eventually see generations of them.”
Lyra felt suddenly overwhelmed. Too much had changed too quickly.Yesterday she had been a powerless omega nobody cared about. Now entire kingdoms wanted her dead.The High Council feared her existence.
And dead ancestors were whispering in her mind.
She looked down at her trembling hands.
"What if I can’t control it?” Kael answered immediately.
“Then the power will consume you.”
The brutal honesty in his voice made several rogues shift uneasily. But strangely, Lyra appreciated it. No lies.
No false comfort. Only truth. Even painful truth.
Darius guided her toward a fallen tree near the edge of the clearing.“Sit.” She obeyed reluctantly.
Exhaustion weighed heavily on her now that the adrenaline from battle had faded.
Her body still ached from the transformation.
Kael remained several feet away, watching her carefully.
Like he feared she might disappear if he looked away for too long Or worse die.The thought unsettled him more than he cared to admit.A rejected mate should not still affect him like this.Yet every instinct inside him remained fiercely aware of her.Especially with Darius standing so close. The rogue Alpha crouched beside Lyra.
“There’s something else you need to know.”
Kael stiffened slightly. Darius ignored him.
"The High Council didn’t just erase the Moonshadow bloodline out of fear.” Lyra looked up slowly.
"They were protecting a secret.” A cold feeling crept through her chest. “What secret?” Darius’s expression darkened.“Centuries ago, the Moonshadow royals ruled all werewolf territories.” Kael crossed his arms tightly.
“They possessed abilities no ordinary Alpha could rival.”
“Abilities like mine?” Darius nodded once.
“But there was one power feared above all others.”
The clearing had grown so quiet that every word seemed to echo. Lyra swallowed hard. "What power?”
Darius held her gaze. "The ability to command wolves against their will.” Shock rippled through her.
“That’s impossible.” “Not for a true Moonshadow heir.”
Kael spoke before Darius could continue."That is why the Council slaughtered them.” Lyra’s blood turned cold.
“They wiped out an entire bloodline because they were afraid?” Kael’s expression was grim.
“They called it necessary.”
“And you?” she asked quietly.
His jaw tightened.
“I was raised believing the Moonshadows were dangerous monsters.” Pain flickered briefly across her face.
“Is that why you rejected me?”
The question hit harder than he expected.
Kael forced himself not to look away. “Yes.”
The honesty hurt but lies would hurt worse. Lyra looked down silently. Darius’s eyes narrowed at Kael.
“You keep expecting truth to absolve you.”
Kael’s voice turned cold."No. I expect it to matter.”
For a moment, tension crackled dangerously between them again.Then a sharp cry echoed from the forest perimeter.A rogue scout sprinted into the clearing.“Alpha!”
Darius rose instantly. "What happened?”
“The eastern barrier’s been breached.”
Kael’s posture sharpened. "How many?”
“At least fifty wolves.”
The clearing erupted into alarmed murmurs. Fifty?
That wasn’t a hunting party. That was an invasion.
Darius swore softly. “They moved faster than expected.”
Kael looked toward the forest line. “Council forces?”
The scout hesitated. “No.”
A strange unease settled over everyone. “Then who?”
The scout’s face paled. “Rogues.” Darius froze.
“That’s impossible. Blackwood rogues follow me.”
The scout swallowed hard. “These aren’t yours.”
A deep growl rumbled through the forest beyond the trees.Then another answered. And another.
The sound spread like a dark wave through Blackwood.
Lyra’s skin prickled. Something about those growls felt wrong. Wild. Broken. Kael sensed it too.
His expression darkened instantly. “Blood rogues.”
Fear rippled through both guards and rogues alike.
Lyra frowned. “What are blood rogues?”
Darius’s voice turned grim.
“Wolves driven insane by corrupted silver.”
The air suddenly smelled foul. Rotten. Metallic.
Then the first creature emerged from the trees.
Lyra’s breath caught. It had once been a wolf.
Now it looked monstrous.Its fur was patchy and stained black with blood. Silver veins pulsed visibly beneath torn flesh while glowing red eyes stared with mindless hunger.
More emerged behind it. Dozens.
Kael’s wolf snarled violently inside him.
“This shouldn’t be possible.” The creatures moved unnaturally fast. One lunged straight toward Lyra.
Kael shifted instantly. His massive black wolf intercepted the attack midair, crushing the creature beneath his jaws.
But even after its spine snapped the blood rogue kept moving.Its twisted body convulsed violently as it clawed at him with maddened strength.
Darius shifted too, ripping through another creature.
“Protect Lyra!” he roared.
Panic exploded across the clearing as the blood rogues charged. Lyra stumbled backward, horror flooding her veins. They weren’t attacking randomly.
Every single red-eyed creature was heading directly for her. As though something was calling them. Then one of the monsters suddenly stopped. Its ruined face lifted toward Lyra. And in a distorted, inhuman voice, it whispered. “Moonshadow…”
Before launching at her throat.
- Writer
