CHAPTER 19
1506 Words
Elise couldn’t tear her gaze away.
The figures moved like smoke, no footsteps, no words, just the rustle of cloaks too black for daylight.
Each one was faceless, the hoods drawn so tightly they might as well have been carved from night itself.
But the eyes; those pale, glinting eyes locked onto hers with chilling familiarity.
From her dream.
The same haunting stare.
The same silence.
Lucien’s arm slid in front of her like a shield. “Inside. Now.”
But Elise remained rooted, breath coming in shallow bursts.
Her body refused to obey.
Kai stepped in, his voice a low growl. “Elise. Go.”
The command in his tone finally snapped through her paralysis.
She staggered back, grabbing onto Lucien’s sleeve as her legs moved on instinct.
Around them, warriors were assembling, shifting, snarling, blades gleaming as the scent of tension thickened the air.
But even with their numbers, something felt… off.
The forest itself seemed to recoil.
“Elise, come on.” Lucien guided her up the steps and through the wide double doors of the packhouse.
Inside, chaos was already blooming.
Warriors rushed through halls, the Omega staff frantically locking windows, ushering pups into hidden shelters.
It was too sudden.
Too quiet.
Too wrong.
“I need to find Elder Kion,” Kai said, his voice firm as he stormed inside. “Lucien, get everyone to the safe wing. I’ll stall them.”
Elise opened her mouth to protest, but Kai had already disappeared into the upper hall.
Lucien turned to her. “You’re coming with me.”
“No,” Elise said, surprising even herself. “I—I need to see them. I need to understand what they are.”
Lucien stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “You just saw what they did to our scout. You think your curiosity will protect you?”
“It’s not just curiosity,” she whispered. “Those eyes… they’re watching me.
They know me. Somehow, this is connected to me.”
Lucien hesitated. “Elise—”
“If I don’t face this, what’s the point of any of it?”
Before he could reply, a loud crash shook the packhouse. Screams echoed from the western wing.
Lucien didn’t wait.
He grabbed Elise’s hand. “Fine. But you stay behind me. No heroics. Got it?”
Elise nodded tightly.
Her fingers dug into his sleeve as they ran through the halls.
When they reached the grand hall again, the front doors had been blown open.
Wood remnants that were split from the uproar and chaos that went on littered the marble floor.
Several wolves lay motionless near the entrance, injured or unconscious.
Smoke drifted through the doorway like fingers creeping inward.
And standing at the threshold were the cloaked figures.
Lucien shifted immediately, his form rippling into a massive dark-furred wolf with silver eyes.
He bared his fangs and stepped forward, growling low and dangerous.
The invaders didn’t flinch.
One of them finally stepped forward.
His hood lowered.
The man beneath it was unnervingly pale.
Too pale.
His features sharp and perfect—almost inhuman.
And his eyes, glowing with an unnatural silver, locked straight onto Elise.
“Elise Thorne,” he said. His voice was soft, but it echoed like a whisper down a tunnel. “You’ve kept us waiting.”
Gasps rang out behind her.
Warriors froze.
Elise’s blood went cold.
Lucien was right. They came for her and wanted her.
That’s why they kept showing up in her dreams.
“But why?” She asked herself, watching everything unfold.
The forest filled with smoke, wolves pacing around, some scared, some brave.
It was the first time she saw Lucien change.
It startled her even.
He was just right in front of her, just taller than her, and now, he was a full wolf.
His eyes weren’t golden yellow, but silver.
Maybe what he said was right about every wolf having their own uniqueness.
Must be why he’s Beta of the pack.
She wondered what Kai, the Alpha would look like in his wolf form.
Lucien snarled and lunged, aiming for the man’s throat.
But the figure raised a hand.
Lucien’s body stopped mid-air, as if caught in invisible vines.
He crashed to the ground, twitching in pain.
“Lucien!” Elise cried, running to him, only to be flung backward by a pulse of icy force.
She hit the wall hard, pain blooming in her ribs.
The excruciating pain she felt made her vision a little blurry.
The figure stepped inside fully now, followed by the others, dozens of them.
Their movements were slow, deliberate, each one radiating a suffocating darkness that dulled the room’s energy.
And yet none of them struck again.
Instead, the man turned his gaze back to Elise. “You felt us, didn’t you? The dreams. The pull.”
“I don’t know what you are,” Elise said, pushing herself up, shaking.
“But we know what you are,” he replied. “You are the bridge.”
“What?”
The pale man tilted his head. “Born of light, touched by shadow. You are not wolf. Not fully. You carry something older. Something that does not belong in this world.”
Elise’s lips parted, but no words came.
He smiled. “You’re awakening, Moonbreather.”
Gasps rang out behind her. Someone muttered the word under their breath. Moonbreather.
Elise’s heart thudded. “You’re lying.”
He stepped closer. “No. But I can show you the truth… if you come willingly.”
“Elise, don’t,” Kai’s voice cut through the air as he appeared at the top of the stairs, sword in hand.
He looked furious and afraid all at once.
“She’s not going anywhere,” he growled, descending like a storm.
The pale man raised his hand again, but this time Elise stepped between him and Kai.
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t hurt him.”
“I wouldn’t need to,” the figure said. “Not if you agree.”
“What do you want from me?”
He gave a slow, measured look. “To remember who you are. What was taken from you. The Shadowborn know. We’ve waited for centuries for one like you. A being born under the fractured moon.”
Kai was at Elise’s side now, sword raised. “You’re not taking her.”
The man looked almost bored. “So much noise. So much resistance. You cannot stop what is already written.”
The other cloaked figures began to move, spreading like spilled ink into the hallway.
Elise felt her breath shorten. The shadows closed in, pressing against her mind like a weight.
But deep inside, something stirred.
Warmth.
Light.
A pulse of defiance.
“No,” Elise whispered. “You don’t get to write my story.”
And then, it happened.
A c***k, loud and blinding, split the air above them.
The moon outside flashed white.
And Elise began to glow.
Not brightly.
But softly, like moonlight on still water.
The pale man’s eyes widened. “It’s begun…”
“Elise,” Kai said, eyes locked on her, “what’s happening?”
“I—I don’t know.”
And yet, somehow, she did.
She stepped forward and raised her hand. The cloaked figures flinched. The shadow pulsing in the air recoiled as if something older, something purer, had awoken in her.
“I said no,” she whispered, voice shaking but firm.
The lead figure snarled. “You’ll regret this.”
We only came to help you know what you are, so we’ll give you a better offer then what the ordinary wolves are giving you.
But you’re defending them.
A naive moonbreather, I see.
I just hope it’s not too late before you accept our off.
Then, as quickly as they’d come, the cloaked figures vanished, fading into black mist and disappearing into the wind.
Silence fell like a heavy blanket.
Everyone stood frozen.
The warriors, Kai, Lucien,even Elder Kion, who had silently emerged from the hallway, stared at Elise with a mix of disbelief and something else.
Fear.
Elise turned to Kai, her legs trembling. “What was that?”
Kai slowly sheathed his blade. “That was power.”
Lucien shifted back into human form, coughing. “They’ll come back.”
Elder Kion stepped forward now, eyes narrowing. “What are you?”
Elise turned to him, her voice hollow. “I don’t know yet.”
Kion studied her, the disgust from earlier gone, replaced by confusion and something unspoken.
She turned and walked away from them all, past the shattered doors, down the front steps, and into the chilled night air.
She didn’t run this time.
She needed the cold to think.
To breathe.
To remember how it felt when that light came from her.
That warmth that chased the shadows back.
It hadn’t come from fear, it had come from something deeper.
And she wasn’t done uncovering it.
Not by a long shot.
- Writer
