The Forgotten Luna

12 - Between Light and Shadow

[Astrid P.O.V.]

At first, I thought I was dreaming.

But dreams had color, feeling. Dreams had shape. This… didn’t. This place was heavy and still, like the world had been painted over in black and forgotten. I floated, untethered, without a body, just thought. Just awareness.

Was I dead?

I didn’t remember dying. I remembered the Luna ceremony. I remembered the way the gown hugged my skin, how my heart stuttered when I caught Atlas looking at me like I was the only thing that existed. I remembered the first step down the stairs, toward him. And then…

Pain. Heat. Darkness.

That was it.

Now, silence.

“Juno?” My voice didn’t echo, there was nothing for it to bounce off of. Just a vast, empty nothing.

I’m here.

Relief surged through me at the sound of her voice, so calm and steady despite the nothingness around us. My wolf. The only constant in my life.

This isn’t death, Astrid, she said gently. Not yet.

“Then where are we?”

The Veil, she said. A place between life and death. Souls come here when they’re not ready to leave, or when they’re needed.

“Needed?” I asked, but before she could answer, a presence bloomed in the dark.

Light flared, not harsh like the sun but soft and radiant, like moonlight on fresh snow. It grew until it shaped itself into a woman, tall, regal, impossibly beautiful. Her skin shimmered with silver tones, her long hair was the color of starlight, and her eyes were full of galaxies.

Selene.

My knees buckled, or they would have, if I had a body to fall to the ground.

“Child of the moon,” she said, her voice brushing over me like silk, “and child of magic. You have been called.”

“I don’t understand,” I said, or maybe I just thought it, but she heard me all the same.

“You are not fully a wolf. You are not fully a witch. You are the rarest kind, a bridge between two worlds.”

I tried to speak but nothing came out. I felt suddenly small, like I was standing before a force of nature rather than a goddess. Like I was trying to contain the wind in my lungs.

Selene stepped closer. “You are an Eclipse Wolf, Astrid. One born during an astronomical crossing, where magic and instinct meet. Your mother’s blood runs through your veins, but so does your father’s spirit.”

“My parents…” My voice cracked. “They were murdered. Because of me.”

She nodded solemnly. “There was a prophecy. One that said an Eclipse-born would tear down the Coven of Thorns. The witches feared you. They sent their most vicious, most wild to kill your parents before you could rise.”

Tears burned, even though I wasn’t crying. “And they still found me. They still tried again.”

Selene looked at me with something close to sorrow. “And they will keep trying. Because you lived.”

“Why did I survive the poison?”

“Because it was made for a wolf,” came a new voice, deeper, silkier, and full of shadows.

From the edges of the void came another figure. This one was darker, wreathed in midnight hues, her hair as black as voidspace, her eyes violet with galaxies burning inside. Where Selene was radiant, this woman was raw power.

“Hecate,” I whispered. I didn’t need to be told. I knew her. The way a candle knows fire.

“You’re my daughter in blood and spirit,” Hecate said, approaching with a smirk. “You survived the poison because you’re mine. But don’t mistake survival for strength. You’re not done yet.”

“What do you mean?”

Hecate began to circle me, slow and predatory. “You’ve spent your life hiding. Dimming yourself. Letting others tell you who and what you are. That ends now.”

I clenched my fists. “I never asked to be special.”

“No,” she said, stopping in front of me. “But you are. And the world doesn’t give a damn about what we ask for.”

Selene moved closer again, her warmth and moonlight battling the chill of Hecate’s shadow. “You must awaken soon, Astrid. Your mate waits. Your pack waits. The world needs you.”

Juno stirred within me. We need you.

“I’m not ready,” I said. “I don’t know who I’m supposed to be.”

“You will,” Hecate said. “And when you do? Don’t hesitate. Because the next time they come for you, they won’t miss.”

“What about the bond?” I asked quietly. “Is it still there?”

Selene smiled. “It is. Your survival protected it. But it is tangled now, caught in your fear, in your pain.”

Hecate lifted a hand. “Untangle it when you wake. Claim it. Claim him. Complete the bond.”

“Now go,” Selene said, placing her hand on my chest. “You don’t belong here.”

I felt the push of her power. A current rushing beneath my skin.

Then Juno howled, sharp and fierce and real.

And the world shattered.

I woke up gasping.

Pain exploded through my ribs and my throat felt raw. My body was stiff, unmoving, and ice cold. Every sense returned in a violent flood, light, sound, smell, him.

Atlas.

His scent hit me like a tsunami something I had never been able to live without. Even when I didn’t know it.

I tried to speak, but only a croak came out.

“Doctor!” a voice shouted. “She’s awake!”

I turned slowly, my entire body sluggish, and saw a woman rushing to my bedside. She looked young, but her eyes were tired, her curls tied back in a messy bun. Her hands were steady, though, and she moved with quick precision as she checked my vitals.

“I’m Doctor Voss,” she said. “You’re in the Moon Stone infirmary. You’ve been unconscious for several days.”

“Poison,” I rasped. “Dress.”

She nodded. “We know. It was laced into the fabric. Whoever did it wanted it to make contact with your skin. You shouldn’t have survived.”

I gave a weak smile. “That’s becoming a theme.”

She laughed under her breath. “You’re tougher than you look, Miss Elias.”

The door burst open, and then I felt everything at once.

The bond. The pure, soul-deep pull of him. My mate.

Atlas crossed the room in three long strides and sank to his knees beside the bed. His hands trembled as he cupped my face, and when he looked into my eyes, I saw devastation and hope.

“I thought I lost you,” he whispered. “Gods, Astrid, I thought you were gone.”

“I’m not,” I said, and reached for him. Our hands met, and the bond snapped like a bolt of lightning between us.

Warmth rushed into my chest, and my breath hitched.

“I went somewhere,” I said softly. “They spoke to me. Selene. Hecate.”

He froze. “You saw them?”

“They told me what I am. What I have to do.”

He nodded slowly, gaze locked on mine. “You don’t have to do anything alone.”

I took a breath.

And then, before I could second-guess myself, I said the words that had been burning in my chest since the moment I woke.

“Complete the bond with me,” I whispered.

Atlas’s eyes widened.

“You want to…”

“Yes,” I said. “Right now. I need to feel it. All of it. I need to feel you.”

Emotion crashed through his expression: shock, awe, hunger, reverence.

“Are you sure?” he asked, voice low and trembling.

I nodded. “More than anything.”

He didn’t speak again.

He simply leaned forward, pressing his forehead to mine, his lips brushing against my temple. The energy between us trembled, wild and waiting. His lips brushed mine, soft and reverent. And when his teeth grazed my neck, in a silent promise.

“Then… we need to go to my bedroom.”

I giggled, nodding. “Take me there.”