Awakening in Shadows
2000 Words
EMBER
The purple light burst from me in waves, throwing the huge black wolf backward.
It yelped as it hit the mountain wall with a c***k that echoed through the night.
My whole body burned with power I didn't understand, couldn't control. The ground beneath me cracked, glowing with the same purple energy that poured from my skin.
"Impossible," the rogue wolf snarled, struggling to its feet. "The Moon Priestess line is dead!"
More rogues appeared from the shadows.
Ten, twenty, too many to count. They circled us like vultures, their eyes reflecting the purple glow emanating from me.
"Grab her!" their leader commanded. "The Shadow King will pay a…"
Dante's Lycan form slammed into him before he could finish. Where Kai's Lycan was silver and green-eyed, Dante's was darker, more dangerous, with amber eyes that burned like flames.
He tore through three rogues before they knew what hit them.
But the purple light was fading.
Whatever power had exploded from me was draining away, leaving me weak and dizzy. My legs gave out, and I fell to my knees.
"I've got you," Finn said, suddenly beside me in human form. His hands were gentle as he helped me stand. "Don't fight it. Let the power flow, don't try to contain it."
"I don't know how!" I gasped. The energy felt like lightning under my skin, beautiful and terrifying.
"Trust your instincts," he said urgently. "You're not wolfless, Ember. You're something much more."
A rogue lunged at us. Without thinking, I threw my hand out. Purple light shot from my palm, hitting the wolf mid-leap.
But instead of hurting it, something strange happened. The wolf's eyes cleared, like fog lifting, and it turned on its own pack mates.
"She's controlling them!" one of them shouted.
No, that wasn't right. I wasn't controlling anyone. It felt more like... cleansing. Like washing away something dark that had been controlling them.
More rogues attacked. Kai fought beside his brothers, the three of them moving in perfect synchronization. But there were too many. For every rogue they dropped, two more appeared.
"There's too many!" Kai snarled, blood dripping from a gash on his shoulder.
That's when I saw her, a figure in a dark cloak watching from a ridge above us. Even from this distance, I recognized that platinum blonde hair.
Celeste.
Our eyes met, and she smiled before disappearing into the night.
"It's a trap," I breathed. "She led them here. Celeste led them here!"
Dante's head snapped toward where she'd been standing, but she was already gone. His growl shook the ground.
"Fall back to the fortress!" he commanded.
"We can't leave the mines undefended," Kai argued.
"We can't protect both her and the mines," Finn said, his mismatched eyes scanning the increasing number of rogues. "And my instinct tells me she's more important."
They formed a protective circle around me as we retreated. My legs shook with each step, the earlier power surge leaving me drained. Finn supported most of my weight, practically carrying me.
The fortress gates loomed ahead, massive iron structures covered in strange symbols that seemed to pulse with their own energy.
The moment we passed through them, the symbols flared to life. Several pursuing rogues hit an invisible barrier and were thrown back, howling in pain.
"Wards," Finn explained, breathing hard.
"Ancient protection magic. One of the few advantages of Ironhold."
"Magic?" I stared at the glowing symbols. "But that's just legends."
All three brothers looked at me with expressions that said I was being naive.
"Says the girl who just shot purple light from her hands," Kai pointed out, shifting back to human form. Blood ran down his chest from several deep wounds.
"Let me see," I said, reaching for his injuries without thinking.
"Don't touch" he started, but stopped when my hands made contact with his skin.
Purple light flickered between us, softer this time, gentle. His wounds began closing, leaving only faint pink lines where deep gashes had been.
We all stared in stunned silence.
"You healed him," Dante said slowly, also back in human form. His amber eyes looked at me with an intensity that made my skin flush. "Moon Priestesses were healers, among other things."
"I'm not a Moon Priestess," I protested. "That's impossible. They're extinct. Everyone knows that."
"Everyone knows a lot of things that aren't true," Finn said. "The Moon Priestesses were hunted to extinction a hundred years ago because the other packs feared their power. They could enhance or diminish wolf abilities, heal wounds, and some say they could even break or create mate bonds."
My blood turned cold. "Create mate bonds?"
"Or break them," Dante said quietly. "Which is why the packs feared them. Imagine having the power to destroy the sacred mate bond, to choose who wolves could love."
I thought of Marcus's rejection, how easily he'd thrown me away. "Maybe some bonds should be broken."
A dangerous look flashed in all three brothers' eyes.
"You don't know what you're saying," Kai growled. "Mate bonds are sacred. They're what holds our world together."
"Really?" I laughed bitterly. "Because the bond between Marcus and me seemed pretty easy to break. All it took was me not having a wolf."
"You were never truly bonded," Finn said gently. "A true mate bond can't be rejected so easily. What you had with Marcus was just a planned match."
"How would you know?"
The brothers exchanged looks again, one of those silent conversations that spoke of years of shared experiences.
"Because," Dante said, stepping closer, "true mate bonds feel like this."
He took my hand, and electricity shot through every nerve. My knees went weak, and only his grip kept me standing. His amber eyes glowed brighter, and I could feel something wild calling to something deep inside me.
"Stop," I gasped, pulling away. "That's not... I don't have a wolf. I can't have a mate."
But even as I said it, I could feel the pull, that recognition. And not just to Dante. When I looked at Kai and Finn, I felt it with them too.
Different but equally strong.
"This is impossible," I whispered.
"A lot of impossible things are happening tonight," Finn said. "Starting with you being here at all. The Council doesn't exile nobles to Ironhold unless they want them dead. Someone wanted you specifically sent here."
"Or someone wanted her sent to us," Dante said thoughtfully. "The only place in the realm where three Lycan brothers rule, where the old magic still holds power, where a Moon Priestess might be safe from those hunting her line."
"You think someone knew what I was?" I asked. "But I didn't even know!"
"Your aunt knew," Kai said bluntly. "The way the guards described her reaction. She knew exactly what was happening to you at the ceremony."
My aunt. Sweet, nervous Aunt Sarah who'd raised me after my parents died. Who always made me drink special tea that she said would keep me healthy.
She looked terrified when she hugged me goodbye.
"The tea," I breathed. "She gave me special tea every day. Said it was for my health, but it always tasted bitter."
"Suppressants," Finn said immediately. "Wolfsbane mixed with other herbs. It would keep your true nature dormant."
"She was protecting me." Tears burned my eyes. "All these years, she was hiding me."
"The question is," Dante said, "from whom? And why reveal you now?"
A horn sounded from the gates. We all tensed.
"That's the visitor horn," Kai said. "Someone's requesting entry."
We moved to the fortress walls. Below, a lone figure stood at the gates, hood pulled low.
"State your business!" the gate guard called.
The figure pushed back her hood, revealing a face I knew too well. Aunt Sarah stood there, but she looked exhausted.
She was clutching her side where dark blood stained her traveling cloak.
"I seek sanctuary," she called up. "And I must speak with my niece before it's too late."
"It's a trap," Kai said immediately.
"She's hurt," I protested.
"Or pretending to be," Dante said. But he was already signaling the guards. "Bring her in. Carefully."
They carried Aunt Sarah to a room in the fortress. She was barely conscious, mumbling words I couldn't understand. When Finn examined her wound, his face went grave.
"Poison," he said. "Shadow poison. Someone wanted her dead but slow enough that she could suffer."
"Can you heal it?" I asked.
"I'm not the healer here," he said, looking at me meaningfully.
I placed my hands on her wound, trying to summon that purple light. Nothing happened.
"I can't," I said, panic rising. "It won't work."
"Because you're afraid," Dante said. "You're still fighting what you are."
Aunt Sarah's eyes fluttered open. "Ember," she whispered. "My brave girl. I'm so sorry."
"Don't apologize," I said, tears falling. "Just tell me how to heal you."
"You can't," she said weakly. "Shadow poison was made specifically to kill Moon Priestesses. It's the one thing your power can't touch."
"No," I said. "There has to be something"
"Listen," she gripped my hand with surprising strength. "There's no time. They're coming. All of them. The Shadow King knows you exist now."
"Who's the Shadow King?" Finn asked urgently.
"The one who killed your parents," she told the brothers, making them all go still. "And Ember's parents. He's been hunting Moon Priestess bloodlines for decades, trying to find one he can control. When he learns Ember is the last pure-blood priestess..."
She coughed, blood speckling her lips.
"The prophecy," she whispered. "The Trinity Bond. It's the only way to protect her. Three Lycans, one priestess. Together, you can stop him."
"Trinity Bond?" I asked, but her eyes were already closing.
"Your mother's journal," she breathed. "Hidden in the place where moon flowers grow. Find it. Learn what you are. What you're meant to be."
Her hand went limp in mine.
"No!" I shook her. "Aunt Sarah, please!"
But she was gone.
I sat there, numb, as Finn gently closed her eyes. My last family, gone. Because of me. Because of what I was.
"Ember," Dante said softly.
"Don't," I stood abruptly. "Just... don't."
I ran from the room, ignoring their calls. I needed air, space, somewhere to think. I found myself on a balcony overlooking Ironhold. The city sprawled below, torches and fires creating patterns in the darkness.
"She was right about one thing," Kai said, appearing beside me. I hadn't heard him approach. "The Trinity Bond."
"I don't even know what that is."
"It's legend," Finn said, appearing on my other side. "A bond between a Moon Priestess and multiple mates. Stronger than a normal mate bond. Unbreakable."
"And you three think..." I couldn't finish the sentence.
"We don't think," Dante said, joining us. "We know. Our wolves recognized you the moment you arrived. All three of us, which should be impossible."
"Everything about me is impossible," I said bitterly.
"Yes," Dante agreed. "Which is what makes you exactly what our world needs."
A howl rose from the wasteland, long, mournful, and wrong somehow. It was answered by another, then another, until the night was full of unnatural howling.
"They're coming," Kai said, his body tensing for a fight.
"How many?" I asked.
"Too many," Finn said quietly. "The Shadow King's army. He must have been waiting for confirmation of what you are."
I thought of Celeste's smile, of how she'd led the rogues to us. She'd been testing me, confirming my identity for someone else.
"I won't let more people die for me," I said.
"Then learn to fight," Dante said simply. "Learn what you are. Because hiding won't protect anyone anymore."
The howls grew closer. In the distance, I could see shapes moving through the wasteland. Hundreds of them.
"The wards will hold them," Finn said, but he didn't sound certain.
"For how long?"
None of them answered, which was answer enough.
I looked at each storm brother.
"Tell me about the Trinity Bond," I said
- Writer
