THE FORGOTTEN LUNA

THE FORTRESS OF SECRETS

The passage seemed endless.

Kade walked ahead of me, moving with the confidence of someone who knew every turn and every hidden corner. I followed closely, one hand pressed against the pendant beneath my shirt while the other brushed against the cold stone wall.

Outside, the sounds of fighting had faded into the distance.

That should have made me feel safer.

It didn't.

My mother had appeared inside my necklace, told me that I belonged to the bloodline of the First Alpha, and vanished before I could get proper answers. Meanwhile, the Alpha King had decided that k********g me through a secret tunnel was an acceptable way to handle the situation.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to decide which part of my life was the most ridiculous.

"Where are we going?" I finally asked.

"Somewhere safe."

"You said that already."

"And you asked already."

I glared at the back of his head.

"Do you always answer questions like you're being paid by the word?"

He glanced over his shoulder. "Do you always talk this much when you're frightened?"

"I'm not frightened."

"Of course not."

His dry response irritated me more than it should have.

I quickened my steps until I was walking beside him.

"Listen, Your Majesty. I don't know what kind of people you're used to dealing with, but I am not one of your soldiers. You don't get to grab me, drag me through a dark tunnel, and expect me to follow orders without an explanation."

Kade stopped.

I nearly walked into him.

For a moment, he simply studied me. His expression was unreadable, but his golden eyes seemed brighter in the darkness.

"You're right," he said.

I blinked.

That wasn't the response I had expected.

"Excuse me?"

"You deserve an explanation."

"Wonderful. Let's start with why my dead mother is living inside a necklace."

His expression tightened.

"Your mother isn't exactly living."

"That distinction is incredibly comforting."

"Maya."

"What? Am I supposed to be polite about this? I've spent nineteen years believing I was an ordinary girl with a useless wolf. This morning, my ranking crystal exploded, a shadow tried to attack me, and my dead mother told me I'm descended from the First Alpha. Forgive me if I'm struggling to remain calm."

For the first time, something almost like amusement touched his face.

It disappeared quickly.

"I knew your mother," he said.

The words silenced me.

I stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

He didn't.

"You knew her?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"She saved my life."

I searched his face for a sign that he was lying, but I found none.

"When?"

"Long before you were born."

A strange feeling settled in my stomach.

My mother had always been careful about the past. Whenever I asked about my father, our family, or the years before my earliest memories, she would find a reason to change the subject.

I had assumed she was grieving.

Now I wondered whether she had been hiding something much more dangerous.

"What was she like?" I asked quietly.

Kade's expression changed.

For a moment, the powerful Alpha King seemed far away, trapped in a memory he had no intention of sharing.

"She was brave," he said at last. "Braver than most people I've known."

"That doesn't tell me much."

"It tells you enough for now."

I sighed.

"You're exhausting."

"And you're impatient."

"Someone has to be."

He turned and continued walking.

I followed, but his words stayed with me.

He had known my mother before I was born. He knew about my pendant. He knew something about the power hidden inside me.

How much of my life had he been watching from a distance?

The tunnel eventually opened into a vast underground chamber. Ancient torches flickered along the walls, illuminating enormous stone doors marked with the same crescent-and-wolf symbol carved into my pendant.

I stopped.

"Where are we?"

Kade studied the doors.

"The old Alpha fortress."

I looked at him.

"There's an entire fortress beneath the academy?"

"Not beneath the academy. The tunnel leads beyond its grounds."

"That doesn't make it less strange."

He ignored my comment and approached the doors.

I followed more slowly, my attention drawn to the symbols carved into the stone. They seemed familiar in a way I couldn't explain, as though I had seen them in a dream I could no longer remember.

The pendant warmed against my chest.

A whisper stirred inside my mind.

Maya.

I stopped breathing.

It was my mother's voice.

"Did you hear that?" I asked.

Kade turned sharply. "Hear what?"

"My mother."

His face hardened.

"What did she say?"

I hesitated.

The last time my mother had spoken, she had warned me not to trust him.

Something told me he wouldn't appreciate hearing that.

"She called my name."

It wasn't entirely a lie.

Kade watched me for another moment before turning back to the doors.

"Stay behind me."

"You're very fond of that instruction."

"Because you're very fond of ignoring instructions."

Before I could reply, he placed his palm against the stone.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, pressing harder against the carved symbol. The doors remained closed.

A frown appeared between his brows.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"The entrance should respond to my bloodline."

"Maybe it doesn't like you."

His eyes narrowed.

I smiled sweetly.

Then the pendant grew warm again.

A strange pull settled in my chest, drawing me toward the doors. Before I understood what I was doing, I stepped forward and placed my hand against the crescent carved into the stone.

Blue light spread beneath my fingers.

The ground trembled.

Kade immediately caught my arm.

"Maya, don't—"

The doors opened.

A deep rumble rolled through the chamber as the enormous stone panels moved apart. Dust drifted from the ceiling, and the ancient symbols glowed with a soft golden light.

I stared into the fortress.

For the first time since the ranking ceremony, I forgot to be afraid.

The room beyond was enormous, filled with ancient weapons, towering statues, and paintings covered in a fine layer of dust. At the far end stood a stone throne beneath a crescent-shaped arch.

But it was the painting beside the throne that stole my breath.

A woman stood beneath a silver moon, dressed in a long white gown. Her dark hair fell over her shoulders, and a silver pendant rested against her chest.

My pendant.

I stepped closer, unable to look away from her face.

She had my eyes.

My nose.

Even the small curve of her mouth looked exactly like mine.

It was as though someone had taken my reflection and painted it onto an ancient canvas.

"Who is she?" I whispered.

Kade stood beside me, his expression unusually serious.

"The First Luna."

I shook my head.

"No."

"Maya—"

"She looks like me."

"I can see that."

"No, you don't understand." I turned toward him. "She looks exactly like me."

My voice sounded smaller than I wanted it to.

The woman in the painting wore the same pendant my mother had given me, and the symbol above her head matched the mark on the fortress doors.

Suddenly, my mother's words returned to me.

You belong to the bloodline of the First Alpha.

I stepped back.

"Is this why the necklace reacts to everything here?"

Kade didn't answer immediately.

Then he said, "Your mother wanted this place to remain hidden."

"From whom?"

"From anyone who might discover your identity."

"My identity?"

He looked directly at me.

"The world believes the First Alpha's bloodline is gone. If the wrong people learn that you're connected to it, you will become a target."

I swallowed.

"Who would want to hurt me because of something that happened centuries ago?"

"People who want power."

"That doesn't explain anything."

"It explains more than you realize."

I turned away from him, anger rising again.

"Everyone keeps telling me what I need to know without actually telling me anything!"

Before Kade could respond, a familiar voice filled the fortress.

"He's right about one thing, Maya."

I spun around.

Blue light gathered near the throne.

My mother's figure appeared within it, weaker than before. Her outline trembled, and her face looked pale.

"Mum!"

I hurried toward her, stopping just short of the light.

"Please don't disappear again."

"I won't stay long."

"Then tell me the truth. Why does that painting look like me? Why did you hide my bloodline? And why does Kade know more about my life than I do?"

My mother looked at him.

"You always did have a talent for keeping secrets, Kade."

He lowered his eyes.

Something passed between them, an understanding I couldn't begin to interpret.

"Did you trust him?" I asked.

My mother turned back to me.

"That isn't the right question."

"Then what is?"

"Whether he still remembers what he promised."

Kade's jaw tightened.

"Maya needs answers, not another riddle."

My mother's expression grew sad.

"And you need to remember that protecting someone isn't the same as choosing their life for them."

The words struck him harder than I expected.

For several seconds, neither of them spoke.

Then my mother's figure began to fade.

"Mum, wait!"

She looked at me one last time.

"I wanted to protect you from the truth."

The light vanished.

I stood frozen, staring at the empty space beside the throne.

Protect me from the truth.

What truth could possibly be so terrible that my mother had hidden an entire bloodline from me?

A sudden vibration shook the fortress.

Dust fell from the ceiling, and the torches flickered violently. Somewhere beneath our feet, something made a deep, rumbling sound.

Kade immediately moved toward me.

"What was that?" I whispered.

He didn't answer.

Another tremor shook the room.

This time, the golden symbols carved into the floor began to glow. The light spread outward from where I stood, forming a pattern that extended toward the far wall.

I looked down at my feet.

The pendant burned against my chest.

Then I heard a sound from behind the throne.

Footsteps.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Someone was walking toward us.

Kade stepped in front of me, his entire body tense.

"Stay behind me," he ordered.

For once, I didn't argue.

A tall figure emerged from the darkness.

His golden eyes settled on me, and a strange smile spread across his face.

He looked at Kade as though they had known each other for a very long time.

Then he returned his attention to me.

"Finally," he said softly.

His gaze dropped to my pendant.

"You came home, Luna."

End of Chapter Three.