Elara's POV
Our coming back to the Heartwood was a victory march. The pack’s energy was electric. They had fought for us, and they had won our fight. The story of the bonded pair and the cleansing of the Cradle spread through the ranks like a wildfire, transforming their fear into a fierce pride.
But in the quiet of our tent, the reality settled. Lucian pored over maps and my mother’s journals, his brow furrowed. The bond between us hummed with his worry.
“The Moon’s Chosen aren’t just a cult,” he said, tapping a journal entry. “They’re a network. Your mother’s notes suggest they’ve infiltrated the human world, pharmaceutical companies researching gene therapy, occult groups. And the shifter world.” He looked up, his gold eyes hard. “They’ve been making our Alphas become unstable for ge
