Chapter 6: Silver
733 Words
# Chapter 6: Silver
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I stood in the circle of melted snow and tried to understand what I'd become.
My hands were still glowing. Soft silver light pulsed under my skin, fading and brightening with each heartbeat. I turned them over, studying them like I'd never seen hands before.
*This is normal?* I asked my wolf.
*Nothing about you is normal, Raven.*
*That's not reassuring.*
I felt her amusement—a warm flicker in the back of my mind.
*You are the last descendant of the Moon Goddess. Your power has been sealed since birth. What you're feeling now is only a fraction of what you'll become.*
A fraction.
I looked at the circle of melted snow around me—twenty feet of steaming grass in the middle of a blizzard. A *fraction*.
*I need to find shelter,* I said. *I can't stay here.*
*You're right. But first—try something.*
*Try what?*
*Close your eyes. Feel the bond.*
I did. The golden thread was still there, stretching north, warm and steady. But now that I focused on it, I could feel something else. Details. Emotions. A deep, burning *need to reach me* that wasn't my own.
*He's coming,* I whispered.
*Yes.*
*Who is he?*
*Your true mate. The one the Moon Goddess chose for you before you were born.*
*Marcus wasn't—*
*Marcus was a decoy. A placeholder. The goddess hid you by masking your bond with the nearest eligible Alpha. It was never meant to last.*
I sank to my knees.
A decoy. My entire life—the bullying, the rejection, the broken bond, the *blood*—all of it was because the Moon Goddess had hidden me.
*Why?*
*Because there are those who would kill you if they knew what you were. The Moon Goddess's line was thought to be extinct. If the wrong people learned you existed—*
*Then why wake me now?*
A pause. My wolf's voice softened.
*Because he needed you.*
Before I could ask what that meant, I heard it.
Footsteps.
Multiple sets. Crunching through the snow. Heading toward me.
I scrambled to my feet. The silver light was still pulsing under my skin—I couldn't turn it off. Couldn't hide it.
"Over here! There's something—"
Figures emerged from the snow. Three of them. Men. Warriors from Blood Moon Pack, their red cloaks marking them as border patrol.
They stopped when they saw me.
I knew them. Knew their faces from years of watching them eat in the pack hall, training in the yard, ignoring me when I passed. They'd never said a word to me before tonight.
Now, they stared.
"Raven?" The lead warrior—Garrett, I remembered—squinted through the snow. "Is that you?"
I didn't answer.
His eyes dropped to my hands. To the silver light. His face shifted from confusion to disbelief to something that looked like fear.
"What did you do to yourself?"
*Run,* my wolf said.
I ran.
I didn't think about it. I just *moved*, and the world blurred around me. The snow. The trees. The dark shapes of the warriors behind me. I was faster than I'd ever been—faster than anything I'd ever seen. The wind screamed past my ears, and my bare feet didn't feel the frozen ground.
"After her! Don't let her escape!"
I pushed harder.
It wasn't enough.
A shape slammed into me from the side, and I hit the ground hard. Snow filled my mouth. An arm locked around my throat, and Garrett's voice hissed in my ear.
"What are you? What did you become?"
I struggled. Grabbed his arm. Pulled.
The silver light flared.
Garrett screamed.
He flew backward—not from my strength, but from something that exploded out of me. A shockwave of silver energy that sent him crashing into a tree and shook the snow from the branches above.
I scrambled up, gasping.
The other two warriors had stopped. They were staring at me—at the light still pulsing under my skin, at the warrior groaning against the tree, at the circle of melted snow around my feet.
"Get the Alpha," one of them whispered. "Tell him she's—tell him she's not what we thought."
I didn't wait to hear the rest.
I turned and ran.
And this time, they didn't follow.
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**End of Chapter 6**
- Writer
