The roar had barely faded when the guardian's voice cut through the dark again, urgent and low.
*Listen to me. There is no time to explain everything, only what matters most.*
Serena's heart hammered against her ribs, the phantom heartbeat she'd felt beneath the guardian's touch still echoing faintly somewhere inside her chest. "Then tell me. Please. What did you mean, my wolf has always been alive?"
*Because it has.* The guardian's massive form shifted, chains groaning. *You were never incomplete, child of the First Moon. You were hidden. Sealed before your first breath, so that those who hunted your bloodline would find nothing to hunt.*
"Sealed by who?"
*By someone who loved you enough to make you invisible to your enemies.*
---
Serena's throat tightened. "My mother."
*Perhaps.*
