The air in the room thickened, heavy with the scent of iron and something fouler dark magic, coiling like smoke around Elder Rowan's unnaturally still form. His crimson eyes burned into us, but the voice that slithered from his lips wasn't his.
*"Did you truly think you could run, little mate?"*
Callum's growl vibrated through me, his body a shield between me and the thing wearing Rowan's face. "Show yourself," he snarled. "Or are you too much a coward to face me?"
Rowan's head tilted, a grotesque parody of amusement. *"Oh, I'll face you, Alpha. When your blood paints the sacred stones. When your mate's screams are the hymn that wakes the old gods."*
I clutched Callum's arm, my fingers digging into his skin. "He's not just possessed," I whispered. "He's a vessel."
The Shadow Alpha wasn't here not truly. But he was close enough.
Rowan's hand twitched, and the torches flared, their flames turning an eerie blue. Shadows pooled at his feet, creeping toward us like living things.
Callum didn't hesitate. He lunged.
The fight was brutal, swift. Rowan moved with unnatural speed, dodging strikes that should have shattered bone. But Callum wasn't just an Alpha he was fury given form. He grabbed Rowan by the throat and slammed him into the wall, stone cracking under the impact.
*"Where is he?"* Callum demanded, his voice raw with power.
Rowan's lips split into a grin, blood trickling from his nose. *"Closer than you think."*
Then his body convulsed, his back arching as a guttural scream tore from his throat. Black veins spiderwebbed across his skin, and the shadows around us twisted
I acted on instinct. My palm smacked against Rowan's chest, right over his heart. The mark on my back burned, a searing pain that shot down my arm.
And then
A pulse of light. A crack of energy.
Rowan's eyes widened, his mouth opening in a silent scream as the darkness inside him shuddered. For a heartbeat, I saw it a face, flickering in the shadows behind his pupils. A face I recognized from my nightmares.
The Shadow Alpha.
Then Rowan collapsed, the red fading from his eyes.
Silence.
Callum stared at me, his chest heaving. "What the hell was that?"
I looked down at my trembling hands. "I don't know."
But I lied.
The mark had reacted. Like recognized like.
And the terror in Rowan's eyes before he passed out?
It wasn't for us.
It was for me.
*Later The Hidden Chamber*
Rowan survived. Barely.
When he woke, he remembered nothing. Only a voice in the dark, a pain like his soul being flayed.
Callum interrogated him anyway, his patience fraying to nothing. But I couldn't focus. Not when my skin still hummed with the aftermath of whatever power I'd unleashed.
I slipped away, retreating to the pack's oldest shrine a hidden chamber beneath the armory, where the first Alphas had sworn their oaths. The air here was thick with the weight of centuries, the walls carved with runes that pulsed faintly under my fingertips.
*His blood, the key. His mate, the gate.*
I traced the words of the prophecy, my stomach churning. If I was the gate, then the mark was more than a brand. It was a tether.
And the baby
I pressed a hand to my stomach, my breath hitching. Was our child part of this? A sacrifice? A weapon?
A floorboard creaked behind me.
I whirled, expecting Callum
But it was Lysandra.
The seer stood in the doorway, her milky eyes gleaming. "You felt it, didn't you?" she whispered. "The mark's true purpose."
My throat tightened. "You knew."
"I suspected." She stepped closer, her voice dropping. "The Shadow Alpha isn't just some rogue wolf. He's a relic. A remnant of the first bloodline the one your mate descends from. And he needs you to tear open the veil between worlds."
Ice slid down my spine. "Why?"
Lysandra's smile was grim. "Because the old gods hunger, girl. And he's their herald."
*Callum's Ultimatum*
I found him in the war room, maps and daggers scattered across the table. He looked up as I entered, his gaze sharp. "We're leaving at dawn."
I blinked. "What?"
"The Vale." He stalked toward me, his voice low. "If there's answers, they're there. And I'm done waiting for the next attack."
I swallowed hard. "Callum, I think the mark is"
"A link to him. I know." His jaw clenched. "Which is why we sever it. Whatever it takes."
But the determination in his eyes faltered when I told him what Lysandra had said. About the old gods. The veil.
For the first time since the ambush, I saw fear in his expression.
"Then we don't just kill him," he said finally, his voice rough. "We erase him. From history. From magic. From existence."
I nodded, but the dread in my chest wouldn't lift.
Because the truth was worse than he knew.
If the Shadow Alpha wanted the veil opened…
Then the mark wasn't just a tether.
It was a countdown.
And it had already started.