The walls were humming when I woke up.
Not with sound — with energy. Like they had a heartbeat.
I blinked against the soft, golden light filtering in through the stone-carved windows, and realized I was no longer on the stone floor outside. I was on a thick velvet chaise inside a warm chamber, draped in silk and laced with the faint scent of pine and snow.
Lucien's scent.
And mine.
But something was different.
---
I sat up slowly, ignoring the dull ache between my shoulders. Every part of me felt... raw. Like I'd been carved out and filled again.
"Easy," came a voice.
Lucien.
He stood in the corner, arms crossed, cloak still on, eyes unreadable.
"How long was I out?" I asked, voice rasped.
"Almost twelve hours."
I blinked. "What happened?"
"You partially shifted," he said. "But your body stopped it midway. Not because you were weak. Because your wolf isn't ready to fully emerge… yet."
My throat tightened. "She was so close."
Lucien walked over slowly. He didn't touch me — not yet — but crouched beside the chaise.
"You did well," he said softly. "Most wolves who have a binding seal break lose control. You didn't."
"I felt her," I whispered. "She was angry. Scared. But… strong. She's always been there, hasn't she?"
"Yes," he said. "You were born powerful, Celia. Someone just wanted to keep that buried."
---
I looked at him.
Really looked.
There was something in his eyes I hadn't seen before. Not control. Not calculation. But something raw.
Fear, maybe.
Not of me. For me.
"Lucien," I said slowly. "What aren't you telling me?"
He didn't answer immediately. Just stood and walked to the table across the room. Picked something up. Returned with it in his hand.
A mirror.
"Turn your back to me."
I did.
He held the mirror in front of me.
And I saw it.
A mark.
High between my shoulder blades, just below the nape of my neck — a glowing crimson sigil, shaped like a crescent moon wrapped around a flame.
"What is that?" I whispered.
Lucien's voice was tight. "The Blood Sigil. The mark of a trueborn Alpha Luna — one born under a sealed moon. You're not just a rare wolf. You're... prophesied."
---
I stared at the mark, unable to move.
"You should've told me sooner," I said.
"I didn't want to scare you."
"I'm already scared."
He placed the mirror down and faced me again. "The Council sent a second scroll," he said. "Cain intercepted it. They've declared you a Bloodline Breach. That means—"
"That I'm a threat."
He nodded. "They'll come for you. They'll say it's for balance, but really, they're afraid of what happens when power like yours surfaces unchecked."
"Unchecked?" I scoffed. "I don't even know what the hell I'm doing."
"You will," he said quietly. "I have someone to help."
---
Later that day, an older she-wolf entered my chamber.
She had white hair in long braids and scars across her jaw. Her name was Isolde, and she smelled like sage, fire, and storm.
Lucien trusted her. That was enough for me.
She studied me without flinching, eyes sharp.
"I'm going to train you," she said simply. "Not just your body. Your wolf. Your instincts. You'll learn to listen to her. To command her."
"I don't think she trusts me."
"She's your other half," Isolde said. "She doesn't need to trust. She needs to be released."
I nodded.
"Training starts at dawn."
---
I spent the night restless.
I walked the halls until I found the window overlooking the eastern cliff — the one where Lucien had faced the messenger.
The moon was full again. Not red. But bright.
I thought about everything.
About Damien. About the rejection. About the child I was carrying. About Lucien.
And then I sat down on the cold stone floor and whispered something I hadn't dared say before.
"I'm not just a mate."
My voice trembled.
"I'm not just a womb."
I touched the mark on my back.
"I'm... something more."
---
Sleep came in pieces.
I woke up gasping — not from pain, but from a vision.
In it, I stood in a field soaked in blood.
My hands were trembling, and I held two newborns in my arms — one silent, the other howling like the wind.
Behind me, wolves howled — but not in celebration.
In grief.
Lucien stood across the field, wounded, half-shifted, his eyes glowing.
And Damien… Damien was laughing.
I woke up screaming.
---
Lucien stormed into the room less than a minute later, shirtless, half-shifted, claws out.
"Celia!" he barked.
"I'm okay—"
"You screamed."
"It was a vision," I said breathlessly. "It felt real."
He crossed the room and grabbed my shoulders gently. "What did you see?"
"Blood," I whispered. "Babies. Mine. Two of them."
His eyes flared.
"Twins," he said under his breath.
"What?"
"Cain suspected it. Said your scent was fluctuating, like two wolves instead of one."
"But I also saw you," I said. "You were bleeding. Damien was laughing. And the wolves were... mourning."
Lucien's jaw clenched.
"It's a prophecy," he said finally. "Not just a vision."
"How do you know?"
He pulled back slowly.
"Because I've seen it too."
---
That morning, I didn't train.
Lucien called a private war council.
Cain. Isolde. Two other high-ranking guards. And me.
"I want her guarded at all times," Lucien said.
"I don't need—" I started.
"You do," he interrupted. "Until your wolf is fully awakened and bonded, you're vulnerable."
Cain nodded. "The Council has doubled their bounty. We caught a spy on the southern ridge yesterday."
"From Damien?" I asked.
"Worse," Isolde said. "From the high packs. They want your child, Celia."
I went cold.
"I'm not giving them anything," I said. "I'm not running again."
Lucien looked at me.
"I wasn't going to ask you to."
---
Later, after the council dispersed, I followed Lucien to the inner sanctum of the keep.
The walls were covered in carvings — old wolf language, etched in silver and gold.
"This is where our ancestors sealed the prophecy," he said. "Only Blood Moon wolves can read the markings."
He turned to me.
"Can you read them?"
I looked up.
And to my shock… the symbols shifted before my eyes.
Not letters. Words. Glowing faintly.
I whispered them aloud.
> "The she-wolf who bleeds under betrayal shall birth twin fire. One to destroy. One to restore. Bound by moon. Chosen by flame."
Lucien's eyes widened.
I looked at him. "What does it mean?"
He exhaled slowly.
"That your children will decide the fate of the entire realm."