POV: LUNA SILVER
The shadow steps into the light.
My breath stops.
It is not a wolf.
It is a woman.
She wears a long dark coat.
Her hair is silver like moon frost.
In her teeth she holds a tiny crown of crystal.
She drops it at my feet.
It rings like a bell.
Milo growls low.
I put my arm across his chest.
The woman lifts her hands, palms out.
No claws.
No torch.
No anger.
Her eyes are the same violet as mine.
"Hello, little niece," she says.
Voice soft, like snow falling.
My knees bend.
Aunt Jay never told me I had family left.
I thought Mom was the last.
The woman smiles, but her eyes shine wet.
"I am Mara.
Your mother's sister.
I have waited ten years for you to need this room."
I open my mouth.
No sound comes.
The babies kick, as if they know her.
Mara points at the crystal crib.
"Safe place.
Built for your pups.
Built before you were born."
Milo finds his voice first.
"How did you know she'd come?"
Mara touches the wall.
Old drawings glow—white wolf, two cubs, silver paw.
"Prophecy," she says.
"Not guessing.
Promise."
Footsteps echo back in the tunnel.
Many feet.
Shouts.
Finn's voice cuts through—sharp, afraid.
They caught him.
Mara's face hardens.
"Time short," she says.
She pulls a lever.
The stone door slides, seals us inside.
Sound cuts off.
We are safe, but Finn is out there.
I grab her sleeve.
"We can't leave him."
She cups my cheek.
"We won't.
But first, you must understand the flash."
I blink.
"What flash?"
She lifts my paw-hand.
Sparks jump between her skin and mine—tiny blue stars.
Same sparks as when Finn and I bumped under the slide.
My heart jumps.
Mara nods.
"Your bump with Finn was no accident.
Crystals in the field, in this mine, in you, all linked.
You two are the key.
Vex wants the key broken."
A boom shakes the wall.
Dust drifts from the ceiling.
They are trying to break in.
Mara moves fast.
She opens a metal box.
Inside, two small bands shine—one white, one black.
She snaps the white band around my wrist.
It shrinks to fit.
A cool tingle runs up my arm.
"This hides your scent and your babies' heartbeats for one night," she says.
"Long enough."
She hands the black band to Milo.
"Tracker mask.
They can't smell you either."
Milo straps it on.
His raccoon stripes glow, then fade.
He grins, but his tail still trembles.
Another boom.
A crack snakes across the ceiling.
Mara pushes us toward a back tunnel.
We run.
The floor slopes down.
The air turns warm.
Walls change from stone to smooth crystal.
Light comes from inside them, blue and gold.
We reached a round room.
In the center stands a tall crystal—same shape as the chip in my pocket, but giant.
It hums like bees.
My pocket answers with its own hum.
The chip pulls me forward until my palm slaps the big crystal.
Flash!
White light blinds me.
Pictures fly through my head:
Finn and I are grown wolves, leading the pack.
Twin cubs playing under full moon.
Vex locked outside the mountain, howling alone.
The vision ends.
I fell to my knees.
Mara steadies me.
"You saw?" she asks.
I nod, still dizzy.
Her eyes glow.
"Then you know we must free Finn and stop Vex before the red moon ends."
I found new strength.
I stand.
"Show me the way."
Mara smiles proud.
She touches the big crystal.
A hidden door opens on the floor—spiral stairs leading up.
"Secret path to the Alpha hall.
Built so true mates can always reach each other."
We climbed.
Stairs wind tight.
My legs burn.
Milo pants behind me.
At the top, we meet a wooden trapdoor.
Mara presses her ear to it.
"Guards inside," she whispers.
"Three.
Vex is questioning Finn in the circle room."
My heart cracks.
I picture Finn hurt.
I push past Mara.
She catches my shoulder.
"Use your brain, not your heart."
She hands me a small flask.
"Moon juice.
One drop in each guard's drink, they sleep like logs."
Milo takes it.
"I'm small and sneaky," he says.
He winks, then slips through the crack Mara makes.
I wait, counting heartbeats—one, two… thirty.
Thuds echo.
Milo's voice floats back.
"All clear."
We climbed into the hallway.
Torches flicker.
Guards slump on benches, snoring.
Milo bows like a hero.
We move.
The circle room door stands ahead.
It is cracked open.
Voices spill out—Vex smooth, Finn angry.
I peek inside.
Finn kneels in silver chains that glow.
His lip bleeds.
Vex paces, waving the old law scroll.
"Tell them she tricked you," Vex says.
"Say she used dark crystals, and I let you keep your crown."
Finn spits blood.
"Never.
Luna is my true mate."
Vex backhands him.
Finn's head snaps.
I bite my lip to stay quiet.
Taste iron.
Mara taps my wrist band.
White light spreads over me like fog.
"Makes you half invisible for thirty seconds," she whispers.
"Go."
I push the door.
It creaks.
Vex spins, but sees only empty air.
I slide inside.
Heart in throat.
I reach Finn in three steps.
I place my paw on his chained ones.
He feels me, looks up, eyes wide.
I press a finger to my lips.
He nods tiny.
Vex turns away, shouting at the Elder across the room.
I have seconds.
I pull the crystal chip from my pocket and touch it to the chains.
Blue light races along the links.
They fall apart like wet paper.
Finn is free.
He stands slow, quiet.
We went back toward the door.
Vex finishes yelling.
He spins back.
His eyes narrow.
He smells something.
He steps closer.
Twenty feet.
Ten.
Five.
My band stops glowing.
I appear.
Vex's face turns purple.
"Seize her!" he roars.
Guards outside the door wake, but Milo and Mara are ready.
Mara tosses powder that flashes like firecrackers.
Guards yelp, blinded.
Finn grabs my hand.
We run.
The hallway twists like a snake.
We skid around corners.
Vex thunders behind us, closer, closer.
We burst into the moonlit courtyard.
Pack members stare, confused.
Finn leaps onto the central rock.
"Listen!" he shouts.
His voice carries over the wind.
"Luna is my true mate.
The old law is wrong.
I choose love, not fear."
Murmurs ripple.
Vex storms into the yard, raising the scroll.
"Law is law!
She must go!"
I step beside Finn.
I hold up the crystal chip.
It blazes like a star.
The big crystal far below answers, shooting a beam of light up through the ground.
The beam hits the chip, surrounds us in a circle of blue fire.
Pack backs away, eyes wide.
Inside the light, Finn and I bump paws without thinking.
Flash!
A shockwave knocks everyone off their feet.
When they stand, two images hover in the air—giant ghost wolves: one white, one black with a silver paw.
They howl together.
The sound shakes snow from the roofs.
Vex screams.
His own fur turns gray, then falls out in clumps.
The dark moon juice he drank earlier drains from his eyes like black tears.
He shrinks to a scrawny man, no wolf left.
He crawls away, whimpering.
The light fades.
Finn and I stand paw in paw, breathing hard.
The pack stares, silent, waiting for what comes next.
The Elder steps forward, face unreadable.
He lifts the crown the king will wear.
He looks at Finn, then at me, then at my belly.
He opens his mouth to speak.
A new roar splits the sky—engines, not wolves.
Bright headlights sweep over the courtyard.
Three black trucks crash through the gates.
Humans in white coats jump out holding silver nets and strange guns.
One shouts through a megaphone:
"Stay calm.
We are here for the specimens."
My blood ices.
Humans were never supposed to find our town.
Someone told them.
Someone who knew tonight would be chaos.
I look at the trucks, then at Finn.
His jaw hardens.
We grip each other tighter.
The Elder lowers the crown, eyes wide for the first time in my life.
Humans advance.
Nets glint.
The babies inside me kick so hard I double over.
Finn shields me with his body.
Mara and Milo race in, but guns aim at them too.
A white-coat lady smiles cold.
"Two rare pregnant wolves and a king pup.
Perfect samples."
She lifts her weapon.
Red dots appear on Finn's chest.
Mine.
Milo's.
Mara's.
The trucks' back doors slam open.
Inside, metal cages wait under bright lights.
The nearest cage holds a familiar scrawny man already locked inside—Vex, grinning through the bars, no fur but plenty of hate.
He points at us and nods to the humans.
Deal made.
Betrayal complete.
The white-coat takes one step closer.
Her finger tightens on the trigger.
The red dots are steady.
Finn squeezes my paw.
We have no time to run.
We have no place to hide.
The moon above hides behind thick clouds, as if even she cannot watch.