The hours crawled by with agonizing slowness.
I spent the morning reviewing my evidence against Sera, memorizing every detail. The afternoon was consumed by avoiding well-wishers who wanted to congratulate the "future Luna." Each smile felt like glass in my throat, each congratulation a reminder of the humiliation I'd endured in my past life.
I played my part. Smiled. Nodded. Thanked them graciously.
All while counting down the hours until I could destroy everything Sera and Damien had planned.
By evening, exhaustion crept in, not physical, emotional. The weight of what I was about to do tomorrow pressed down on me. I was going to reject my mate. Expose my sister. Turn the entire pack upside down.
Was I making the right choice?
You already made it, Lyra reminded me gently. The moment you chose to live differently.
"I know. I just..." I stared out my window at the darkening sky. "I need to be sure."
The moon was rising, full and luminous. It called to something deep inside me, that dormant power stirring like a beast waking from sleep.
The sacred ground,Lyra whispered. We should go.
"Now? It's almost curfew."
Exactly. No one will be there. And you need answers, don't you? Real ones. Not from memories or plans, from Her.
She meant the Moon Goddess.
In my past life, I'd visited the sacred ground regularly before everything fell apart. It was a clearing deep in the forest, where the pack's founding wolves had first pledged themselves to the Goddess. A place of power and peace.
I'd stopped going after the rejection. It hurt too much, feeling abandoned by both my mate and my deity.
now...
"You're right," I said, making a decision. "We need guidance."
Sneaking out of the pack house was easier than it should have been. Everyone was either preparing for tomorrow's ceremony or already asleep. I slipped through the kitchen exit, grabbed a dark cloak from the mudroom, and disappeared into the forest.
The woods at night were a different world. Shadows stretched between the trees like living things. Owls hooted. Small creatures rustled in the undergrowth. The air smelled of pine and earth and wild magic.
My wolf senses sharpened, guiding me along familiar paths. Even after everything, my body remembered the way.
It's been too long, Lyra murmured. I forgot how good this feels.
"Freedom," I agreed softly.
The sacred ground appeared suddenly, as it always did. One moment I was walking through dense forest; the next, I stepped into a circular clearing bathed in moonlight.
It was exactly as I remembered. Ancient stones arranged in a circle, each carved with the names of legendary wolves. In the center, a natural spring bubbled up from the earth, its water pure and cold. The grass here grew thick and lush, even in winter.
what struck me most was the power. It thrummed through the ground, vibrated in the air. This was holy ground, blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.
I walked to the center of the circle, my footsteps silent on the soft grass. The moon hung directly overhead, impossibly large and bright.
Kneeling by the spring, I let my cloak fall back and raised my face to the moonlight.
"Moon Goddess," I whispered. "I don't know if you can hear me. I don't know if you remember sending me back, or if that was just a dream. I'm here. And I need... I need to know if I'm doing the right thing."
Silence. Just the gentle burble of the spring and the whisper of wind through leaves.
I closed my eyes, feeling foolish. What did I expect? A booming voice from the heavens? Divine intervention?
Wait, Lyra breathed. Something's happening.
The air changed. The temperature dropped, but not unpleasantly. It felt like stepping into a cool shower on a hot day. The moonlight intensified, pressing against my skin like gentle hands.
And then I heard it. That voice from before the one that had spoken to me as the executioner's blade fell.
"Child of mine, you return to me."
My eyes flew open.
The clearing had transformed. The moonlight was no longer just light. it was tangible, swirling around me in silvery ribbons. The spring water glowed with an inner radiance. And standing on the opposite side of the circle...
She was beautiful and terrible all at once. Tall as a tree, her form shifting between woman and wolf and pure light. Her eyes were ancient beyond comprehension, holding the wisdom of millennia. Her hair floated around her like starlight.
The Moon Goddess herself.
I should have been terrified. Instead, I felt... safe. Protected. Like a child coming home to a loving mother.
"You're real," I whispered.
"As real as the moon above, the earth below, the wolf within." Her voice resonated in my bones. "Did you think I would grant you a second life and then abandon you, daughter?"
"I... I didn't know what to think." I struggled to find words. "Everything happened so fast. The execution, waking up, the power I felt."
"The power that is your birthright." She moved closer, and I realized she wasn't walking so much as gliding. "Tell me, Aria Moonstone. Why did you come here tonight?"
"I need to know if I'm making the right choice," I admitted. "Tomorrow, I'm going to reject my mate. Expose my sister. Change everything. what if I'm wrong? What if I'm letting anger and pain drive me instead of wisdom?"
"what if you are?" Her tone was gentle, not judgmental. "Would that make your choice less valid?"
"I... what?"
"You have been given a gift, child. Not just the gift of time, but the gift of knowledge. You know what awaits you down the path you walked before." She gestured, and images appeared in the air, me, broken and crying after Damien's rejection. Me, falsely accused and imprisoned. Me, dying on the execution platform.
My breath caught. "I don't want to live that life again."
"Then don't."Simple. Direct. "know this: every choice has consequences. If you walk away from Damien Rivers tomorrow, you close a door that can never be reopened. If you expose Sera Moonstone, you will make a powerful enemy. If you reveal your true nature too soon, you will draw attention you may not be ready for."
"So what should I do?"
"That is not for me to decide." She knelt before me, and suddenly we were eye to eye. Up close, her features were more defined, a kind face, ancient but somehow young. "I gave you a second chance, yes. But I cannot tell you how to live it. That choice, that power, is yours alone."
Frustration welled up. "you must have brought me back for a reason!"
"I brought you back because you deserved it. Because you suffered unjustly. Because your story was not meant to end on an executioner's blade." Her hand reached out, hovering just above my heart. "the path you walk from here? That is yours to choose."
I took a shaky breath. "Then why am I here? Why did you call me to this place?"
A smile, warm and knowing. "You called yourself here, child. Seeking answers. Seeking strength." Her hand pressed against my chest, and power flooded through me. "So I will give you what you came for."
White light exploded from her palm. I gasped as energy poured into me,raw, ancient, overwhelming. My vision went white. My body arched. Lyra howled in my mind, triumphant and fierce.
Images flashed through my consciousness:
A white wolf, larger than any normal wolf, eyes glowing with divine light.
Ancient battles, wolves fighting alongside the Moon Goddess herself.
A bloodline stretching back through the centuries, pure and powerful.
My mother, a woman I'd never known, wearing a crown and running through the night with a baby in her arms.
Me. Not as I was, as I could be. Strong. Radiant. Unstoppable.
When the light faded, I was gasping on my hands and knees. Every nerve ending tingled. My wolf was no longer dormant, she was awake, alert, powerful in a way I'd never felt before.
"What... what did you do?" I managed.
"I awakened what was always within you,"the Goddess said. "The White Wolf is not something I gave you, Aria. It is what you are. What you have always been. Your mother's blood runs through your veins, royal, ancient, blessed by me directly."
"My mother?" I looked up at her. "Who was she?"
Sadness flickered across the Goddess's face. "That is a story for another time. For now, know this: you are more than Aria Moonstone of the Silver Crest Pack. You are the last daughter of a bloodline thought extinct. The White Wolf has not walked this earth in twenty years."
"Since my mother."
"Yes." She helped me to my feet, her touch gentle. "And now you carry that legacy. That power. That responsibility."
The weight of her words settled over me. "Is that why Sera wants me dead? Did she know, somehow?"
"Your sister knows only that you stand in her way. others... yes. There are forces that remember the White Wolf. That fear it. That covet it." Her expression turned grave. "This is my warning to you, daughter: the power I have helped you unlock will draw attention. Dark attention. There are those who would use you. Those who would destroy you. Those who would chain you."
"Like the Royal Pack," I said, remembering how they'd tried to force me to marry their chosen Alpha.
"Like many." She stepped back, her form beginning to fade. "So choose wisely when and where you reveal your true nature. Power without wisdom is a blade without a hilt,dangerous to its wielder."
"Wait!" I reached out. "Will I see you again? Can I call on you if I need help?"
"I am always with you, child. In the moon's light. In your wolf's heart. In the strength you carry." Her voice was already distant, echoing. " you must walk your own path. Make your own choices. I cannot do that for you."
"One more question," I said quickly. "Please."
She paused, half-faded, waiting.
"Am I making the right choice? Tomorrow. Rejecting Damien. Is it the right thing to do?"
For a long moment, she was silent. Then: "Damien Rivers made his choice when he valued power over love. When he listened to others instead of his heart. When he allowed injustice to flourish." Her eyes met mine, blazing with intensity. "You deserve a mate who chooses you. Every time. Without hesitation. If that is not him... then yes, daughter. Walk away."
And then she was gone.
The clearing returned to normal. Just moonlight, trees, and the gentle spring. I was changed. I could feel it in every cell of my body.
Lyra was practically vibrating with energy. Aria. Aria, do you feel it?
"Yeah," I breathed. "I do."
The power wasn't just awakened,it was integrated. Part of me now. I could feel my wolf differently, sense the White Wolf blood singing in my veins. If I wanted to, I could shift right now and know I'd be something magnificent.
I wouldn't. Not yet.
"Power without wisdom is a blade without a hilt," the Goddess had said.
I needed to be smart. Strategic. Tomorrow, I would reject Damien and expose Sera without revealing my true nature. Let them think I was still just Aria Moonstone, the girl they'd underestimated.
Let them keep underestimating me.
Right up until the moment I showed them exactly who I really was.
The walk back to the pack house felt different. I moved through the forest with a grace I'd never had before, my senses sharper, my steps lighter. Even in human form, I was faster, stronger.
This is incredible, Lyra marveled. We could take on anyone now.
"Maybe," I agreed. " we won't. Not yet."
Wise.
As the pack house came into view, I saw a figure standing by the back entrance. My heart jumped, had someone noticed I was gone?
as I got closer, I recognized the silhouette.
Damien.
He stood with his back to me, looking up at the moon. Even from here, I could see the tension in his shoulders.
Part of me,the part that still remembered loving him,wanted to go to him. To wrap my arms around him and pretend everything was okay.
the Goddess's words echoed in my mind: "You deserve a mate who chooses you. Every time. Without hesitation."
Damien had chosen. Just not me.
I pulled my cloak tighter and circled around, using the shadows to avoid him. I made it back to my room unseen, my heart pounding not from fear but from anticipation.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow everything would change.
I pulled out the flash drive with Sera's evidence and held it up to the moonlight streaming through my window.
"Thank you," I whispered, not sure if I was talking to the Moon Goddess, my mother, or myself. "Thank you for this chance."
The moon seemed to shine a little brighter.
deep inside, Lyra howled, not in sadness or pain, in triumph.
We were ready.
End of Chapter 3