I woke gasping for air, drenched in sweat, every muscle in my body trembling.
For a second, I didn't know where I was. The ceiling above me was stone, the scent in the air was smoke and pine, and the faint humming of ancient runes still vibrated through the floor.
Then I remembered everything.
The runes. The voice. Floating.
Rhydan.
I sat up too fast. Pain screamed through my body, and the dull throb in my temples returned with a vengeance.
"You're awake."
His voice came from the far side of the chamber.
I turned to find Rhydan sitting in the shadows, shirtless again, a new scar stretching across his collarbone. He looked like he hadn't slept.
Or blinked.
"How long?" I croaked.
"Two days," he said.
My heart sank. "Two?"
"You passed out. Then you started glowing. Then… everything lit up." His voice was low, uncertain. "The symbols, the floor, even the air. It was like magic came alive inside the mountain."
"I didn't mean to—"
"I know." He stood and walked closer. "You're not the only one who's terrified."
Terrified.
Right. That made two of us.
I pulled the blanket tighter around myself and tried to stop shaking.
"What happened to me?" I asked.
He sat on the edge of the bed but kept his distance. "That's what I've been trying to figure out. The elders felt the pulse of your power. Some of them fled. Others came to the door and swore the mountain was speaking in tongues. The pack's on edge."
I stared down at my hands. They looked normal. But I didn't feel normal. I felt… fractured.
"What did I say?" I asked.
He hesitated. "Something about a curse. And a child of two bloods. Does that mean anything to you?"
It didn't.
And yet… it did.
Like a dream slipping through my fingers.
"I heard a voice," I whispered. "Not mine. It said, 'The child of two bloods shall awaken when the Alpha bleeds.' That was when I started burning."
Rhydan's expression tightened. "You think I triggered your awakening?"
"I don't know." My voice broke. "I didn't even know I could awaken."
"Neither did I." His eyes darkened. "That's what terrifies me."
I swallowed hard. "What am I?"
He reached out, but stopped short of touching me. "I think you're something this world hasn't seen in centuries."
A knock echoed through the chamber.
Rhydan stood, muscles tense. "Stay here."
The moment he opened the door, a new voice slipped in — sharp and cold.
"Alpha," the man said, "the Council requests an audience. Now."
Council?
"Tell them no," Rhydan growled.
"They say it's about the girl."
I tensed.
Of course it was.
Rhydan turned his head slightly, just enough to glance at me. Then he stepped into the hall and shut the door behind him.
But I didn't stay put.
Again.
I moved quietly, every step painful, but I couldn't sit in silence while they talked about me behind closed doors. I pressed myself against the stone wall and crept down the corridor until I found another passage. A narrow one — cracked with age, hidden behind a tapestry. The air was colder here, the light dimmer.
I followed the sound of voices.
And I listened.
"She's a danger," an older man snapped. "No human girl should carry that kind of power."
"She's not human," Liora replied, her tone clipped.
"You don't know what she is," another growled. "For all we know, she's a weapon sent to destroy us."
"She saved no one," Garrick's voice joined in — rougher than before, still laced with rage. "She's the reason Rhydan spared me. That kind of hold? That's unnatural."
"She didn't ask for it!" Rhydan snapped. "She didn't even know what she was until two nights ago."
"And that's the problem," the first voice said. "She doesn't know what she is, but she's dangerous enough to wake the mountain. What happens when she learns how to control it?"
Silence.
Then:
"She must be executed before the blood moon rises."
My breath caught.
Executed?
"You'll have to kill me first," Rhydan said quietly.
And the room exploded.
I slipped back into my chamber before anyone noticed I was gone. I lay on the bed, numb, pretending to sleep as footsteps approached.
Rhydan entered a moment later, closing the door with more force than necessary.
"They want me dead," I said without opening my eyes.
He didn't pretend to misunderstand.
"Yes."
"Because I'm something they can't control."
"Because they're afraid."
"Are you?"
He came to the side of the bed and sat down again. "I've faced monsters, Aeryn. Real ones. You're not one of them."
I opened my eyes. "Then what am I?"
He reached into his coat and pulled out something — a pendant. Silver, shaped like a crescent moon, cracked down the middle.
"I found this in the mountain vault," he said. "It's older than the packs themselves. Belonged to the last witch-wolf hybrid."
"Witch-wolf?"
"Half werewolf. Half sorceress." He held the pendant out to me. "They called her the Flame of the End. She burned a kingdom to the ground with a single scream. Then she vanished."
I took the pendant with trembling fingers.
It was warm. Almost… alive.
And when I touched it, memories slammed into me like waves.
A woman with hair like smoke, whispering my name.
A man with golden eyes — not Rhydan, but someone older — holding me as I cried.
And a fire. So much fire.
I gasped and dropped the pendant. "That was—"
"Your memory," Rhydan said gently.
"What does it mean?"
He met my eyes. "It means you're her descendant. Maybe even her rebirth."
My heart stopped. "That's why they want me dead."
"They fear the return of her power."
"But I'm not her."
"No," he said. "You're something new."
That night, I sat by the window, staring at the stars.
I should've been angry. Or terrified. Or numb.
But I wasn't.
I was ready.
Let them come.
Let the Council send assassins.
Let the mountain burn.
Because if I was born of two bloods — born of flame and lies — then I wasn't just The Alpha's Human Bride.
I was a storm cloaked in skin.
And no one had any idea what was coming.
Not even me.