"I expected something evil," I said.
Evil? I am merely a tool. It is the hand that wields me that brings evil—or good.
"Liar. You corrupt everyone who touches you."
Do I? Or do I simply reveal what was already hidden in their hearts? The crystal pulsed. Come. Touch me. Let me show you what you could become.
Images flooded my mind.
Me, standing before the Council of Alphas. The Moon's Tear in my hand. Every wolf bows before me. Leighton on his knees, begging for mercy.
Erica, safe and happy. Growing strong under my protection. Never threatened again.
Kael beside me. Not just my mate, but my equal. My king.
All packs united under one rule. Mine. Peace through absolute power.
It was everything I wanted. Everything I needed.
All I had to do was take it.
I reached out. My fingers inches from the crystal.
Yes. Take me. Use me. Become what you were meant to be.
My hand trembled. The crystal was so close. So tempting.
But something held me back.
A memory. My mother's voice, from her journal.
The greatest power is knowing when not to take it.
I pulled my hand back.
"No."
No? The voice sounded surprised.
"You're not offering power. You're offering slavery." I stepped away from the pedestal. "Every wolf who's touched you became a slave to your will. That's not strength. That's weakness."
Foolish girl. You could rule all wolves!
"I would rather not rule. I want to protect. There's a difference."
Then you are truly your mother's daughter. The voice turned cold. And you will die like she did. Powerless. Forgotten.
"My mother died protecting what she loved. That's not powerless. That's the strongest thing anyone can do."
I reached for my rune magic. Not to take the crystal. To destroy it.
Wait! The voice was panicked now. You cannot destroy me! I am eternal! I am—
"You're a relic of the past. And the past needs to die."
I slammed my palm against the pedestal. Silver light erupted, pouring into the white stone.
The Moon's Tear screamed.
The sound was inhuman. Horrible. It felt like knives in my skull.
The crystal began to crack. Blue light leaked from the fractures, burning like acid.
You will regret this! The Cult will hunt you! They will—
"Let them come." I pushed more magic into the pedestal. "I'm done running."
The Moon's Tear shattered.
The explosion threw me backward. I hit the far wall hard enough to knock the air from my lungs.
When I opened my eyes, the chamber was dark again. The only light was the faint silver glow of my rune magic.
The pedestal was empty. The Moon's Tear was gone. Destroyed. Not even dust remained.
It was over.
I'd done it.
I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't work. That last magical push had drained everything I had left. I could barely move.
Through the bond, I felt Kael's surge of relief. He'd felt the Tear's destruction. Knew I'd succeeded.
But I also felt his renewed urgency. The fighting wasn't over.
I had to get back to them.
I crawled toward the corridor. Every movement was agony. My magic was completely depleted. My body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
Behind me, I heard a sound. A crack in the wall. Then another.
I looked back.
The chamber was collapsing. Without the Moon's Tear to anchor it, the ancient magic was falling apart.
"No, no, no—"
I forced myself to stand. To run.
The corridor was collapsing too. Chunks of ceiling crashed down. The walls buckled inward.
I ran faster than I thought possible. Jumped over falling debris. Ducked under crumbling archways.
The sealed door was ahead. Still closed.
"KAEL!" I screamed. "OPEN THE DOOR!"
Nothing. He couldn't hear me over the sounds of battle and destruction.
I gathered the last tiny bit of magic I had left and fired it at the door. A thin beam of silver light.
It struck the blood seal. The magic flickered. Weakened.
"KAEL!"
The door exploded inward.
Kael stood on the other side. "Sophia!"
I dove through just as the corridor collapsed completely behind me.
We started strong. I ended up on top of him, both of us gasping.
"You're alive," he breathed.
"So are you."
We scrambled to our feet. The corridor we were in now was chaos. Dead bodies everywhere—cult warriors, mostly. Marcus leaned against a wall, covered in blood but standing.
"Did you get it?" he asked.
"Destroyed it." I swayed, dizzy. "It's gone."
"Then we need to leave," Marcus said. "Now. This whole place is coming down."
He was right. The walls were shaking. Cracks spread across the ceiling. The ancient temple was dying.
"Where's Seraphine?" I asked.
"Ran when the Tear was destroyed," Kael said. "Vanished like smoke."
"And the other Cult warriors?"
"Fled. They're in disarray without the Tear's power." He grabbed my arm. "Come on. We need to move."
We ran. The temple was a nightmare of collapsing corridors and falling stone. We took turns at random, just trying to find a way out.
Behind us, entire sections of the temple crashed down. Ancient magic unraveling, releasing energy in devastating bursts.
"There!" Marcus pointed ahead. "Daylight!"
An exit. A hole in the wall where something had collapsed. Beyond it, I could see the mountain slope.
We sprinted for it. Jumped through—
—and nearly fell off a cliff.
Kael grabbed me, pulling me back from the edge. We teetered for a moment, then found solid footing.
We were on the side of the mountain. Below us, a steep slope led down to the forest. Behind us, the temple was collapsing in on itself with a deafening roar.
"We need to climb down," Kael said. "Now."
We started descending. The slope was treacherous—loose rocks and no clear path. Several times I slipped, caught only by Kael's quick reflexes.
Above us, the temple finally collapsed completely. A massive cloud of dust and debris exploded outward.
"Run!" Marcus shouted.
We ran and slid down the mountain slope as fast as we dared. The dust cloud chased us, threatening to engulf us.
Finally, we hit the tree line. The forest provided cover from the worst of the debris.
We kept going. Didn't stop until we were miles away, deep in the forest, and the sounds of destruction had faded.
Only then did we collapse.
I lay on my back, staring up at the canopy. My whole body hurt. My magic was gone. I'd never been so exhausted in my life.
But we'd done it. The Moon's Tear was destroyed. The cult's plan was ruined.
"Is everyone okay?" Kael asked.
"Define okay," Marcus groaned.
I laughed. Couldn't help it. We'd just survived the impossible.
"We did it," I said. "We actually did it."
"You did it," Kael corrected. He rolled over to look at me. "You destroyed the Tear. Alone. In the dark. While we were fighting for our lives."
"Team effort," I insisted.
"Still. You were incredible." His hand found mine. "I'm so proud of you."
Through the bond, I felt his emotions. Pride, yes. But also relief. Love. And something that felt like awe.
"Can we just... lie here for a while?" I asked. "Not move. Not think. Just... exist."
"Best idea I've heard all day," Marcus said.
We lay there in the forest. Battered. Bloody. Victorious.
The Moon's Tear was destroyed. The cult's greatest weapon was gone.
But this wasn't over. I knew that. Seraphine had escaped. The Cult still existed. Leighton was still out there.
There would be more battles. More challenges.
However right now, in this moment, we could rest.
And that was enough.
We didn't get much rest.
Ten minutes. Maybe fifteen. Then Marcus sat up, wincing.
"We need to keep moving. Leighton's warriors are still out here somewhere."
He was right. Just because the temple collapsed didn't mean our enemies had given up.
I forced myself to stand. Every muscle screamed in protest. My magic was still depleted, a hollow ache in my chest where the power usually lived.
"Can you fight?" Kael asked me quietly.
"I don't know. I've never been this drained before."
"Then we avoid fighting." He helped me to my feet. "We move fast and quiet. Get as far from here as possible before—"
A howl cut through the forest. Close. Too close.
"Too late," Marcus muttered, drawing his sword.
More howls answered the first. Coming from multiple directions. They were surrounding us.
"How many?" I asked.
Kael's nostrils flared. "At least a dozen. Maybe more. Mixed scents—both Cult and Silver Moon."
"They're working together?" That made no sense. They'd been enemies an hour ago.
"Common enemy," Marcus said grimly. "Us."
The first wolf burst from the trees. Silver Moon colors. Derek. The warrior we'd interrogated days ago.
His face was twisted with rage. "You destroyed the temple! Killed dozens of our people!"
"Your people were trying to kill us," I shot back.
"You're a traitor! To your pack, to your mate, to everything!" He shifted mid-leap, his body exploding into wolf form.
Kael met him head-on. Their collision shook the ground. They fought with brutal intensity—all claws and fangs and fury.
More wolves appeared. Cult warriors in their corrupted forms. Silver Moon soldiers who'd once taken orders from me.
All of them wanted us dead.
Marcus moved to intercept three Cult warriors. His sword flashed, keeping them at bay. But he was tired. Injured. Slowing down.
Two more wolves charged at me. I had no weapon. No magic. Nothing but my bare hands.
The first wolf lunged. I dodged, barely. His jaws snapped shut inches from my throat.
The second one hit me from the side. We went down hard. His weight pinned me. Claws raked my shoulder.
Pain exploded. Blood soaked my shirt.
No. Not like this. I won't die like this.
Deep inside, where my magic should be, something stirred.
Not rune magic. Something else. Something older.
My Silvermane bloodline.
I'd been relying on stolen power for so long, I'd forgotten my own.
The bloodline power erupted. Not silver light, but pure white. Blinding. Hot as the sun.
The wolf on top of me screamed. His corrupted form couldn't handle pure bloodline magic. His body began to burn from the inside out.
I shoved him off. He hit the ground, thrashing. Within seconds, he was ash.
The other wolves backed away, frightened by what they'd just seen.
I stood. My eyes were glowing—I could see the white light reflected in their terrified faces.
"Anyone else?" My voice didn't sound like mine. It sounded ancient. Powerful. Like all my ancestors speaking through me.
They hesitated. Then attacked as one.
Big mistake.
I moved without thinking. My body knew what to do, guided by centuries of Silvermane warriors who'd come before.
I caught the first wolf by the throat and channeled pure bloodline power through my grip. He dissolved to ash.
The second one I hit with a blast of white light. Gone.
The third tried to run. I was faster. My hand touched his back, and—
Ash.
Within thirty seconds, five wolves were dead. The rest fled into the forest.
I stood there, breathing hard. The white light faded, leaving me dizzy and shaking.
"Sophia!" Kael was beside me, eyes wide. "What was that?"
"I... I don't know. My bloodline. It just... activated."
"That wasn't normal bloodline power. That was..." He looked awed. "That was the power of the original Silvermanes. Before the split. Before—"
A slow clap interrupted him.
We spun around.
Leighton stepped out of the trees. He was in human form, wearing black combat gear. His face was cold.
"Well done, Sophia. You've finally tapped into your true potential." He smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "Took you long enough."
"Leighton." My voice shook with rage. "This ends now."
"Does it? You're exhausted. Your magic is gone. That little display probably took the last of your strength." He started walking toward us. "Meanwhile, I'm fresh. Rested. And very angry."
"You're outnumbered," Kael said, moving to stand beside me.
"Am I?" Leighton whistled.
More wolves emerged from the forest. At least twenty. All Silver Moon. All loyal to him.
We were surrounded again.
And this time, I had nothing left.