Nova and Elle met in the hallway and quickly moved down to the courtyard.
"You going to tell me why we're wearing these?" Nova asked
"We're not going to where we went last time." Elle answered.
"Where are we going?" Nova asked.
"It's going to be a run." Elle said.
"Can you not tell me before?"
"No I can't. I'm sorry." Elle said with her head down.
Nova told Fin where they were going, should she mindlink him? She was on the fence. Why did she feel anxious about mindlinking him?
"Okay." Nova whispered.
Fin felt the shift the moment it brushed through the bond—her hesitation, her uncertainty, and something sharper underneath it.
Anxiety.
Directed at him.
Fin: Nova… what's wrong?
Nova blinked, startled by how in tune he was even when he wasn't in the same room.
Nova: We're not going to the wall like I thought. But Elle can't tell me where we're going.
Fin: Did she say anything?
Nova: Just that it's going to be a run. I'm sure it'll be fine.
A pause. His silence felt heavy.
Fin: I don't like this.
Nova: I'll be back before you wake up.
Elle led her into the woods.
Nova shifted first, her white form gleaming under the moonlight.
Elle followed, her red wolf erupting beside her.
They took off—fast, synchronized, streaks of white and crimson slicing through the forest.
What Nova didn't know was that Fin, Jax, and Cael were already shadowing them, moving silently as ghosts between the trees.
Red and white were the rarest colors for wolves—rare enough that even an Alpha, a Beta, and a Gamma paused for a heartbeat at the sight of the two of them running. It looked like a myth come alive.
After nearly an hour of running, Nova's nerves tightened.
This was farther than she had ever gone with Fin when they checked on Jax.
Her paws slowed, unease creeping up her spine.
And Fin felt it.
Sharp. Immediate.
Like someone had plucked a string inside his chest.
Nova: Elle can you tell me anything? I haven't been this far before.
Elle: Almost there.
Nova: Have you been here by yourself or is it part of those disturbing dreams?
Then they both suddenly stopped on instinct. Nova saw something glow on the tree.
Elle: Do you recognize that too?
Nova: Yes. I don't remember why.
They both listened—still as stones—just as Draven had drilled into them.
Elle: We're clear.
Ironically, they were not clear.
Not even close.
All three massive wolves trailing them—Fin, Jax, and Cael—had the exact same thought at the exact same moment:
They should have heard us. They should have sensed us.
They are too deep in the woods to be this unaware.
They should not be out here alone.
But neither Nova nor Elle picked up a thing.
That alone made unease ripple through the men shadowing them.
Nova listened a moment longer, the white wolf's posture tense, then shifted fully to human form and stepped toward the tree.
She reached her hand towards it and when she made contact, ancient ruins lit the tree and the trees around it. Her eyes began to glow.
Elle was still in wolf form, on guard. Which was adorable considering neither sensed three overprotective wolves nearby.
Elle: Do you remember what to do next?
Nova felt a burning sensation inside of her like she was trying to remember something but couldn't.
Nova: Did you stop at this one or a different one?
Elle: You're remembering. There's more than one. Yes.
Nova: I feel like I'm missing something but if I saw it I'd know what to do.
Elle: Follow me.
Nova shifted back into her wolf in a bright flash of silver light. They stopped near a large cave opening with a stream in front of it.
Nova: We've been here before… haven't we Elle? This exact same thing.
Elle: Yes.
Nova: We need to enter the cave. I know that. But it's not that simple.
Elle: No, it's not.
They shifted back to human at the same moment—neither taking guard, neither checking the perimeter.
And their mates, still shadowing them unseen, all thought the same thing:
They don't know what they're doing. And they should not be alone out here.
To be fair, the girls knew they didn't know what they were doing.
Nova stepped toward the water, her gaze locking onto a stone half-submerged in the stream. A marking glimmered across its surface—faint, ancient.
Nova's eyes began to glow, trance-like, as she reached for it. The moment her fingertips brushed the stone the entire stream erupted in white light.
She looked back at Elle, stunned, then lifted the stone free of the water.
Elle stepped into the stream, and it pulsed again—bright, pure white.
Both girls turned to each other… and burst out laughing.
They looked ridiculous.
Glowing water. Glowing eyes. Zero plan.
Ancestors help them.
The stream pulsed a third time, even brighter.
"Elle, you are definitely not just a shifter," Nova said, still laughing. "I think I knew that… but now I know for sure."
"Stay there," she ordered gently.
"STOP!" Elle shouted, panic cutting through her voice like a blade. "Nova, I remember—something bad is going to happen. Don't move."
Nova's smile vanished.
Her magic flared instantly—instinctively—her eyes blazing as she cast a shield around both of them, protective energy shimmering like a dome.
The forest fell silent.
Nothing happened.
Nova exhaled slowly. "Elle… I think I have to step forward to activate it. Last time we—"
"Let's throw a rock," Elle said immediately.
Nova stared as Elle grabbed a large, absurdly heavy rock, like she was about to wage war on physics.
Nova blinked. "How exactly are we going to throw that where we both know it needs to go?"
She cracked up halfway through the sentence.
"Good point." Elle said, dropping it. It was heavy.
Nova made a ball of silver light between her palms and launched it at the spot where the last trigger should have been.
Nothing. Not even a polite spark.
Nova sighed dramatically. "Next time we go on one of these… if the crazy lady says our mates are off limits, let's just bring Ash. He could throw that rock."
"Milo is bigger than him now." Elle said.
"Milo is also a lot dumber." Nova added dryly. Both of them busted out laughing.
"I miss them." Elle sighed.
"Me too." Nova agreed.
Nova picked up a small rock and approached the cave entrance, stopping about fifty feet from the mouth.
She tossed it toward the opening.
It happened instantly.
Arrows—glowing, spectral, laced with thick black magic—erupted out of thin air.
Hundreds of them, shooting diagonally downward in a lethal pattern that covered the entire cave front like a glowing death trap.
Without thinking, Nova and Elle dove backwards into the river, their bodies moving on instinct—almost rehearsed instinct. It was as if they innately understood that was base.
Not a single arrow touched the water.
Cael, Jax, and Fin were stunned for a fraction of a second. None of them had expected that.
They lunged forward—three wolves erupting into motion—only to skid to a halt just before breaking cover.
Because Nova and Elle…were calm. Too calm. Like they'd anticipated every arrow.
The three males sank low into the brush, muscles tightening beneath their fur.
Tails stilled.
Ears pinned forward in sharp disbelief.
They crouched behind the bushes, wolves to the bone now, stalking with lethal patience.
Fin's rumble vibrated through the ground. Jax's paws shifted restlessly, soil scraping beneath his claws. Cael's nostrils flared, scenting the magic, trying to piece together how the hell the girls had reacted so fluently.
Jax: What the hell?
Cael: Why are they so damn calm? They're acting like they've done this before.
Fin: This is not something they should be handling alone. It shouldn't have been kept from us.
"Do you want to try another?" Nova asked.
"Yes. I think I know where the next one is," Elle said.
They shifted mid-run, bodies blurring from light to fur and back again as they climbed the steep hill with practiced speed.
At the top lay a massive ruin, stones arranged in a deliberate pattern across the ground.
Nova stepped onto it and silver light burst outward. Elle stepped beside her and the pulse echoed the river's glow.
"What are we missing?" Nova murmured to herself, pacing the edge of the symbol.
"Can you tell me anything else?" Nova asked.
"I only have fragments."
"Wait… let's go back to the other one. I remember." A fire stirred in Nova's chest—something ancient pushing upward, a memory trying to surface.
They sprinted back down the hill in human form, boots pounding the forest floor.
Jax, Cael, and Fin watched confused.
Jax: Are they trying to remember something?
Fin: I'm feeling something from Nova right now. Like a pull. Heat.
Cael: Same from Elle. It's been happening more and more lately.
Both stood in the stream on instinct. It was base and safe. The stream flashed.
A silver sphere of magic formed in Nova's hand. She hurled it toward the cave, guiding it through the air so it never touched the ground. It struck the ivy along the wall. Ancient writing ignited across the stone, glowing like it had been waiting centuries to be woken.
Her eyes lit up and she started reading in an different language, not realizing what she was doing.
The cave mouth rippled and reshaped into a portal—clear as glass—showing a room on the other side.
The girls stared, breath catching.
"Stay behind me." Nova said as they walked forward. She put a shield over Elle and one over herself.
"Wait…" Elle said. Nova froze.
"We need to back up the hill and get that one to activate this one," Elle said.
"I had the same thought about the tree before the hill," Nova replied.
"Tree, hill, cave," Elle summarized. "Got it. Terrible scavenger hunt, but fine."
They shifted and sprinted back toward the tree ruins. They both shift back running to the tree ruins.
Elle: There was never any rogues and we weren't attacked.
Nova: Are we meeting someone? That's what I thought we were doing.
Elle: Me too. I'm so fucking confused.
Nova slowed, stepping forward as the markings on the surrounding trees flickered faintly.
"Cael would know what to do. Or at least make this funny," Elle muttered, frustrated.
Then it hit them. A surge of heat in their cores—identical, rising, ancient. They turned toward each other with the same startled recognition.
Nova's eyes ignited silver. She walked to a carved stone knob embedded in the tree's base, touched it, and pushed it forward.
Three rotations right.
One left.
Her movements were smooth, certain—memory guiding her hands before thought could.
Elle spotted a second knob on another tree. She walked over, pushed it inward, and rotated it four times to the right.
The ground between the trees answered.
Ancient text ignited in blinding silver light, a path revealing itself beneath their feet.
Nova didn't hesitate. She cast a shield around Elle—instinctive, protective, fierce—and then her eyes went fully bright as she began to read.
A language she had never learned. In a voice that wasn't hers. With cadence and precision that belonged to someone long gone.
The air itself leaned in to listen.
The center ruin pulsed with quiet power, and from its heart, a pedestal spiraled upward—twisting from the stone like it had been waiting through centuries for this moment. Resting atop it was a bow so magnificent it looked forged by the gods themselves.
Gold, pure and gleaming, made up the body of the bow—its surface catching every flicker of light like liquid fire, as though the sun itself had been forged into weaponry.
Etched into it was a white wolf, glowing like moonlight. The wolf looked ready to leap from the bow, frozen in motion, regal and breathtaking.
The bow thrummed with power. It let out 3 vibrations, the first knocking Elle back. Nova was unaffected. Her hair and eyes glowed.
This was an ancient legacy. Something sacred. Something destined.
Set beside it, a finely made bow sling, a regal gold strap. It waited like a throne's ceremonial sash, designed not just to carry the weapon but to honor it.
Nova stepped closer again, still unaware she was glowing. She felt her core heat up like a memory as trying to surface.
The bow called to her—not with words, but with memory. As if it had always belonged to her in many lives before this one. As if it had once rested in the hands of kings and gods, and now, had chosen her.
Power rippled beneath her skin just standing in its presence. It pulsed again, knocking down Fin, Cael, and Jax who were all still in wolf form. Nova was still unaffected.
Jax lifted his head just in time to see Nova reach toward the bow and then a blinding flash exploded outward. He bolted forward, Fin right beside him, both wolves lunging with raw instinct. But they froze mid-stride.
A silent scene unfurled across the ground between the trees, projected as though the forest floor had become a massive, living mirror. It was silent—eerily so—yet life-size, vivid, and impossibly real.
Figures appeared in full scale, transparent but unmistakable.
Elle and Nova stood frozen in the center of the vision, recognition slamming into both of them.
They had dreamed this.
Over and over.
And had never been able to remember it until now.
The vision shifted.
Fin, Nova, and Jax appeared life size in the ruins. They were running through what appeared to be a jungle. Nova stopped and turned with the gold bow. Jax and Fin kept running, not noticing she had stopped. She turned, took a breath, and shot something—what she hit wasn't shown. Fin and Jax spun with a look of horror, both shifting into wolf form as they rushed toward Nova.
The scene changed again.
Nova was dead, in a pool of blood. Jax was crying, holding her lifeless body as he tried to revive her with magic. Cael walked toward something. Elle tried to stop him. He pushed her, sending her flying across the room. He reached toward a dark dagger. Jax stood up, trying to stop him, but it was too late. Cael's eyes turned jet-black. He fell as his body convulsed, foam spilling from his mouth. Elle screamed, trying to save him as she held his shaking form. Jax tried to use his magic, but nothing happened.
Jax, Fin, and Cael all were stunned. Another silent scene played.
A battle had just ended. Smoke drifted through the ruins, falling ash coating everything. Nova knelt beside Fin's lifeless body. Her expression shifted—fury overtaking sorrow—as her eyes glowed silver and she rose. Beside Fin lay a massive golden sword, far too large for her frame. She held it in both hands. Ashbane summoned a blast of dark power. She shielded herself with gold magic and swung the glowing blade in a blinding arc, cutting deep into his throat just as his glowing black sword broke her shield. His black magic hit her and she collapsed beside Fin. Ashbane fell next. All three dead.
The vision shifted again—eerie, still, and silent, as if sound itself had been swallowed by an ancient force.
Marra stood across a stone corridor, her eyes pure black—no whites, no pupils, only endless void. Her body was deathly still until she suddenly moved, inhumanly fast, darting toward Jax with a blade glinting in her hand, the motion so unnatural it barely registered as movement. Nova screamed—soundless—and threw out her hand, summoning a burst of silver magic that streaked toward Marra, but it was already too late.
Jax turned only halfway, eyes wide in recognition—then pain—as Marra drove the dagger into his chest with terrifying precision. His body jerked and began to crumple.
Nova ran at alpha speed trying to reach him, but Marra had already pivoted. Her black eyes locked onto Nova with chilling calm. In a blur she lunged again and plunged the dagger into Nova's side. Everything slowed. Blood sprayed across the stone. Nova's hands trembled as she reached toward Jax, who was falling. Marra's face showed no emotion—only silence, as if she weren't truly there at all.
The vision shifted violently.
Nova now sat at the head of a high council table, flanked by alphas from every region. Her posture was composed with a golden crown glinting atop her head. Without warning, a towering alpha launched across the chamber toward her, teeth bared, claws elongated, black magic leaking from his pores like smoke from a burning corpse.
Chaos detonated through the room. Silent screams erupted. Blades clashed. Blood sprayed. Alphas were stabbed left and right, one of the first being Balen Bloodmoon whose look of shock was cut short as a second blade drove through his back.
Many shifted mid-lunge, fur bristling, eyes glowing with fear or fury—some defending, most dying. Throats were ripped open.
Nova didn't move as the darkened alpha barreled forward, his fangs inches from her throat. At that instant Jax crashed through the tent opening, glowing sword raised in both hands. He drove the blade straight through the attacker's chest. The alpha's body ignited from within, black magic turning to ash as it incinerated him from the inside out.
Nova rose as silence fell—her eyes glowing gold. She lifted her hands, sending waves of light across the wounded alphas. Their wounds stitched shut within seconds.
Jax lifted one hand, his eyes sapphire, and the surviving attackers dropped their weapons, screaming in agony as their hands blistered and burned from touching blades that were melting. In the same breath, Shadowclaw senior officers stormed the room—faces grim, swords drawn—and in swift, brutal strokes slit the throats of every remaining traitor. Blood painted the walls. No mercy
Jax mindlinked the moment he saw the real Nova's face—her hand flying to her mouth as she looked away, terror ripping through her expression.
Jax: Holy shit.
Fin's wolf surged forward a step before he forced himself still.
Fin: Is that supposed to be this week!?
Cael's ears flattened, his wolf bristling.
Cael: Nova can't even watch the scene play out. Let alone in real life. That is insane.
Nova felt a wave of nausea come over her after that scene. All too familiar. She needed to move out of this circle. Her insides felt like knives were cutting through. Similar to the pain she had earlier during her ceremony. She hunched over holding her ribs.
Elle noticed and grabbed her arm, yanking her out of the circle.
"Thanks." Nova said panting, hands on her knees.
Elle's face was white.
"Did they say Fin couldn't be here for all of these?" Nova asked, her voice strained between shallow breaths. Her head throbbed.
"Only Cael was named specifically," Elle replied. "They were clear that your mate couldn't be present, when you were still with Jax actually. The night before Bloodmoon arrived. But when I dreamed last night, they said no mates for both of us."
Nova felt the nausea hit like a punch. She turned away from Elle just in time before she threw up—
blood.
Dark red splattered the forest floor.
Elle's eyes widened. "Blood again?"
Nova nodded, straightening up. Her insides felt like they were on fire, burning from the inside out. She pressed a hand to her abdomen, trying to breathe past the rising pain.
"Come with me." Elle said, pulling Nova into the river. It lit up immediately when Nova entered. She fell onto her hands. It was cold out but Nova felt immediately better
"That bow is mine. Or it used to be." Nova said looking back at it wishing she could get it. But unsure if she had it in her.
"Can you shift?"
Nova shook her head. "Not yet. I need a moment. Did we get anything useful out of that? At least now we know what Cael isn't allowed to touch."
"Yeah," Elle said, biting her lip, "but we're supposed to do the other two tonight."
Nova coughed, wincing. "We're not getting back before sunrise, are we?"
Elle rubbed the side of her neck. "I have a feeling the next one is the worst of them. They said this was your burden to bear alone."
Nova took a deep breath. "It's okay Elle. I understand."
Elle exhaled. "But they never said I couldn't go. And I have a horrible feeling about the second one. I'm not letting you walk into that by yourself."
Nova nodded slowly. "Let's decide when we open it. Maybe it'll trigger something for you or me."
Elle swallowed hard and looked at Nova.
"No, I'm going with my gut here Nova. I'm coming with you." She said more firmly.
Nova pushed herself to her feet, steadying her breath.Elle watched her, eyes wide. "What was all of that? Why were you at a meeting with every pack Alpha in Varos? And what happened to Marra?"
"That was what our meeting was about today," Nova said, rubbing her temple. "But I don't understand why the whispers said no mates were allowed when you've been having these dreams. Maybe it was to keep Cael, Jax, and Fin away from this entirely?" She let out a frustrated breath. "Why is none of this straightforward?"
"What do you mean?" Elle asked.
"Cael already knows he'll die in thirty days if I don't retrieve a prophecy after black rain," Nova said quietly. "But that was part of the meeting today. I don't understand why you weren't included if your dreams tie into all of this."
Elle touched her arm lightly. "Let's make it to the hill, and you can tell me the rest tomorrow."
"Yes—and you'll be in those meetings from now on," Nova said firmly.
Elle nodded. "Shift now? I'm sorry, Nova."
"It isn't your fault, Elle. I've got this." Nova's voice sounded far more confident than she felt. She already dreaded what this shift was going to feel like. She knew the pain was coming.
Seraphine seemed to be thinking the same thing and spoke in Nova's mind.
Let me take over
Nova gladly let Seraphine do the shift. She didn't have it in her.