Kira's POV
The forest was cold with the scent of iron and ash. I ran until my lungs screamed, until the moonlight above flickered behind the twisting branches. The chant I had woven against the healer and the unborn child still burned in my veins, dark and unfinished. I should have felt triumph. I should have felt something more than this crawling hollowness.
But the spell had broken before it reached its full breath.
I stopped when the shadows thickened around me, forming shapes that were not entirely mine. A voice slithered out from the dark, low and heavy, rippling through the air like smoke.
"You failed."
The air turned cold enough to sting my skin. I bowed my head, biting my tongue to keep my fear from showing. "The child wasn't meant to survive. Something or someone interfered."
"Selene," the voice hissed, speaking her name with a strange reverence and venom. "The witch carries the old blood. The apothecary is bound by sacred roots. You should have known."
"I will try again," I whispered. "Since i know where she lives, and I….."
"Silence."
The shadows twisted into the vague outline of a figure, tall, crowned in faint silver mist. Eyes like burning ink stared through me. "You are no longer free to act without command. The Shadow Court does not reward recklessness. But…" A hand, half-formed of smoke, reached toward me. "We are not done with you, Kira Ronan."
The dark magic in me stirred like a restless serpent. I shuddered as he placed a cold mark upon my arm, a spiral of black light that pulsed once, then vanished beneath my skin. "What… what have you done?"
"Bound you to your purpose," he murmured. "Find the child. If you cannot kill it… bring it to me."
The shadow melted into the forest and I was left alone again, trembling, furious and afraid.
I looked up toward the horizon, where faint light began to leak through the trees. "You think you've won, Selene," I whispered, my voice breaking. "But you've only delivered a child neither of us can control."
The wind carried laughter or maybe it was the echo of my own madness, as I vanished into the woods.
************
Selene's POV
The morning after the storm of screams and pain was too quiet.
Flora slept now, her face pale but peaceful. The baby lay beside her, wrapped in one of the soft linen cloths Elara had dyed with lavender. I sat at the edge of the bed, exhausted, my magic spent but my heart still trembling. The air in the apothecary smelled of herbs, iron, and something faintly divine.
I brushed my fingers against the newborn's cheek.
For a moment, the child's skin glowed, faint silver light spiraling like moonwater across her tiny brow. A mark, shaped like a crescent moon, shimmered there and faded. My breath caught. "The Moon's Mark," I whispered. I had only heard of it in legends told by the High Sisters of the ancient coven, children born under the touch of both life and death, destined to shift the balance between shadow and light.
Elara walked in quietly, holding a steaming bowl of tonic. Her hair was tangled, eyes heavy from the night's vigil. "She's beautiful," she said softly, placing the bowl on the table. "Flora's strength is something else. For a moment I thought we'd lose both."
"So did I," I murmured, still watching the child. "But there's something else… something wrong."
Elara frowned. "You felt it too?"
I nodded. "Dark magic. The kind that doesn't fade easily. It's laced into the air like smoke. Someone tried to harm them, even after the warding circle was sealed."
I closed my eyes, extending my senses outward. The remnants of the dark spell whispered faintly, clinging to the rafters, the vines, the very breath of the house. It wasn't strong enough to linger for long, but its origin was clear. I could almost taste the energy, sharp, bitter, marked by betrayal.
"Kira," I whispered.
Elara looked at her and asked. "What does she want with her?"
"I don't know. Lucian told me what she was and I felt her presence in the forest that night, like a claw scraping across my mind. She's the one who cast this darkness."
I rose from the bedside, walking to the window. The dawn light was gold against the vines that wrapped the apothecary walls. "This child carries both the Moon's blessing and Kira's curse. I can purify the residue… but not remove what's been marked. It will stay dormant until she's older."
Elara moved closer. "What will happen then?"
I looked down at the child again, her tiny chest rising and falling. "That depends," I said softly. "If the Moon's light within her wins… or the Shadow's touch consumes her."
The thought chilled me more than I wanted to admit.
Lucian entered quietly then, his usually steady aura carrying an undercurrent of unease. His eyes softened when he saw Flora and the baby. "She made it?"
I nodded. "Both did."
He exhaled, the relief on his face unguarded. "Good. Am sure caius will be grateful. Flora's been through enough."
He stepped closer, looking down at the child. "Strange… she looks calm. Almost glowing."
"She bears a mark," I told him carefully. "Not one that's dangerous now, but it could be. I'll have to watch her closely for a while."
Lucian's gaze darkened. "Do you think this is connected to what you felt earlier, that dark magic?"
"Yes," I said quietly. "And I think we're dealing with something deeper than just a jealous exiled wolf. There's a force behind Kira. Something ancient."
His jaw tightened. "Then we'll find her before she strikes again."
I looked at him, and for a moment, the air between us stilled, charged and quiet. "Be careful," I said. "She's not the same woman you banished. She's carrying shadows now."
Lucian nodded, but his eyes lingered on me. "Neither are you the same woman I first met, Selene."
His words settled somewhere deep in my chest, heavier than I wanted them to. I turned away before he could see what that did to me.
**************
Lucian's POV
The scent of dawn hung heavy with the sharpness of herbs and smoke. I stood outside the apothecary, letting the cool air steady me. Inside, the soft sound of Elara humming carried faintly through the door a lullaby for the new life that had somehow survived the night.
But I couldn't shake the unease crawling under my skin.
Kira. Her name had returned like a ghost, and with it came memories I'd buried, her laughter, her lies, the moment I'd seen her eyes turn cold when she betrayed the pack. She'd been clever even then. If she was using dark magic now, she was no longer just a rogue, she was something else entirely.
Darius approached from the edge of the forest, his clothes damp with dew. "I've checked the borders," he said quietly. "No sign of anyone strange. But the wards flickered last night, like someone was testing them."
"She might be doing it allow," I said. "And she'll try again."
Darius glanced toward the apothecary. "Selene said the child's marked."
I nodded, jaw tightening. "She believes it's both a blessing and a curse."
He was silent for a moment. "Do you trust her?"
I looked toward the door where Selene's shadow moved faintly through the window. "With my life."
That was the truth, one I hadn't meant to admit, even to myself.
Darius gave a low hum. "Then we need to protect the mother and the child. Whatever Kira's planning, she won't get another chance. We can't take her to the pack."
Before I could answer, the faintest ripple of dark energy brushed past the wind, a residue of something old and angry. I caught it too, the same taste of smoke and ash that had haunted the night before. I knew then that Selene was right. This wasn't over.
When I stepped back inside, Selene was standing by the window again, her fingers tracing the air as if weaving invisible lines. "You feel it too," she said without looking at me.
"Yes," I admitted. "The shadows aren't retreating. They're waiting."
She turned to face me, her expression solemn. "Then the real test hasn't begun yet."
Her eyes glowed faintly under the morning light, soft but unyielding. I found myself staring longer than I should have. In that moment, something settled between us, unspoken yet certain, an understanding that whatever was coming, we would face it together.
The baby stirred then, a small sound escaping her lips and both of us turned toward the bed. The faint silver mark shimmered on her forehead again, but now, around the edges of the crescent, tiny threads of shadow pulsed faintly, as if something beneath her skin was alive and watching.
Selene whispered something in a language older than time, a protective chant that made the air shimmer. The shadows retreated for now, but not completely.
I knew then, this child was no ordinary newborn.
The moon had chosen her.
But the darkness had too.