Sera's POV
"My mother's sister?" I stare at the woman in disbelief. "That's impossible. My mother was an only child."
Luna Silvermoon smiles sadly. "That's what everyone believed. What your father wanted everyone to believe." She waves her hand, and the unconscious hunter floats into the air, wrapped in silver light. "But your mother and I were twins. Born under a blood moon. Blessed by the Moon Goddess herself."
The silver light around my hands flickers and fades. I feel dizzy, overwhelmed. Too much is happening too fast.
"Sera." Rowan moves to my side, his hand gentle on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"No," I admit. My voice shakes. "I'm not okay. Nothing about this is okay."
Luna steps closer, her movements graceful and otherworldly. "I know this is a lot to process. But we don't have time for slow explanations. The Silver Chain Hunters are hunting you because they know what you are. What you're destined to become."
"Which is what?" I demand. "Everyone keeps saying I'm special, that I have powers, but nobody will tell me the truth!"
"You're a moon witch." Luna's voice softens. "One of the last pure-bloods in existence. Your mother was the most powerful witch of our generation, and she passed that power to you. But when your parents were murdered, someone locked your magic away to hide you."
My knees weaken. Rowan catches me before I can fall.
"Someone locked my magic?" I whisper. "Who?"
"I don't know." Luna's face darkens with anger. "But whoever did it was powerful. Powerful enough to bind both your wolf and your witch magic. It should have been impossible, but they did it anyway."
That's why I've been silent for so long, Luna says in my mind. My spirit was trapped along with your magic. The only reason I'm free now is because you died. Death broke part of the spell.
"But I came back," I say out loud. "So why hasn't the rest of the spell broken?"
"Because time travel magic is complicated." Luna Silvermoon waves her hand again, and the hunter disappears in a flash of light. "You didn't just die and resurrect. You traveled backward through time itself. The spell is confused, trying to figure out if you're dead or alive. That confusion created cracks. Your power is leaking through."
She gestures at my hands, which are starting to glow silver again.
"You're awakening, Sera. Faster than anyone expected. And when you reach your full power, you'll be the strongest moon witch in five hundred years." Luna's eyes gleam with something between pride and worry. "That's why the Silver Chain wants you dead. They're terrified of what you might become."
Rowan's arm tightens around my waist. "How do we protect her? How do we stop the hunters?"
"You can't stop them." Luna shakes her head. "The Silver Chain has been hunting supernatural beings for centuries. They're well-funded, well-trained, and completely fanatical. The only way to survive is to make Sera strong enough to defend herself."
"How long will that take?" I ask.
"Years, normally." Luna studies me carefully. "But you don't have years. You have days, maybe weeks, before they mount a full-scale attack. Which means we need to speed up your training. Dangerously fast."
"Dangerous how?" Rowan growls.
"Forcing magic to awaken before it's ready can burn out the user's mind." Luna's voice is grim. "Or kill them. But if we don't try, the hunters will definitely kill her. So we take the risk."
I pull away from Rowan and stand on my own, even though my legs still feel shaky. "When do we start?"
Luna smiles. "Brave girl. Just like your mother. We start tomorrow at dawn. Tonight, you need rest. Your body is still adjusting to being alive again."
She turns to leave, then pauses. "Oh, and Sera? Don't trust anyone who was close to your parents. Whoever locked your magic away knew your family well. They were someone your parents trusted. Someone who betrayed them."
With that ominous warning, she vanishes in a swirl of silver light.
The balcony goes quiet. Only the distant noise from the ballroom breaks the silence.
I turn to face Rowan. "Did you know? About my mother being a moon witch?"
"I suspected." Rowan runs a hand through his dark hair. "Your mother always smelled different from other wolves. Like moonlight and magic. But she hid it well. I never knew for certain until tonight."
"Why didn't you tell me you suspected?"
"Because I thought I was wrong." Rowan meets my gaze. "And because I didn't want to put ideas in your head before I had proof. You were already dealing with enough—your parents' deaths, your locked wolf, the pressure from your pack."
He's right. If someone had told me years ago that I was a moon witch, I would have thought they were crazy.
"Rowan," I start, then stop. There are so many questions spinning in my head. "How much do you really know? About me, about my death, about all of this?"
Rowan takes both my hands. His touch is warm and steady, grounding me when everything else feels like chaos.
"I know you died six months from now in your original timeline," he says quietly. "I know because I felt it through our mate bond. It was like someone ripped my heart out of my chest. I couldn't breathe for three days."
Tears prick my eyes. "The mate bond. Luna—my wolf—told me we're mates. But I don't understand how. We were just children when you left."
"We were teenagers," Rowan corrects gently. "You were fifteen. I was seventeen. Old enough for the mate bond to form, even if we didn't recognize it yet."
"But you left." The old hurt bleeds into my voice. "You just disappeared one night. No goodbye. No explanation. I thought you were dead for years."
Pain flashes across Rowan's face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Sera. But I had to leave. My lycan awakening was violent. Dangerous. I nearly killed three people the first time I shifted. I was out of control, and I knew if I stayed near you, I'd put you in danger."
"So you just left?" Anger mixes with my hurt. "You couldn't even send a message? Let me know you were alive?"
"I tried!" Rowan's voice rises, then he takes a breath and lowers it. "I tried to contact you dozens of times. But every message I sent never reached you. Every letter I wrote disappeared. It was like someone was blocking my attempts."
My blood runs cold. "Someone was keeping us apart on purpose."
"Yes." Rowan's jaw clenches. "I didn't figure it out until years later. By then, I was building my kingdom, gathering power, searching for answers about who was manipulating us. And all the while, I watched you from a distance. Making sure you were safe, even if I couldn't be with you."
"You watched me?" I don't know if I should be touched or creeped out.
"Not in a weird way!" Rowan says quickly. "I had informants in your pack. People who reported back if you were in danger. That's how I knew when your wolf got locked away. How I knew when you started working at the clinic. How I knew when Killian started showing interest in you."
"And you didn't intervene?" I pull my hands away. "You knew Killian was dangerous, and you just let me marry him?"
"I was going to!" Rowan's eyes flash silver with frustration. "I was preparing to come for you. To tell you the truth. To claim you as my mate properly. But then—" His voice cracks. "Then I felt you die. The mate bond snapped like a broken string, and I lost my mind. I tore apart half my castle looking for answers. I tortured anyone who might know what happened. I was ready to burn down the entire Northern Pack if it meant finding your killer."
The raw pain in his voice makes my anger drain away. I can feel the echo of his grief through our bond—a deep, aching wound that still hasn't healed.
"But you're here now," I say softly. "How did you know to come tonight? How did you know I'd be back?"
"I didn't know for certain." Rowan's voice is rough. "But six months after you died, I felt something impossible. A flicker through the mate bond. Like a candle being relit. It was faint, barely there, but it was real. So I came to the Moon Dance, hoping against hope that you'd somehow come back to life."
"And I did."
"And you did." Rowan steps closer. "And the moment I saw you, the moment our eyes met across that ballroom, I knew. You were really here. Really alive. And this time, I'm not letting you go. Ever."
He cups my face with both hands, his silver eyes boring into mine.
"I love you, Sera. I've loved you since we were children playing in the forest. I loved you when I had to leave. I loved you every single day we were apart. And I'll keep loving you for the rest of my life. You're my mate. My other half. My everything."
My breath catches. Nobody has ever looked at me the way Rowan is looking at me right now—like I'm precious and powerful and worth fighting for.
"I don't remember loving you," I admit, and his face falls. "But I remember being happy with you. I remember feeling safe. And right now, standing here with you, I feel more alive than I have in ten years."
Hope lights up his face. "That's enough. We have time to rebuild what we lost. Time to fall in love all over again."
He leans down, and I know he's going to kiss me. My heart races. I should step back. We just met again. I barely remember him. But something deep inside me—Luna, or maybe just my own heart—knows this is right.
Our lips are inches apart when a scream tears through the night.
"Sera! Sera, help!"
Maya bursts onto the balcony, her face white with terror. Blood still drips from the arrow wound in her hand, but she doesn't seem to notice.
"Maya, what—"
"It's your grandmother!" Maya sobs. "She collapsed! Someone poisoned her, and she's dying! You have to come now!"
The world tilts beneath my feet.
No. Not Grandmother. Not her.
I run past Maya, racing back into the ballroom. Rowan follows close behind.
The crowd parts as I push through. Everyone stares at something on the floor, their faces shocked and horrified.
I break through the circle and drop to my knees.
Grandmother lies on the marble floor, her body convulsing. Foam bubbles at her lips. Her eyes roll back in her head.
"No, no, no!" I grab her hand. "Grandmother, stay with me! Please!"
A healer kneels beside us. "She drank poisoned wine. The same poison that was meant for you earlier."
My blood turns to ice. This is my fault. Someone tried to poison me, and Grandmother drank it by mistake.
"Can you save her?" I beg the healer.
"I don't know. The poison is strong. Without the antidote, she has maybe an hour."
"Then find the antidote!"
"There isn't one," a cold voice says behind me.
I turn around.
A man stands at the edge of the crowd. He wears council robes and has kind eyes that remind me of someone.
"Who are you?" Rowan demands.
"Elder Marcus." The man bows slightly. "I serve on the Grand Council. And I'm afraid I have terrible news. That poison was created specifically to kill moon-blessed bloodlines. It has no antidote. Your grandmother is going to die, Sera. Just like your mother did fifteen years ago."