ISLA'S POV
The room spins.
Elder Mira's words—Moonborn, royal bloodline, bound at birth—crash through my mind like a tsunami. My hand instinctively moves to my stomach, protecting the baby as if these revelations are physical threats.
"That's not possible," I say, shaking my head. "My mother died giving birth to me. My father always said I was just... normal. Wolfless."
"Your father didn't know," Mira says gently, and her ancient eyes carry something that looks almost like pity. "The binding was done before you were even aware enough to remember it. Someone wanted your bloodline hidden badly enough to curse you."
"Who?" I demand. "Who would do that?"
Mira exchanges a look with Cassian, and I catch something passing between them—a question with an answer they're both afraid of.
"We don't know," Cassian says, his voice tight. Controlled. But I can hear the rage underneath it. "That's what we need to discover."
"My mother was Moonborn?" I ask, trying to piece this together. Trying to make sense of a life I thought I understood. "How is that even possible? They're extinct. Everyone knows they're extinct."
"Not extinct," Mira corrects. "Hidden. Your mother, Luna Seraphine, was the last true heir of the Moonborn line. She was supposed to unite all werewolf territories under one rule. Instead, she fell in love with a human-sympathizing Alpha and had you."
I want to ask more about my mother. Want to know what she was like, what she wanted, whether she knew this legacy was burning inside me the entire time I was growing up. But there are more pressing questions.
"What does it mean?" I ask. "Being Moonborn? What can I do that regular werewolves can't?"
"Everything," Mira says simply. "Moonborn are different from regular werewolves and Lycans both. You're a bridge between bloodlines. Your wolf—when it awakens—will be ancient. Powerful. Capable of things that will change the landscape of our territories."
She steps closer, her ancient hand finding mine. Her touch is warm, steady, grounding.
"But more importantly," she continues, "you can bond with Lycans in ways regular wolves never could. You can rule alongside them. You can unite what's been divided for centuries."
"Why hide me then?" I ask. "If I'm so important, so valuable, why curse me to be wolfless?"
"Protection," Mira says softly. "Someone wanted you hidden badly enough to bind your wolf. Probably to prevent a prophecy from coming true. Probably to protect you from those who would kill to prevent Lycan-Moonborn unity."
I look at Cassian, suddenly understanding why he was searching for me. Why I matter so much.
"You need me," I say, and it's not a question. "For the prophecy."
"Yes," he says, and there's no apology in his voice. Just honesty. "But that's not all I need you for anymore."
The words hang between us, heavy with implication.
"Can the binding be broken?" Cassian asks suddenly, his voice shifting into something urgent and demanding. He's asking Mira now, but his eyes stay on me. "Can we undo what was done to her?"
Mira nods slowly. "Yes. With the right ritual, with ancient magic, we can shatter the curse and release her wolf."
Relief floods through me. Finally, I could have the thing I've been denied my entire life. Finally, I could be—
"But," Mira says, and the single word kills my hope, "the awakening will be violent."
My stomach drops. "What do you mean, violent?"
"Your wolf has been caged for twenty-three years," Mira explains, and there's gravity in her voice that makes my skin crawl. "It's been screaming to be free, growing stronger with every year, learning to channel your power through your human body. When the binding breaks, all that accumulated power and rage will explode."
"Will it kill her?" Cassian's voice is sharp, dangerous.
"No," Mira says. "But it will change her. The pain will be excruciating. The shift will be involuntary. And when her wolf emerges, she won't be the same person she was before."
I think about the heat I've been feeling all week. The strange sensations in my body. The dreams where I run on four legs through endless forests.
"When?" I ask. "When will this happen?"
"Soon," Mira says. "Her awakening is accelerating. I estimate three to four weeks."
My eyes fly to Cassian. Three to four weeks is exactly when we're supposed to marry.
He's already thinking the same thing. I can see it in the way his body tenses, in the slight tilt of his masked head.
"Can we wait?" he asks Mira. "Can we delay the awakening until after the wedding?"
"No," Mira says firmly. "The curse is breaking on its own timeline. Trying to suppress it further would only make the final awakening more violent. Better to let it happen when she's ready. When she has support."
Cassian moves to the window, and I can see the tension radiating from him like heat. He's afraid. The Lycan King is actually afraid for me.
"What will I become?" I ask quietly. "When my wolf awakens, what will I be?"
Mira smiles, and it's the first truly warm expression I've seen from her. "You'll become what you were always meant to be. A Moonborn Luna. More powerful than any regular werewolf. Almost equal to a Lycan in strength. A bridge between worlds. A queen."
The words should make me feel powerful. Instead, they make me feel like I'm losing control of my own life all over again.
"I didn't ask for this," I say, my voice breaking. "I didn't ask to be Moonborn or valuable or important. I just wanted to be loved by someone who mattered. I just wanted to belong somewhere."
Cassian is suddenly beside me, and his hand finds my face. His gloved fingers are gentle, reverent.
"You'll belong here," he says, his voice intense. "With me. Whatever you become, whoever you're meant to be—you'll belong here."
"How can you promise that?" I ask, searching his mask for answers I can't find. "You don't know what kind of monster I'll become."
"Because I've been searching for you for years," he says. "Because the moment I saw you in that cave, something inside me recognized you. Because whatever you become, whatever power awakens inside you, I will stand beside you."
There's a knock at the door, and Mira stands, understanding that something private is happening.
"I'll return tomorrow to prepare you for the ritual," she says. "Rest tonight. Gather your strength."
She leaves, and I'm alone with Cassian, and my heart is racing so fast I think it might tear through my ribs.
"I'm scared," I whisper.
"I know," he says, and his voice carries absolute certainty. "But you won't be alone. I promise you that."
He leans closer, and I think he's going to kiss me. I think he's going to remove the mask and finally show me who he is beneath all the mystery and power and danger.
But instead, his hand goes to my stomach, and he spreads his palm across where the baby is.
"Both of you," he says softly. "I'll protect both of you."
And then, so quietly I almost miss it, he says: "Even if it means removing my mask. Even if it means breaking the curse that's kept me alive."
Before I can ask what he means, before I can demand answers, there's a sudden change in his energy. His entire body goes rigid, and his head tilts like he's hearing something I can't.
His hand leaves my stomach, and he stands abruptly.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"Something's happening," he says, his voice dropping into that dangerous, lethal tone. "To your body. Can you feel it?"
I focus inward, and suddenly I do feel it. A burning sensation that's spreading through my veins like wildfire. A pain that's building, intensifying, threatening to consume everything.
"Cassian—" I start.
"The awakening is beginning," he says, and there's something between fear and certainty in his voice. "It's happening now. Not in weeks. Now."
He's already moving to the door, calling for Margot, but I can barely hear him over the sound of my own screaming as my body begins to transform.
The pain is white-hot and all-consuming, and through it, I hear Cassian's voice:
"Hold on, Isla. Hold on to me."
His hands are on me, grounding me, but I can feel something inside me breaking free. Something ancient and powerful and utterly unstoppable.
And as my bones begin to reshape and my wolf begins to claw its way to the surface, I realize with absolute terror:
I'm about to become something I don't recognize.
And there's no going back.