Chapter 61
Cora
She came to me when I was taking Riley out to breakfast.
The tires rumbled steadily against the road, a low lullaby beneath Riley’s soft breathing in the back seat since he had gone back to sleep. Outside, the street stretched like a ribbon into the horizon, lit only by the pale moon.
The edges of my vision blurred with exhaustion. But I couldn’t stop. Not yet. There were still so many things that needed to be done to set up this new life for me and my son.
His face haunted every mile, every mile marker, every stretch of road I passed.
I glanced at Riley in the rearview mirror. He was curled in his car seat, his thumb nestled under his chin, hair tousled from the restless sleep of a child torn from everything he knew. I swallowed hard and turned my eyes back to the road.
And then, like a flicker of static in my bloodstream, I felt it.
A stirring.
It started as a flutter in my chest, barely more than a breath—then it flared like a spark catching dry tinder.
My wolf.
I could feel her shifting within me. Cold and weak, but stretching, straining against her abilities.
She’d been quiet for so long, buried beneath fear and survival and shame. But now… she was fully awake.
He’s growing closer, she whispered, her voice like wind through tree branches. You must prepare.
My pulse stuttered, hands tightening around the steering wheel.
“You’re awake,” I whispered.
Your mate. Your true mate.
“Who?” I asked desperately.
I can feel him drawing nearer.
A shiver rolled through me. “How do you know?”
I feel him. The bond is pulling tighter. The more you acknowledge and accept me, the more I can feel and sense.
He’s picked up on your scent asnd is tracking your heartbeat. The storm in him mirrors the one in you. He feels your bond now, too, now that I am waking up. He is tracing the bond to you.
I exhaled shakily, letting the truth of it settle into my bones. I’d known. Deep down, I’d known he would be out here. My mate. But having the confirmation that he was growing nearer and that my time was coming up felt surreal.
It had always been too convenient to assume that my mate was Kingston. And yet, I knew he was so stubborn he might foolishly follow me regardless.
But still… I couldn’t let him find me. Not yet.
“I can’t go back,” I murmured.
No. But you must go forward.
I blinked. “What does that mean?”
Silence, then:
You are the Moon Daughter, Cora.
The words struck like lightning. They sounded familiar to me, raising gooseflesh along the skin of my arms. And yet I did not know what they meant.
My mouth went dry. “What the hell does that mean?”
But my wolf only hummed, quiet and serene now, as though she had delivered her message and was content to let me chew on it in silence. Or, perhaps it was because she was growing weaker, dimming now that she had divulged what she’d needed to.
“Moon Daughter?” I repeated, louder this time, as if saying it again would unlock the meaning.
You will understand soon. She sounded more distant, softer, like she was fading fast.
Frustration prickled beneath my skin, but alongside it bloomed something else: an undercurrent of certainty, like a compass reorienting itself. Even if I didn’t understand what the prophecy meant, I knew one thing with absolute clarity:
I was no longer running away. I was running toward something.
Something that mattered.
Something that had been buried in me all along, waiting for the moment I was strong enough to carry it.
The next morning, I stopped in a little town flanked by mountains and misted with fog. Riley stirred as I pulled into the parking lot of a roadside diner, his face wrinkled with sleep.
“Are we still adventuring?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
“Yeah, buddy,” I said softly. “We’re just taking a break before the next leg. I say we get some pancakes, though, as a treat.”
He smiled at that, too tired to question the ache behind my eyes. I helped him out of the car and into the diner, where the scent of bacon and coffee wrapped around us like a familiar blanket. It was quiet with just a few locals chatting at the counter, and the waitress behind the register who smiled tiredly as we entered.
We ordered pancakes and orange juice, and I let Riley color on the kids' menu while I stared blankly at the window, the glass fogging faintly from the warmth inside.
He’s becoming closer, my wolf murmured again, practically croaking from the strain of it all.
“How much closer?” I whispered beneath my breath.
But she didn’t answer this time. Just settled back into the shadows of my mind like a guardian in wait. Frustrated, I devoured the rest of my pancakes with angry chews.
I checked into another small roadside motel after breakfast. Nothing fancy, just two beds, a bathroom, and a lock on the door that clicked too loudly. Still, it was enough. Riley jumped on the mattress with a laugh, and I couldn’t help but smile through the haze of fatigue and fear.
He deserved better than this. Constant motion. No explanations. No home.
But better this than letting the Silverfang pack tear us apart.
I lay beside him for a while, watching him sleep as afternoon faded into twilight. My thoughts kept circling like vultures around Zach, around Kingston, around that terrible fire, and everything I’d left behind in the ashes.
But the one thing I couldn’t shake was what my wolf had said.
Moon Daughter.
There was power in the name. I could feel it. Destiny. A thread that tied me to something ancient and vast.
I remembered stories my adopted mother used to tell me and Daisy when we were small, half-forgotten bedtime legends about celestial wolves and sacred bloodlines. Now I wondered if she had known something even then, something she never had the chance to explain.
Had she ever mentioned a Moon Daughter in those tales?
Moon Daughter. My wolf whispered again, and this time I felt something bloom in my chest. Not fear. Not pain.
Hope.
That night, after Riley had fallen asleep again and the room was dark and quiet, I stepped outside into the cold.
The stars were brilliant above me, scattered like diamonds across obsidian. The moon hung low and full, bathing the parking lot in silver light. I tilted my head back, inhaling the sharp mountain air.
And I felt it again. That tug. The pull in my soul.
Was this… my mating bond?
Yes, my weak wolf’s voice replied.
My heart skipped a beat. He was coming. Not just for me, but for Riley, too. He wouldn’t stop until he found us.
But maybe this time… I wouldn’t run.
I would accept my mate and reclaim my wolf. My time was almost here.
Because something was shifting in the air around me. Something ancient. A force I didn’t yet understand, but that I could feel waking in my bones.
I wasn’t just a mother on the run. I wasn’t just a broken woman leaving behind a shattered past.
Perhaps I was something more.
But for tonight, I let myself breathe. I let myself believe—for the first time in a long time—that maybe this wasn’t the end of my story.
Maybe it was the beginning.
Of finding who I really was.
Of reclaiming my wolf.
Of walking the path the moon had lit for me all along.
The path of the Moon Daughter.
