Chapter 6 WHISPERS OF THE WOODS

There was silence.

The kind that feels alive.

When I woke, the air was cold and thick, my breath floating in front of me like smoke. I was lying on damp earth, surrounded by trees that shimmered faintly with silver veins. My body ached, but the pain from before — the burning mark, the bond’s tearing — was gone.

For a moment, I wondered if I was dead.

Then the whisper came.

Selene…

My name slid through the air like wind through silk. I froze.

“Who’s there?” My voice barely broke the stillness.

No answer . Only a soft rustle, as though the forest itself had drawn a breath.

I pushed myself up. The ground pulsed faintly beneath my palms, silver roots glowing beneath the surface. When I lifted my hand, the glow followed my skin — tracing the lines of my veins, flickering like moonlight trapped under flesh.

“What is this place…”

My wolf stirred within me, her voice hushed but steady.

Not danger. Not death.

She was right. My instincts screamed confusion, not fear. The forest didn’t feel hostile, it felt aware. Watching. Waiting.

I turned slowly, eyes darting through the mist that drifted like breath between the trees. The moon hung low above the canopy, but its light didn’t reach me. Instead, everything glowed from within — the moss, the bark, even the air.

And then  the whispers came again.

“Daughter of Moonfire…”

The words brushed against my ears, carried by dozens of unseen voices. They overlapped, soft and melodic, both terrifying and beautiful.

I clutched my chest, feeling the faint throb of my mark. The pain was gone, replaced by warmth. It felt like a strange comfort, like the forest recognized me.

“Why are you calling me that?” I whispered.

The air shifted. The silver mist thickened and began to swirl in front of me, twisting upward until it took shape.

A woman.

Or something that looked like one.

Her form was made entirely of light — pale silver skin that flickered like starlight, hair flowing behind her like a stream of galaxies. Her face was neither young nor old, her eyes deep pools of moonlight that held the weight of eternity.

Every instinct in me screamed to bow, but my body moved before I could decide. My knees hit the earth. My hands trembled.

I couldn’t look directly at her because the light was too pure, too heavy.

When she spoke, her voice wasn’t sound. It was vibration. It was ancient, echoing through my bones.

“Child of Thorne. Child of sorrow. You have stepped where no wolf has dared.”

I swallowed hard. “I didn’t mean to… I was just— I was running. He— he rejected me—”

I know.

The words hummed through the air, softer this time.

I looked up despite the pain in my eyes. “Who are you?”

The figure tilted her head slightly. Around her, the trees bowed inward, their branches glowing brighter.

I am the beginning and the end of your kind. The light that birthed the first howl beneath the moon.

The realization hit like lightning.

“The Moon Goddess…”

The air shivered.

She stepped closer, though her feet never touched the ground. The light from her form reached out and wrapped around me — not burning, not hurting but heavy with power. My breath caught.

You were never weak, Selene Thorne.

Her words filled the forest. My tears stung.

“But he—”

He is blind. The one you called mate saw a reflection, not the fire beneath.

Her hand, made of silver light, brushed my cheek. My skin tingled where she touched.

You carry my spark. The Moonfire sleeps within you. And now, it wakes.

A sharp pulse shot through my mark. I gasped, clutching at it as light spilled from beneath my fingers. The forest flared in response — trees sighing, roots glowing, mist trembling as if it, too, could feel the awakening.

“What… what’s happening to me?”

Her expression softened.

The curse and the gift are one. Power without control will consume what you love.

The words echoed inside my mind, sinking deeper than thought.

“Consume?” I whispered, but the light around her began to dim.

The Goddess stepped back, her outline fading into starlit mist.

“Rise, daughter of Moonfire. The world will fear you. But in fear, they will remember the light.”

The last thing I heard before the vision dissolved was her voice, layered and distant:

“You are not rejected. You are chosen.”

And then she was gone.

The forest went silent again, the whispers fading until only the sound of my heartbeat remained.

I knelt there, trembling, surrounded by silver mist that slowly dissolved into night air. My mark still glowed faintly against my skin, pulsing in rhythm with the moon.

For the first time since Kael’s rejection, I didn’t feel broken.

I felt… becoming.