#4 The Moon Temple Ruins

Ryanna POV

The forest didn’t get quieter as the four alphas closed in around me.

It felt like it woke up.

Branches whipped harder. The wind cut colder. Even the ground seemed to vibrate under their footsteps, like the world recognized something I still didn’t.

They weren’t touching me. They weren’t trapping me. But their presence pressed against my skin like gravity.

Four predators orbiting a center they didn’t understand.

And me? I felt like a mirror trying to glue itself back together while being chased by monsters.

“We move,” blue-eyes snapped, shadows peeling off his skin like living smoke.

“I wasn’t planning to pitch a tent and roast marshmallows in murder woods,” I rasped. “But thanks, Batman.”

His jaw flexed. Golden-eyes growled instantly. “Don’t talk to her like that.”

“She’s breathing, isn’t she?” blue-eyes replied coldly. “Then she’s fine.”

“Keep talking,” golden-eyes warned, “and I’ll break your shadowy ass in half.”

“Try.”

Silver-eyes cut between them like a blade. “If you two idiots want to measure dominance, you can do it after she isn’t being hunted by fucking vampires.”

Black-eyes rumbled behind us, the earth humming under his boots. “They’re closing in. Ravine flank. High ground.”

“How do you know that?” I gasped.

Silver-eyes: “Experience.”

Blue-eyes: “Survival.”

Golden-eyes: “Instinct.”

Black-eyes: “Because the earth told me.”

Great. I was surrounded by sexy lunatics. We pushed deeper into the forest, and my brain cracked open.

Not gently. Like a door kicked off its hinges.

White marble under my heels.

A crown of gold lowered toward my head.

Hundreds chanting one name, Varelli.

The canals of Cindralis glowing like fireflies.

Silk gown. Daggers strapped under it.

My father gripping my shoulders.

“You rule tonight, little moon.”

Then... glass shattering.

A scream.

A hand grabbing my hair.

A bag shoved over my head.

A needle. Burning. Darkness.

I staggered.

Blue-eyes caught my arm. “Memory?”

“Stop asking me that!” I snapped, my breath shaking. “I don’t… I don’t know.”

Golden-eyes stepped so close his heat wrapped around me. “We’ve got you.”

“Don’t say that,” I whispered.

“Why?” he murmured. “Because it’s true?”

I pushed past him before I drowned in the warmth of his voice. Black-eyes cracked his neck. “Her scent keeps changing. Power’s waking.”

I glared. “My name is changing too.”

Silver-eyes glanced back. “Say it.”

I hesitated. Then...

Training mats soaked with blood.

My father shouting: Again, Ryanna.

Throwing knives at targets shaped like men.

Born without a wolf, but a deadlier fighter than any of them.

My aunt whispering: They’ll come for you before the coronation ends.

Torches. Chains. A voice snarling — Throw her into the Hunt.

Then a howl — not hunting. Calling.

A name ripping through me like lightning —

Ryanna.

Ryanna Varelli.

My own voice saying it as they dragged me away.

The present slammed back in.

I whispered, “My name is Ryanna.”

Everything went silent. Golden-eyes nearly tripped. Blue-eyes inhaled sharply. Black-eyes froze mid-step. Silver-eyes turned fully toward me, eyes wide and bright like something clicked inside him.

“Ryanna,” he repeated softly.

My stomach twisted. My heart slammed.

Golden-eyes stepped closer, his voice rough. “That’s your name?”

“Yes,” I breathed. “Ryanna Varelli.”

Shadows flickered violently around blue-eyes. “I knew it,” he whispered.

Silver-eyes cut him a warning look. “You didn’t know shit.”

“I knew she was mine.”

Black-eyes growled. “She’s all of ours.”

Golden-eyes shoved him. “Back off.”

“Oh for the love of...” I slapped a hand over my face. “Fight about ownership later. We’re still being hunted!”

Right on cue, the ground shook. Vampires shrieked. Branches cracked. Fog surged through the trees.

Silver-eyes snarled, “Positions!”

Golden-eyes lunged into action, his claws shredding the first vampire that lunged. Blue-eyes unleashed shadow-wolves that tore into the second wave. Black-eyes slammed his fists into the ground, turning tree roots into spears. Silver-eyes fought like a strategist, every move a calculation, every kill precise.

They didn’t coordinate. They didn’t trust each other. They didn’t even like each other.

But they had formed a wall around me. A deadly, snarling, magical wall.

And I couldn’t breathe because....I recognized this fight.

I had stood in this forest before. Blood on my hands. Knives spinning from my fingers. My coronation crown broken at my feet.

This place wasn’t new. I had died here. Or almost. Or something worse.

Another memory slammed hard...

Boots dragging me.

A ruined temple.

Vampires arguing —

“She doesn’t have a wolf.”

“She’s still a Varelli.”

“She has to die.”

“Throw her on the altar. Let the Hunt begin.”

Then an answering howl in the distance.

My ribs aching.

My voice whispering through blood — Ryanna — before everything went black.

A hand clamped my waist. Golden-eyes.

“You with us?” he growled.

“I… I’ve been here,” I whispered. “Before. I remember the ruins.”

That made all of them freeze.

Silver-eyes turned sharply. “How much do you remember?”

“My coronation,” I whispered. “Being kidnapped. Dragged here. Thrown into the Hunt.”

Golden-eyes swore softly. “Then we were right.”

“About what?” I demanded.

Blue-eyes stepped close, shadows curling protectively around my feet.

“That you’re ours,” he said quietly. “All of ours. You're a Varelli. Makes sense now why the vampires want the Mafia princess."

My breath hitched.

Black-eyes nodded once. “No wolf or not. Varelli whatever. Doesn’t matter. We felt the bond.”

Silver-eyes looked over his shoulder, scanning the shadows. “We need the temple. Now.”

Golden-eyes grabbed my hand, warm, strong, and steady.

“Stay with me,” he murmured.

Shadows licked up blue-eyes’ arms. “Don’t fall behind.”

Black-eyes parted the forest with earth magic. “We’re almost there.”

Silver-eyes led us forward, every step calculated to keep me between them and danger.

And then...The forest opened. Moonlight washed over stone. Broken pillars loomed like jagged teeth. Ancient runes glowed faintly across the ground.

The Moon Temple Ruins. My knees buckled.

“I remember everything.”

Golden-eyes reached for me. Blue-eyes steadied my back. Black-eyes braced my arm.

Silver-eyes murmured, “Then say it.”

My voice shook...but it came.

“I am Ryanna Varelli. Heiress of the Cindralis Werewolf Mafia.”

The ruins pulsed with light. The air thickened with magic.

And all four alphas inhaled sharply, their eyes blazing with a recognition they didn’t understand, only felt.