Chapter 3 THE SHADOWS
Aria’s pulse quickened. “Balance? Cursed bloodlines?”
Maeve nodded slowly. “The world of wolves rots under greed and betrayal. Alphas hunger for power. Lunas are caged in loyalty. You were chosen to break that cycle. But first, you must burn.”
Aria stared into the fire, and for a moment, she saw it: her pack in ruins, Kael kneeling before her, the Blood Moon blazing behind her.
Her heart twisted, half with fear, half with fury. “Then teach me,” she whispered. “Teach me how to burn.”
Maeve’s smile was like the edge of a knife. “Oh, I will, child. But know this; once you walk my path, there’s no turning back. You’ll never be the Luna you once were.”
Aria looked down at her trembling hands, at the faint glow pulsing beneath her skin. The Moon seemed to hum through her blood.
“I don’t want to be her anymore,” she said quietly. “I want to become something stronger.”
Maeve’s eyes gleamed. “Then let the shadows claim you, Luna of the Moon’s Wrath.”
Outside, thunder rolled, and the forest trembled as if the earth itself bowed to a new power being born.
Aria closed her eyes. For the first time since her exile, she didn’t feel weak. She felt awakened.
Her vengeance is about to begin and the Moon was watching.
Storm clouds clawed at the moon.
Inside Maeve’s hut, the fire had burned down to coals, but the air throbbed with energy. Aria sat cross-legged before the witch, her body wrapped in a cloak that smelled of smoke and iron. The bandages around her wounds were gone; what remained were faint silver lines that pulsed faintly, like veins of moonlight under her skin.
Maeve drew a circle in the dirt with the tip of her staff. Symbols flared red, then bled into violet.
> “The Moon calls you again,” the witch murmured. “If you step inside this circle, you will never be what you were.”
Aria’s throat tightened. “Then I’ll step forward.”
Lightning flashed through the open window as she crossed the line. The runes hissed to life. Wind howled around them, dragging leaves and ash into a spinning ring.
Maeve’s voice deepened, echoing like many voices in one.
> “By the light that binds and the darkness that frees, awaken the Luna of Shadows.”
Pain slammed through Aria’s chest. She gasped, falling to her knees. Every heartbeat felt like a hammer against her ribs. Images flooded her mind—Kael’s face, Selene’s trembling confession, the torches of the warriors who had hunted her. Each memory burned away until only anger remained.
Her wolf, Lyra, stirred inside her. 'Let me out.'
Aria tried to shift, but instead of fur, there was fire. Her skin glowed; silver light tore through her veins. She screamed, half in agony, half in release.
Maeve didn’t move. “Endure it. Shadows are forged, not given.”
The fire spread to Aria’s eyes; tears turned to steam. The air thickened until she couldn’t breathe. Then, just when she thought her heart would burst, the pain stopped.
The world went utterly still.
When she opened her eyes, the color of them has changed, it was no longer soft silver but a swirling storm of black and white. The air trembled around her body. Her reflection in the window showed a faint crescent mark glowing on her forehead.
Maeve watched her silently. “The bond is gone, but the Goddess hasn’t abandoned you. She’s rewritten it.”
Aria looked down at her hands. A shadow bled from her palms, coiling like smoke. It obeyed her thought, shaping into a dagger, then fading again. “I can control this?”
“For now, only barely,” Maeve warned. “Power answers emotion. If you lose control, it will devour you first.”
Aria swallowed the fear that was rising in her throat. “Then I’ll master it.”
Outside, thunder cracked, closer this time. Maeve’s gaze flicked toward the window. “Someone crosses the border.”
Aria froze. “Kael’s men?”
The witch nodded once. “Four of them. They’ll reach the clearing soon.”
Instinct screamed to run, but another voice that was cool and unfamiliar spoke inside her head. 'Let them come'.
It wasn’t Lyra. It was something colder and older. The words slid through her mind like silk dipped in poison.
Maeve stiffened. “What did you hear?”
Aria blinked. “A voice. Not my wolf’s.”
The witch’s staff struck the floor sharply. “You weren’t alone in that ritual. Something answered the Moon’s call with you.”
Before Aria could reply, a crash echoed outside. Torches flared through the trees, shouts slicing the rain.
Maeve’s eyes darkened. “Stay here.”
But Aria rose. Her heartbeat thundered with strange calm. As the door to the hut burst open, she lifted her hand without thinking. The shadow answered.
A wave of darkness rippled outward, knocking the first warrior back into the mud. His torch fall out. Another warrior lunged and flashed his blade but the air thickened like smoke, twisting his strike away.
Aria’s new strength burned through her like wildfire. She didn’t strike again; she didn’t need to. The shadows moved on their own, defending her.
When silence fell, the men were gone. They had fled into the storm.
Maeve looked at her with something close to fear. “You shouldn’t have been able to do that so soon.”
Aria’s chest heaved. “I didn’t plan it. It just… happened.”
The witch studied her and then whispered, “The Moon’s blessing carries another name: the Mark of Eclipse. It grants power only when the Goddess shares her spirit with a mortal. But that spirit....” she paused, eyes narrowing, “is not always pure.”
Aria felt a chill crawl up her spine. “You mean...”
A shadow moved behind her reflection in the window. For a heartbeat she saw a woman standing there, with her own face, but darker, with eyes like two bleeding moons.
The reflection smiled.
Aria spun, but the room was empty. Only the wind answered.
Maeve crossed herself with a trembling hand. “Child… whatever entered you tonight wasn’t only the Moon.”
Outside, the storm broke. The clouds parted for a single instant, and the moon shone blood-red again. Its light touched Aria’s skin, and she felt the voice whisper once more, soft and triumphant:
'We are one now.'
