The silver eyes disappeared the second I blinked.
"Did anyone else see that?" I whispered, my heart pounding so hard I could barely breathe.
Everyone was silent. Too silent.
"See what?" Alpha Orion asked, but his voice sounded wrong. Strained.
"The eyes. In the window. My father was—"
"There's nothing there, Elara," Lucien said gently. "You're stressed. It's making you see things."
But Elder Mira squeezed my hand tighter. "I saw them too," she whispered so softly only I could hear.
A chill ran down my spine. If Elder Mira saw the eyes, then Sylas really had been watching us. Which meant he'd heard everything we just discussed.
"We need to leave," Elder Mira said suddenly, standing up. "Now."
"What's wrong?" Darius asked.
"He knows," she said, looking straight at me. "He knows about the prophecy. About what you really are."
"What I really am?" My voice cracked. "I don't even know what that means!"
Another howl echoed from outside, closer this time. Kaelen sounded weaker than before.
"There's no time to explain here," Elder Mira said, pulling me toward the door. "Come with me. All of you."
"Where are we going?" Mom asked, worry filling her voice.
"To the old sanctuary. It's the only place that's safe from his magic."
"Magic?" I stopped walking. "What magic?"
"The same magic that lets you share dreams with Darius," Elder Mira said. "The same magic that's letting Sylas watch us right now."
As if to prove her point, another window in the office suddenly cracked. Not shattered, just cracked, like someone had pressed their hand against it too hard.
"Run," Elder Mira ordered.
---
We all ran.
The sanctuary was hidden deep in the forest, past the training grounds and the pack houses. I'd never been there before, but Elder Mira knew the way even in the darkness.
"Stay close," she warned as we climbed over fallen logs and pushed through thick bushes. "The path is protected, but only if you step exactly where I step."
I stayed right behind her, with Darius behind me and Lucien behind him. Mom and Alpha Orion brought up the rear.
After what felt like forever, we reached a small clearing with an old stone building in the center. It looked ancient, covered in symbols I didn't recognize.
"This is it," Elder Mira said, touching her hand to the door. It opened with a soft click.
Inside, the sanctuary was lit by candles that seemed to light themselves as we entered. The walls were covered in more strange symbols, and in the center was a stone table with old books scattered across it.
"Sit," Elder Mira told me, pointing to a chair near the table. "There's so much you need to know, and we don't have much time."
I sat down, still shaking from running and fear.
"The prophecy," Elder Mira began, "speaks of a child born of two bloodlines. One omega, one alpha. One peaceful, one violent."
"That's me?" I asked.
"Yes. But there's more. The prophecy says this child will have the power to unite all packs, or destroy them completely."
My stomach twisted. "Destroy them?"
"If she chooses the wrong path. If she lets anger and revenge guide her instead of love and wisdom."
"But I would never—"
"That's what your father thought too," Elder Mira interrupted. "Eighteen years ago, when his pack was attacked."
"What really happened?" I asked. "No one will tell me the whole truth."
Elder Mira looked at Alpha Orion. "She deserves to know."
Alpha Orion sighed deeply. "Sylas wasn't always a rogue, Elara. He was the Alpha of the Silver Moon pack. One of the most powerful packs in the region."
"Then why—"
"Because he fell in love with your mother, who was promised to another Alpha. When he refused to give her up, it started a war between the packs."
I felt sick. "So the war was because of my parents?"
"No," Mom said firmly, speaking for the first time since we'd arrived at the sanctuary. "The war was because some Alphas think they own people like property. Sylas was trying to protect me."
"But the other packs saw it as defiance," Alpha Orion continued. "They joined forces and attacked the Silver Moon territory. Sylas fought back, but there were too many of them."
"What happened to the pack members?" I asked, afraid of the answer.
"Most escaped. But their homes, their land, everything was destroyed. Sylas was presumed dead in the final battle."
"But he wasn't."
"No. He survived. And now he's back, wanting revenge against everyone who wronged him."
---
Elder Mira reached into a small box on the table and pulled out a silver necklace. The pendant was shaped like a crescent moon with a small star in the center.
"This belonged to your grandmother," she said, fastening it around my neck. "It's been passed down through the female line of your father's family for generations."
The moment the necklace touched my skin, I felt a warm tingling sensation.
"What does it do?" I asked.
"It protects you from dark magic. And it will help you control your powers when they fully awaken."
"What powers?"
"The power to command other wolves. To make them feel what you feel, do what you want them to do."
I stared at her in horror. "That sounds terrible."
"It can be, if used wrongly. But it can also be used to bring peace, to make enemies understand each other instead of fighting."
Another howl rang through the night, but this time it was different. Desperate.
"We have to help Kaelen," I said, standing up.
"Elara, wait," Elder Mira said. "There's something else. Something about your bond with the brothers."
I sat back down. "What about it?"
"The triple bond isn't just rare. It's prophesied. The child of two bloodlines will be bonded to three wolves who represent the past, present, and future of the packs."
"I don't understand."
"Kaelen represents the past—tradition, the old ways. Lucien represents the present—the current struggle for power. Darius represents the future—the new path forward."
"But what does that mean for me?"
"It means you'll have to choose which direction the packs will take. And your choice will affect everyone."
---
Suddenly, the candles in the sanctuary flickered.
"He's found us," Elder Mira whispered.
The door to the sanctuary slammed open, and cold wind rushed in, extinguishing half the flames.
But it wasn't Sylas who walked through the door. It was Kaelen.
Except something was wrong with him. His eyes were glowing silver instead of their usual brown, and when he smiled, it wasn't his smile at all.
"Hello, little omega," he said in a voice that sounded like Kaelen's but with something else underneath it. Something dangerous.
"That's not Kaelen," Darius said, moving protectively in front of me. "Something's controlling him."
"Very good," Kaelen said, but it was clearly not Kaelen speaking. "Though I prefer to think of it as borrowing."
"Sylas," I breathed.
"In the flesh. Well, in his flesh anyway." Kaelen's body laughed, but the sound made my skin crawl.
"Let him go," I demanded, standing up despite Darius trying to hold me back.
"Come with me willingly, and I will."
"Don't do it, Elara," Elder Mira warned. "If he gets you alone, the prophecy will turn dark. I've seen it."
"But if I don't go, he'll hurt Kaelen."
"He'll hurt him anyway," Alpha Orion said grimly.
Kaelen's possessed body tilted its head, studying me. "You care about him, don't you? Even though he rejected you?"
"Yes," I said honestly.
"How touching. But caring won't save him. Only one thing will."
"What?"
Kaelen's silver eyes locked onto mine. "Kill me."
The words hit me like a punch to the stomach. "What?"
"Kill Sylas. That's the only way to break the spell and save your precious Alpha."
"I can't kill anyone!"
"Then Kaelen dies. And after him, Lucien. Then Darius. Then your mother. I'll make you watch them all suffer before I finally take you home."
"There has to be another way," I said desperately.
"There is." Elder Mira's voice was barely a whisper. "But you won't like it."
"Tell me."
"You have to let Sylas into your mind. Let him see your memories, your thoughts. Show him who you really are."
"That's suicide," Alpha Orion said. "If he gets into her head—"
"He might remember the man he used to be," Elder Mira finished. "Before the pain and anger consumed him."
Kaelen's possessed form laughed again. "Oh, how precious. You think showing me your little life will make me change my mind?"
"It might," I said, surprising myself with how steady my voice sounded. "If you really are my father."
"I'm nothing like the man who fell in love with your mother," Kaelen's body growled. "That man was weak. I am strong."
"Prove it," I challenged. "If you're so strong, you won't be afraid to see what I want to show you."
The silver eyes flashed for just a moment, and I could see a hint of Kaelen underneath.
"Fine," Sylas said through Kaelen's mouth. "Show me."
---
I closed my eyes and reached for the warm feeling the necklace had given me. Slowly, carefully, I opened my mind.
And immediately screamed.
Pain like I'd never felt before flooded through me. It was like someone was pouring fire directly into my brain. But worse than the pain were the images that came with it.
Sylas's memories.
Houses burning. People screaming. A woman with eyes like mine crying as she held a baby. My mom. Trying to save my father as a child during the attack on their pack.
And then I saw something that made my blood freeze.
Alpha Orion. Eighteen years younger, leading the attack that destroyed Sylas's pack.
"Now you know," Sylas whispered in my mind. "Now you know who really destroyed your family."
I opened my eyes and looked at Alpha Orion, my heart breaking.
"You," I whispered. "You led the attack that killed my father's pack."
"Elara—" he started.
"YOU KILLED MY GRANDMOTHER!" I screamed.
And that's when my powers bursted.