The cavern split like bone beneath pressure.
As though the earth itself were exorcising something that had been hidden for too long, a howling wind screamed through the runes as it exploded out the hole in the stone. Brilliant, silvery, throbbing light poured upward, illuminating Rowan's torso in an unnatural way.
Then came the shadow.
It stepped from the cracked altar like it had always been waiting there.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Eyes made of molten amber. His body shimmered with the shape of a wolf and a man layered together, half-shifted, caught in a form no living Alpha should possess.
He didn't walk. He drifted.
Additionally, his voice had the sound of thunder shattering beneath the ocean when he spoke.
"Blood has called me. Moon has named me. What pack dares summon the First Alpha of the Echo?"
I couldn't speak.
Couldn't breathe.
Jace stepped forward slowly. "Echo… as in the lost line?"
My father, Thorne, bowed deeply. "Alpha Kaelen. We seek the truth buried in your blood."
The figure tilted its head. "Truth is a blade, Vale-blood. Are you ready to bleed for it?"
With his eyes blazing with starfire and pure black, Rowan hung in midair in the middle of the sigil circle. He didn't say anything, but his mouth was open.
Kaelen looked at me, the soul, the echo, the spirit within him.
"Your mate's child carries my memory. My strength. My wrath."
"Why?" I choked out. "Why him?"
"Because my descendants abandoned me," the echo growled. "They chose council law over blood instinct. They sealed me in bone and ash. Buried me in the lineage of the quiet ones."
"Quiet ones?"
"Omegas."
My pulse spiked.
"Wait—you're saying you were"
"I was never meant to be silenced," Kaelen said. "So I made sure my blood would return through a bonded heir. One unclaimed by the council. One born of broken paths."
Jace clenched his fists. "You used our son."
"No," the echo said. "I became him."
Thorne stepped forward. "If you remain inside him, he'll burn. His body isn't ready."
"Then prepare him," Kaelen snapped. "Or he will die. And the last of my line will be lost forever."
A surge of light exploded from Rowan's chest, sending Jace and me tumbling backward.
The runes shattered.
The air crackled with electric pressure.
And then.
Darkness.
I opened my eyes and gasped.
We weren't in the cave anymore.
We were somewhere else.
A vision realm.
The sky was a whirling aurora of gold, silver, and red, while the ground was black stone. Silent ghosts passed us, hollow-eyed wolves howling and disappearing into the moonlight.
Beside me, Jace pushed up onto one knee, blinking.
"What the hell…"
"Don't move," Thorne said, appearing behind us. "We're inside the echo."
"The… what now?"
"Rowan's spirit has merged with Kaelen's memory," he explained. "We're walking his past."
A wolf passed through me.
Cold flooded my bones.
"He doesn't just carry an imprint," Thorne said. "He's the reincarnation of the last primal Alpha."
Jace went still.
"No. He's our son."
"He's both."
We reached a clearing—a massive stone circle, ancient and broken. Warriors stood in formation. A council of elders watched from jagged thrones. And at the center…
Kaelen.
Alive. Whole.
Bleeding from a bite mark on his neck.
Another Alpha stood across from him.
My eyes widened.
"Is that…?"
"My brother," Thorne said quietly. "Your uncle. The one who broke the bond."
"What bond?"
"Kaelen was mated to a rogue," he said. "An Omega from outside the packs. When they refused to separate, the council tore them apart. Forced a severing."
Jace's eyes darkened. "That's why he cursed the bloodline."
Thorne nodded. "He vowed that his heir would never be governed by law again. That the next Alpha of his line would rise when the council's corruption reached its peak."
"Rowan," I whispered.
The aurora overhead pulsed brighter.
"Then why us?" Jace asked. "Why Quinn and me?"
Thorne met my gaze.
"Because you're his blood, Quinn. Your mother never told you."
The world spun.
"I'm descended from… Kaelen?"
"You're the last Vale of pure instinct blood," he said. "That makes Rowan… the key to the old order."
The vision began to break.
Wolves howled.
The skies rained blood.
With his lips agape in a silent roar, Kaelen stood above the body of a traitor.
Then everything went white.
I woke to Rowan gasping beneath me.
He clutched his head, screaming.
"Papa!" He cried. "He's in my head—he won't stop—it's too loud!"
Jace pulled him close. "We're here, Rowan. You're safe. Stay with us."
Rowan looked up.
And his voice was layered—part his, part Kaelen's.
"They're coming."
My breath hitched.
"Who?"
"The wolves who remember. The ones who never left the old way."
"Rogues?" Jace asked.
Rowan shook his head slowly.
"Worse."
Then the wind howled.
And fire erupted just outside the cave.