The corridor outside the Seer's chamber smelled like fire and salt.
I hadn't told anyone about Celeste. Not about her words. Not about the forest. Not even about the second mark still burning beneath my shirt.
Two threads pulled.
And the third waiting like a blade.
The compound was too quiet as I moved toward the healer's wing. A kind of hush that didn't feel
peaceful. It felt expectant—like the entire pack was holding its breath.
When I reached the door, the guards stepped aside without a word.
The Seer was awake.
I stepped into the room, heart already pounding.
She was standing in the center, back straight, arms at her sides. Her eyes were glowing—bright
white, not gold. Her lips were moving in silent murmurs, like she was still talking to something only she could see.
Elder Maren stood in the corner, arms folded, face tight with worry.
"She hasn't spoken aloud since sunrise," Maren said quietly. "But she hasn't stopped whispering."
I didn't speak. My wolf was already pushing at my skin, pacing.
The Seer's head snapped toward me.
She spoke one word—my name.
Not just Rory.
"Auroria."
My breath caught.
That name hadn't been spoken aloud in years. Not since I was a child. Not since before I was placed with the Beta family. I didn't even remember telling anyone it existed.
The Seer took a step forward. Her eyes didn't blink. Her feet were bare, but she moved like she was being pulled by something invisible.
"Three threads," she whispered. "One flame. You've already pulled two."
My mark burned.
I flinched, gripping the sleeve over my shoulder.
"What does that mean?" I asked. "What threads? What flame?"
The Seer stopped in front of me.
"You were hidden for a reason," she said, her voice hoarse. "But the curse found you anyway."
"Hidden?" My voice cracked.
She touched my chest with two fingers. The pressure felt cold and hot at the same time—like moonlight turned into ice.
"You are the key," she said. "And the door."
Maren moved, but the Seer raised her other hand. The elder stopped instantly.
"I don't understand," I said. "Why me? What curse?"
"You weren't born cursed," the Seer said. "You were born… unfinished."
A deep pulse moved through the room, like thunder buried underground.
My knees buckled.
The Seer gripped my arm and hissed, "The third will come soon. You cannot stop it. You can only survive it."
"Who is it?" I breathed. "Riven?"
The Seer blinked, and her voice dropped into something darker. Older.
"One will love. One will break. One will burn."
Before I could ask another question, my vision went white.
The next thing I knew, I was flat on the stone floor, gasping for air.
Maren knelt beside me, shouting for help.
I couldn't hear her. My head was filled with rushing sound. Like wind in a tunnel. My mark throbbed, and a strange heat was spreading through my spine—like something was waking up inside me that didn't belong.
The Seer's voice echoed in my skull.
"You are the key."
And then… another voice.
Celeste's.
But not distant. Not in a dream.
This felt different.
Closer.
Real.
"There is no balance without a burn," she whispered.
My entire body jerked.
My fingers dug into the floor.
And then—
Darkness.
I woke in the healer's hall.
Alone.
A cloth soaked in cold water rested on my forehead. The lanterns were low. Outside the window, dusk was already falling.
I sat up slowly.
Everything hurt.
Not like pain from wounds.
Deeper.
Like my own body was struggling to stay mine.
My wolf stirred again. Restless. Overheated.
The bonds weren't silent. Both marks pulsed now—Kael's and Thorne's—alive under my skin. I could feel where each one pressed into me. Not fighting, not yet. But close.
I pulled my sleeve down to check them again.
Still glowing.
Still mine.
The Seer's words twisted in my head.
One will love. One will break. One will burn.
I didn't know which was which.
I was halfway to the door when shouting echoed from outside.
Two voices.
Male.
Angry.
I stepped into the corridor just in time to see Kael slam Thorne into the stone wall hard enough to crack it.
Thorne shoved him off and lunged back, fists raised.
"You think this is helping her?" Kael growled.
"You think pretending you're in control is?" Thorne snapped.
Their wolves were showing. Not fully shifted, but close—gold flashing in Kael's eyes, dark red in Thorne's. Claws unsheathed. Muscles tense. Both radiating power that made the air vibrate.
No one dared step between them.
Except one.
Riven.
He leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, expression unreadable. His eyes flicked from one brother to the other like he was watching a chess match, not a blood feud.
He saw me before they did.
But he didn't react.
He just watched.
Kael caught sight of me next—and the fury in his expression faltered. He turned halfway toward me, breathing hard.
Thorne followed his gaze.
They both froze.
I didn't say a word.
I just turned and walked back into the healer's wing.
I didn't want to be seen like this. Marked by both. Eyes full of someone else's guilt. I wasn't a prize. I wasn't a Luna. I didn't know what I was anymore.
Only that something was changing inside me.
And I didn't know how to stop it.
I stayed hidden in the small chamber for the rest of the evening.
No one came for me.
Not Kael.
Not Thorne.
Not the Seer.
I almost convinced myself I was alone.
Until the door creaked open.
I turned fast, ready to snap.
But it wasn't a guard.
It wasn't an elder.
It was him.
Riven.
He didn't knock.
He just stepped inside and shut the door behind him.
His eyes swept the room.
I didn't move.
Neither did he.
Finally, he spoke.
His voice was calm.
Sharp.
Final.
"It's my turn."
Riven closed the door behind him with the kind of silence that made the air feel thinner.
No announcement. No explanation.
Just his presence—calm, cool, and razor-sharp.
I stood in the center of the small healer's chamber, every muscle locked. My wolf was already on
alert, pressing at the edges of my skin, pacing like she couldn't decide if he was prey or predator.
His eyes swept over me. Not with lust. Not with anger. Just... awareness. Calculating.
"You shouldn't be here," I said, my voice lower than I intended.
"I disagree," Riven replied.
He stepped further in, slow and deliberate, hands in his coat pockets like this was a conversation over tea instead of the edge of something violent.
"I don't want another fight," I warned.
"Neither do I," he said simply. "But you need to hear this."
I crossed my arms. "I've heard enough lately."
His mouth twitched. Almost a smile. "I haven't said anything yet."
The tension between us was thick. Not the same kind I had with Kael or Thorne. With them, the bond felt like gravity—pulling me, constant, alive.
But Riven's?
It was quieter. Like a shadow that waited until you stopped looking before it moved.
He stopped a few feet in front of me.
"I felt it when the Seer said your real name," he said. "Auroria."
I didn't flinch, but the name still sounded foreign. Like someone else's story, I was now stuck inside.
"I've known it for longer than you think," he added.
That got my attention.
I narrowed my eyes. "How?"
"She whispered it in her sleep weeks ago," Riven said. "The night after the Moon Festival. Right
before she passed out."
I stared at him.
"You never told anyone?"
"I'm not a fan of repeating things I don't understand." He stepped a little closer. "I wanted to
know what it meant. And now I do."
I shook my head. "You don't know anything about what this feels like."
He didn't argue.
He just looked at me, gaze hard, like he was stripping the layers away one at a time.
"You're holding them both," he said. "Kael and Thorne. And it's already tearing you apart."
My breath caught.
"You think adding a third will make it easier?" I snapped.
"No," he said. "I think adding me might end it."
The room felt smaller all at once.
My shoulder began to warm. Faintly. A buzz, not a burn.
I took a step back.
But Riven followed.
"I've been fighting this bond since the day it sparked," he said. "Not because I didn't want you.
But because I knew once I did—really did—I wouldn't be able to stop."
The words hit like a match to dry grass.
My pulse raced.
The bond between us flared. Just a ripple. Not a surge. But enough to make my wolf growl softly beneath my ribs.
He was closer now.
"If you want me to leave," Riven said, "say it now."
I opened my mouth.
But nothing came out.
He took that as permission.
Riven reached for my hand—slowly, deliberately—and brushed his fingers against mine.
That single touch was enough.
My skin lit up with heat. Not fire. Not pain. But something older. Something curious.
My knees wobbled.
And then he vanished.
______________________________________________________________________________
The room vanished.
I was somewhere else.
Standing in a burned field.
The sky above was red, bleeding into black. Smoke curled in the distance. Fires crackled.
Screams echoed.
And in the middle of it all—a figure.
Me.
But not.
Older. Stronger. Blood on her hands. Eyes glowing gold and white. Two marks burning on her
shoulder.
No.
Three.
And behind her…
Three bodies.
Kael. Thorne. Riven.
All motionless.
I screamed.
I snapped back into the room gasping, eyes wide, heart thundering.
Riven still held my hand. But his expression had changed. He'd felt it too.
"What the hell was that?" I whispered.
He didn't answer right away.
Then, softly, "A glimpse."
"Of what?"
"Your future. Or your failure."
I jerked my hand back. The mark on my shoulder pulsed hard—like it was warning me.
"You're part of this," I said. "The prophecy. The Gate. All of it."
He nodded once. "We all are."
"But why now?" I asked. "Why you? Why me?"
Riven finally looked uncertain.
"Because something ancient is pushing this forward," he said. "And we're just pieces on the
board."
He moved toward the door.
"Wait," I said, my voice rough. "You came here to start this. To trigger the bond."
"I came here," Riven said without turning, "because I know what happens if I don't."
He opened the door, paused, then glanced back at me.
"You felt what I did," he said. "And next time... we won't stop."
Then he was gone.
I stood in the silence, breath still uneven.
My mark throbbed under my skin. Not glowing—but awake.
I looked down.
Kael's symbol.
Thorne's symbol.
And now?
A third.
Not complete.
But twinkling.
Waiting.
__________________________________________________________________________
I woke up gasping.
Not from a dream.
From heat.
My shoulder was on fire. Not like when Thorne touched me. Not like Kael's first mark. This was
different—wilder, hotter, like it wasn't coming from outside but from inside me. I sat up too fast,
the room spinning.
The robe I'd slept in clung to my skin, damp with sweat. I yanked it aside and stared at my
shoulder.
The marks glowed.
Both of them.
Kael's and Thorne's were blazing, like they were in competition.
Then I felt it.
A third pressure.
Not a glow. Not yet. Just... tension. Building near my spine.
I stood fast, dizzy, heart racing. Something was wrong. Off-balance. Like the air itself had tilted.
I grabbed my boots and shoved them on, still half-dressed, and darted into the hallway.
The healers' wing was silent.
Too silent.
The Seer's chamber was just ahead. I turned sharply and shoved the door open—
Empty.
The cot was overturned. Sheets on the floor. A bowl of water spilled across the stone, seeping
into the dust.
But no, Seer.
No guards.
No scent.
She was gone.
I backed out, my heartbeat hammering, then bolted toward the northern hall. A pair of sentries
passed me, talking in low voices.
"—don't know how she slipped past—"
"—checked the courtyard and the tower. Nothing."
I grabbed one by the arm. "The Seer. Where is she?"
They both looked startled.
"She's missing," one finally admitted. "Left before dawn. No one saw."
I turned without another word and ran.
The forest was colder than before.
And I felt everything.
The wind. The roots. The shift in every birdcall. My wolf was closer than she'd ever been, her
awareness bleeding into mine so thickly I almost couldn't tell where I stopped and she began.
But even with that—
I couldn't feel her.
The Seer was gone.
No trail.
No scent.
Just absence.
I gripped a tree to catch my breath, blinking against the sharp burn at the top of my spine.
Then it happened.
The third bond pulsed.
No contact.
No voice.
Just fire—branding heat licking down my back.
I cried out, stumbling forward, clawing at my shoulder blades.
But there was no one behind me.
No, Riven.
Just the bond—reaching, claiming, marking.
It wasn't done.
But it had started.
I fell to my knees.
A scream caught in my throat.
Not mine.
Kael's.
It echoed from somewhere deep in the woods—followed by a crash.
Then Thorne's voice, close behind. "You felt it too?"
Another shout.
Then silence.
They were hunting each other.
Or him.
Riven.
I pushed myself up, legs shaking, and staggered back toward the clearing.
Something buzzed in my skull. Not sound. A symbol. One I didn't recognize. Not a rune from the
pack. Not from the old texts.
It glowed behind my eyelids every time I blinked.
My hands trembled.
Then—
A whisper.
"Rory..."
I spun.
No one there.
Then my knees buckled.
The world shifted sideways.
I fell, landing hard on my side.
And in that second—
I saw it.
A door.
Tall. Black. Etched with silver.
It hovered in a void of ash.
And behind it—
A scream.
A child's cry.
The same one from my earliest dreams.
The same one from the prophecy.
"Three threads. One flame."
The door opened.
And light poured out.
Not golden.
Not pure.
Red.
______________________________________________________________________________
I woke to the burn.
Not in my shoulder.
Not from the bond.
But lower.
Across my spine.
I reached back with shaking fingers and hissed in pain.
There was something etched into my skin.
New.
It wasn't Kael.
It wasn't Thorne.
And it wasn't Riven.
It was older.
Unfamiliar.
Unchosen.