Kiera's POV
"Five years?"
My voice came out barely above a whisper. Thorne Ravenclaw, the most feared wolf in the territory, had been waiting for me for five years?
"You don't believe me." He said it like a fact, not an accusation.
"I don't understand." I pulled the fur closer around my shoulders, suddenly cold despite the fire. "The Hunt happens every year. If you've been coming for five years, why didn't you ever participate?"
"I did participate. Just not officially." He poked at the fire again, sending sparks dancing upward. "I'd come to the Lunar Grounds on the first night, shift to wolf form, and search for one specific scent. Yours. But you were never here."
"Because I was never facing exile before."
"Exactly." His gray eyes found mine across the flames. "I knew my fated mate existed somewhere. Could feel it in my bones. But I also knew she hadn't come of age yet, or wasn't ready, or was living somewhere far from here. So I waited."
The loneliness in his voice made my chest ache. Five years of coming to the Hunt alone, searching for someone who never appeared, going back to this cave empty-handed.
"Then this year," he continued, "your scent hit me before the Hunt even officially began. I was in my cabin at the territory border when it reached me. Pine needles and moonlight and something else, something that made my wolf go absolutely wild."
"Prophetic fire," I said quietly.
His eyes sharpened. "So you know what you are."
"I know what I am." Bitterness crept into my voice. "Everyone who discovers it ends up rejecting me."
Thorne was quiet for a moment. "Tell me why he did it. The first one. Damon."
I didn't want to talk about it. Didn't want to relive the humiliation and pain. But something about sitting in this firelit cave with a male who'd waited five years for me made the words spill out.
"We were together for three months. He claimed me as his fated mate during the autumn equinox ceremony in front of the whole pack. I thought I'd found my forever." My laugh sounded broken even to my own ears. "Then one night, we were intimate, and my eyes changed. Flashed silver instead of gold. The Oracle mark."
Thorne's expression darkened but he stayed silent, letting me continue.
"He pulled away from me like I'd burned him. Asked what I was. When I told him about the visions I'd been having, about my mother's hidden bloodline, he looked at me like I was something dangerous. Something that needed to be controlled or eliminated." I wrapped my arms around myself. "Three days later, he rejected me publicly. Said he needed a Luna who served the pack, not one the pack must serve."
"He was afraid," Thorne said quietly.
"Of me?"
"Of what you could do to his authority. Alphas rule through absolute power. Having a mate who could see possible futures, who could challenge his decisions with prophecy, terrified him."
I'd suspected as much, but hearing it confirmed still hurt. "The second rejection was worse."
"Cade."
"How did you know?"
"I can smell him on you. Old pain." His jaw clenched. "What did he do?"
"He claimed me under the pretense of protecting family honor. Said he wouldn't let his brother's mistake define me." The memory made me feel sick. "But he didn't want a mate. He wanted possession. When I refused to be his secret while he publicly courted someone else, he rejected me at a pack gathering. Called me damaged goods that not even a second son would keep."
Fire flashed in Thorne's eyes, dangerous and barely controlled. "And the third?"
"Ryker Nightshade." My voice went flat. "That one cut deepest because I actually started to trust him. He found me in the neutral city after I fled the Ironclad pack. Offered protection, a place in his pack, revenge against those who'd hurt me. I thought he understood me."
"But he didn't."
"He orchestrated everything from the beginning. Used me to spy on the Ironclads, gathering information through my Oracle visions. I discovered he was already mated to someone else, some political alliance he kept secret. When I confronted him, he rejected me with cold calculation. Said I was always just a tool, and I'd served my purpose."
Silence filled the cave except for the crackling fire.
Then Thorne spoke, his voice low and dangerous. "I'm going to kill all three of them."
"What?"
"Maybe not literally. Probably not literally." He met my eyes. "But they're going to regret what they did to you. That's a promise."
Despite everything, I almost smiled. "You can't just go around threatening Alphas."
"I'm not threatening. I'm stating facts." He leaned back against the cave wall. "And I'm not afraid of Alphas. They're afraid of me."
"Why were you exiled?" The question burst out before I could stop it. "The stories say you went feral, that you attacked your own pack. But you don't seem crazy."
"Crazy is subjective." His smile was sharp and bitter. "But no, I didn't go feral. I discovered something the Council desperately wanted to keep hidden, and I refused to play along."
"What did you discover?"
He studied me for a long moment, as if deciding whether to trust me. Finally, he spoke.
"I was nineteen. Firstborn son of the Silvercrest Alpha, training to inherit the position. One night, I overheard my father and Elder Steelclaw discussing a problem. A twelve-year-old girl in the outer territories was showing signs of Oracle blood. They were planning to eliminate her quietly, make it look like a rogue attack."
My blood ran cold. "They were going to kill a child?"
"They'd been doing it for two hundred years." His voice was hard as stone. "The Oracle Purge everyone thinks ended centuries ago? It never stopped. The Council just got better at hiding it. Any wolf showing Oracle signs was hunted down and murdered to prevent their prophecies from challenging Alpha authority."
Horror washed over me. "But that's..."
"Evil? Yes." He stared into the fire. "I confronted my father. Told him I wouldn't allow it. That killing children to protect Alpha pride was monstrous. He gave me an order: kill the girl myself to prove my loyalty, or be branded unfit for leadership."
"What did you do?"
"I helped her escape. Got her to the neutral territories where the Council couldn't reach her. Then I went back and told my father exactly what I thought of his orders." His smile was cold. "He declared me too dangerous to control, too unstable for Alpha status. Had me publicly exiled with these brands burned into my skin to mark me as outcast."
I looked at the exile marks on his shoulder, seeing them in a new light. Not marks of shame, but marks of honor. He'd sacrificed everything to save a child.
"The stories all said you were mad," I whispered.
"Because that's what they wanted everyone to believe. Can't have wolves knowing the real reason I was cast out, or they might start asking questions about other mysterious deaths over the years." He laughed bitterly. "So yes, maybe I am mad. Mad enough to choose a child's life over power and status."
My opinion of him shifted completely. This wasn't a monster. This was someone who'd done the right thing and paid the price for it.
"You said your mother's name was Elena Ashenvale," Thorne said quietly.
I nodded. "She died giving birth to me. My father doesn't like to talk about her."
Thorne went completely still, his expression shifting from thoughtful to something darker. Something that looked like old grief mixed with fresh understanding.
"Your mother was Elena Ashenvale?" he repeated slowly.
"Yes. Why?"
His eyes met mine across the fire, and what I saw there made my heart stop.
"Because Elena Ashenvale was the name of my mother's sister. Your mother wasn't just an Oracle." His voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "She was my aunt. Which means you're not just my fated mate, Kiera."
He leaned forward, firelight casting shadows across his scarred face.
"You're my cousin. And I know exactly why those three Alphas rejected you. Because the Council has been hunting your specific bloodline for decades, and they finally found you."