The first time I lost control, the moon was full.
Cassian had warned me.
"Full moons amplify what's already inside you," he said earlier that evening, watching the sky darken from the ridge above camp. "If the silver is tied to lunar energy, tonight it will surface."
Surface.
That was a gentle word for what happened.
By midnight, the air felt charged—electric against my skin. Every sound was sharper. Every scent overwhelming. The forest pulsed with restless energy, and my wolf paced inside me like a storm trapped in bone.
"Shift," Cassian ordered calmly.
We stood in a clearing far from the others. He had insisted we train alone tonight.
I nodded and let it happen.
The change ripped through me—bones snapping, muscles stretching—but instead of pain, there was heat.
Blinding silver heat.
When my paws hit the earth, the world went silent.
Not normal wolf silence.
Reverent silence.
My fur shimmered pale under the moonlight—not grey, not white.
Silver.
Cassian exhaled slowly. "By the Goddess…"
I tried to step forward—
Power exploded outward.
A shockwave burst from my body, sending leaves spiraling and knocking Cassian back several feet. He landed hard but rolled smoothly to his feet, eyes wide—not with fear.
With awe.
I panicked.
I hadn't meant to hurt him.
My wolf howled, but the sound that tore from my throat wasn't a normal howl.
It echoed.
Layered.
As if something ancient howled with me.
The moonlight intensified, pouring over my body like liquid metal. Energy coursed through my veins faster and faster until it felt like I would tear apart from it.
Then—
I saw it.
A vision.
Not with my eyes.
With my blood.
A woman stood before me in flowing silver robes, her wolf identical to mine. Warriors knelt around her. An entire pack bowed their heads as she lifted her chin—not submissive.
Commanding.
A Luna.
Not beside an Alpha.
But equal.
The image shattered.
I collapsed back into human form, gasping on the forest floor.
Cassian was beside me instantly.
"Aria."
His hands hovered but didn't touch until I nodded.
"That wasn't normal," I rasped.
"No," he agreed quietly. "It wasn't."
I pushed myself upright, trembling. "What did you see?"
"Your wolf." His voice was steady but weighted. "She's not just rare. She's ancestral."
The word settled heavily between us.
"I saw something," I admitted. "A woman. Wolves kneeling."
Cassian's jaw tightened slightly. "The Silver Moonline."
I looked at him sharply. "You know it?"
"Only as myth," he said. "Ancient Lunas who didn't draw power from their mates… but from the moon itself. Leaders in their own right."
My pulse thundered.
Draven's voice echoed in my memory.
She is weak.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
"If this is weakness," I whispered, staring at my shaking hands, "I'd hate to see strength."
Cassian's lips twitched faintly. Then his expression softened.
"They feared you," he said.
"Who?"
"Your pack."
The idea made my stomach twist.
"No," I said automatically. "Draven rejected me because—"
"Because he believed something he was told." Cassian's tone sharpened slightly. "You don't reject power like that unless someone convinces you it's dangerous."
Dangerous.
The silver hummed faintly under my skin, as if agreeing.
I looked toward the moon.
For the first time in my life, I didn't feel abandoned beneath it.
I felt chosen.
Later that night, long after the camp quieted, Cassian sat beside the fire with me.
"You don't have to go back," he said quietly.
Back.
Mooncrest.
Draven.
The humiliation.
"I'm not going back," I said at first.
But even as I spoke, something tugged faintly inside my chest.
A thread.
Thin.
Unbroken.
Cassian noticed my expression.
"The bond," he said softly.
I nodded.
"I thought it snapped."
"So did I," he admitted. "But I can smell it. Faint. Suppressed."
Hope flared—dangerous and unwelcome.
"Suppressed how?"
"That," Cassian said grimly, "is something only an Alpha with something to hide would attempt."
The implication chilled me.
If the bond never truly broke…
Then what had that ceremony been?
And why did the moon still whisper his name when I slept?
Cassian rose, offering his hand.
"You're stronger now," he said. "Stronger than you realize."
I took his hand, steadying myself.
"And if they come for you," he added quietly, "they'll find you no longer kneeling."
A breeze swept through the clearing, cool and alive.
The silver inside me pulsed once more—calmer now.
Awake.
Somewhere beyond rogue lands, an Alpha tossed in restless sleep, clutching at phantom pain.
But here, beneath the open sky—
I was no longer the rejected girl.
I was awakening.
And the next time I stood before Alpha Draven Blackthorn…
He would see exactly what he tried to cast aside.