The moment Julian spoke those words—“You might be born from it”—the world tilted beneath Lexi’s feet.

She stood frozen on the Blackwood estate steps, her heart pounding so violently she could hear the echo of it in her ears. The distant rustle of wind in the trees faded to a low hum as the weight of Julian’s revelation took root.

“What… what are you saying?” she asked slowly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Julian didn’t answer right away. He was staring at her like she had just changed before his eyes.

Because maybe… she had.

“Your scent changed last night,” he said finally. “After the kiss. After the storm. At first, I thought it was the forest lingering on your skin. But now… it’s different. Wilder. Sharper.”

Lexi took a step back. “Julian, I’m human.”

His gaze didn’t waver. “Are you?”

She swallowed hard. “I’ve never shifted. Never had dreams of running through the woods or howling at the moon. I bleed, I bruise, I cry—how could I not be human?”

“Not all bloodlines awaken the same way,” Julian said. “Some lie dormant for generations. Waiting for a trigger. A trauma. A bond.”

“A bond?” she repeated.

Julian’s voice dropped, nearly a growl. “If you and I are connected… if something ancient in you recognized something ancient in me… it could explain everything.”

Lexi’s knees went weak. She sat on the stone steps, wrapping her arms around herself. “This is insane.”

“I know it sounds like it,” Julian said gently, crouching beside her. “But I’ve seen it before. Mixed blood. Dormant traits. Shifters who never knew what they were until it was too late.”

Lexi looked up at him, searching his eyes for any sign of a lie. There was none.

“But why now? Why me?”

Julian hesitated. “You said your parents died in a fire, right?”

Lexi’s heart twisted. “Yeah… I was seven. They said it was an accident.”

“Do you remember anything… strange? Before the fire? Anything about your family that never quite added up?”

Images flickered through her mind. Her mother’s whispering in strange tongues late at night. Her father’s silver rings etched with symbols he never explained. The way they always warned her never to go outside during a full moon.

“I thought they were just… superstitious,” she murmured.

“They were protecting you,” Julian said. “They knew.”

Lexi’s stomach churned. “If I’m really part of this… why didn’t they tell me?”

“Because they were afraid,” Julian said quietly. “They didn’t want the curse to touch you. But something has stirred now. And the rogue… he senses it. He smells your change. That’s why he’s hunting you.”

She shivered despite the rising sun.

“Then what do we do?” she asked.

Julian stood and offered her his hand. “We go to the Blackwood crypt.”

Lexi stared at him. “That’s not creepy at all.”

“It’s where the answers are.”

---

The Blackwood crypt was hidden beneath a stone chapel at the edge of the estate grounds. Time had withered the walls, and vines crept up the stained-glass windows like fingers trying to block out the light. Inside, dust choked the air, and ancient carvings lined the walls—wolves, moons, eyes watching from trees.

Lexi followed Julian down the narrow stone stairs into the earth, her footsteps echoing with every step. At the bottom was a vast underground chamber, lit only by flickering torches set into the walls.

In the center stood a black stone altar covered in markings—runes, claw marks… and bloodstains.

Julian knelt before it. “This is the Heartstone,” he said. “Every Blackwood who ever turned shed their blood here. It records the bloodlines. Keeps the memories.”

Lexi’s skin prickled. “You want me to touch it?”

“If your blood carries the mark,” Julian said, looking up at her, “we’ll know.”

Lexi approached the stone, pulse racing. Her hand trembled as she extended it, hovering just above the surface. The air around the altar shimmered—charged, humming like a swarm of invisible bees.

She lowered her palm.

The moment her skin met the cold stone, the runes glowed.

A pulse rippled through the chamber, throwing back Julian’s hair and extinguishing the torches all at once. Lexi gasped as the world spun. The air smelled like pine and lightning. And then—

She saw them.

Two wolves. One black as shadow, one silver as starlight, circling each other beneath a blood-red moon. She felt the power of them—rage, grief, longing—all wrapped in one furious bond.

And she saw a woman.

Her mother.

Cloaked in gray, standing in the clearing, whispering to the wind.

“Run, Lexi,” she said. “Run and never look back.”

Lexi was yanked back into her body like a fish on a line. She staggered away from the altar, breathing hard, her heart thundering.

Julian caught her.

“What did you see?” he asked, steadying her.

“My mother,” she whispered. “She was part of it. She knew.”

Julian’s jaw clenched. “Then you’re not just connected to this, Lexi. You’re born of it. You’re one of us.”

Lexi looked down at her hand. The skin where she’d touched the stone was marked now—three small slashes shaped like a crescent moon, glowing faintly beneath her skin.

“I’m changing,” she breathed. “It’s already begun.”

“Yes,” Julian said. “And the rogue will sense it soon—if he hasn’t already.”

Lexi looked up at him, fear and determination warring in her eyes. “Then we stop him. Before he stops me.”

Julian didn’t smile, but the fire in his eyes flared like moonlight on a blade. “You’re not alone anymore, Lexi. Whatever happens next… we face it together.”

Above them, the wind howled.

And deep in the woods, something answered.