Kira's POV

I was running through the dark bush when the world exploded behind me.

A bright flash lit up the sky where the pack house stood. Then came the sound—like thunder and breaking glass mixed together. I stumbled and fell, my knees hitting the muddy ground hard.

"What was that?" I whispered to Ember, my wolf.

But Ember was still acting strange. Ever since my power had burst out during Marcus's rejection, she felt different. Stronger. More awake than she'd been in years.

Danger, she whispered in my mind. Something bad is happening. We need to run faster.

I pushed myself up and kept running. Rain poured down through the trees, soaking me to the bone. Lightning flashed overhead, making scary shadows dance around me.

But I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened in the pack house. About the look on Marcus's face when he refused me. About the bright light that had exploded from my body.

Where had that power come from?

I'd always been weak. Everyone said so. The cursed omega who killed her mother. The girl who couldn't do anything right.

But that light... it had made everyone in the room stronger. I'd seen it happen. Old wolves stood taller. Injured people healed immediately. Even the plants near the windows had looked better.

How was that possible?

Another flash of lightning showed me a small cave up ahead. I ducked inside, cold and scared. At least it was dry.

I sat down on the rocky floor and wrapped my arms around my legs. For the first time in hours, I let myself really think about what Marcus had said.

"No one wants the omega who killed her mother."

"No one wants damaged goods."

"No one wants the cursed one."

Each word felt like a knife in my heart. But the worst thing was, I'd been expecting it. Deep down, I'd always known this day would come. The day when Marcus would finally say out loud what everyone had been thinking for years.

I was unwanted. Unloved. A mistake that should never have been born.

Tears mixed with rainwater on my face. I tried to wipe them away, but more kept coming.

"Why did you do this to me?" I whispered to the Moon Goddess. "Why did you make me this way?"

But the Moon Goddess didn't answer. She never did.

Ember stirred restlessly in my chest. There's something you need to know, she said quietly.

"What?"

About the night you were born. About what really happened to our mother.

My heart stopped. "What do you mean?"

I've been sleeping for so long, but tonight, when your power woke, some of my old memories came back. Memories from when we were a baby.

"Ember, that's impossible. Wolves don't remember being that young."

Most dogs don't. But we're not most wolves, Kira. We never were.

I felt cold all over. "What are you trying to tell me?"

Our mother didn't die giving birth to us. She died saving us.

The cave spun around me. "What?"

Someone tried to hurt us the night we were born. Someone broke into the birthing room. Our mother fought them off, but she was badly wounded. She used the last of her strength to hide our true smell, to make us seem like a normal omega baby. Then she died.

I couldn't move. "But... but everyone said it was my fault. That I killed her by being born."

They lied. Or maybe they just didn't know the truth. The only other person in that room was...

"Who?" I asked. "Who else was there?"

But before Ember could answer, I heard footsteps outside the cave. Heavy footsteps that didn't belong to any normal wolf.

I pressed myself against the back wall and tried to be as quiet as possible. Maybe whoever it was would just walk past.

But the footsteps stopped right outside the cave opening.

"I know you're in there," a man's voice said. It was smooth and cold, like ice water. "There's no point in hiding."

I didn't move. I didn't even breathe.

"Kira Thorne," the voice continued. "Daughter of Luna Elena Thorne. The girl with the bright light."

How did he know my mother's name? How did he know about my power?

"I've been looking for you for a very long time," the man said. "Twenty-four years, to be exact."

Twenty-four years. Since the night I was born.

Run, Ember whispered frantically. This is the one. The one who killed our mother.

My blood turned to ice. The person who had killed my mother was standing right outside this cave.

"I know what you're thinking," the man continued. "You're asking how I found you. The truth is, I never lost you. I've been watching you your whole life, waiting for your power to rise."

I pressed my hands over my mouth to keep from yelling.

"Your cousin Chelsea has been very helpful over the years. Keeping you weak. Keeping you separated. Making sure you never realized what you really are."

Chelsea? My own cousin had been working with my mother's killer? "But tonight, everything changed. Tonight, your true nature finally showed itself. And now it's time for you to come home."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I called out, trying to make my voice sound brave. "Go away!"

The man laughed, and the sound made my skin crawl.

"Oh, my dear child. You still don't understand, do you? You're not just any omega. You're not even just any wolf. You're something much more special."

A shadow appeared at the cave opening. The man stepped inside, and I got my first look at him.

He was tall and thin, with gray hair and pale skin. But his eyes... his eyes glowed silver like moonlight. Just like in the visions Ember sometimes showed me.

Just like my own eyes when I looked in the mirror sometimes.

"Hello, daughter," the man said softly. "I'm your father. And it's time you learned the truth about what you really are."

The world stopped spinning. Everything went quiet except for the sound of my heart beating in my ears.

Father? This monster who killed my mother was my father? "That's impossible," I mumbled.

He smiled, showing teeth that were too sharp. "Is it? Haven't you ever thought why your power is so different from other wolves? Why you can heal and improve others? Why your eyes sometimes glow silver in the dark?"

I had wondered. I'd wondered all my life.

"You're not fully werewolf, Kira. You're half something else. Something much older and much more powerful."

"What?" The word came out as barely a whisper.

His silver eyes gleamed in the darkness.

"You're half Moon Spirit, child. The first of your kind in a thousand years. And now that your power has awakened, every supernatural thing in the world will be hunting you."

Thunder crashed overhead, and lightning lit up his frightening smile.

"The war for your soul is about to begin."