Selene's POV

The dungeon felt chillier now that I knew I'd never leave it alive. Dawn was just a few hours away, and with it, my demise. I sat on the wet straw, gazing up at the stone walls that would be my last sight.

My fingers shook, but not with fear. Fury ran through me like flames, hot and consuming. Not at Corwin – he was as much a pawn as the rest. My rage was for Kane, the man who had orchestrated this perfect destruction of my existence.

Why? What had I ever done to him to deserve this?

I tried to think back over the years, searching for some slight or hurt that I might have caused him. Kane had always been polite to me, respectful, even. He'd helped my marriage to Corwin and defended me when pack members mocked my lowly birth.

Or had he? I remembered now that Kane's defense had always contained veiled jibes. "Selene has no Alpha blood, but she's caught on well enough." "The Luna's low birth gives certain insight into pack issues universal to all."

Always keeping everyone in mind that I was not a part of it. Always making sure they remembered I was not like them.

Footsteps echoed down the stone staircase, and I tensed. But it was not the executioner come to escort me prematurely to the gallows. It was Sarah, the small servant who had testified against me. She carried a tray of food and water, her pale face strained.

"Luna," she whispered, setting the tray just outside my cell. "I brought you some food."

"I'm not hungry."

"Please. You must keep your strength up."

I laughed harshly. "For what? My death?"

Sarah winced. "Don't say that. Maybe the Alpha will reconsider. Maybe-"

"Sarah." I moved to the bars. "What you said I forbade you to help with the wine. You certain that's what happened?"

The girl's eyes dropped from mine. "I. I was telling the truth."

"Did you? Because I don't remember that conversation at all."

"Memory's strange when you're under stress," Sarah said quickly. "Beta Kane told us all about that. Folks don't always recall things they've done."

Kane, the hundredth time. Kane with his rational explanations.

"Listen to me," I commanded, using the Luna voice I'd accumulated over three years of ordering.

Sarah's eyes darted to mine against her will. I saw fear there, and guilt, and something else. Something that looked almost like.

"Who instructed you to say that?" I asked softly.

"No one. I mean, I just remembered-"

"Sarah. You've been working in my home for two years. You understand that I would never abandon my duties in the midst of a festival. You understand that I always help with the ceremonial wine."

Tears started to flow down the girl's face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Tell me the truth. Who instructed you to lie?"

"I can't." She moved back from the bars. "He threatened. he threatened that my family would be exiled if I did not comply. My little brother is not well. We require the protection of the pack."

My heart sank even as hope sprouted. "Kane threatened you."

Sarah shook her head pathetically. "He said you were dangerous. That you'd killed the prince and would kill others if we didn't do something to stop you. He said it wasn't lying to keep from telling the truth in order to protect the pack."

"And you trusted him?"

"I didn't know what to believe. The evidence seemed so clear. And Beta Kane is always someone we can count on. Why would he lie about something like that?"

That was the question, wasn't it? Why would Kane kill me so completely?

"Sarah, listen to me. I didn't murder Marcus. You are being led to falsely accuse me of murder. When the truth comes out-"

"The truth?" Sarah swiped at her eyes. "Luna, you will be dead at dawn. What truth could possibly matter now?"

Before I could say a word, other footsteps descended the stairs. Heavy boots. Several sets. Sarah grabbed her tray and fled, leaving me to deal with three figures who entered the dungeon.

Kane was at the lead, followed by Elder Morrison and the pack's executioner, a huge man named Garrett who handled the pack's dirtiest business. They stood in front of my cell, their faces grim in the light of the torches.

"It's time," Kane declared.

"Dawn is still two hours away."

"Plans were changed. The pack becomes restless. Alpha Corwin thought it was best to handle this quietly, before emotions get out of control."

I stood up slowly, legs shaking but voice firm. "How considerate of him."

Kane unlocked my cell with silver keys, and Garrett stepped forward with chains to restrain my wolf. Metal burned against my skin as they encircled my wrists and ankles.

"Last words?" Morrison requested, his voice proper and cold.

"Yes." I stared directly at Kane. "I know what you did."

His expression did not change. "You poisoned Prince Marcus. That's what I did – I found the evidence and brought a murderer to justice."

"You planted the evidence. You intimidated the witnesses. You staged the entire thing."

"Grief does funny things to people's minds," Kane said sorrowfully. "Sometimes they create complicated fantasies so they don't have to face their guilt."

"Then say this," I said as they began to drag me towards the stairs. "Why? What did I ever do to make you so angry with me?"

For a moment, Kane's mask fell. I saw something dark and hungry flash across his blue eyes. "You were there," he whispered. "That was enough."

They pulled me up the stairs and through the empty corridors of the pack house. All were asleep or engaged in avoiding the unpleasant chore of execution. We emerged into the night, and I saw the hastily erected platform in the central courtyard.

There was a chopping block in the center, dark stains already marking the wood. Garrett's axe stood against it, its blade so sharp the light of the moon reflected off of it. At least it would be quick.

"Where's Corwin?" I asked as they shoved me toward the platform.

"The Alpha didn't feel like he needed to be present at the execution," Morrison replied. "He thought that it would be. too difficult."

Even so, even after sentencing me to death, Corwin could not let me be killed. Half of me was relieved. Half of me seethed that he could sentence me and not suffer the consequence of his sentence.

They pushed me to my knees beside the block. Garrett came up, his face hidden behind an executioner's hood. His hands were unshaking as he lifted the axe, balancing it in his palm.

"Any final prayers to the moon goddess?" Morrison asked.

I let my head fall back to look at the blood moon still hanging in the air. The same one that had witnessed Marcus's death. The same one that would now witness my death.

"Goddess," I breathed, "if you can hear me, do not make my death meaningless. Let the truth unravel somehow. Let justice catch the actual killer."

"Nice words," Kane shot back. "But the real murderer is going to get what she deserves."

I closed my eyes and prepared for impact. At least my suffering would soon be at an end. At least I would never have to suffer Corwin's treachery, nor the pack's scorn.

But the killing blow never came.

Instead, I heard Morrison gasp in air. "What in the goddess's name-"

I woke up to the presence of a figure emerging from the darkness at the edge of the courtyard. An elderly woman, hunched and frail, with silver hair that glimmered in the moonlight. She wore the white robes of a moon priestess, and her eyes glowed with an otherworldly light.

"Stay," she ordered, her voice ringing out despite her apparent frailty. "You are about to condemn an innocent woman to death."

Garrett let his axe fall, stunned. Morrison and Kane exchanged glances, seemingly unsure of what to do with this situation.

"Thalia, Priestess," Morrison said uncertainly. "Pack business. The temple doesn't have authority here."

"The temple is governing wherever justice is at stake." Thalia stepped closer, and I saw she was older than I'd assumed. Ancient, actually, with parchment-like skin and bones that looked too thin to hold her up. "This woman did not murder Prince Marcus."

"The evidence indicates otherwise," Kane said smoothly. "And with all due respect, Priestess, you weren't around when the crime was committed. You can't possibly know-"

"I have resources you cannot imagine, little Beta." Thalia's gaze fell upon Kane, and he stepped away from her. "The goddess of the moon speaks truth to those who are devoted to her true. And the truth is that Selene is innocent."

Hope flared in my chest like a fire being lit. Someone believed me. Someone with influence and credibility was defending me.

But Kane recovered quickly. "Even so, the law has already been summoned. The Alpha has weighed in. You have no right to intervene."

"Don't I?" Thalia smiled, and there was something reckless in her smile. "Tell me, Beta Kane, are you familiar with the ancient laws? The ones from centuries past, even before your pack was formed?"

Kane's confidence slipped a bit. "What ancient laws?"

"The law of sanctuary. When a priestess of the moon lays claim to an innocent for the goddess' protection, no mortal authority can override the claim." Thalia moved forward to stand at my side, her bony hand coming down on my shoulder. "I claim sanctuary for this woman."

Morrison's face was perplexed. "I've never heard of such a law."

"Because it has not been employed for three centuries. But it is, in the most ancient works, sanctified by the goddess herself." Thalia's voice grew firmer, more commanding. "You cannot harm her with the moon goddess protecting her."

"This is ridiculous," Kane barked. "You can't simply appear out of nowhere and claim some ancient right-"

"Can't I?" Thalia raised her unmuffled hand, and the silver moon above them flared with light. The beam struck us directly, illuminating the courtyard as brightly as day. "The goddess herself proves my point."

Even Kane stood awestruck before such blatant divine intervention. Garrett set his axe down entirely, not willing to risk the anger of the moon goddess.

"What do you want?" Morrison finally spoke.

"Time," answered Thalia bluntly. "Time to get this woman's name cleared. Give me three days, and I'll tell you who really killed Prince Marcus."

"Three days?" Kane laughed, but it was not a joyful sound. "Within three days she could escape. She could disappear forever."

"She will not leave my side," Thalia vowed. "I stake my life and my sacred promises on her remaining. If she flees, you can kill both of us."

The old woman was staking everything for a stranger like me. I stared at her in amazement, wondering why she must do this.

Morrison was conflicted. "This is wildly irregular. The Alpha will have to approve any postponement of the execution."

"Wake him," Thalia ordered. "Wake him and inform him that the moon goddess herself has acted to stay his justice. Inform him that killing an innocent woman who is under the goddess's protection would curse his entire pack."

Kane's mouth moved to protest, but Morrison was already shaking his head. He was old enough to recall the tales of the consequences when packs crossed the moon goddess directly.

"Yes, but she's still in custody. Sanctuary or not, she's still a murder suspect."

"Agreed." Thalia assisted me to my feet, her grip unexpectedly firm for such a thin, fragile-looking woman. "But she accompanies me to the temple. That is where sanctuary is offered."

As they unbound my chains, I glanced at Kane. His face was a mask of rage held only by sheer strength of will. Whatever plan he had devised, this ancient priestess had just turned it around.

"Three days," he told me quietly, his words spoken only for my ears. "Enjoy them. Because when your guardian fails to make you innocent, I'll make your death as unpleasant as it would be otherwise tonight."

Thalia must have overheard him, because she turned around and fixed Kane with a stare that made him look pale.

"Watch your step, young Beta," she said softly. "The goddess sees all. Even our crimes we think are hidden in the darkness."

As she led me off the execution dais into the forest path to the temple of the moon, I couldn't but wish for the first time since this nightmare began.

But I also asked myself: who was this mysterious priestess, and why had she known I was innocent?

Above all, what would she demand in return for saving my life?

Selene's POV

I had never ventured as far into the woods as the location of the moon temple. Enclosed by stone columns that dated back to the dawn of time, the massive bones towered over the earth, their surfaces cloaked in moss and etched with symbols that danced and contorted in the moonlight. The air here was different from that of the outside world: it had greater density and was infused with a power that caused my wolf to squirm in discomfort within my chest.

Thalia moved through darkness with a virtually ghostly grace for one so fragile. Her robes were as white as if lit from within, and I saw that she did not leave impressions upon the forest floor. There was something different about her, as if she drifted somewhere between human life and something else.

"How did you know?" I followed her deeper into the holy grounds. "How did you know I was innocent?"

"The same way I know young Beta carries shadows in his heart," she said without facing me. "The moon goddess shows truth to those who work for her in good intent. And you, child, emanate innocence even in your desperation."

We arrived at the center of the temple, where there was a circular altar lying beneath an opening in the canopy. The moonlight fell directly down upon the white stone, lighting it to shine like silver. Ancient runes were carved on the bottom, and I could feel power humming in the ground below my feet.

"Sit," Thalia told me, gesturing to the steps of the altar.

I trailed behind, still trying to wrap my head around everything that had just happened. An hour before this, I was waiting to die, and now I was in a position of power with an enigmatic priestess who claimed she could demonstrate to me that I was innocent.

"Three days," I breathed. "You've given them three days to find the real killer. Can you really do it?"

Thalia smiled, but her eyes, old as the millennia, were sad. "Child, I already know who killed Prince Marcus. The question is not whether I can prove it; the question is whether I can prove it. The question is whether you are capable of hearing the truth."

My heart surged. "You know? Tell me then! Acquit my name!"

"It's not that easy." Thalia moved forward to the altar and set her hands on the carved stone. "The person who has done this has done their job well. He's made your own pack believe you are in the wrong, turned your own husband against you. Words will never go back on such careful manipulation."

"Then what?"

"Power." The old woman's gaze clashed with mine, and I saw something that made me shudder. "The sort of power that cuts through lies and wrests truth from the greatest deceiver."

She wandered around the altar slowly, her finger tracing the worn runes. "Tell me, child, what do you know of the old ways? The magic that flowed through our people before they lost their connection with the moon?"

"Legends. Stories. My grandmother talked about priestesses who could see the future, wolves that ruled the weather." I shrugged. "But that was all they were. Legends."

"Did they?" Thalia touched her hand to one of the runes, and it began to glow with soft silver light. "Your healing gift – where do you think you got that from?"

"I don't know. It's just something I've always been able to do."

"It's magic, child. Old magic, flowing through your veins like a hidden river. It's something most wolves have lost the power to access, but it's still there, waiting." More runes illuminated as Thalia circled the altar. "I can teach you how to unlock it completely. Grant you the power to read truth from lie, to extract honesty from even the greatest deceiver."

My heart pounded. "You're talking of making me love you. A priestess."

"Better than me." Thalia's voice hardened with sorrow. "Stronger. I am ill, child. This frail body has done what it could, and the curse that binds me fast strengthens its grip each day. But my power, my wisdom, my connection to the goddess – these need not perish with me."

"A curse?" I leaned forward. "What kind of curse?"

"The price of defying those who would corrupt the function of the temple. But that is a story for another time." Thalia moved to stand before me. "What matters now is this: I can transfer my powers to you in the form of a blood ritual. Ancient magic, blessed by the very goddess of the moon."

The offer hung in front of us like a swordsman poised, about to fall. Power. The key through which I might clear my name and expose the real killer. All I had to do was accept whatever the price would be.

"What would be done to me? If I were to agree to this ritual?"

"You would transform. Your looks, your smell, even your voice would be different enough that those who had known you previously would not identify you readily. You would develop a sense of when someone lies, the power to force a person to tell the truth, the ability to penetrate the masks that wicked individuals wear." Thalia's eyes were fierce. "But you would have to serve truth and justice for the rest of your life. No going back to the simple existence you knew."

"And you? What happens to you?"

"I die." She said it bluntly, with no fear and no regret. "The ritual will take what's left of my life force and transfer it into you. It's the only way to transfer power of this magnitude."

I stared at her in horror. "I won't ask you to do that. I won't let you sacrifice yourself for me."

"You're not asking me. I'm offering." Thalia sat beside me on the steps of the altar. "Think you it's just a coincidence I arrived at your execution tonight? I've been tracking you for months, child. Waiting and watching for the right moment."

"Watching me? Why?"

"Because I have seen your destiny. A vision presented to me by the goddess herself." Her ancient eyes went far away. "I saw you standing in that courtyard, accused and condemned. I saw your husband's betrayal and your pack's contempt. But I also saw what you could become – a spirit of justice that would protect the innocent and uncover the corrupt."

"Did you count on this? Did you count on Marcus dying and accusing me?"

"I counted on someone near you to have evil in their heart. I counted on them striking when you'd least expect it." Thalia's voice grew bitter. "I attempted to warn the prince, but he was young and foolish. He wouldn't listen to the worst-case fears of an old woman."

The parts fell into place. "Marcus was investigating something, wasn't he? That's why he was killed."

"He discovered a plot that extends far beyond simple pack politics. Your Beta Kane is not working alone, child. He has supporters, in your pack and out of it. Prince Marcus discovered this and was going to expose them when they struck."

My heart froze. "How many individuals are involved?"

"That is what we need to discover. But first, you must decide – will you accept the power to share the truth? Will you let me transfer my powers so that you can save not just yourself, but your whole pack?"

I stood up and walked to the edge of the altar ring, looking out into the dark woods. Somewhere in those woods, my pack slept peacefully, none knowing the enemy stalked them. Corwin tossed and turned, his own conscience nipping at him for condemning his wife. Kane planned his next move, confident that he had eliminated the only threat to his schemes.

"If I do this," I said him slowly, "if I take your power, can I ever go back to my life as before? Eventually?"

"No." Soft but definite was Thalia's reply. "The woman you were – the innocent Luna who trusted all people and believed in all hearts – she needs to be killed tonight so the new woman may emerge. You can never again be Selene, beloved wife of Alpha Corwin. That is dead."

The words hit me like punches. Everything I had been, everything I'd done, everything I'd ever loved – all gone. I'd be someone else, a stranger to my face.

But what choice did I have? In three days, if Thalia did not help me clear my name, I'd be dead anyway. At least then, I'd be able to defend myself. I'd be able to expose Kane and keep my pack safe from whatever he was planning.

"There's one more thing," Thalia whispered. "The ritual is dangerous. There's a chance it'll kill us both. The magic is ancient and unstable. Even if it works, you might not survive the changing."

"And if I refuse?"

"You die in three days, and Kane's coup runs amok. Your pack falls into whatever master he serves, and countless innocents are harmed as a result."

I closed my eyes and recalled Marcus, icy and still on the altar. He'd sacrificed himself protecting our pack. Could I do any less?

"How much time do we have?"

"The ritual must be performed before sunrise, when the moon is still strong. We have perhaps two hours."

Two hours to determine if I should bet everything on the hope of justice. Two hours to pick between probable death and potential transformation into something humanity cannot understand.

I glanced at Thalia, this old woman who was willing to give her own life for mine, and made my decision.

"What do I have to do?"

Relief flooded her face. "First, we must prepare the altar. Then the blood letting, the chanting, the transfer of power." She made her way to a stone chest at the base of one of the pillars. "But there is something I must warn you about before we proceed."

"What?"

She pulled out a silver dagger whose blade bore the same runes as those inscribed on the altar. "The transformation will hurt. Not just your body, but your soul. You will be sure that you are dying and being born at the same moment. Most who attempt such spells lose their minds because of the pain."

I took the dagger away from her hands, feeling its balance. "Will it be worse than watching my husband have me sentenced to death for a crime I did not do?"

"No," she admitted. "Nothing is worse than that."

"Let us begin, then."

Thalia grinned and began to place things upon and about the altar – candles, herbs, vials of what seemed like liquid moonlight. "Remove your garments and lie back upon the altar. The ritual must be in contact with your flesh."

I paused for a moment, then unbuckled my attire. The night wind was cold against my bared flesh, but the altar rock felt strangely warm under me when I lay back upon it. The runes etched into its face seemed to pulse with power under me.

"Are you ready?" Thalia asked, the silver knife glinting in her weathered hands.

"Wait." I held her wrist. "If this succeeds, if I survive and gain these powers – how do I get back in time to expose Kane? How do I come back presentable when everyone thinks I'm dead?"

Thalia smiled, and for the first time since I'd met her, she was truly smiling. "That's the pretty thing, child. When the ritual is complete, you won't be Selene any longer. You'll be someone new, someone Kane has never seen. Someone who can just walk right back onto Crescent Pack land without anyone even recognizing you."

She raised the dagger to the moon, and its blade went alight with a fire that was as much silver as the runes.

"But first," she spoke, and her voice took on a ritual tone that seemed to sound from the stones themselves, "you must die."

Selene's POV

The edge of the knife was cold against my wrist, but the power that ran through it bristled my whole arm with goosebumps. Thalia intoned the incantation in a tongue that I didn't speak, her words cresting and falling in waves on the sea. The runes under me brightened and brightened with every repetition, until I lay back in a pillow of shining starstuff.

"Close your eyes," Thalia took a breath. "Let go of the old Selene. Stop fighting to hold on to who you were."

I willed my eyes closed as the knife slid into my skin. Blood foamed and dripped down onto the altar, and wherever each drop fell on stone, the runes flared like tiny suns. Sadness shot up my arm, but it was not just bodily. Something deeper was breaking within me, something that felt like my very soul being torn asunder.

The chanting built, pounding against the marble pillars that formed a circle around us. I sensed Thalia as a warm wave surging in my direction, with centuries of power and knowledge at its center. Within the wave was something else – cold, dark, and ravenous, outstretched to touch me with dark claws.

"Repel it," Thalia's voice was distant. "The curse would take you as well. Don't let it pull you in."

My body began to convulse. Every muscle cramped at once, arching my back away from the altar as agony ripped its way through me. It was as if bones were moving and reconfiguring themselves, as if my own existence was being rewritten by non-corporeal hands. I tried to scream but nothing emerged.

And then the real pain began.

Blaze incinerated me, reducing everything I'd ever known to ash. Memories flared up and reduced to nothing – marriage to Corwin, warm afternoons patching up pack members, quiet hours on the river where I'd fantasized over children and gentle dawns. All dissolved to ash and blew away on air I couldn't feel.

But to the aged, something new was added. Knowledge flooded into my brain in whirling whirlpools – how to see truth in a man's eyes, how to get at honesty by a word, how to see deceit and lies through crystal glass. The power was amazingly old and immense, and trying to fill an ocean in a teacup.

"Let it out," Thalia's voice grew more reedy, fading away. "Don't fight to hold it back. Let the goddess reshape you."

I could feel her vitality flowing into me, rich and gold and fading. She was giving up her life to save my own, offering up everything available in this ritual. I could sense her recollections combining with mine – centuries of dedication to the goddess of the moon, of protecting the innocent, of fighting corruption and oppression. Her desire for justice was my own. Her sense of responsibility was mine.

The transformation carried over to my face as well, and I was aware of my facial structure altering. My cheekbones became higher, my nose more pointed, my lips fuller. My dark auburn locks transformed into deep brown, and when I lifted my lids, I knew they'd switched from green to gold. I was myself, yet completely different.

"It is working," Thalia breathed. Her voice was as old as the wind through dry leaves. "The goddess greets you. She blesses this union of power and intent."

But the curse was not yet through with me. I could feel it building up once more, trying to devour the new power that surged within my veins. Icy fingers wrapped themselves around my heart, speaking to me in a breath of vengeance and annihilation. It sought to use these powers in anger instead of justice, to be used as an agent of vengeance instead of one of truth.

"No," I could say to her, my words husky. "I will not yield to darkness."

"Good girl." Thalia's fingers wrapped around my own, trembling but warm. "Keep this with you. When the power seeks to move you to cruelty, recall why you tread this path."

The ritual reached its end. The altar beneath my feet pulsed with silver light so white and holy I could see it inside my eyes. Each rune, each etching, each glyph of ancient knowledge blazed out into light that was not fire. The air within our circle hummed with holy power.

And then silence.

I opened my eyes and found the moon overhead, full and bright. It was changed in it now, though – I could feel its strength in my bones, its blessing like a mother's soothing touch. The connection between the goddess and me was there, real, tangible, unbreakable.

Thalia lay on either side of the altar, her face as calm and timeless. Her white robes, streaked with blood – mine and hers – but she smiled.

"Did it work?" I asked softly, rolling over slowly. My whole body ached, but it was good hurt that comes from hard labor accomplished.

"Look at your hands."

I lifted them to moonlight and breathed. My skin shone softly, as if starlight flowed through me instead of blood. If I curled my fingers, I could feel the pale silver lines on the palmar surfaces of my hands – a sign of the favor of the moon goddess.

"The power is yours," Thalia breathed. "Use it wisely. Save your pack. Uncover the truth."

"How do I know it actually worked? How do I rehearse these skills?"

"See me and hear the words I speak." Thalia's eyes crashed into mine, and now I could see something I had never seen before. Truth glowed around her like a halo of gold, warm and clean and unmistakable. "I am proud of you, child. You will do wonderful things with this gift."

Every word was true. I could feel the truth in them, sense the deep well of hope and love that had led her to this act. It was too much – not just to hear truth, but to experience it through every medium available to me.

"Now I'd like to share a falsehood with you," she continued. "I'm not going to die. This ritual has made me stronger."

The words hit me like blows. Lying was slick and cold, and it made my gut churn. The golden aura of her faltered and danced, letting the dishonesty behind the sweetness show. I had the lie on my tongue, bitter and tart.

"I can see it," I abruptly blurted out. "I really see when someone's lying."

"Moreso than that. You can force truth from others, though it takes will and focus. You can sense the motives of people's actions – love, hatred, fear, ambition. Their souls are open books to you now."

I stepped down from the altar and knelt beside her. "What do I do now? How do I return to my pack without being identified?"

"Your scent is altered, as is your countenance. Your voice, too. Even the energy pattern of your wolf has been altered." Thalia's breath was growing shallow. "You are no longer Selene. You will have to adopt a new name, a new persona."

I took a moment to consider it. "Vera. It means truth in the ancient language."

"Perfection." She smiled weakly. "But child, there is more you must be warned about. The Beta who wrongly accused you – his corruption is deeper than mere ambition. He serves forces which would destroy everything your pack treasures."

"What forces?"

"I don't know everything. But in my visions, I was seeing silver-eyed wolves, wolves that don't belong on this world. Kane is bringing something terrible through the wall between worlds, and your pack is just the start."

My blood ran cold. "Demons?"

"Or something similar. Creatures of darkness and thirst who feed on war and despair." Thalia held on to my hand with what little strength she had. "You have to stop him, Vera. Not just for justice, but so that the people you've ever cared about can live."

"How? I'm by myself now. One person with these strange abilities against an entire conspiracy."

"You will never be alone. There are other workers of the light, spread out across the lands of the wolves. When you are ready, they will seek you out. Or you will seek them." Her gaze was weakening. "But first, you must return to your den. You must go into your pack and gather proof of Kane's misdeed."

"What if I am too weak? What if these powers are not strong enough to take him down?"

"They will. The goddess does not play games with her servants." The voice of Thalia was dwindling into a whisper. "Never forget, child – truth always prevails in the end. It may take time, it may cost sacrifice, but lies cannot hold up to the light forever."

I could feel the life draining from my hands. This woman who had saved me, who had instilled in me the will to fight, was going to die because of my actions. The burden of that giving would haunt me for the rest of my days.

"Thank you," I wheezed. "For everything."

"Don't thank me yet," she gasped. "Thank me when Kane is dead and your pack is safe. Thank me when justice is finally being served."

Her hand stopped trembling in mine, and I could feel her soul leave her body in a gentle breath. Thalia no longer existed, but her strength lingered behind in the power coursing through my veins.

I slowly got up from my seat, experimenting with my new abilities. Everything felt different – stronger, sharper, more acute. I was experiencing the life force of all the animals in a mile radius of the temple. I was experiencing the truth of things as I never had before.

But with this immense power, a gigantic responsibility. And my responsibility was clear-cut: return to Crescent Pack, expose Kane's conspiracy, and save all those whom I had ever known from whatever wrongdoings he was cultivating in the world.

I carried Thalia's corpse and interred her in a stone sarcophagus in the center of the temple. Old magic sealed the door on her, where she would remain eternally alongside the other priestesses who had come before her.

Then, I walked along to the edge of the sacred ground and looked back at my homeland. The forest radiated under the light of dawn rising, painting the sky with pink and gold tones. It was beautiful and terrifying all at once – the last sunrise I would ever see as the woman I had been.

When I stood up to go, I said almost jumping out of my seat. A man stood under the shade of two ancient oak trees, looking at me with eyes that sparkled like silver coins. He was tall and thin, with black hair and alabaster skin that reflected in pre-dawn light.

"Hello, Vera," he said softly, his voice as soft as velvet. "I've been waiting for you."