I woke with a sharp, stabbing pain just below my breast, the kind that tore a gasp out of me even before I knew I was awake. 

Initially, I thought it was the baby, maybe something had gone horribly wrong. My hand flew to my stomach, clutching the spot where the ache pulsed hot against my skin. 

I got up to observe my stomach in front of the mirror and that was when I saw it. 

A mark, faint but unmistakable, it looked like a crescent mark or more like a crown, it was hard to describe, but it shimmered on my stomach, light pulsing like it was alive. It looked different from the birthmark faintly carved on my collarbone since I was a child, only brighter and it felt stronger. 

That wasn't there before.

The Goddess... She's still here.

The thought barely left me when I felt the air change, heavy and strange. The cottage felt crowded, as if someone had been standing in the corner a moment ago, watching.

I swallowed hard, the glow fading as quickly as it came, leaving my heart still beating fast.

******

When I finally dragged myself up from the bed, the light coming in through the window told me I was late. I fell asleep thinking of the mark and now I'm late. 

I blinked to fully wake up though my body wanted something else, it begged me to sink deeper into the mattress, but the stiffness in my shoulders wouldn't let me. Sleep had been hard to come by since I woke   up from the dream last night, it was filled with endless tossing, and yet I still managed to wake late. 

It was not like anyone cared whether I slept or not, what mattered was the work. And all of it had fallen on my shoulders.

I rushed across the room trying to get myself ready for the day, the floor felt cold under my bare feet and I thought about the endless list of chores waiting at the Alpha's house. 

I could still feel yesterday's ache in my back from lifting barrels and arranging crates of wine. My hands were raw, still stinging from scrubbing the kitchen tiles until they shined, only for muddy boots to undo my work within minutes. 

The work was even part of the reason I fainted the day before and found out I was carrying a child, let me not think about that right now.

And then there is the preparation for the mating ceremony which had turned the whole Ranch into a very chaotic mess, not like it was peaceful to begin with. 

Though the distance from the Lunaris hold the ranch house  to my tiny cottage was far, I could still hear the noise outside, voices rising and falling, tables being dragged across stone, women arguing over fabrics, the sharp scent of wolfsbane mixed into garlands for protection. 

I bent over the trunk that held my clothes, if one could even call it that. I picked out two dresses, both worn thin, one patched across the belly where the fabric had given up long ago, while the other one was patched so many times the threads looked like spiderwebs. 

My hand fell to the plainest piece, a grey dress thin from years of wear. It had no shape, no color worth noticing, but it was dependable, and dependable was all I could afford to be.

I slipped it on, fingers fumbling with the ties in my haste and grabbing my apron.

The Alpha's mansion would already be a commotion, and the thought of showing up late sent a shiver down my spine. I snatched my cloak from the wooden hook and darted outside.

I stepped out into the crisp morning air then something hit me. The world didn't sound the same. The rush of wind carried every note, every shift of leaf against leaf, like the forest itself was whispering to me. 

The air wasn't just air anymore. It carried every detail, crisp and distinct the sweet smell of pine, the sour smell of sweat from wolves training in the distance, the faint spice of roasted meat already smoking near the Alpha's yard.  I heard laughter, too, not close but faint.  A door creaked open at the far end of the Ranch, a child laughed, a hawk screamed overhead and I heard them all as if they were on my shoulder. 

I froze on the step, clutching my gown, my pulse racing. I felt that something in me had shifted. I didn't know how or why, but I shrugged it off. What was on my mind right now was to get to the Lunaris hold and start my work for the day. 

******* 

Lunaris Hold was alive when I arrived, pulsing like the heart of the pack itself. Wolves moved to and fro, about barking orders over one another, carrying barrels of wine, shoulders brushing as they carried crates, ladders, trays. Everyone moved with purpose, every hand contributing to the preparation of the ceremony. Everyone but me.

The whole place smelled of wolfsbane, pine juice, and cooking meat. The decorations were finally coming together and it should have been beautiful, but all I felt was the pressure of my eyes. 

I kept to the edges, head down, steps quick because I knew if they saw me, they'd whisper. The girl who fainted. Too weak to handle even her chores.

I prayed to the moon goddess not to allow me to bump into anyone because their questions would be: 

Why did you faint? Can't you keep up? What good are you? And their scorn weighed more than the work ever did. So I tried to move silently and unseen.

But someone always did.

"Well, well. Look who crawled back."

Raven Cross's voice slid across the courtyard like oil. I stiffened. She walked towards me, sky blue silk hugging her body, her dark hair pulled tight to frame her perfect smirk.

She is the daughter of old Beta Darius, his precious jewel. Everyone said she was destined for our Alpha Kai, Luna-in-waiting and she carried herself like it was already true. But I saw her for what she truly was, a bone in my neck. 

"Lila," she called again.

I didn't answer. I just walked faster.

Her laugh followed me, sharp and cruel. "Ignoring me again? How rude."

She walked faster to catch up to me and then her hand clamped around mine, the moment our skin met my vision tunneled, filled with light and smoke. A voice unfurled in my head, low, steady, ancient, soft yet commanding it slipped through the cracks of my mind: 

She burns. She is fire-born. Her gift is flame.

The words weren't mine but they filled me, heavy and sure, and with them came the flash of knowledge: Raven's power. Heat, flame, destruction. It rippled against my skin like smoke.

I gasped, yanking my hand back, the smell of smoke still clinging to my senses though nothing burned around me.

Raven's smirk deepened, like she'd felt it too. She leaned in, her nails biting into my wrist.

 "Careful, Lila. I know your little secret. And I wonder, what will the pack, especially the Alpha say when they all find out about it too?"

I thought I had escaped her, I should have been focused on the task ahead which was dusting, polishing, sweeping every inch of the Alpha's chambers until my back ached and my hands snapped. But the further away I walked from the courtyard, the louder the silence became. 

My hand was still tingling where Raven's had grabbed me, but it wasn't the burn I felt when she touched me that worried me...... It wasn't even the voice, that strange, echoing whisper that hadn't belonged to her, or to me, yet had curled inside my mind like it had always lived there.

It was Raven's smug words, her smirk..... She knew my secret, what secret?? I kept wondering what she knew. My chest tightened at the thought. Did she? Did I even know it myself?. I really hope it's not what I have in mind. I'll be in deep trouble if anyone knows that. 

Each step toward the Alpha's room felt heavier, my mind thought over every possibility, every meaning hidden in her taunt.

As I pushed open the door of the Alpha's room I tried to push aside every thought of Raven cause I had just only one thing to focus on right now and that's my chore in this room. 

I closed the door behind me and pressed my back against it for a second, closed my eyes and did a little prayer. 

I tightened my jaw and went directly to the Alpha's desk, the place where he spent most of his nights. The surface was filled with half-finished papers, an ink bottle, and the faint smell of leather. I arranged the papers, dust clung to the edges of the desk. My hands found the rag in my gown apron and as if by instinct immediately went to dusting. 

As I wiped, my thoughts slipped, I thought of the Alpha and days when we were younger, back into the days when my world was brighter. 

I could still see Kai as a boy, with his unruly brown hair and the stubborn grin he always threw at Raven when she tried to boss us around. 

I went back in time a bit, I was seven and they were ten when the field belonged to me, Kai, and Raven. 

The sun had been bright that day, spilling across the wide fields of Lunaris Hold. My bare feet slapped against the grass as I ran, breathless from laughing too hard, hair sticking to my damp forehead.

"Slow down, Lila!" Kai said to me, his voice was boyish yet firm. His small hand gripped mine when I almost tripped. "Don't let go.,If you fall, I'll pull you up. Always." 

Always. That word became a promise I carried in my heart.

Raven got angry whenever Kai pulled me behind him, rescuing me from her mini bullying.

"She's mine, Kai. She doesn't need you always rescuing her" Raven said "You're coddling her, she'll never be strong". 

But Kai would look at me, only me, and shake his head. "She doesn't need to be strong when I'm here."

That had been who Kai was, my shield, my protector. I had never felt weak with him. 

But years later, everything would change. 

I still remember the whispering fear in the pack when Kai and Raven turned sixteen. One of the elders got a premonition and it had spread like fire in dry leaves because it wasn't directed to just our pack:

There will come a wolf, the strongest Alpha in history. He alongside his Luna will stand against The Eclipse King (the rebellious brother of the moon goddess), The divine Alpha will be the breaker of curses and The savior of the goddess's kin. 

The name of the said Alpha was not mentioned and that silence was what terrified everyone the most. 

None of us slept well after that. Every parent looked at their sons with both hope and fear. Fear because we knew The Eclipse King would never let such a wolf live to fight.

Two years went by and everything was alright until the night Kai was to become Alpha. The night he turned 18, they were supposed to get their mates then because it was supposed to be our mate ceremony that year. 

But then the Rogues came, they were the creations of the eclipse kings they came in the night, visiting different packs. I remember the way they smelled, like filth and rot filling the air as screams tore through the ranch.

They destroyed everything on their part, the incident killed the previous Luna, Kai's Mum. They weren't werewolves. Something about them felt strange, different even like they weren't our kind. 

They weren't after everyone, they knew what they wanted. 

They were after the ones with a future too bright to ignore, they came looking for the future Alpha. 

And Kai was one of them,

Kai fought. Of course he did. Even at eighteen, his strength had begun to bloom, the power in his voice when he shifted was resistance like fire. 

But the witch was waiting. 

She didn't speak, she didn't have to but I'll never forget her. She wore a long black robe that seemed to swallow her whole body. She lifted her pale hands which were glowing like the moon, to bind him. Her eyes were cold and merciless, her hands twisting shadows around his wrists. 

I still see it when I close my eyes, the shadows dragging him into the dark, his voice hoarse from shouting in pain, eyes glowing pale blue as her hands marked him with something unseen. A curse. 

One that would turn him from the boy who once stood between me and the world... into the Alpha whose eyes I barely recognize now.

The sound of the vase shattering made my heart stop. I froze, staring at the sharp glittering pieces scattered across the polished floor. My hands shook so badly I didn't even dare to bend down and pick them up.

Kai emerged from the bathroom, towel draped around his waist, droplets trailing down his chest. His eyes landed on the shattered vase, then on me, and they hardened instantly.

"Pathetic," he muttered. His tone stung, "Can't even stand in a room without ruining something."

My throat closed. "I didn't me...."

"Don't bother," he cut me off, voice low and cold. "You're nothing but trouble. Out of my sight."

The words hurt worse than any punishment. I bowed my head, and left the room. I didn't cry until the door clicked shut behind me, until I was sure he couldn't see.

I left Lunaris Hold without thinking and found myself heading straight towards Elena's place rather than going back to my lonely cottage.

I shoved Elena's door open harder than I intended, my chest still ached from his words.

Elena's cottage smelled of herbs and warmth, but that comfort only made my chest ache more.

Her cottage was small but alive, it felt like stepping into the heart of an old oak tree. The walls were lined with shelves that were packed with clay jars and filled with herbs, each one labeled with her neat handwriting. Bundles of sage, lavender, and wild thyme hung drying from the rafters, their soft green leaves brushed against my hair as I stepped inside.

She looked up from the fire. "Lila?"

"I didn't mean to, but I broke a vase." I slumped down to sit.

"It was unintentional but he threw me out still,' I said, my voice dull. "As if I was nothing but wasted air in his space."

Elena came and sat beside me, her hand on my shoulder.

"I don't know why it hurts so much," I admitted. "I know I should be used to being unwanted. But today the way he looked at me, the things he said... it made me feel like I was less than nothing."

"Don't let those words weigh you down child." She said as she pulled me into a hug "You are not useless, and you have never been. Don't let a boy's tongue, no matter how powerful he may become, tell you otherwise." 

She pulled away, her sharp eyes scanning my face.

"How are you doing?" She asked softly

"I don't know honestly but I have had the weirdest day." I let out a shaky laugh, shaking my head.

The dream nudged at the back of my throat, but I swallowed it down.

I told her everything that happened: my run-in with Raven, how my hand burned inside but showed no scar when she grabbed me, told her about the voice I heard, and the secret Raven said she knew about me, one she wasn't going to keep. 

Elena didn't interrupt once. She only sat back, hands folded in her lap, her head tilting now and then as though she was listening to something deeper than what I was saying. 

When I finally finished my story, her sigh was long and heavy, she rose and moved to the single candle burning on the shelf. She watched the flame like it would give her some answers to questions I didn't know I asked.

When she finally spoke, her voice was low and slow  

"The voice you heard, do you know what exactly triggered it?" She turned facing me again

I tried to remember "Well, I heard it exactly when she held me, it said something about Raven being fire or flame.... I also saw something, like fire, destruction" I said still thinking 

"Hmmm" she came towards me again stretching her arm out "Here try..... touch me and see if you'll hear the voice again 

I laid my hand on her arm. Her skin was warm, lined with age, but full of strength. I waited a while but heard nothing, I felt nothing, no voice, no vision, no hum. 

I shook my head, embarrassed. "It's not working. Maybe I imagined everything that happened earlier."

Elena gave me a firm look, her brow knitting. "Hmmm I don't think you imagined that but, it's alright."

We sat quiet for a while, both of us lost in thoughts. 

"Elena," I said suddenly, my throat tight, "I almost forgot to tell you. There's... something else."

The way her gaze caught mine made me hesitate a bit. Even so, I still pushed the words out: "I, um... I got a new mark. On my stomach.."

"What mark?"

"I think it's a crescent, but it does not look like one though." 

She moved closer, her tone softening. "Let me see it, child."

I got up and with reluctant fingers, I lifted the hem of my gown. The glow seemed even brighter in the dimness of her cottage, silver light humming softly like it carried a pulse of its own.

Elena knelt, close enough that her hair brushed my arm, and her lips pressed into a thin line. She studied it in silence, tracing the air above it but never letting her finger touch my stomach .

"Elena?" My voice cracked. "What does it mean? Because when it appeared, I swear I felt... something. A presence. Like I wasn't alone." I decided not to mention that I felt it was the moon goddess.

"This feels different, nothing I've seen before ... This isn't ordinary. It hums with energy, even without me touching you. It almost feels like..." She cut herself off.

"Like what?" I pressed, unease choking me. 

"Like it's watching me back," she muttered. "Can I?" She asked to touch it and I nodded.

"It's alive, I feel it pulsing, like a heart beating." She pulled back and got up from her knees to stand facing me.

"What does all of these mean?" I was even more confused. 

"Lila, I cannot give you an answer. And that terrifies me more than if I had one. But listen to me well,  if anyone else sees this, they will not ask questions, they will draw their own conclusions and it'd be dangerous ones."

I tried to move towards the table, my legs fell weaker than I realized. I immediately held the table to steady myself, even the wood creaked under my palm. I thought I'd steadied myself but as I was about to move I felt my ankle roll and I stumbled forward. 

But before I could crash into the floor, "Careful!" Elena caught me, her hands closing over my wrists.

The moment her skin met mine, it happened.

I heard the voice, colder and sharper than before but clear:

The healer. Her hands heal. She carries their wounds as her own. She takes the ache, the burn, the break. The herbs obey her, the roots whisper her name. But she has only tasted the surface of her power.

My breath caught, my fingers clutching her sleeve. My vision blurred as the images spiraled in my mind, herbs burning until only ash was left, Elena bent down cradling a wolf's broken leg until her own arm bruised, her palms shining faintly as she pressed them over wounds.

Heat spread up my arm, not as painful when Raven had grabbed me but this was heavy, like I was carrying something that wasn't mine. A flicker of pain darted through my ribs and vanished, as though I'd borrowed it for her. 

I gasped and stumbled back, staring at her. That was when I noticed she was staring at me back with wide eyes like she had seen a ghost. 

"Elena," I whispered, still trembling from shock, "I heard it again. And this time... it wasn't about Raven. It was about you."

Her mouth opened, but no sound came.