Chapter One: Bloodlines in the Shadows
Long before Selena Rivers drew her first breath, the White Wolves of Eldara ruled the Northern Wolf Kingdom. Known as Lunaris Wolves, they were revered for their luminous white coats, wisdom, and a rare gift the Moon Calling, a power said to connect their kind directly to the Moon Goddess. Where others could shift only under the full moon, Lunaris wolves could transform at will. Their howls were said to calm storms, and their eyes could see into a soul's deepest truths.
But power always draws envy.
The Lunaris wolves were betrayed not by outsiders, but by one of their own.
His name was Ruvan Blackthorn, once a trusted advisor and guardian of the Lunaris Queen. Brilliant and proud, Ruvan believed the wolves were growing weak under peace. He sought strength beyond natural means, studying forbidden magic drawn from the cursed lands beyond the Iron Mountains.
The elders warned him.
He did not listen.
When he returned from exile, Ruvan was no longer a man. He was a vessel of dark magic, his body changed, his eyes a soulless red. With the help of rogue wolves and corrupted packs, he slaughtered the Lunaris clan, seeking to take the Moon Calling for himself.
But one escaped.
Two, actually.
Lyria, the last Lunaris Queen, fled with her newborn daughter, Selena hidden beneath a bloodstained cloak. Alongside her mate, Eron Rivers, she ran across the snowy peaks, hunted by creatures once sworn to protect her.
They found temporary shelter in a small human village deep in the southern hills, far from wolf territory. There, Lyria cloaked her daughter's aura with an enchanted pendant, the last gift of the Moonstone, a relic from the Goddess herself. As long as Selena wore it, her wolf lay dormant, undetectable.
They lived simply.
Quietly.
Until one night, when Selena was just a child, the past returned.
Lyria sensed them before she saw them eyes in the dark, shadows shifting, claws scraping the stones.
"They've found us," she whispered, pressing a kiss to her daughter's forehead. "Run, my little moon. Run and never look back."
Selena never saw her parents again.
She remembered the screams. The snarls. The fire.
She remembered running through the forest with tears on her cheeks, the pendant glowing against her skin, as a stranger,Amara, a forest healer, found her and took her in.
And so, the last of the Lunaris wolves was hidden away, believed dead by the world.
Fifteen years later, Selena Rivers stood in the shade of the forest, now nearly seventeen.
Her silver eyes stared out over the field of wildflowers, but her heart was far from peaceful.
She had no memory of her birth parents, only dreams. Dreams of howling wolves. Of glowing forests. Of blood.
"Selena," Amara called from behind her, voice kind but tired. "Time to come in, child. Storm's coming."
Selena turned, her long white hair braided down her back, her fingers stained with herbs. Her beauty was rare sharp and soft all at once. But it was her presence that made her stand out. The wind bent around her. Animals watched her, not with fear, but reverence.
She was not like the others in the village. She knew it.
The pendant she wore never left her skin. Sometimes it burned. Other times, it hummed like a voice she could almost hear.
"Do you think wolves dream?" she asked quietly as she followed Amara.
"Wolves?" Amara chuckled. "I suppose they dream of the hunt. Of running free."
Selena touched the pendant.
"I think... I was one once."
Amara froze.
"You say strange things sometimes, Selena," she said softly. "But I suppose dreams are strange, too."
But the old woman knew. She always had. She just hoped the day of truth would never come.
Far across the Wolf Kingdom, in a stone fortress built from ash and bone, Kael Duskbane stood overlooking a map marked with blood.
He was no longer a boy.
The day his parents were killed murdered by the villainous Ruvan during a border raid, Kael had sworn vengeance. He had been thirteen. A wolf pup barely able to shift. Now, at twenty-four, he was the Alpha of the Duskbane pack, protector of the Eastern Hills, and the last of his noble bloodline.
He wore his father's mark on his shoulder, a scar from Ruvan's claw.
Kael's golden eyes burned with fury every time he thought of the red-eyed monster who murdered his family and nearly destroyed the balance of the wolf clans.
"Alpha," said his beta, Rowan, stepping into the war room. "There's news from the South. A rumor."
Kael didn't look up. "Rumors waste my time."
"This one's different," Rowan insisted. "A healer claims she's seen a girl with white hair and silver eyes. Wolves follow her in the forest. The air changes when she's near."
Kael froze.
"White hair?"
Rowan nodded. "And she wears a Moonstone."
Silence fell.
For a moment, the only sound was the slow, steady beat of Kael's heart.
"The last Lunaris?" he murmured. "Impossible."
"Or fate," Rowan replied.
Kael turned to the window, where the moon was rising. His wolf stirred beneath his skin.
"If she is what they say she is… she won't stay hidden for long."
In a dream, Selena stood in a glowing glade, the moon huge above her.
Wolves surrounded her white, silver, shadowy.
And in the center stood a woman with pale hair and fierce eyes.
"My daughter," the woman said, stepping forward.
Selena gasped. "Who are you?"
"I am your mother, Lyria. Queen of the Lunaris."
Tears filled Selena's eyes. "Why did you leave me?"
"I died to save you. Because you are the last. The heir. The Moon Goddess's chosen."
"I'm just a girl."
"No," Lyria said. "You are the last white wolf. And the world will need you soon."
Selena awoke with a gasp.
The pendant burned against her chest.
Something had changed.
In the Blackthorn mountains, Ruvan stood in the center of a dark ritual circle, his hands stained with blood.
"She's awakening," he whispered, feeling her power pulse through the ether.
The last light.
The last Lunaris.
He could not allow her to rise.
"Send the Deathfangs," he ordered. "Burn the village. Kill the girl."
Selena sat by the fire that night, staring into the flames.
She didn't know it yet, but everything was about to change.
The balance of the wolf kingdoms hung in her hands.
And soon, the boy who burned with vengeance would meet the girl who carried the blood of legends.
And nothing would ever be the same.