Nova didn't remember falling asleep.
But suddenly, she was standing barefoot on cold stone, surrounded by mist. A full moon hovered above, impossibly large, bathing the ancient ruins in pale silver light. Her breath came out in soft clouds, and the wind carried whispers—too many voices, all saying her name.
"Nova..."
She turned, trying to locate the sound, but there was no one.
Just crumbling pillars. Moonflowers growing from cracked marble. And a tall mirror in the center of the temple, its surface rippling like water.
She stepped closer.
Her reflection was wrong.
Her eyes glowed silver. Her hair shimmered like starlight. And behind her… was not her own shadow.
It was a wolf—massive, regal, with fur black as the void and eyes that burned gold.
She gasped.
The reflection reached out.
"You are not what you were told," it whispered. "The blood remembers. The moon remembers."
The ground trembled beneath her feet. Cracks spread. The mirror shattered—
And Nova jolted upright in bed, heart slamming in her chest, drenched in sweat. The curtains fluttered though the windows were shut. The air felt thick with something unnatural.
She threw the blankets off and stood, dizzy and breathless.
Another dream. But not like the others.
This one… had felt real.
She looked down at her arm—and froze.
A faint silver mark, shaped like a crescent, glowed just above her wrist. It hadn't been there before. It pulsed once, like it was alive, then faded.
Nova staggered back, shaking.
She didn't know what terrified her more: that something was changing inside her—or that some part of her… liked it.
A soft knock came at her door.
"Nova?" It was Ethan. "You okay? I heard something."
She rushed to unlock the door. Ethan took one look at her face and stepped inside without question.
"I saw something," she whispered. "Not just a dream. A place. A wolf. A... voice. It said I wasn't what I thought I was."
Ethan stared at her. "You've had dreams before, but this one's different, isn't it?"
She nodded.
"I think… it's starting. Whatever they've been hiding from me. Whatever I am."
Ethan's expression darkened slightly. "There's something Dad never told you. Something Darian tried to hide. You're not just… adopted."
Nova looked up sharply.
Ethan hesitated, then said quietly, "You're descended from a bloodline older than any of us. And they've been trying to protect you from exactly this."
Nova's skin went cold.
Before she could speak, a sudden pressure hit the house. It was like the walls breathed.
A distant howl broke the silence.
Nova's head snapped toward the window.
Kane.
She didn't know how, but she felt him out there.
Watching.
Waiting.
And now, a part of her was watching back.