The night after the blood moon was not quiet. Even though the battle had not come to us yet, we could feel it in the marrow of our bones. The earth did not rest. The wind did not carry peace. It whispered warnings instead. Warnings that chilled the skin and sharpened the instincts.
I had walked into war before. I had tasted it, survived it, bled through it. But never had I felt this kind of pull. A strange and ancient force humming beneath the forest floor. It called to something deeper. Something buried. Something that wore my blood like an inheritance.
I sat alone at the edge of Hollowstone. Behind me, the camp slept in uneasy silence. Ahead of me, the mountains loomed like a row of teeth ready to bite down on everything we were trying to protect. The stars above were choked behind clouds, and every now and then, I swore I could hear footsteps in the dark.
But I knew better.
It was not footsteps.
It was memory waking up.
Aria found me just before dawn. She had barely slept, and her eyes showed it. But her movements were firm, deliberate. Whatever fear had gripped her the night before, she had buried it beneath purpose.
You feel it too, she said.
I nodded once.
Something beneath the mountains.
She sat beside me, wrapping her arms around her knees.
What do you think she wants with the first Alpha?
Power, I said. Or truth. Or both.
Maybe revenge, Aria added quietly.
I looked at her.
Not revenge against you, she clarified. Revenge against whatever stopped her the first time.
That thought settled between us like a storm cloud. Heavy. Full of lightning we could not yet see.
I stood.
We are not waiting anymore, I said. We go to the source.
She turned to me, her mouth parting in surprise.
The source?
The stones. The Echo Circle. The place where the first Alpha fell. The one no wolf has walked since the old war.
Aria's breath caught.
That place is cursed, she whispered.
I shook my head.
It is protected. But not from us. From them.
If she is clawing through the past to reach us, we go where the past still breathes.
We left before the sun rose fully, taking only three others. Jarek, because he had been my right hand since my first shift. Talia, because she was cunning and cautious. And Mace, because I trusted his silence more than most people's words.
The journey to the Echo Circle took us through narrow passes and frost-covered valleys where even the birds refused to fly. The deeper we went, the more the forest changed. The trees twisted. Their bark darkened. And the snow turned gray as if stained by old ash.
The others felt it too. The pressure. The weight in the air.
We are not alone here, Mace said.
I know, I replied.
But it is not the vampires watching us.
Not yet.
When we reached the Circle, the sun hovered behind thick clouds, throwing pale light on the field of stone.
Twelve pillars stood in a perfect ring. Each carved with runes older than language. In the center, a stone altar, cracked and worn. The wind here did not move like wind. It spiraled, rising and falling like breath.
This place remembered.
Jarek stepped forward, his voice low.
My grandfather told me stories. He said wolves came here to bind their loyalty to the moon. To each other.
Talia moved beside him.
And to spill the blood of those who betrayed it.
I walked to the center, placing my hand on the altar. The stone was cold but pulsing. Like it had a heartbeat. Like it was waiting for something.
Aria joined me. Her fingers brushed over the carvings. Her breath fogged in the chill air.
She has been here before, she said.
The red woman?
Yes.
I looked around, listening. The silence here was deeper. Thicker. Like sound itself was afraid.
Then we saw it.
A mark at the base of one pillar. Fresh. Scratched in claw marks that glowed faintly red.
I stepped closer.
It was not just a symbol. It was a sigil. A name.
And it was mine.
I felt the pull again. That invisible thread tugging at my spine.
She was calling me here.
Not just to find the past.
To twist it.
To take it.
Aria spoke first.
This is not just about war. She wants your lineage.
My blood.
Your memories. Your legacy.
Why?
To become more than she is. To become you.
The idea struck me like ice.
If she cannot break the Alpha, she will become the Alpha.
I looked around the Circle, heart pounding.
Then we destroy what she came to take.
Jarek moved to the edge of the Circle.
Something is coming, he said.
We all turned.
The sky had gone darker.
And the snow began to fall, heavy and fast.
But this was not natural snow.
It carried ash. And heat.
Talia cursed under her breath.
She found us.
They came from the trees. Dozens of them. Nightborn. Twisted vampires with gray skin and hollow eyes. They moved in silence, fast and ravenous.
Mace and Talia leapt forward, blades in hand.
Jarek shifted, his growl ripping through the storm like thunder.
I stayed in the center.
She wanted my blood.
She would have to earn it.
Aria lifted her arms, fire licking around her fingers. She stepped beside me, calm and focused.
Together, we waited.
The first vampire struck. Aria's flames caught it mid-air, turning it to ash before it touched the ground.
The next wave came faster.
Mace held the left side. Jarek the right. Talia danced between them, her daggers flashing silver.
I faced the center.
And she came.
The red woman.
She moved like a shadow. Her dress flowing like smoke. Her eyes glowing crimson.
You should not be here, she said, her voice soft as falling snow.
Neither should you, I replied.
She tilted her head.
You are not ready for the truth hidden here.
I bared my teeth.
I do not fear the truth.
She smiled.
Then let me show you.
She raised her hands.
And the ground split open.
A scream rose from the earth. Not from any throat. But from the stones. From memory itself.
The air turned black.
I fell to one knee, the weight of the vision crushing down on me.
I saw it.
The first Alpha.
His eyes.
His fall.
His betrayal.
And beside him—her.
Not as she is now.
But human.
Mortal.
Once, they had stood together.
Lovers.
Allies.
Then she changed.
He did not stop her.
And she never forgave him.
I gasped as the vision ended.
The red woman stood over me.
Now do you see? she whispered.
You carry his guilt. His failure. His power.
And I will take it all.
I lunged.
She vanished.
The storm broke.
The vampires began to fall, turned to ash by fire and fang.
Jarek howled, his mouth dripping with black blood.
Talia stood wounded but alive.
Mace dragged a still-burning vampire into the snow, crushing its skull with a stone.
We survived.
Barely.
The Circle was quiet again.
But it had changed.
So had I.
I stood at the altar, breathing hard.
I now knew who she was.
And why she hated me.
But that hatred did not make me weak.
It made me stronger.
She came from the past.
But I carried the future.
And I would fight for it.
With every drop of blood in my body.