Zander's POV
Beta Derek's teeth sank into my shoulder, ripping through skin like paper.
I roared in pain and anger, throwing him off me with a burst of Alpha power. Blood ran down my back, but I stayed between him and Kira.
"You've gone soft, Zander!" Derek growled as he landed in a crouch. "Protecting a rogue? Our own Alpha guarding the enemy?"
Three more wolves circled us in the small shack. My guard - wolves I'd trusted with my life - now wanted me dead.
"She's my mate," I growled, my wolf pushing forward. "You will not touch her."
Derek laughed, but it sounded ugly and mean. "Your mate? A dirty rogue who's been living like an animal? You've lost your mind."
Behind me, I could hear Kira's rapid breathing. She was hurt and weak, in no shape to fight. If I went down, she was dead.
"I haven't lost anything," I said, my voice dropping to Alpha command level. "Stand. Down."
"No." Derek's eyes flashed with challenge. "I challenge you for control of this pack. You're not fit to be Alpha anymore."
The other wolves spread out, blocking the exits. This wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment task. They'd planned this.
"How long?" I asked quietly.
"How long what?"
"How long have you been planning to kill me?"
Derek smiled, showing all his teeth. "Since you started missing every night to play with dark magic. You think we didn't know? You think we couldn't smell the death on you when you came back?"
My heart sank. They knew about Morgana. About the resurrection magic.
"We followed you to your little cave," another wolf said. "Watched you cut yourself and bleed over bones. Watched you beg a witch to bring back the dead."
"That magic is forbidden for a reason," Derek spat. "It makes Alphas crazy. Makes them weak. Makes them do stupid things like protect rogues instead of kill them."
"You don't understand—"
"I understand perfectly!" Derek's voice rose to a shout. "You made a deal with evil to bring back your family, and it's been eating you alive ever since. Look at yourself, Zander! When's the last time you ate a real meal? Slept through the night? Led a pack meeting without losing your temper?"
He was right, and we all knew it. The magic had been devouring me for months. Making me nervous, angry, desperate. I'd been a bad Alpha.
But that was before Kira.
"Things are different now," I said.
"Because of her?" Derek jerked his head toward Kira. "A broken rogue is going to fix you? She can't even fix herself!"
My wolf growled at the insult to our mate. "Careful, Derek."
"Or what? You'll kill me like you killed the others?"
Ice filled my blood. "What others?"
"James, when he questioned your orders. Maria, when she suggested calling other packs for help. Paul, when he tried to stop you from going that night." Derek's eyes burned with hate. "Three pack members dead because their Alpha couldn't control his rage."
The guilt hit me like a physical blow. I'd been so lost in my obsession with bringing back my family that I'd started destroying my present family.
"I never meant—"
"You never mean to do a lot of things," Derek interrupted. "But people still end up dead."
Behind me, Kira made a soft sound of fear. She'd heard everything. Now she knew exactly what kind of monster she was mated to.
"The pack voted," Derek continued. "Unanimous decision. You're not our Alpha anymore."
"And who's going to replace me? You?"
Derek's smile got bigger. "Actually, no. We found someone much better."
The cabin door opened again, and my world tilted sideways.
Marcus Blackthorne stepped into the room.
Kira gasped behind me. "Papa?"
Marcus looked older, grayer, broken in ways that went deeper than age. But his Alpha power was still strong, still dominant.
"Hello, Kira," he said softly. "I've been looking for you for ten years."
"You banished me!" Kira's voice cracked with pain. "You asked why I didn't die instead of Mira!"
"I know." Marcus's voice was full of sorrow. "I was wrong. So very wrong. And now I'm here to make it right."
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "You're working together?" "Derek contacted me three days ago," Marcus explained. "Told me about your... activities. About the death magic. About the deal with Morgana Vex."
My blood turned to ice. "You know about Morgana?"
"I know everything, Zander. Including the part where my daughter was meant to die to fuel your spell."
Kira made a choking sound. "Papa, is that true?"
Marcus nodded grimly. "The witch has been playing us all. She needed both my girls dead to complete some larger magic. When Kira survived, it threw everything off balance."
"But now we can fix it," Derek said happily. "All we have to do is kill the rogue like she was supposed to die ten years ago, and everything goes back to normal."
"No." The word ripped out of my throat. "I won't let you hurt her."
"You don't have a choice," Marcus said sadly. "The magic is already killing her slowly. This way is faster, kinder. And it saves everyone else."
"There has to be another way!"
"There is," a new voice said from the doorway.
We all turned to see Elder Luna Seraphine step into the busy cabin. Her old eyes were bright with knowledge and power.
"There is another way," she continued. "But it requires something none of you are prepared to give up."
"What?" I asked.
"The truth," she said simply. "All of it. About why Morgana really wanted the Blackthorne children dead. About what Zander's family really was. About the destiny that connects them all."
Marcus went very still. "What prophecy?"
Seraphine smiled, but it wasn't a happy look. "The prophecy that says the Blackthorne bloodline and the Nightfall bloodline will either destroy each other... or create something powerful enough to destroy Morgana Vex once and for all."
"That's impossible," Derek scoffed. "There's no such prophecy."
"Isn't there?" Seraphine looked straight at me. "Tell them, Zander. Tell them what your mother really was before she died."
My mouth went dry. "My mother was human."
"Your mother was Morgana Vex's daughter," Seraphine said softly. "Which makes you her grandson. Which means the magic you've been playing with isn't foreign power you borrowed."
The cabin went totally silent.
"It's your birthright," Seraphine added. "And when you made that deal to bring back your family, you weren't just trading with a witch."
She looked at all of us with eyes that had seen ages of secrets.
"You were making a deal with your grandmother. And she's been planning this meeting for thirty years."