Asher POV
My fist slammed into the wall so hard it left a dent in the stone.
"Her mother is supposed to be dead!" I roared, walking back and forth in the war room like a caged animal. "We buried an empty coffin eighteen years ago!"
The mate bond was going crazy inside my chest, eating off Iris's shock and terror from upstairs. I could feel her heart breaking through our link, and it was driving my wolf insane.
"Calm down, son," Father said, but his own face was pale with fear.
"Calm down?" I spun to face him. "Viktor Shadowmoon claims he has our mate's supposedly dead mother, and you want me to calm down?"
"We don't know if it's true," Kieran said, though his voice was tight with worry. "It could be a trick."
"What if it's not?" Zane asked quietly. His special mind skills meant he could sense things the rest of us missed. "What if she really is alive?"
The thought made my stomach twist. If Iris's mother was living, that changed everything. Iris would do anything to save her, even if it meant going into Viktor's trap.
"We need more information," Father decided. "Send a message back to Viktor. Tell him we want proof that the woman is who he says she is."
Beta Marcus nodded. "I'll handle it."
As he left the room, I felt a spike of determination through the mate bond. It was coming from Iris, and it scared me more than Viktor's army.
"She's planning something," I said quickly. "I can feel it through the bond."
Kieran and Zane both went still, focused on their connections to our mate.
"She's going to try to leave," Zane said with confidence. "She thinks she can protect everyone by giving herself up."
"Like hell she is," I growled, already headed for the door.
We raced through the pack house passageways toward Iris's room. My wolf was screaming with the need to protect our mate, to keep her safe from the monster who wanted to use her.
But when we reached her door, it was already open.
Elder Sage stood in the doorway, stopping our path. "She's not here," she said simply.
"Where is she?" Kieran demanded.
"Somewhere safe. Somewhere Viktor can't reach her even if he has a hundred rogues."
"What are you talking about?" I pushed past the old woman into the empty room. The window was open, and I could smell Iris's scent heading toward the forest.
"There are places in these mountains that predate the pack," Elder Sage explained. "Sacred spaces that only Silver Wolves can enter. Iris's senses led her to one of them."
"Her instincts?" Zane stepped closer to the window, sniffing the air. "She doesn't know anything about her Silver Wolf powers yet."
"The blood knows, even when the mind doesn't," Elder Sage said strangely. "But you boys need to understand something important. If Viktor really does have her mother, Iris will come back. She won't be able to stay hidden knowing someone she loves is in danger."
The mate bond suddenly flared with pain so intense it dropped me to my knees. Kieran and Zane gasped, holding their chests.
"What's happening?" I choked out.
Elder Sage's face went white. "She's trying to break the ties. I told her it was possible, but I didn't think she'd actually try it alone."
"She'll kill herself," Kieran growled, already shifting into his wolf form.
"Wait," Elder Sage grabbed his arm. "If you go after her while she's in the middle of the rite, the shock could stop her heart. We have to trust that she knows what she's doing."
"She's eighteen years old and just found out her whole life was a lie," I yelled. "She doesn't know what she's doing!"
Another wave of pain crashed through the bond, and all three of us doubled over. It felt like someone was pulling pieces of my soul away with red-hot claws.
"Make it stop," Zane whispered, tears running down his face.
But Elder Sage just watched us with sad, knowing eyes. "This is what love costs sometimes. The question is: do you love her enough to let her choose?"
Before any of us could answer, a new voice spoke from behind us.
"She won't have to choose."
We turned to see a woman standing in the doorway. She looked exactly like Iris, only older, with the same silver-streaked hair and violet eyes. But where Iris was small and fragile, this woman oozed power that made my wolf want to bow down.
"Who are you?" Father ordered, appearing behind the stranger with several guards.
The woman smiled sadly. "I'm Anna Moon. Iris's mother."
The room went totally silent.
"That's impossible," Kieran breathed. "You're dead. We saw your body."
"You saw what Viktor wanted you to see," Anna responded. "A shape-shifter wearing my face, already dying from poison. Viktor needed everyone to believe I was gone so he could search for Iris without trouble."
"But why?" I asked. "Why fake your death?"
Anna's expression hardened. "Because I knew something Viktor didn't want me to share. Something about Iris that makes her far more valuable than even he realizes."
She stepped into the room, and I could feel old magic rolling off her in waves.
"My daughter isn't just a Silver Wolf," Anna continued. "She's the last Pure Silver, born under a blood moon with power that hasn't been seen in five hundred years. Viktor thinks he wants her for breeding, but what he really wants is her blood."
"Her blood?" Elder Sage looked confused. "What's special about her blood?"
Anna's smile turned cold and scary. "Silver Wolf blood, freely given under a blood moon, can grant immortality to any werewolf who drinks it. Viktor doesn't want to control Iris. He wants to take her power and live forever."
The bottom dropped out of my life. Viktor wasn't going to force Iris into some awful marriage. He was going to kill her.
"Where is he now?" I asked.
"Close. Maybe an hour away from the pack limits." Anna looked toward the window where Iris's smell trail led into the forest. "But that's not our biggest problem."
"What's the biggest problem?" Father asked grimly.
Anna's face went pale with fear. "The ritual Iris is trying - breaking three mate bonds simultaneously under emotional stress - it's going to create a huge magical explosion. Every supernatural thing within fifty miles will sense it."
"So?" Kieran asked.
"So Viktor won't be the only one coming for her anymore," Anna whispered. "Ancient things live in these mountains. Things that have been sleeping for ages, waiting for this much power to awaken them."
As if called by her words, a howl echoed across the forest. But it wasn't a wolf scream. It was something older, hungry, and infinitely more dangerous.
"What was that?" I asked, though I was afraid to know the answer.
Anna's voice was barely a whisper when she replied: "The Shadow Beasts. They feed on Silver Wolf magic, and they've been hungry for five hundred years. Iris's ritual just rang the dinner bell."
Another howl answered the first one, then another. Soon the entire forest was alive with the sounds of creatures that shouldn't exist waking up after centuries of sleep.
And my mate was alone out there, helpless and in the middle of a magical ritual that was broadcasting her location to every monster in the mountains.
"We have to get to her," I said desperately.
But Anna shook her head, tears running down her face. "It's too late. The Shadow Beasts move faster than werewolves. They'll reach her before we can."
The mate bond pulsed weakly, and I realized with fear that I could barely feel Iris anymore. Either the ritual was working and she was breaking our link, or...
"She's dying," Zane said what we were all thinking.
Anna closed her eyes in pain. "My baby girl. I failed her again."
"No," I growled, my wolf taking control. "I don't care about Shadow Beasts or old magic or impossible odds. She's my mate, and I'm not losing her."
I shifted into my wolf form and jumped through the window before anyone could stop me.
Behind me, I heard Kieran and Zane following, their own wolves refusing to leave our mate.
But as we ran through the dark forest toward Iris's fading scent, more howls rose around us.
And I realized we weren't just running toward our mate.
We were running toward what might be the last battle any of us would ever fight.
The question wasn't whether we'd reach Iris in time.
The question was whether any of us would survive what we found when we got there.