Aria's POV
The pain stops as suddenly as it started.
I gasp, my hand still pressed to my stomach. The silver glow fades from my skin like dying embers.
"The baby?" I choke out. "Is the baby okay?"
Elder Mira places her weathered hand over mine. Her eyes close in concentration.
Then she smiles. Relief floods her face.
"The baby is fine. Strong, even." She opens her eyes. "But we need to talk. Now."
She helps me sit up. My whole body trembles with leftover adrenaline.
Luna Catherine sits on one side of me. Raven stands guard at the door. Other she-wolves crowd the room, all watching me with a mixture of fear and wonder.
"What just happened to me?" I whisper.
"Your Eclipse power tried to surface," Elder Mira says. "The baby triggered it. But your body resisted because you don't understand what you are yet."
"Then tell me." My voice comes out stronger than I feel. "Tell me everything."
Elder Mira nods slowly. She pulls a chair close and sits, her knees cracking.
"The Eclipse Pack massacre sixteen years ago," she begins. "You were told it was a rogue attack, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"That was a lie." Her voice hardens. "The massacre was planned. Orchestrated. Paid for."
My blood runs cold. "By who?"
"By a coalition of male Alphas." Raven speaks up from the doorway, her scarred face twisted with anger. "Alphas who were terrified of Eclipse wolves."
"Why?" I ask. "What's so scary about us?"
"Female Eclipse Alphas don't just lead packs," Elder Mira explains. "We command entire regions. Our power doesn't come from physical strength or dominance. It comes from the moon itself. From creation. From life."
She leans forward, her eyes intense.
"Male Alphas rule through force and fear. But Eclipse Alphas? We rule through loyalty. Love. Power that can't be challenged or taken." Her voice drops. "Your mother united seven packs under her leadership. Seven. Without a single battle. Just her presence was enough."
I can barely breathe. "Seven packs?"
"The male Alphas saw her power growing and panicked." Raven's hands curl into fists. "They couldn't defeat her in combat. Couldn't challenge her authority. So they did the only thing they could."
"They killed her," I whisper.
"They tried to kill everyone." Elder Mira's eyes shine with tears. "Every Eclipse bloodline wolf. Every woman, every child who carried even a drop of silver blood. They wanted to erase us completely."
Horror crawls up my spine. "But I survived."
"You survived because your wolf went dormant." Elder Mira touches my cheek gently. "Eclipse wolves are different from normal werewolves. We don't shift for the first time at thirteen like others do."
"When do we shift?"
"When our bloodline fully matures. And that only happens under two conditions." She holds up two fingers. "Extreme trauma that breaks something inside us. Or creating new life."
My hand moves to my stomach.
"The night of the massacre, you were three years old. You watched your parents die. Watched your pack burn." Elder Mira's voice cracks. "The trauma should have awakened your wolf. But instead, it buried her so deep even you forgot she existed."
Tears stream down my face. The memories flash—fire, screaming, my mother's voice.
"Your wolf was protecting you," Elder Mira continues. "Hiding you. Making you seem weak so no one would suspect what you really were."
"I thought I was broken," I whisper. "Defective."
"You were never broken." She squeezes my hand. "You were hiding. Waiting. Until it was safe to wake up."
"But I'm pregnant now," I say slowly. "And I've been rejected. Exiled. Traumatized all over again."
"Exactly." Elder Mira nods. "Pregnancy plus rejection plus trauma. The perfect storm to trigger an Eclipse awakening."
The room spins. Everything makes sense now.
Why my wolf suddenly became strong. Why silver appeared in my fur. Why power I never had before is coursing through my veins.
"Your wolf is waking up, Aria," Elder Mira says softly. "And when she fully awakens, you'll be more powerful than any Alpha alive today."
"Even Dominic?" The question slips out before I can stop it.
Raven actually laughs. It's a harsh, bitter sound.
"Dominic Blackthorne is an Alpha heir with standard bloodline power," she says. "You're an Eclipse Alpha carrying an Eclipse heir. You could break him with a thought."
The idea should make me happy. Should make me want revenge.
But all I feel is sadness.
Because Dominic will never know his own child. Will never know what he threw away.
"There's something else," Elder Mira says carefully. "Something about your baby."
My stomach clenches. "What?"
"The baby isn't just inheriting Eclipse blood from you." She glances at my belly. "It's absorbing your power while it grows. Bonding with it. Becoming something even rarer."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean your son—"
"Son?" I gasp. "It's a boy?"
She smiles. "Yes. And he will be the first Eclipse wolf born in sixteen years. The first male Eclipse Alpha in three hundred years."
The room goes completely silent.
"Male Eclipse Alphas are legendary," Raven breathes. "They're supposed to be myths."
"They were never myths." Elder Mira stands, her voice ringing with authority. "They were hunted to extinction because their power made even other Eclipse wolves look weak."
My hand spreads protectively over my stomach. Over my son.
"What kind of power?" I whisper.
"The kind that can unite or destroy entire nations." Elder Mira's face is grave. "The kind that every pack in the world will want to control. Or kill."
Fear lances through me. "They'll come for him."
"They'll come for both of you." She grips my shoulders. "Which is why you need to learn to fight. To protect yourself. To use your power before it's too late."
"I don't know how—"
A surge of energy explodes through my body.
I gasp. Silver light bursts from my skin, flooding the room with brightness.
Everyone steps back. Even Elder Mira looks shocked.
The power feels alive. Wild. Like a storm barely contained under my skin.
"What's happening?" I cry out.
"Your wolf," Elder Mira breathes. "She's answering your fear. Responding to the threat."
The light grows brighter. Stronger.
I can feel it now—the well of power inside me. Deep. Endless. Terrifying.
This is what I am.
This is what I've always been.
An Eclipse Alpha.
The light finally fades. I collapse back onto the bed, exhausted.
"That," Raven says, her voice filled with awe, "was just a fraction of your true power."
Elder Mira kneels beside me. Her face is serious.
"Aria, listen to me carefully. Your son will be born in approximately seven months. By then, you need to be strong enough to protect him from everyone who will want him dead."
"Including Dominic?" I ask quietly.
"Especially Dominic." Her eyes flash. "Because when he discovers what he rejected—when he realizes his son is the most powerful wolf born in centuries—he'll come for you both."
My heart clenches. "To kill us?"
"To claim you." Elder Mira's voice is hard. "To force a mate bond. To take your son and raise him as a Blackthorne heir instead of a Moonwhisper Eclipse."
Rage floods through me. Hot and fierce.
"He rejected us," I snarl. My wolf's voice bleeds into mine. "He threw us away like garbage."
"And now he'll want you back." Elder Mira stands. "Because Dominic Blackthorne has no idea what he's created."
She looks at the other she-wolves in the room.
"We have seven months to prepare. Seven months to train Aria. Seven months to make her strong enough to face whatever's coming."
"And if we fail?" Luna Catherine asks quietly.
Elder Mira's face is stone.
"Then the Eclipse bloodline dies with her. And every she-wolf in this Refuge will die protecting her."
The weight of responsibility crushes down on me.
All these women. All these lives. Depending on me.
On a girl who couldn't even shift properly a month ago.
"I'll do it," I say, my voice shaking but determined. "I'll train. I'll learn. I'll become whatever I need to be."
"Good." Elder Mira smiles. "Because starting tomorrow, your real education begins."
She turns to leave, then pauses at the door.
"Oh, and Aria? One more thing."
"What?"
Her smile turns wicked.
"That mate bond Dominic denied? The one he said didn't exist?" She laughs. "It's real. Stronger than any bond in recorded history. And when your Eclipse power fully awakens, it's going to pull at him like a fishhook in his soul."
My breath catches. "What does that mean?"
"It means," she says, her eyes gleaming, "that Alpha Dominic Blackthorne is about to experience hell. Because rejecting an Eclipse mate bond doesn't break it. It just makes it hurt more."
She walks out, leaving me with those words echoing in my mind.
Dominic is going to suffer.
And for the first time since he rejected me, I smile.