Kiera's POV
"We're cousins?"
The words felt wrong in my mouth. Impossible. My mother died when I was born. I had no family except my father. No aunts, no uncles, no cousins.
"Your mother and mine were sisters," Thorne said, his voice steady but his eyes holding old pain. "Elena and Lyanna. They were both born with Oracle blood from one of the oldest bloodlines in the territory."
I shook my head, trying to make sense of this. "My father never mentioned any of this. He never said my mother had a sister."
"Because he probably didn't know." Thorne leaned forward, firelight dancing across his scarred face. "The Oracle families learned to hide centuries ago. They separated, changed their names, buried their connections. It was the only way to survive the Purge."
"But the Purge ended two hundred years ago. Everyone knows that."
"Everyone knows what the Council wants them to know." His expression hardened. "The truth? The Purge never ended. It just went underground. Any child showing Oracle signs was quietly eliminated. Rogue attacks. Hunting accidents. Mysterious illnesses. The Council got very good at making murders look natural."
Horror crawled up my spine. "They've been killing children for two centuries?"
"Oracle children, yes. Because Oracles can see possible futures, can challenge Alpha decisions with prophecy. The Council couldn't allow that kind of power to threaten their authority." He paused. "My mother was one of them. She hid her abilities her whole life, but when I was eight, she had a vision during a pack gathering. Her eyes flashed silver in front of witnesses."
"What happened?"
"Three days later, rogues attacked while she was gathering herbs in the forest. My father brought her body back." His jaw clenched. "I was young, but I wasn't stupid. I knew there were no rogue scents near where she died. Only pack wolves. Council guards."
My throat tightened. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Be angry." Fire flashed in his eyes. "Because they did the same thing to your mother. Elena didn't die in childbirth naturally, Kiera. She was murdered."
"What?" The cave spun around me. "No. My father said she died bringing me into the world. Complications from—"
"From what? Did he give you details? Or did the pack healers just tell him she was gone and to accept it?"
I tried to remember my father's rare stories about my mother's death. He always got quiet and sad, saying the healers did everything they could but her body was too weak. That bringing me into the world had taken everything she had.
"She gave you her Oracle blood," Thorne continued quietly. "Strong Oracle blood from one of the last surviving pure bloodlines. The Council would have sensed it the moment you were born. They couldn't kill you outright without questions, so they did something else."
"What?"
"They suppressed your powers with magic. Binding spells woven into charms that your father probably thought were just protection amulets for a newborn baby. Those charms kept your Oracle abilities dormant, hidden even from you."
My hand flew to my throat, remembering the silver pendant my father gave me when I turned ten. I'd worn it every day until Damon tore it off during our first intimate moment, claiming he wanted nothing between us.
Three days later, my first vision hit me like lightning.
"The pendant," I whispered. "My father gave me a silver pendant shaped like a wolf. Said it was from my mother, for protection."
"It was protection. Protection from the Council discovering what you are." Thorne's expression softened with something like pity. "But when Damon removed it during your bonding, the suppression broke. Your Oracle powers woke up. That's why your eyes flashed silver, why the visions started."
Everything clicked into place with sickening clarity.
"Damon didn't reject me because he was scared of my power," I said slowly. "He rejected me because he knew what I was. Knew the Council would come for me if word got out."
"He chose his position over you. Over your life." Thorne's voice turned cold. "The coward protected himself and left you vulnerable."
Rage flooded through me, hot and sharp and all-consuming. My whole life was a lie. My mother murdered. My powers suppressed. My father kept in the dark about the truth while I grew up believing I was normal, ordinary, safe.
And three Alphas had all known or suspected what I was and abandoned me anyway.
"How many?" I demanded. "How many Oracle children have they killed?"
"Dozens over the centuries. Maybe more." Thorne's hands clenched into fists. "I only discovered the truth five years ago when I overheard them planning to kill another child. That's when I knew I couldn't be part of it anymore."
"You saved her."
"I tried. Got her to neutral territory, but the Council has long reach. I don't know if she's still alive or if they found her eventually." Pain flickered across his face. "I couldn't save my mother. Couldn't save your mother. But I'll be damned if I let them take you too."
The fierceness in his voice, the absolute conviction, made something crack in my chest. This male barely knew me, but he'd already decided I was worth protecting. Worth saving.
"Why?" The question came out broken. "Why do you care? We just met. The mate bond is still new. You could walk away right now, save yourself the trouble of dealing with the Council's target on my back."
Thorne looked at me like I'd said something ridiculous. "You're my fated mate. You're family. And you're someone the Council wants to hurt for having the audacity to be born with power they can't control." His eyes met mine across the fire. "Those are three excellent reasons to care. I could give you twenty more if you want."
Tears stung my eyes. I blinked them back furiously. "I don't know what to believe anymore. My whole life, everything I thought I knew—"
"Was a lie designed to keep you safe," he finished gently. "Your father loved you enough to let you believe those lies. But you're not a child anymore, Kiera. You deserve the truth, no matter how ugly it is."
"The truth is I'm cursed. Three rejections. Oracle blood the Council wants to eliminate. A mate bond with the most dangerous exile in the territory." My laugh sounded hysterical. "I'm going to die in these Lunar Grounds, aren't I?"
"No." His voice was absolute certainty. "You're going to survive. We're going to survive. And we're going to make the Council regret every Oracle they ever murdered."
"How? We're two wolves against the entire Council, against three Alphas who want me back, against a system that's been killing my bloodline for centuries."
"We start by getting through the next three nights." Thorne stood, moving with predatory grace toward the supplies against the cave wall. "Then we find others like us. Oracles in hiding. Exiles who've suffered under Council rule. Wolves who are tired of living in fear."
"You want to start a rebellion."
"I want to end a genocide." He turned back to me, firelight reflecting in his eyes. "But first, I need to keep you alive and—"
He froze mid-sentence, his head snapping toward the cave entrance.
"What?" I asked, fear creeping into my voice.
His eyes shifted from gray to glowing silver-gold. His entire body went rigid, every muscle tensed for violence.
"Thorne, what's wrong?"
Outside the cave, I heard it. The soft snap of branches. The rustle of movement too large to be normal forest animals. The whisper of multiple wolves moving in coordinated patterns.
Circling.
Hunting.
Thorne's expression turned murderous, his lips pulling back from his teeth in a silent snarl.
"They found us," he whispered, his voice barely audible over the crackling fire. "Multiple wolves. Council scent mixed with Alpha presence."
My blood turned to ice. "How? You said the cave was protected."
"It was." His eyes blazed with fury and something else. Something that looked like betrayal. "Someone gave them the location. Someone who knew about this place."
The implications hit me like a physical blow. Only one person beside Thorne and me knew we were here.
Someone had betrayed us.
And now we were trapped.