CHAPTER 91: CHAPTER 91: THE FIRST CHALLENGE

The howl came again, and this time it was answered by dozens of others.

They surrounded the farm from every direction. "Rogues," Alpha Magnus growled, his eyes flashing gold. "But they smell... wrong." Elara’s new Luna senses kicked in.

Through the mate bond, she felt her triplets’ reactions—Kael’s tactical mind already planning defense, Ronan’s excitement for war, and Darian’s careful observation of everything around them. But she also felt that nagging worry. Which one would betray her? "They’re not just rogues," Tobias said sadly, sniffing the air. "They’re dream-touched. The lost Primordial has been busy."

From the treeline, shapes started emerging. Wolves, but not quite right. Some had too many eyes. Others moved like liquid shade. A few shifted between wolf and nightmare forms. "How many?" Kael asked, ice already forming around his hands. "Fifty. Maybe more," Elara answered, her enhanced senses counting heartbeats in the darkness.

"They’re surrounding us." "Good," Ronan grinned, flames dancing along his arms. "I was getting bored." "This isn’t a game," Darian warned. "Something’s controlling them. Look at their eyes." Elara focused on the coming creatures.

Their eyes glowed with swirling colors that hurt to look at directly—like looking into someone else’s dreams. "Dream magic," Luna Evelyn whispered, still weak from the blessing process. "The missing Primordial is using them as puppets." "Can we break the control?" Elara asked. "Not without finding Dream itself," Tobias answered.

"But we can fight them." The first wave struck without warning. A massive wolf with silver fur and rainbow eyes jumped straight for Elara. Kael stopped it with a wall of ice, but the creature passed right through like it wasn’t there.

"They’re part dream!" he shouted. "Physical attacks won’t work!" Elara ducked at the last second, rolling across the ground. The dream-wolf’s claws left gouges in the stone where she’d been standing. "If they’re dreams, then we need to think like dreamers!" she called out, her mind rushing. In dreams, belief meant more than reality.

If she believed her Luna power could hurt them— Silver light erupted from her hands, hitting the rainbow-eyed wolf. The thing shrieked and dissolved into mist. "Belief!" she shouted to her friends. "Believe your powers can hurt them!" Ronan’s flames suddenly burned brighter, no longer just fire but pure will made visible. When he hit a shadow-wolf, it screamed and vanished.

Darian’s truth-sight blazed, and wherever he looked, the dream-creatures became solid, subject to normal attacks. Kael’s ice turned into crystallized certainty, trapping nightmares in frozen prisons they couldn’t flee. But there were so many of them. "We’re outnumbered!" Alpha Magnus roared, fighting back-to-back with Luna Evelyn.

"Not for long," Elara said sadly. Through the mate link, she reached out to every member of the Blackwood Pack. Your Luna calls you. Come now. The reaction was immediate. Howls rose from all over the area as pack members raced toward the estate. But something was wrong with the link.

She felt pushback from some pack members. Confusion. Fear. And from others... nothing at all. "Some of our people aren’t responding," she told her mates through their connection. "The dream magic," Darian realized. "It’s not just handling rogues. It’s affecting our pack too."

A chill ran down Elara’s spine. If Dream could control pack members, then anyone could be a threat. "Celeste!" Ronan suddenly shouted. Elara spun around to see the Beta’s daughter coming from the main house.

But something was terribly wrong. Celeste’s eyes danced with the same dream-light as the attacking creatures. "Hello, Elara," Celeste said, her voice mixed with echoes.

"Did you miss me?" "You’re supposed to be in the pack prison," Kael snarled. "Prison?" Celeste laughed, the sound like breaking glass. "Dream doesn’t believe in jails. Dream believes in freedom. Beautiful, wild freedom."

She raised her hands, and more nightmare-wolves appeared around her. "You took everything from me," Celeste continued, her face twisted with rage and dream-madness. "My place. My future. My character. So now I’m going to take everything from you." "Celeste, fight it!" Luna Evelyn begged.

"This isn’t you!" "Isn’t it?" Celeste tilted her head like a confused child. "I’ve always hated her. Dream just gave me the power to do something about it." The nightmare-wolves lunged forward. Elara and her mates fought fiercely, but they were being pushed back toward the main house.

More dream-touched rogues poured from the forest. Worse, she could feel pack members throughout the territory falling under Dream’s influence. "We need to retreat," Kael said through their bond. "No," Elara answered firmly. "If we run, Dream wins. Our people need to see their Luna stand and fight."

"Then we make our stand here," Ronan agreed, his fires roaring higher. "Together," Darian added, his truth-sight showing the weak points in their enemies’ dream-forms. But as they prepared for the final attack, Elara felt something that made her blood freeze. Through the mate bond, one of her mates was... different.

The link felt wrong. Distant. Like someone was trying to hide their thoughts. The lie. It was happening now. "Which one of you is it?" she whispered. All three triplets looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?" Kael asked. But before she could answer, the ground beneath their feet burst upward.

From the crater appeared something that wasn’t quite wolf, wasn’t quite human, and definitely wasn’t entirely real. "Did someone call for Dream?" the thing asked in a voice like wind chimes and screaming children.

It was the lost Primordial. Dream stood twelve feet tall, constantly shifting between different forms—sometimes a giant wolf with star-filled fur, sometimes a beautiful woman with nightmare eyes, sometimes just a swirling vortex of pure thought.

"Hello, little Bridge Walker," Dream said, focusing on Elara. "I’ve been so curious about you." "Let my pack go," Elara ordered, silver light blazing around her. "But they’re having such wonderful dreams," Dream laughed.

"Dreams where they don’t have to follow an omega claiming to be Luna. Dreams where the natural order is restored." Through the estate grounds, Elara could see more pack members emerge from buildings. All of them had the whirling dream-light in their eyes.

All of them were looking at her with hate. "You see," Dream continued conversationally, "I’ve been asleep for so long. Centuries. And when I finally woke up, I found that reality had become so... boring. Predictable.

Ruled by rules and hierarchies and traditions." "So you decided to change it," Tobias said grimly. "I decided to improve it," Dream corrected. "To make it more... flowing. More fun. Where anything can happen and usually does."

A pack member Elara had known since childhood raised a weapon against her. Through the mate bond, she felt her triplets’ fear and rage. But she also felt that wrongness again. One of them was still hiding something. "Choose," Dream said suddenly.

"Save your pack from their beautiful dreams, or save your mates from their ugly truths." "What does that mean?" Ronan demanded. Dream smiled, showing teeth made of crystallized fears. "It means one of your precious mates has been lying to you all along.

Their betrayal isn’t future prophecy—it’s happening right now. And if you try to break my hold on your pack, you won’t have the power left to stop them from destroying you."

Elara’s heart pounded as she looked at Kael, Ronan, and Darian. Through the bond, she felt their love, their loyalty, their desire to die for her. But she also felt deceit. Layers of it. Carefully hidden but definitely there. "Who?" she whispered. "Choose quickly," Dream urged.

"Your pack is about to attack. And your betrayer is about to strike. You can only stop one." Around them, the dream-controlled pack members raised guns. Celeste laughed maniacally. The nightmare-wolves crept closer.

And somewhere in the mate bond, Elara felt movement. Someone getting into position. Someone preparing to make their move. The deception was seconds away. But which threat should she face first?