CHAPTER 40: SHADOWS AND MOONLIGHT

Lily POV

The howl that split the night air made my blood freeze. It wasn’t like any wolf sound I’d ever heard - too deep, too hollow, like it came from something that used to be alive but wasn’t anymore.

I pressed myself against the rocky cliff wall, trying to make myself invisible as three Shadow Wolves padded through the moonlight below me. Their eyes glowed that awful bright color, but worse than that was how they moved. Wrong. Like puppets being controlled by unseen strings.

My Triple Moon mark suddenly blazed with pain so sharp I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out. The metal pattern on my wrist felt like it was burning through my skin. What was happening to me?

"She’s close," one of the Shadow Wolves said in a flat, lifeless voice. "The mark calls to us."

My heart hammered against my ribs. They could sense my mark? That was impossible. Nobody had ever told me Triple Moon marks could be tracked.

I tried to move further up the cliff, but loose rocks scattered under my feet. The sound echoed through the mountain air like thunder. All three Shadow Wolves snapped their heads up toward my hidden spot.

"There," another one said. "The bearer attempts to flee."

I ran.

My feet slipped on the icy mountain road as I scrambled higher up the cliff. Behind me, I heard the Shadow Wolves starting their climb. They moved too fast, too sure-footed, like the dangerous terrain meant nothing to them.

My mark burned hotter with every step. The pain was so bad that tears streamed down my face, but I couldn’t stop running. If they caught me, it wasn’t just my life at stake - it was everyone’s. The whole dog world.

"You cannot escape us, Triple Moon bearer," called one of the creatures behind me. "We know your smell. We know your fear."

That’s when something strange happened. As the pain in my mark hit its worst point, images suddenly flashed in my mind. Not my memories - someone else’s.

I saw Elder Iris as a young woman, running through these same mountains fifty years ago. I saw her Triple Moon mark shining just like mine was now. And I saw her making the same terrible mistake I was about to make.

"No," I gasped, understanding rushing through me. The mark wasn’t just causing me pain - it was trying to show me something. Warn me about something.

Another image hit me like lightning. The Shadow Wolves below weren’t trying to catch me. They were moving me. Driving me toward something much worse waiting at the top of the mountain.

I skidded to a stop so suddenly that I almost fell off the narrow road. My mark’s burning pain suddenly made sense. It wasn’t reacting to the Shadow Wolves chasing me - it was reacting to whatever was waiting ahead.

More images crashed through my mind. I saw the First Shadow’s real plan. He didn’t just want to control dog packs. He wanted to damage the Triple Moon mark itself. Turn its power dark. Use it to handle not just hundreds of wolves, but thousands. Maybe all of them.

And he needed me living to do it.

"She’s stopped," one of the Shadow Wolves said below me. "Why has she stopped?"

I pressed my back against the cliff wall, my mind racing. If I kept running up the mountain, I’d run straight into a trap. But if I went back down, I’d run right into the Shadow Wolves.

That’s when I noticed something else in the flashing pictures from my mark. A small crack in the cliff face just a few feet ahead. Elder Iris had hidden there fifty years ago when she was running from the same enemy.

I squeezed into the crack just as the Shadow Wolves reached my level. The space was so tight I could barely breathe, but it was deep enough to hide me totally.

"Where did she go?" one of them growled, and for the first time, feeling leaked into its voice. Frustration.

"She cannot have vanished," another said. "The mark still calls."

They were right. My mark was still burning, still sending out whatever signal they were following. But now that I was hidden, I could focus on the pictures it was showing me instead of just the pain.

I saw the First Shadow waiting at the mountain’s peak. He wasn’t in dog form - he was something else entirely. Something that had once been wolf but was now made of darkness and hate and hunger. His plan was easy and horrible: capture me, corrupt my mark, and use its power to spread his control across the entire world.

But there was something else in the pictures. Something that gave me hope.

I saw that the Triple Moon mark had a weakness the First Shadow didn’t know about. If a bearer was ready to sacrifice herself, the mark could release all its stored power at once. It would destroy the darkness totally, but it would also...

The image cut off as footsteps neared my hiding spot.

"Search every crack, every shadow," the lead Shadow Wolf ordered. "She’s here somewhere."

I held my breath as hooked feet passed just inches from the crack where I hid. My mark kept showing me flashes of the past and glimpses of possible futures. Most of them ended badly. Very badly.

In one picture, I saw Caleb fighting the mind control, blood streaming from his nose as he tried to resist. In another, I saw Elder Iris surrounded by controlled pack members, her face full of old guilt and new purpose.

But the worst picture was yet to come. I saw what would happen if the First Shadow succeeded in altering my mark. Thousands of wolves with glowing eyes, moving across the land like an army. Human cities burning. The natural world itself starting to die as darkness spread like poison.

"Found something," one of the Shadow Wolves said.

My blood turned to ice. Had they found my hiding spot?

"Human scent," it continued. "Recent. They’ve been through this area."

Wait. Humans? What people would be up here in the dangerous mountains during winter?

Another flash from my mark answered that question, and what I saw made my stomach drop. A group of human hunters, armed with special weapons meant to kill supernatural creatures. They were working with the First Shadow, helping him track down any wolves who’d fled his control.

And they were going straight toward the cave where my pack was hiding.

"The humans report success," the Shadow Wolf said, like it was getting information from somewhere else. "The survivors’ location is confirmed."

No. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.

"Excellent," another Shadow Wolf answered. "While they eliminate the remaining free wolves, we continue hunting the Triple Moon bearer."

I wanted to scream, to run down the mountain and warn everyone. But I was stuck. If I left my hiding spot, the Shadow Wolves would catch me immediately. But if I stayed here, my family and friends would walk into a trap.

My mark burned hotter, showing me one final picture that made everything clear. The trap at the mountain’s top wasn’t just for me. It was bait. The First Shadow knew I’d try to save my pack. He was counting on it.

And the worst part? I could see Elder Iris in the vision, standing at the cave mouth with tears in her eyes. She knew it was a trap too. But she was going to walk into it anyway, because fifty years ago she’d run away from this same choice.

This time, she was determined not to be a wimp.

Even if it killed her.

The Shadow Wolves moved away from my hiding spot, moving back down the mountain toward my pack. In a few hours, it would all be over. Unless I did something impossible.

Unless I figured out how to be in two places at once.

My mark suddenly went completely cold, and in that silence, I heard something that chilled me to the bone.

Elder Iris, somewhere far below, starting to howl the old song of sacrifice.