Chapter Four: Blood Lies and Moonlit Truths
The dungeon smelled like iron and old regrets.
Chains scraped against stone as Eli led me down the narrow steps beneath the Silvermoon castle, each torch flickering like it knew it was lighting a lie. My pendant burned against my chest, hotter than it ever had before—angry, desperate, alive.
“This is where he’s kept,” Eli said quietly.
He didn’t have to say who.
My uncle.
The man who had cast me out with cold eyes and colder words.
Victor.
The cell door creaked open.
I saw him on his knees.
Blood streaked down his temple, his once-pristine coat torn and soaked dark. Silver cuffs bound his wrists—anti-shift restraints. My breath caught painfully in my chest.
“Victor…” The name slipped out before I could stop it.
His head snapped up.
“Iris,” he breathed, voice breaking like glass. “You shouldn’t be here.”
A laugh echoed through the dungeon.
Slow. Mocking. Cruel.
“Well, this is touching,” Gareth said as he stepped out of the shadows.
Luna’s father.
The traitor.
His black cloak dragged across the floor, and in his hand—my pendant’s twin. The Moon Sigil. The key.
“You brought her to me,” Gareth said, smiling at Eli. “How obedient of you.”
Eli moved in front of me instantly, shoulders squared. “You won’t touch her.”
Gareth raised a brow. “Still pretending, pup?”
My heart slammed painfully as understanding crashed into me.
Pretending.
Victor coughed, blood staining his lips. “Enough,” he rasped. “This ends tonight.”
I stared at him. “You… you exiled me. You called me a curse.”
His eyes filled. “Because it was the only way to keep you alive.”
The words struck harder than any blow.
Victor lifted his shackled hands. “Gareth was already moving. The council was compromised. If I had acknowledged you publicly, you would have died before your first shift.”
My knees weakened.
“So you destroyed me instead?” I whispered.
“I gave you a chance,” he said hoarsely. “To grow. To hide. To survive.”
I shook my head, tears blurring my vision. “Eli,” I said slowly, dread curling in my stomach. “You knew.”
Eli didn’t look away. “I was assigned to you the day you were born.”
The world tilted.
“I was never your assistant,” he continued softly. “I was your shield.”
Gareth clapped. “Beautiful. Truly. A family reunion before the slaughter.”
He stepped closer, eyes burning with madness. “Tell me where the Moonlight Crystal is, Iris. Your parents died screaming to protect it.”
The word parents shattered something inside me.
Victor’s voice broke. “They didn’t die in an accident,” he said. “They were murdered. By Gareth. And the humans he allied with.”
My scream tore out of me before I could stop it.
Images flooded my mind—blood on snow, silver fur torn by black claws, moonlight stained red.
“They died,” Victor whispered, “because the crystal can cleanse the darkness in our blood. It can end the corruption. And Gareth wanted that power.”
Gareth snarled. “I wanted control.”
His bones cracked.
Black fur exploded from his skin as he shifted, the dungeon shaking under the force of it. A massive black wolf lunged toward Victor—
—and something inside me snapped.
The pain vanished.
The fear vanished.
I felt the moon rise inside my veins.
My body burned, then sang. Silver-white fur burst through my skin, luminous and blinding. My vision sharpened into gold. Power flooded me, ancient and absolute.
Eli stared. “Iris…”
I roared.
The sound shook the chains off the walls.
I launched myself at Gareth, claws colliding with his in a shower of sparks and blood. We crashed across the dungeon floor, two forces of legacy and hatred tearing into each other.
He was strong.
But I was pure.
Eli joined me, gray and silver moving as one, our attacks synchronized like instinct and fate had always planned this moment.
Gareth howled as I sank my fangs into his shoulder, moonlight flaring from my eyes.
“This is for my parents,” I growled.
Together, we drove him back—out of the dungeon, out of power, out of my past.
When it was over, I stood trembling, breath ragged, blood dripping from my claws.
Victor watched me with tears streaming freely down his face.
“My Alpha,” he whispered. “You’ve come home.”
I looked at the moonlight filtering through the cracks above us and made a vow carved in blood and silver:
No more running.
No more lies.
They took my family.
Now I would take everything back.