Chapter 7: Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7: Secrets of the Temple

Liam's hand hovered inches from hers.

*Your father's mate.*

The words didn't make sense. They couldn't make sense. Alexander had been dead for thirty years. This woman looked twenty-five, maybe thirty at most.

"You're lying," he said.

Luna's smile didn't waver. "Ask me something only Alexander would know."

"Like what?"

"The scar on his left shoulder. From a rogue alpha in the Siberian pack. He told me it hurt worse than childbirth. I told him he'd never survive childbirth, so his opinion was invalid."

Liam blinked. That sounded like something his father would say. Based on what Marcus had told him, anyway.

"He also told me that if he ever had a son, he'd name him after his grandfather. Liam. Means 'strong-willed warrior' in Gaelic."

The water had gone cold. Liam sat up slowly, every muscle screaming in protest. "How are you still alive? Marcus said the whole pack died."

Luna's eyes flickered with something ancient and painful. "Because I wasn't there. I was pregnant. Alexander sent me away three days before the massacre. Told me to hide until the blood moon passed."

"What happened to the baby?"

Silence stretched between them. A night bird called somewhere in the darkness.

"She didn't survive the birth. The stress. The grief. My wolf went into mourning and couldn't hold the pregnancy." Luna's voice stayed flat, controlled. Too controlled. Like she'd practiced saying those words a thousand times.

"I'm sorry," Liam said. Because what else could you say to someone who'd lost everything?

"Don't be. It was thirty years ago." She held out her hand again. "The Moonlit Temple. We need to move before the Rogue King's trackers find us."

Liam took her hand. Her grip was firm, warm, nothing like the cold touch he expected from someone who'd spent three decades alone.

They moved through the forest in silence. Luna moved like water—silent, flowing, never disturbing a single leaf. Liam crashed through branches like a wounded moose.

"Your footwork needs work," she said without turning.

"I almost died tonight."

"Excuses won't keep you alive."

They reached a cliff face an hour before dawn. Solid granite, moss-covered, stretching fifty feet into the darkness. Dead end.

"We're trapped," Liam said.

Luna walked to the wall and pressed her palm against a crack that looked like every other crack. Stone groaned. A section of the cliff slid sideways, revealing a narrow passage just wide enough for one person.

"The temple," she said. "Built by the first Wolf King three centuries ago. Hidden from human eyes by blood magic and moonlight."

Liam followed her into the darkness. The passage curved downward, steps carved into the living rock. Torches flickered to life as they passed, flame burning silver instead of orange.

"How does that work?"

"Moonfire. Burns as long as the moon exists. The first king bound the temple to the lunar cycle."

The passage opened into a chamber that stole Liam's breath.

Cathedral ceilings rose a hundred feet above. Pillars carved to look like wolves in mid-transformation supported the roof. Moonlight streamed through cracks in the stone above, pooling in silver puddles on the floor. And in the center of the room—

A statue. A man mid-shift, half-human, half-wolf, arms raised to the sky. His face was frozen in ecstasy, not pain.

"Alexander," Luna whispered. "Carved by the temple's first priestess. She said he was the most beautiful wolf she'd ever seen."

Liam walked around the statue. His father's face. Younger than the photos Marcus had shown him, but unmistakable. The same jawline. The same stubborn set to his brow.

"He looks happy."

"He was. Before the war. Before the Council turned on him." Luna touched the statue's hand. "He loved being the Wolf King. Loved the power, the responsibility, the weight of it all. He used to say that being alpha wasn't about ruling—it was about serving. Protecting those who couldn't protect themselves."

"What happened?"

"The Rogue King happened. And the Council's fear." She turned to face him. "Alexander wanted to unite the clans. End the centuries of bloodshed. But some wolves don't want peace. They want power."

"The Rogue King."

"Kael. Former alpha of the Shadowfang pack. He murdered his own father to claim the title, then challenged Alexander for the throne. When he lost, he gathered the outcasts, the broken, the wolves who preferred hunting humans to protecting them."

"And the Council sided with him?"

"The Council sided with whoever would keep them in power. When Alexander refused to bow to their demands, they branded him a traitor and ordered his execution." Luna's jaw tightened. "Three hundred wolves attacked our territory that night. Alexander held them off long enough for me to escape. Killed forty-seven before they brought him down."

Liam looked at his father's statue. At the peaceful face of a man who'd died fighting for what he believed in.

"I'm not him," Liam said. "I can't be him."

"No one's asking you to be." Luna moved closer. "But you carry his blood. His power. And in seven days, the blood moon will force that power to the surface. If you haven't learned to control it by then—"

"The wolf takes over. I know."

"Do you? Because I don't think you understand what's at stake." She grabbed his chin, forced him to meet her eyes. "If you lose yourself to the wolf, you won't just be a mindless beast. You'll be a weapon. The Wolf King bloodline is the most powerful in existence. Kael will capture you, break you, and use you to destroy every pack that stands against him."

"Then teach me."

"I intend to." She released his chin. "But first, we need to see what we're working with."

She led him to a circular chamber at the temple's heart. The floor was inlaid with silver runes that glowed at their approach. A pool of water sat in the center, perfectly still, reflecting the moonlight above.

"Kneel," Luna said.

Liam knelt. The stone was cold against his knees.

"Close your eyes. Reach inside yourself. Find the wolf."

He closed his eyes. Felt nothing but exhaustion and pain and the lingering taste of copper on his tongue.

"I don't feel anything."

"You're not trying. The wolf isn't separate from you. It is you. Your anger, your fear, your hunger—that's the wolf. Stop fighting it and let it surface."

Liam breathed. Let his mind drift. Thought about the men who'd tried to kill him. The Council who'd ordered his death. The father he'd never met who'd died protecting him.

Anger rose. Hot. Sweet. Familiar.

Something stirred in his chest. A presence. Ancient and vast and hungry.

*There you are.*

Alexander's voice. Or the wolf's. It didn't matter anymore.

"Good," Luna said. "Now open your eyes."

He opened them. The pool's surface showed not his reflection, but a battlefield. Wolves clashing under a red moon. Blood soaking the earth. A figure standing on a hill of corpses, arms spread wide, laughing.

"Kael," Luna said. "This is what awaits if you fail."

The image shifted. A woman with silver hair, her throat torn out, lying in a pool of moonlight. Luna.

"If Kael captures you, he will use the bond between us to find me. And when he does, he'll make me watch as he tears the Wolf King bloodline out of you and claims it for himself."

The image shifted again. Liam saw himself standing on that same hill of corpses. His eyes were silver. Empty. His hands were covered in blood.

"That's what happens if the wolf wins."

Liam looked away from the pool. "How do I stop it?"

"Acceptance." Luna knelt beside him. "The wolf isn't your enemy. It's your partner. Your other half. You can't dominate it or suppress it. You have to become one with it."

"How?"

"Seven trials. One for each day until the blood moon. Each trial will force you to confront a different aspect of your nature. Fear. Anger. Pride. Grief. Love. Sacrifice. Power."

"That's a lot for a week."

"The blood moon doesn't wait." She stood. "Your first trial starts now."

Liam stood, his legs shaky. "What do I have to do?"

"Fight me."

Before he could respond, Luna moved. Faster than anything he'd ever seen. Her fist connected with his solar plexus, driving the air from his lungs. He doubled over, gasping.

"Get up," she said. "Your father never stayed down. Neither will you."

Liam straightened. His ribs screamed. His vision swam.

"Again," she said.

She came at him again. This time, he saw it coming. Dodged. Barely. Her fist grazed his ear, and he felt the wind of its passing.

"Better. But not good enough."

She swept his legs. He hit the stone floor hard. Pain exploded through his spine.

"The wolf would have sensed that attack before it happened. Why didn't you?"

"I don't know how!"

"Then learn. Feel the air. Feel my intent. Your wolf knows what I'm going to do before I do. Trust it."

Liam pushed himself up. Blood dripped from his nose. His vision doubled.

*Trust it,* Alexander's voice echoed.

*Trust me.*

Liam closed his eyes. Let the anger rise. Let the presence in his chest unfurl.

When Luna attacked again, he felt it. A shift in the air. A tremor in the stone. He opened his eyes and caught her wrist.

She smiled. "Good. Now hold on."

She twisted, broke his grip, and slammed her elbow into his jaw.

The world went white.

When his vision cleared, he was on his back, staring at the cathedral ceiling. Luna stood over him, not even breathing hard.

"Day one," she said. "We start again at sunrise."

Liam groaned. "I can't do this."

"You can. You will. Because if you don't—" She gestured at the pool, still showing the image of a world bathed in blood. "—that's what happens."

She turned and walked toward the passage.

"Where are you going?"

"To hunt. You need meat to rebuild your strength. And I need to make sure Kael's trackers haven't found us yet."

"Wait—"

She paused at the entrance. Looked back. Her eyes glowed silver in the darkness.

"One more thing, Liam. Something I didn't tell you."

"What?"

"Your father didn't die in the massacre. He died protecting you."

Liam's blood went cold. "What?"

"The night I escaped, I wasn't alone. Alexander gave me something. Something more important than my life." She touched her stomach. "I lied about the baby. She survived. And she grew up in hiding, protected by temple priestesses, never knowing who she really was."

"Who?"

Luna's eyes met his. And in them, he saw something that made his heart stop.

"Her name is Maya. And she's been watching you your whole life."

The torches flickered. Luna disappeared into the darkness.

Liam lay on the cold stone, his father's statue watching over him, the mark of the Wolf King burning on his chest.

*Her name is Maya. And she's been watching you your whole life.*

The woman from the alley. The one with moonlight in her scent.

His sister.

Above the temple, the moon began to wane.