Kael ran.
He did not know where he was going.
He only knew that the forest was behind him, the village was burning somewhere in the distance, and something ancient was moving through the darkness.
Mara ran beside him.
Branches whipped across her face.
Snow crushed beneath their feet.
Behind them came the sound of wolves.
Not chasing.
Following.
Watching.
Kael could feel them everywhere.
He could smell their presence even when he could not see them.
They moved through the trees like shadows.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Perhaps thousands.
Yet none attacked.
That frightened Kael more than if they had.
“What are they waiting for?” Mara gasped.
Kael didn’t answer.
He couldn’t.
His new body was overwhelming him.
Every sound was too loud.
Every scent was too powerful.
He could hear Mara’s heartbeat.
He could hear her breathing.
He could hear snow sliding from distant branches.
He could even hear the blood moving through the veins of animals hiding beneath the ground.
And beneath all those sounds was something else.
A whisper.
Inside his mind.
**Come home.**
Kael stumbled.
Mara grabbed his arm.
“Kael!”
He looked at her.
“I heard something.”
“What?”
“A voice.”
“What did it say?”
Kael looked toward the mountains.
“It told me to come home.”
Mara’s expression hardened.
“Don’t listen.”
Kael almost laughed.
“I don’t even know where home is.”
“Then we’ll find somewhere else.”
She pulled him forward.
They continued through the forest.
The trees became thicker.
The snow deeper.
The air colder.
After nearly an hour, Kael stopped.
Mara turned.
“What?”
Kael raised his head.
He could smell smoke.
Not from Blackthorn.
This smoke smelled different.
Stronger.
Metallic.
Burning wood mixed with something else.
Blood.
“Someone’s ahead.”
Mara reached for the knife strapped to her waist.
“How many?”
Kael closed his eyes.
He listened.
One heartbeat.
Two.
Three.
Then another.
“Four.”
Mara frowned.
“Humans?”
“No.”
The growl in Kael’s voice frightened even him.
“Wolves.”
Mara raised the knife.
“Friendly?”
Kael stared into the darkness.
“I don’t know.”
A voice answered from between the trees.
“You should.”
Four wolves stepped into the moonlight.
The first was black.
The second brown.
The third silver.
The fourth was almost completely white.
Unlike the wolves that had surrounded Blackthorn, these four did not bow.
They stood proudly.
The silver wolf stepped forward.
It transformed.
Bones shifted.
Fur disappeared.
Limbs stretched.
Within seconds, a man stood where the wolf had been.
He was perhaps twenty-five.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
His silver hair fell across his forehead.
His eyes were the same color as Kael’s.
Silver.
“You are Kael Arden,” he said.
Kael stiffened.
“How do you know my name?”
The man smiled.
“Because every wolf from the Eastern Packs knows your name.”
Mara raised her knife.
“Who are you?”
The stranger looked at her.
“Alaric.”
He glanced at Kael.
“First Fang of the Silver Moon Pack.”
Mara didn’t lower the knife.
“And what do you want?”
Alaric’s expression became serious.
“To keep him alive.”
Kael stepped forward.
“Why?”
“Because you are the only creature capable of stopping what is coming.”
“What is coming?”
Alaric looked toward the sky.
The red moon was still cracked.
“War.”
A silence followed.
Kael shook his head.
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.”
Alaric walked closer.
“You have been hidden from the packs for sixteen years.
Your mother died protecting you.
Your father disappeared.
Your bloodline was erased from the records.”
Kael’s chest tightened.
“My mother?”
Alaric nodded.
“Her name was Seraphine.”
Kael froze.
Nobody had ever told him his mother’s name.
Not even the people who raised him.
He had always been told she died when he was a baby.
“How do you know her?”
Alaric looked away.
“She saved my life.”
Kael stepped closer.
“Tell me about her.”
Alaric hesitated.
Then he said:
“She was the strongest Moon-Born guardian in a thousand years.”
Kael’s breath caught.
“Guardian?”
“Your mother wasn’t the Moon-Born.”
Alaric’s eyes met his.
“She was the woman chosen to protect him.”
Kael stared.
“Then who was?”
Alaric didn’t answer.
Instead, the brown-haired wolf behind him growled.
Alaric turned sharply.
“Something’s wrong.”
Kael heard it too.
A distant sound.
Hooves.
Dozens of them.
Mara’s face went pale.
“The hunters.”
Alaric shook his head.
“No.”
He sniffed the air.
“Worse.”
The four wolves immediately transformed.
“Get behind me,” Alaric ordered.
Kael didn’t move.
“What is it?”
Alaric looked at him.
“Night Riders.”
Kael frowned.
“What are Night Riders?”
The answer came from the darkness.
Laughter.
Cold.
Human.
But not entirely human.
Figures appeared between the trees.
They wore black armor.
Their horses were skeletal creatures with glowing red eyes.
At their front rode a woman.
She wore a silver mask covering the upper half of her face.
Her long black hair flowed behind her.
She stopped several yards away.
“Kael Arden.”
Her voice was soft.
Almost gentle.
Alaric growled.
“Veyra.”
The woman smiled.
“You remember me.”
“I remember what you did to my pack.”
Veyra tilted her head.
“They died beautifully.”
Alaric lunged.
The fight began instantly.
Alaric transformed midair.
His body exploded into silver fur.
He struck one of the riders and sent him crashing through a tree.
The other wolves attacked.
Mara grabbed Kael.
“Move!”
They ran.
But Kael stopped after three steps.
Something was wrong.
He could feel it.
His body refused to leave.
A pull inside his chest dragged him toward Veyra.
She looked directly at him.
Her smile disappeared.
Then her eyes widened.
“You.”
Kael stared.
Veyra slowly dismounted.
“No.”
She took a step.
“That’s impossible.”
Kael’s heartbeat accelerated.
Veyra whispered:
“The child survived.”
Mara stood between them.
“What child?”
Veyra ignored her.
She looked only at Kael.
“Do you know what you are?”
Kael’s voice was barely audible.
“Tell me.”
Veyra laughed.
“You think you’re a werewolf.”
She removed her silver mask.
Her face was beautiful.
Terribly beautiful.
But something was wrong with her eyes.
They were completely black.
“You are something older.”
Kael felt the forest disappear around him.
“What am I?”
Veyra smiled.
“The first wolf.”
Every sound stopped.
Alaric froze.
Mara stared.
Even the Night Riders became motionless.
Veyra continued.
“The Moon-Born isn’t a title.”
She walked closer.
“It’s a bloodline.”
She pointed toward Kael.
“And your blood is the oldest of them all.”
Kael’s hands began trembling.
Veyra whispered:
“You are descended from the creature that taught the first wolves how to hunt.”
The ground shook.
Kael’s eyes flashed silver.
Veyra smiled.
“Now you understand why everyone wants you.”
Alaric charged.
Veyra raised her hand.
A wave of black energy exploded outward.
Alaric slammed into the ground.
Kael instinctively stepped forward.
“Stop!”
The word came out as a roar.
The entire forest shook.
Every wolf froze.
Every horse reared.
Veyra stared at him.
Then she smiled.
“Yes.”
Her voice trembled with excitement.
“That’s it.”
Kael felt something awaken inside him.
A presence.
Ancient.
Hungry.
Powerful.
Something that had been sleeping inside his blood.
He heard a voice.
Not Veyra.
Not Alaric.
Not Mara.
His own voice.
But older.
**Open the gate.**
Kael’s pupils narrowed.
“What gate?”
The voice answered.
**The gate beneath the moon.**
A pulse of energy erupted from his body.
The trees bent outward.
Snow lifted from the ground.
The Night Riders were thrown backward.
Veyra screamed.
Kael dropped to his knees.
Mara rushed toward him.
“Kael!”
He looked up.
His eyes were no longer silver.
They were glowing white.
Mara stopped.
“Kael…”
He heard her.
But he couldn’t answer.
The world became distant.
He saw a vast black ocean.
A castle floating above it.
A throne made of bones.
And someone sitting upon it.
A woman.
Her hair was silver.
Her skin was pale.
A crown of black antlers rested upon her head.
She opened her eyes.
They were exactly like Kael’s.
She smiled.
“Hello, son.”
Kael screamed.
The vision shattered.
He collapsed into the snow.
When he woke, dawn was approaching.
The Night Riders were gone.
So were Veyra and Alaric.
Only Mara remained.
She was sitting beside him.
Her face was exhausted.
Kael slowly sat up.
“Where are the others?”
Mara shook her head.
“They took Alaric.”
Kael frowned.
“Who?”
“The Night Riders.”
Kael looked toward the forest.
“Veyra?”
Mara nodded.
“She said something before she left.”
“What?”
Mara hesitated.
Then:
“She said, ‘Tell the Moon-Born that his mother is still alive.'”
Kael’s blood froze.
“My mother?”
Mara nodded.
Kael stared toward the horizon.
The first rays of sunlight touched the mountains.
His mother was alive.
Or at least, Veyra wanted him to believe she was.
Either way, Kael knew one thing.
He could not remain hidden.
He stood.
Mara looked at him.
“What are you going to do?”
Kael looked toward the mountains.
“Find my mother.”
“And if she’s dead?”
Kael’s eyes began glowing silver.
“Then I’ll find whoever killed her.”
Mara stood.
“And after that?”
Kael looked toward the cracked red moon.
“Then I’ll find out what I am.”
A howl echoed from the distant mountains.
One wolf.
Then ten.
Then hundreds.
Kael heard something beneath the howls.
A rhythm.
A message.
His blood understood it.
The packs were calling.
The ancient wolves were awakening.
And somewhere beyond the mountains, a door was opening.
Kael began walking.
Mara followed.
Neither of them noticed the figure watching from the highest branch of an ancient tree.
A young woman.
Golden eyes.
White hair.
A black wolf’s cloak around her shoulders.
She watched Kael disappear into the forest.
Then she whispered:
“He’s finally awake.”
A second figure appeared behind her.
“Should we kill him?”
The woman smiled.
“No.”
She turned.
“Let him find his mother first.”
“Why?”
Her smile widened.
“Because when he learns who his mother really is…”
She looked toward the mountains.
“…he will destroy the world himself.”
Far beneath the earth, something ancient opened its eyes.
And for the first time in a thousand years, it spoke.
**The heir walks again.**
**Let the hunt begin.**