Chapter 5: The moon's gift

The last thing I remembered was pain.

The cold bite of the dungeon floor beneath my cheek.

The metallic taste of blood on my tongue.

Lyall’s cruel laughter, echoing like the crack of a whip.

And Kael’s voice—low, final, merciless.

“You were never mine.”

His words cut deeper than any blade.

After that, there was silence.

No breath.

No heartbeat.

No wolf.

Just… nothing.

But when my eyes opened, I was not in the dungeon anymore.

I lay on soft silver grass that shimmered faintly under a sky so alive with stars it hurt to look at. The air was crisp, filled with the wild scent of night-blooming flowers and the hum of something greater than myself. My chest rose and fell with ease, strong and steady. No pain. No wounds.

I sat up slowly, hands trembling as I touched the glowing ground. It felt alive. As if the earth itself knew I didn’t belong here.

“Where… am I?” My voice sounded too small, fragile against the vast silence.

A glow appeared ahead. Small at first. Then brighter. Stronger. Until it took the shape of a woman.

She was terrible and beautiful all at once. Her hair spilled around her like liquid silver, her eyes glowing molten with power. A crown of stars rested upon her brow, her robes shifting like the night sky itself.

The Moon Goddess.

My breath caught in my throat. My wolf whimpered inside me and pressed low, trembling, recognizing Her.

I scrambled to my knees and bowed so hard my forehead touched the grass. “Great Mother,” I whispered, tears already choking me. “Forgive me. I failed. I was weak”

Her voice was soft, but it carried like thunder through my bones.

“You were betrayed, child. Not weak. Do not take their cruelty and call it your own fault.”

The words shattered something in me. Tears slipped down my cheeks before I could stop them.

“But they believed it. They all believed it. Even Kael…”

His name burned on my tongue. My chest ached with something sharp and endless.

Her silver gaze dimmed with sorrow. “He let his grief blind him. And in his blindness, he cast aside what was meant for him.”

Her words hit like claws to my chest. What was meant for him. The truth I had begged him to see, the bond he had refused.

“Then… why am I here?” My voice broke. “Shouldn’t I be gone?”

Her light flared, so bright it stung my skin. “Because your story is not finished.”

The earth shuddered beneath me. The stars above spun in wild, dizzying patterns. My wolf pressed hard against me, restless, desperate.

“You prayed with your last breath,” she said. “Not for mercy, but for strength. For a chance to rise again. I heard you.”

I clenched my hands into fists. “And you’ll give it to me?”

“Yes. But not as Fianna—the broken wolf they scorned.” Her voice deepened, vibrating through my soul. “You will rise as Elena. My chosen. My fire. My vengeance.”

My heart lurched. My name, gone. A new one given. A new fate carved into me.

“Will I be… the same?” I whispered.

Her gaze sharpened, fierce. “No. You will be more. Stronger than any wolf who has walked under my moon. But power is a blade with two edges. It will lift you, or it will devour you.”

Heat burst into my chest before I could answer. My body arched, convulsed, as her power surged into me like fire and lightning. I screamed, the sound breaking into a ragged howl as my wolf clawed free.

Silver light burned across my skin, searing my veins, branding me with something holy and wild. My nails split into claws, glowing faintly. My teeth lengthened, sharper, hungrier. My senses exploded, I could hear the flutter of an owl’s wings miles away, smell the pulse of sap in the trees, taste the electricity of the night.

It was too much. Too raw. Too alive.

I staggered to a silver pool nearby and looked down.

Fianna was gone.

In her place was someone new. My hair gleamed with threads of light, my eyes glowed silver like molten stars, and my body radiated a power that made even the shadows flinch.

“Elena,” the Goddess said. “Your new name. Your new life. Do not forget—this is both gift and burden.”

“Elena…” I whispered. The word was strange on my tongue, sharp and dangerous, but it settled into me like it had always been there, waiting.

The Goddess began to fade, her light dissolving into the dark. “Rise, my chosen. Burn the chains that bound you. Take your vengeance, but remember, vengeance is a fire that can consume the heart. Do not lose the truth of it.”

“Wait!” I reached for her desperately. “What truth? Tell me!”

But she was gone.

The meadow dissolved, the stars unraveled, and I was falling through endless dark

I gasped awake.

This time, the forest was real. Cold earth beneath me. Heavy sky above, clouds thick with rain. My body hummed with power, restless and wild. My claws slid out with a thought.

I stood, breath sharp, every sense sharpened to a deadly edge. My wolf prowled in my chest, hungering, stronger than she had ever been.

I was alive.

But I was no longer Fianna.

I was Elena.

And the world would remember my name.