The Citadel at night was a labyrinth of cold marble and whispering shadows. I moved through the corridors like a thief, my bare feet silent on the stone. The silver gown Kael had given me felt like a shroud, clinging to my skin as the mountain air grew thin and frigid.
I followed the map Kael had etched into my mind. The Moon-Pool was located at the very base of the Citadel, a place where the mountain's natural springs met the light of the stars. It was a restricted area, even for the King's mate, but the guards at the entrance were strangely absent. It was as if a path had been cleared specifically for me or a trap had been set.
When I stepped into the cavern, I gasped.
The Moon-Pool wasn't just a spring. It was a vast, circular basin of obsidian water that perfectly reflected the night sky. The light of the moon seemed to pool at the center, creating a glowing, liquid pillar that reached toward the ceiling.
"You're late, Elara."
The voice didn't come from the shadows. It came from the water.
A figure emerged from the glowing center of the pool. It was Professor Lang, but she wasn't wearing her respirator or her tactical gear. She was clad in a simple white slip, her skin glowing with an unnatural, luminescent sheen.
"How did you get into the King's fortress?" I demanded, my hands igniting with that familiar, white-hot energy.
"The University was here before the Lycans, and we will be here after they are gone," Lang said, walking toward the edge of the pool. She didn't sink; she walked on the surface of the water as if it were glass. "We built these walls, Elara. We designed the bloodlines that inhabit them. Do you really think Malachi found you by accident?"
"He marked me," I spat. "He saved me from Silas."
"He marked you to claim his property," Lang countered, her voice devoid of emotion. "The 'White Origin' is not just a wolf, Elara. It is a biological key. It is the only thing that can stabilize the Lycan's decaying DNA. Malachi is dying. His entire race is dying. They have been infertile for centuries, their bodies burning up from their own ancient power. You are his cure. You are a walking pharmacy for a monster."
My heart plummeted. He said I was the reason he waited two hundred years. Was it because he loved me, or because he needed my blood?
"You're lying," I whispered, though the logic of it felt terrifyingly sound. "Why would my father sell me to you if I was so important?"
"Your father didn't sell you for money, Elara," Lang said, her eyes fixed on mine. "He sold you for a cure. Your mother didn't die of a sickness; she died because her 'White Origin' blood was harvested to keep the Silver Moon pack alive. Your father made a deal: your life for the pack's survival."
The cavern seemed to spin. Every memory of my father's coldness, his shame, his refusal to look me in the eye... it wasn't because I was weak. It was because I was a reminder of the woman he had sacrificed.
"I'll show you," Lang said, reaching out her hand. "Touch the water. Your ancestors are recorded in the silt of this pool. See the truth for yourself."
I shouldn't have moved. I should have run back to the Citadel and screamed for Malachi. But the hunger for the truth was stronger than my fear.
I knelt at the edge of the obsidian pool and dipped my fingers into the freezing water.
The world vanished.
I wasn't in the cavern anymore. I was in a laboratory, filled with the scent of chemicals and ozone. I saw a woman who looked exactly like me my mother strapped to a table. Men in silver masks were drawing a glowing, milky substance from her veins.
And standing at the edge of the room, watching with a cold, detached interest, was a man in black armor.
Malachi.
He looked younger, but his eyes were the same swirling galaxies of violet hunger. He wasn't saving her. He was supervising the harvest.
"The dosage is insufficient," Malachi's voice rang out in the vision, sounding bored. "Ensure the girl the daughter is kept sheltered. We will need her when she comes of age."
I ripped my hand out of the water, gasping for air. My skin was burning, the mark on my neck throbbing with a searing, agonizing pain.
"He... he was there," I choked out, tears streaming down my face. "He killed her."
"He didn't kill her," Lang said, her voice sounding like a hiss in my ear. "The University did. But he was the one who placed the order. He has been grooming you, Elara. Every hardship you faced, every moment of abuse from Silas... it was all orchestrated to drive you into his arms. A broken wolf is easier to control than a strong one."
A heavy footfall echoed at the entrance of the cavern.
"Elara!"
Malachi burst into the room, his eyes wild with a mixture of fear and rage. He saw me on the ground, shaking, and he saw Lang standing on the water.
"Get away from her!" Malachi roared, his body already beginning to contort into his Lycan form.
"Which monster are you running from tonight, Elara?" Lang whispered, her body beginning to dissolve into a fine, silver mist. "The one who rejects you, or the one who harvests you?"
With a final, chilling laugh, the Professor vanished.
Malachi reached me in a heartbeat, his massive hands catching my shoulders. "Elara, thank the Goddess you're safe! What did she say to you? What did she show you?"
I looked up at him, the man who had given me a gown, a palace, and a promise. But all I could see were those violet eyes watching my mother die in a vision of the past.
I pulled away from his touch, my hands igniting with a white flame that was no longer protective. It was violent.
"Is it true?" I screamed, the sound echoing through the cavern. "Am I a cure, or am I your mate?"
Malachi's expression shifted. For the first time, I saw a flicker of something I never expected to see on a King's face.
Guilt.
"Elara, I can explain," he began, his voice low and desperate.
"Did you watch her die?" I demanded, the white light intensifying until it scorched the stone beneath my feet. "Did you order my father to keep me in a cage until I was ready to be bled?"
Malachi didn't answer immediately. He took a step toward me, his hand outstretched. "I was a different man two hundred years ago. I did what I had to do to save my kind. But you... you changed everything."
"Don't lie to me!" I shrieked.
I didn't use my hands. I used my soul. A massive wave of white kinetic energy erupted from my body, slamming into Malachi with the force of a falling mountain. He was thrown back across the cavern, his body crashing through the obsidian basin.
The Moon-Pool shattered.
As the water drained into the depths of the mountain, a hidden door beneath the basin was revealed a staircase leading deep into the "Phase Two" facility Lang had mentioned.
I didn't wait for him to get up. I didn't wait for his explanation.
I turned and ran down the stairs, into the dark heart of the University's secret lab,
located right underneath the King's own palace.