Prologue

I am 16, my birthday is December 5th. I live in a small town in the blue ridge mountains. I grew up exploring the caverns and forests around this beautiful land. Stashing arrow heads in jars with plant clippings and moss, and other rocks that caught my attention. I grew up running barefoot in the moss and sweet mountain leaves that coat the ground. I went to school until about 3rd grade, but things got a little weird. I have always had this…voice in my head. She sounds a lot like me, but older. She knows more. The other kids made fun of me after a few years of me referencing the voice in my head. Parents stopped letting their kids play with me. Other than the voice, and some crazy dreams now and then, I have been your average, home schooled teenage girl.

At least, until a few weeks ago.

I woke up at midnight, for whatever reason. My first thought was that maybe I had to pee? But no…. As I stood up and steadied myself, I was not in my room. I was standing, knee deep, in a small reflection pool at the base of a gentle waterfall.

I had been here many times, exhausted from running through the forest, I would lay on the soft moss by the pool and dream of tiny fairies waging wars, lightning bugs dropping tiny magic light bombs that would disintegrate their goblin foe on contact. The forest surrounding this area kept out the bright streams of sunlight, offering a cool resting place for my tired body. But tonight, was different.

The moon was high, and the wind was picking up. This was no ordinary wind, fingers, almost solid, blew through my hair, caressed my face, lifted my hands. Silver runes appeared on my skin, painful as though their were being etched. I began to slowly lift up, into the air. All at once, everything went hot, the clear sky turned red and hellish. I felt myself being pulled down through the bottom of the pool, my heart was racing, up until this point, something had felt so familiar about everything that was happening. But now I knew, the reflection world is not somewhere I should go, that place is for spirits, cursed souls, demons.

How do I know this?

“CHILD OF THE WOLF, BORN TO THE HOUSE OF STOLEN SOULS.”

I couldn’t breathe, I was in the reflection of the pool, this universe had water in place of the sky. Somehow this didn’t seem to matter. My body had stopped. My breathing, my heart, only my mind was present, my eyes fixed on the fuzzy expanse of dark forest reflection before me.

“DAUGHTER OF THE STOLEN MOTHER, AND THE CURSED ALPHA, KNEEL AND REPENT.”

A force came over me, pulling me to my knees, throwing my arms open wide and arching my back to push my chest out. The runes appeared again, but this time with black circular markings on my chest. The pain blurred my vision more, but I could only scream in my mind. What the fuck is this dream? Why does it hurt so bad?

The voice sounded again, but in my state of pain and confusion, it rattled around me, like a thousand booming voices that made up one massive entity.

“A BLOOD OATH SWORN AND BETRAYED, A BLOOD CURSE LAYS CLAIM TO YOUR SOUL, YOU WILL FIND NO PROTECTION HERE. SEEK HE, THE DESTROYER, BOUND IN BLOOD. THE PRICE OF BETRAYAL IS DEATH, AND SO THE PRICE MUST BE PAID. NO COVEN MAY ACCEPT YOU; NO PACK MAY PROTECT YOU. PAY THE DEBT, OR SPEND ETERNITY IN REFLECTION.”

Everything exploded around me, I was thrown straight up, back into my universe, but time was still moving so slow. When I finally burst through the surface, water suspended around me like little diamonds, the moon larger than I had ever seen it, and there was no longer pain. Then time resumed while I was distracted by all that beauty, and I was flung against the trunk of a tree, stealing the breath I hadn’t even got back yet.

I struggled to get the muscles in my chest to work, willed my lungs to fill with air. As soon as I had taken a few heaving breaths, the nausea hit me. What the fuck was that? I need to wake up.

“We are awake” A soothing voice whispered to me.

“WHAT THE FUCK” I whisper screamed, I scrambled to my feet, a cold sweat setting in.

“Listen Willow, I know this is scary, but everything will be ok if you trust me, ok?”

And with that, pain like I had never known exploded over my body. Fire, breaking bones, ants crawling all over me, it felt like my body was being rearranged. But then it was over, I lay there on the forest floor, trying not to puke.

“I am Athena, I live within you, we are as one.”

I tried to speak, but it came out as a howl. I jumped up and backed away, finding myself against the same tree trunk from before. I knew her voice, but she had never spoke so directly to me before. 

“Willow, we are not children of your mother and father, we were adopted by humans. We are descendants of our mother, Bellona, a most powerful witch, who led her coven in war against our father. Our father was Gedeon, known for the hundreds of thousands of warriors he slaughtered in this universe, and many others. Gedeon was the keeper of many souls, punishment for the crimes they committed, that they may never move beyond this realm.”

“Just shut the fuck up for a second please, why am I a dog right now?” I asked in my head.

“FOOL” The forest floor shook with rage as a roar tore itself from my dog throat. “WE ARE NO MERE DOG, WE ARE THE WARRIOR SPIRIT OF A MIGHTY WOLF, AS BIG AS ANY ALPHA, STRONG LIKE OUR FATHER, CUNNING, LIKE OUR MOTHER. NEVER INSULT US IN THIS WAY AGAIN, LEST I ABANDON YOU TO THE SLAUGHTER THAT LAY AHEAD OF US.”

“Oh…am I… is this a dream?” I was tentative about asking this time, maybe she would just throw our wolf body off a cliff or something to punish me, and I am not about that life.

“No. Please save your questions, we do not have much time before they come for us. It is important that you know about the blood oath sworn between father and mother.”

I paced over to the reflection pool to inspect myself as she told me the story. My body was massive and sleek. My fur was all black, with a mask of red around my eyes that looked like flames, going up my ears. My eyes were bright green, as they were when I was in my….human… form. The only other notable feature was a tiny silver moon, right between my eyes. It was so light, it sparkled like a jewel. I lay down on my wolf belly and stared at myself while Athena told me about our parents.

Our people, both witch and wolf, hid from the world with a veiled universe. They created these veils with the permission of the God’s, once humanity started to populate our sacred lands. It allowed the slaughtering of innocent humans to be decreased, and allowed us to keep our lands sacred without the risk of discovery. 

But there was still war within the veil. Bellona led the Coven of Divine Spirit; their mission was to cleanse souls and guide them through to what comes next. Athena can’t tell me what that is. Gedeon would capture souls, he was an alpha warrior who formed an alliance with the Brethren of the Shadowmoon. The dark magic had driven him mad, to the point where he could not trust anyone. As a result, he killed his one true mate, his Luna. He ripped her heart out of her chest and gave it to the brethren for whatever rituals they desired. The darkness in his soul wanted only to feed. One dark night, as the coven traveled a war torn expanse within a no mans land portion of the veil, Gedeon ambushed Bellona and 7 other coven witches. 

They were brought to Gedeon’s’ lands, where the Blood Stalker Pack reigned. It was here, Gedeon executed the 7 coven sisters, and brutally raped Bellona. None of the spells Bellona tried worked to free her. The brethren had cursed the cells and walls of the castle, she could do nothing to free herself. 

Athena showed me, night after night, after his rituals with the brethren, a crazed Gedeon would visit Bellona in her cell. Covered in blood, and fully erect, he would pull her up from where she was chained to the floor, and fasten her to the wall. He clasped her arms wide, and above her head, and wrapped chains around her waist to help hold her up. If she was passed out, he would wake her by shoving his fingers in and out of her until she roused. He would stroke his massive length with his hand and tell her to beg to be set free, beg for her life. When she didn’t, he would bite her, where wolves would mark their female mates. 

It was not uncommon for species to mix, mate, and procreate, but forced mating was painful. Bellona would draw her knees to her chest, screaming in pain, and Gedeon would enter her. He would growl, holding his teeth into her neck to reinforce the mark, and thrust violently until he was done. This went on for many months, and Bellona became pregnant with “us”. 

One week before I was due to be born, Bellona’s Coven attacked The Blood Stalked pack in an attempt to save her. While they couldn’t breach the castle, they were able to take out the brethren. With the dark magic loosening it’s hold on Gedeon, and the castle magic weakened, Bellona was able to start regaining some strength. 

Gedeon, seeming to be emerging from some trance, ordered Bellona be taken to a room in his own chambers. Disgusted with himself, but not willing to release her in fear of retaliation, he wanted to force Bellona into an alliance. Bellona Agreed, if her child would be given over to the Coven, she would remain here with Gedeon, perform magic for him, and never turn against him.

Gedeon knew that the only way to assure this was a blood oath. Bellona did not love him, and was not his one true mate, without a blood oath, he would not be able to trust any promise she made. And so, the blood oath was performed, two days before I was born, in a small ritual within the throne room of Alpha Gedeon’s Castle. Bellona knew she needed to gain the confidence of Gedeon, so once the ritual was complete, she took him to bed. She caressed him, extended her warm magic to soothe him.

Two days later, a coven maiden pulled me from Bellona’s breast. Neither of us screamed. I nestled into the blankets and slumbered as the maiden bowed to Bellona and retreated. One single tear trailed down Bellona’s cheek, but otherwise she did not acknowledge any of it. In the weeks to come, Gedeon and Bellona formed a sort of timid friendship. Gedeon, being no longer fully mad, but still with a dark whisper within him. Bellona performed all that was asked of her, and never gave the blood oath a reason to warn Gedeon. 

One evening, Gedeon had sent his Beta, Agnar, to gather information on a pack to the North, who had just lost all their ranked members to battle with a rival pack. While they emerged the victors, it came at a heavy cost. Gedeon had planned on this night, to ask Bellona to help cleanse him of dark magic, lest he be plunged into madness once more. He was not sure if it was the souls he held captive, or the darkness that would never give him peace. He could hear it through the halls, in his bathroom, in his mind when he slept. Whispers of the dead and damned. Screams, demands for blood, the urge to tear limbs from bodies.

He found Bellona in the throne room, placing protection spells along the walls as he had asked of her. Part of the blood oath was that Bellona would be his mate of sorts. Because the connection was made in dark magic, and force, it could never fully be completed. But this did mean she agreed to care for his needs, as the only person Gedeon could trust, given their bond. But the protection spells Bellona had been placing were not for Gedeon’s protection.

Gedeon approached Bellona and unclasped her robes. She stood motionless and allowed him to completely undress her, then she undressed him. Soon after, Gedeon took Bellona on the floor of the throne room, frantic and heated. When he was done, he stayed inside of her, but rolled them both so that Bellona was on top of him, he began to ask what he intended. Would she help him cleanse the darkness from his soul?

With a simple nod, Bellona summoned her robes to her and withdrew a glowing silver dagger. Without hesitation she plunged it directly into Gedeon’s heart, and twisted. Gedeon convulsed and spat up blood. Bellona stood, naked, blood and semen running down her legs. She guided Gedeon’s spirit to a place humans would better understand as hell. Athena won’t tell me its name yet. 

Afterwards, Bellona moved through the castle in a trance. The blood oath turning her veins black, poisoning her. She freed every soul, and with the last of her energy, she set the castle, and herself, to flames. After that day, the Blood Stalker Pack dissolved. Bellona’s Coven of witches moved through the pack lands while wolves tried to escape, cleansing them of darkness but removing any titles they held, cursing them to always serve under others.

However, Agnar, Beta of the Blood Stalker Pack, was not present during this time. Having received word of the dissolution of his pack, and the circumstances surrounding it, he stayed with the Grim Fang Warrior Pack, and took over as their Alpha. 

Lonely, and bitter, having lost his one true mate during her attempts to escape the cursed pack lands, Agnar called upon the few Brethren of the Shadowmoon that were still scattered among the veil. Vowing to protect them in exchange for binding him to the blood oath sworn between Bellona and Gedeon. Agnar wanted Bellona’s daughter, in exchange for the downfall of his pack. She would belong to him, to punish, to kill, whatever he saw fit. In the event that he died before the price was paid, it would fall to his son, 5-year-old Elbrus, who was also bound to the oath. If the price Bellona named for her blood oath was the safety of her baby, then payment was due.

Upon hearing of this binding, Bellona’s coven placed many enchantments on the baby. They made her powers dormant, until her 16th birthday, when her wolf would fully wake, and the Grim Fang Alpha would be able to scent her. The bind placed by the brethren would only grow stronger once her magic was detectable. In exchange for suppressing her magic, and placing her with humans, her wolf would have all the knowledge she would need to help her navigate the veil. The new Coven mother, Opalina, received a prophecy from the oracles. If Bellona’s daughter could safely reach Elbrus, son of Agnar, without being captured directly by his men, she may have a chance at dissolving the bind and forming an alliance with Elbrus. But surrounding this prophecy were several more prophecies of death, Bellona’s daughter unsuccessful. Only 2 paths thus far would lead her to absolution. 

With time running out before Agnars’ warriors reached the coven, Opalina took the baby, and left the veil. Among the humans, there was a law called “Safe Haven”, within 7 days of a baby being born, it could safely be abandoned at certain locations that held “baby boxes”. Opalina wept, knowing the hard road ahead for this new child. As a kindness, Opalina enchanted the baby to ensure she was placed with parent’s that the oracles saw in both of the prophecies where Bellona’s daughter was triumphant. After setting a series of anti tracer spells, Opalina placed the little baby inside the heavy metal door, and dissolved herself back into the veil before a piercing alarm sounded, alerting the fire house that a baby was in need of assistance.