The iron candlesticks rattled as Jace slapped the datapad down the war chamber table.
From the other side of the room, I blinked at him.
"What is it?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he tapped the screen and turned it to face me.
A video file played.
Static.
Then a darkened room—clinical, cold, fluorescent lights buzzing.
A man stepped into view.
Tall. Pale. Greying at the temples. His eyes… were wrong.
Too clear.
Too still.
Like glass.
"Good evening, Alpha Thorn," he said, voice crisp and unhurried. "And to you, Quinn Vale. I trust you're watching together, since time is of the essence."
My blood froze.
"Dr. Elian Voss," Jace muttered.
The man on screen smiled faintly.
"I regret that our introductions come under strained circumstances. But given your recent activity—snooping in the archives, reviving dormant bonds, and attempting to contain Subject 4C—I felt it only fair to remind you of the terms."
The screen flickered.
Another image appeared.
A surveillance photo.
Of Rowan.
Taken from above.
In the Alpha wing.
Yesterday.
My pulse spiked. "How the hell did he—"
Jace's face darkened.
"They have a mole."
Voss's voice continued, calm as a surgeon preparing an incision.
"I gave the council ample time to decide how to handle the awakening of Subject 4C. Unfortunately, they've proven… indecisive. So now, I act."
A soft beep.
Text scrolled across the screen:
Phase Two: Seventy-two hours to complete activation
Jace leaned closer. "What does that mean?"
Voss tilted his head in the video. "The subject's neural lock was designed to mature under proximity to its genetic match. Activation will happen more quickly than anticipated once the Alpha is back and the relationship is rekindled.
I held onto the table's edge.
Neural lock. Activation.
"They're using him," I whispered. "His instincts. His blood."
"They programmed our son," Jace growled.
Voss raised one hand on the screen.
"You may attempt to flee, hide, or sever the bond again. None of it will matter. The moon rises soon. And with it… the wolf beneath."
The screen went black.
The silence afterward was suffocating.
Jace dragged both hands down his face.
"This isn't just about the council anymore."
"No," I said. "It's about control. Power. They wanted to turn our child into a weapon and thought we'd never find out."
Reed entered the room seconds later, out of breath.
"We've confirmed it—signal trace originated just outside Thorn territory. Likely from the Ironwood Ruins."
Jace cursed. "Voss is close."
"How close?" I asked.
Reed hesitated. "Close enough to see the Alpha Hall from the northern ridge."
My heart pounded.
"He's watching us."
That day, Rowan didn't say much.
He sat with his crayons on the floor, creating spiraling designs that resembled claw marks and wolf eyes. Occasionally, he hummed that same uncanny tune.
I kept trying to pull him into conversation.
But something inside him was… slipping.
Or shifting.
He'd go quiet, then suddenly speak in rhymes. Or spend minutes staring at nothing. He once turned with an unfamiliar smile when I shouted his name.
Just a little too still.
A little too old.
My hands wouldn't stop shaking.
That night, I asked Jace to patrol with me.
We needed space.
We needed answers.
We changed into our respective wolves, mine silver-grey with a faint stripe from muzzle to chest, his obsidian black with ash streaks down the spine. Together, we ran.
Not fast.
Not far.
But enough.
The wind helped.
The cold helped.
I shifted back first, leaning against a rock near the old waterfall on the northern border. Jace pulled his cloak about his waist and followed. Jace pulled his cloak about his waist and followed.
I muttered, "I can't do this."
He looked over at me.
"I can't watch him change into someone I'm not."
"He's still our son," Jace said.
"Is he?" I asked. "Because right now, I don't know if he's dreaming those words… or remembering them."
Jace knelt beside me.
"I failed you," he said. "Not just because I forgot. But because I wasn't there. For you. For him."
"You didn't know."
"That's not an excuse."
I looked at him.
"Why now?" I whispered. "Why does it all come back now?"
He didn't answer.
But his eyes… they burned.
And deep down, I knew the truth.
It was because of me.
Because we were near again. Bonded. Aligned.
And the child between us was made of both our blood.
If I ran, the transformation might slow.
If I stayed… it might finish.
Back at the Hall, chaos waited.
The healer met us at the front gate.
"Rowan collapsed."
With my heart racing, I sprinted passed her.
He was shaking and pale as he lay on the bed, his eyes flashing like candlelight.
He twitched his fingers.
On the walls, the sigils he had previously drawn gleamed dimly.
And his skin?
It shimmered.
Like his wolf wanted out.
"He's shifting," I said.
"He's too young!" Jace growled.
The healer shook her head. "It's not a normal shift. It's a forced one. The programming is activating early."
"We have to stop it."
"I've already given him instinct suppressants, but…"
"But what?"
"They're not working."
Jace paced.
I sat next to Rowan and brushed his wet curls off his forehead.
He had a scorching sensation on his skin.
The glow beneath his eyes pulsed with every breath.
Then he whispered something.
Barely audible.
"He's coming through the glass."
I froze.
"Rowan?" I asked.
His eyes opened.
And for a second—just a second—they weren't his.
Not gold.
Not blue.
But black.
Like a wolf born of shadow.
He opened his mouth.
And Dr. Voss's voice came out.
"Three days, Alpha. Three days until the sun sets and the gate opens. Protect him if you can. But when the blood moon rises… he will belong to me."