The moon rose with an eerie crimson hue that bled across the night sky like a fresh wound. Wolves throughout the Crescent Moon territory stirred restlessly beneath its light, their instincts clawing at them in warning. Something unnatural loomed over the forest, pulsing in the air like a silent war drum. The Hollow Gate had stirred… and the Vale was watching.
Callum stood at the edge of the ruined temple with his fists clenched, eyes locked on Lysandra.
"Someone from our pack crossed into the Vale?" he repeated, voice sharp. "Who?"
Lysandra's expression was unreadable. "I don't know their face. Only their mark." She lifted a hand and waved her fingers through the air. A shimmer bloomed, revealing a symbol suspended in mist: a crescent moon split down the center by a jagged scar.
Rhea's breath caught. "That's the mark of the Alpha's Trial."
Callum turned slowly toward her. "Only those chosen to face the Trial are branded with it. To prove they're worthy of the title of Alpha."
"And you mark them?" Lysandra asked, one brow raised.
"No," Callum said. "The Trial is sealed in blood. The mark appears naturally, as a sign of the Ancients' approval. I've only seen it twice in my lifetime."
"Then one of those marked has betrayed you," Lysandra said simply.
Callum's mind raced. Thorne? No. He would die for the pack. Mark? Too old. Too faithful. Then
A name flared in his memory like fire.
Kael.
A former Alpha's son. Ambitious. Resentful. A skilled warrior who had vanished a year ago during a scouting mission into the northern ridges. They had searched for him… but his body was never found.
"He's alive," Callum said darkly. "Kael crossed into the Vale."
Lysandra nodded. "And he didn't return alone."
---
Back at the Crescent Moon stronghold, panic brewed like a rising tide. Scouts reported strange sightings near the borders trees bending away from unseen forces, runes burned into the ground, and wolves whispering in their sleep.
Rhea sat in the Luna's tent, one hand on her stomach. The child inside her shifted, not with pain, but with awareness. The baby was sensing it too the rise of something ancient and angry.
Marrek entered without preamble, his wooden staff thudding against the floor.
"We must act before the Hollow Moon reaches its zenith," he said. "That's when the veil thins, when the Forgotten King's power is strongest. If the Gate opens fully under that light…"
Rhea looked up. "What happens then?"
Marrek's lips thinned. "He walks."
---
In the war tent, Callum gathered his most trusted warriors.
"Kael is alive," he said. "He's the traitor. And he's opened a path between the Vale and our realm."
Thorne frowned. But the Gate
"Can't be opened from this side," Callum interrupted. "But Kael is on the other side. And he's already let something through."
A map was unfurled on the table. Symbols marked where strange energies had been found like the veins of a great beast beneath the earth. They were converging… all toward the Hollow Gate.
"He's trying to tear it open," Callum said. "Piece by piece."
"We'll stop him," Thorne growled. "We'll send every warrior we have."
"No," Callum said. "If we move the full force, we leave the sanctuary vulnerable. He wants us to spread thin. We strike with precision."
He looked to Rhea as she entered the tent, her presence quiet but commanding.
"I'll go with you," she said before he could argue. "The child within me… she's tied to this. And Lysandra said I may be the key."
Callum stared at her for a long moment, then nodded.
"We move by nightfall."
---
The trek to the Vale's edge was shrouded in mist and silence.
Callum led the strike team Rhea at his side, Thorne and two of the strongest warriors behind them. Lysandra floated somewhere between the trees, never quite touching the ground.
When they reached the Hollow Gate, the spiral runes pulsed crimson. Something was already stirring within.
Lysandra stepped forward. "Once you cross, you'll not be in your world anymore. The Vale twists memory. It whispers lies. Stay anchored."
"To what?" Thorne asked.
She turned to Rhea. "To her. She is your anchor."
Rhea's heartbeat thundered as she reached out and grasped Callum's hand. "Together."
He nodded. "Always."
The Gate flared open with a sound like thunder ripping the sky.
They stepped through.
---
The Vale was not what Rhea expected.
It wasn't darkness.
It was empty.
The trees were translucent, flickering like ghosts. The sky was a flat slate of grey. The ground pulsed like a living thing. And in the distance, something massive moved like the shadow of a god pacing behind a veil of smoke.
But worse than the sights… were the echoes.
Voices swirled in the mist, familiar and cruel.
"You failed them."
"You let your mate suffer."
"You'll lose this one too."
Callum staggered beside her. "Do you hear them?"
Rhea nodded, her jaw clenched. "Ignore them. They lie."
Lysandra's voice drifted like wind. "Not lies. Memories, twisted. Regrets, magnified. The Vale feasts on guilt."
Thorne suddenly gasped, clutching his head. "Mother…?"
A figure appeared before him his dead mother, smiling, beckoning.
"It's not her!" Rhea yelled.
But it was too late. Thorne stepped forward and vanished into the mist.
"No!" Callum lunged after him, but Lysandra raised a hand.
"He's gone. You chase him, and you're next."
Rhea grabbed Callum's arm. "We move. Now."
---
They reached the heart of the Vale.
A great stone altar rose from the ground, surrounded by black vines. Kael stood atop it no longer just a wolf, but something darker. His skin bore runes etched in blood. His eyes glowed like coals.
He smiled when he saw them. "You're too late."
Rhea stepped forward. "Kael, you don't have to do this."
"I already did, Luna." His voice was layered, two tones at once. "The King lives in me now. And soon, in everyone."
Callum's blade gleamed in the half light. "Then we end this."
Kael laughed and raised both hands.
The ground split.
Shadow-born wolves poured from the earth, snarling and shrieking. Callum's warriors rushed forward, steel and fang meeting claw and nightmare.
Rhea focused on Kael, her hands pulsing with light. "You forgot something," she whispered.
Kael turned just as the power in her womb surged outward like a wave.
A blinding shockwave of golden energy erupted from her body, tearing through the mist, shattering the illusions. The shadow-creatures screamed as they dissolved.
Kael fell to his knees, smoke rising from his skin.
Callum strode forward and pressed his blade to Kael's throat. "You chose the wrong king."
Kael's eyes faded, the glow vanishing. "He's still coming…"
And then he collapsed, lifeless.
---
The Vale trembled. Cracked. And slowly… began to crumble.
Lysandra appeared beside them.
"You've delayed him," she said. "But not forever."
Rhea looked down at her belly, where the glow had faded but the warmth remained.
"Then we'll be ready."