MIRA POV
I grabbed Sarah’s arm just as she was about to run away screaming.
"Stop!" I shouted over the chaos. "Running will get you killed!"
Sarah looked at with wild, frightened eyes. "But Elena is back from the dead! The kids’ mother is working with the Shadow Lords! We’re all going to die!"
Around us, pack mbers were panicking. So were crying, so were trying to run, and others were just standing there in shock. Everyone was looking at the triplets, watching to see if they would choose their evil mother over us.
But I couldn’t wait for that. People needed help right now.
"Listen to ," I said to Sarah, willing my voice to stay calm. "Take little Jake and his mother to the big oak tree over there. Get behind it and stay low."
"Why should I listen to you?" Sarah asked. "You’re just an oga like ."
She was right. I was nobody special. Just Aria’s best friend who usually stayed in the background and tried not to cause trouble. I’d never been a boss or given orders to anyone.
But soone had to step up, and the triplets were too busy dealing with their apparently dead mother.
"Because I have a plan," I lied. "And because Alpha Darius would want us to protect each other."
Sarah stared at for a mont, then nodded. "Okay. What do you need to do?"
I looked around at the scattering pack mbers. There were about thirty of us left after so had run away. Most were scared out of their minds, but they were still here. That ant sothing.
"Finn!" I called out to the doctor. "Can you get the wounded behind that big rock over there?"
"Yeah, but what’s the point?" he asked. "If the triplets choose Elena, we’re dead anyway."
"Maybe," I said. "But we’re not giving up without a fight."
I’d learned sothing important from watching Aria all these years. Sotis the person everyone expects to be weak turns out to be the best one of all.
"Tommy!" I shouted to the young warrior. "How many fighters do we have?"
He looked around and counted. "Maybe eight who aren’t hurt too bad. But Mira, we don’t have guns or shields or anything. We can’t fight Shadow Lords with our bare hands."
"We don’t have to fight them," I said, an idea beginning to form in my mind. "We just have to distract them."
"What do you an?" asked Dr. Hayes, who was bandaging soone’s arm.
I pointed toward the triplets, who were still facing Elena and the Shadow Lord Commander. "Look at them. They’re talking, not fighting. That ans Elena wants sothing from her sons. She’s trying to convince them, not force them."
"So?" Tommy asked.
"So that gives us ti," I said. "Ti to get everyone to safety. Ti to find guns. Ti to maybe figure out a way to help."
It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was better than standing around waiting to die.
"Everyone listen up!" I called out as loudly as I could. "We’re going to split into three groups. Finn, take all the injured and anyone who can’t fight to the forest. Find a good hiding spot and wait for my signal."
"What signal?" Finn asked.
"You’ll know it when you see it," I said, hoping that was true.
"Tommy, take the fighters and loop around behind those trees. If things go bad, make a distraction so the others can escape."
"And what are you going to do?" he asked.
I looked toward Aria, who was still holding her bright baby and watching the triplets face their mother. She looked frightened and alone.
"I’m going to help my best friend," I said.
"Mira, no," Sarah grabbed my arm. "It’s too dangerous. You could get killed."
"Aria would do it for ," I said simply. "Besides, soone needs to make sure that baby stays safe. If she really is the Moon Goddess reborn, she might be our only hope."
I started walking toward the conflict, my heart pounding so hard I thought everyone could hear it. I’d never been brave like this before. Usually, I was the one who hid behind Aria and let her handle the scary stuff.
But Aria needed now. And so did everyone else.
"Aria," I said quietly when I got close to her.
She jumped, then relaxed when she saw it was . "Mira! What are you doing here? It’s not safe."
"Nowhere is safe right now," I said. "How are you holding up?"
"The baby is getting weaker," she whispered, tears in her eyes. "All that holy power is burning her out, just like the Shadow Lord Commander said. I don’t know how to save her."
I looked down at the tiny baby in Aria’s arms. Her golden glow was definitely fainter than before, and she seed to be having trouble breathing.
"What if we could find a way to share the power?" I asked. "Instead of it all flowing through her, what if other people helped carry it?"
"How would that work?" Aria asked.
"I don’t know," I admitted. "But there has to be sothing. The Moon Goddess wouldn’t give us a problem without an answer."
That’s when I heard Elena’s words getting louder and angrier.
"Enough talking!" she snapped at the boys. "I’m your mother! You owe your loyalty!"
"You’re not our mother anymore," Kael said strongly. "Our mother died fifteen years ago. You’re just a shadow wearing her face."
Elena’s face twisted with rage. "Fine. If you won’t join freely, I’ll make you."
She raised both hands, and dark power began swirling around her. But it wasn’t ant at the triplets.
It was aid at all of us regular pack mbers.
"You care so much about these weak little sheep," she said with a cruel smile. "Let’s see how much you care when they’re all dead."
The shadow magic shot toward us like black lightning. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain.
But it never ca.
Instead, I heard a sound that made no sense. A baby’s cry, but louder and more powerful than any normal baby could make.
I opened my eyes and saw sothing impossible. Aria’s daughter was glowing brighter than ever, and her cry was forming a shield of golden light around all of us.
"That’s impossible," the Shadow Lord Commander said, his voice full of shock. "She’s too weak to use that much power."
But the baby wasn’t alone. I could feel sothing else running through the golden shield. Other power, coming from sowhere unexpected.
"The pack bond," I whispered, suddenly understanding. "She’s using the pack bond to share the divine power."
Every pack mber who was still loyal, still connected to each other through grief and love for Alpha Darius, was now linked to the baby too. We were all helping her carry the power.
Elena scread with rage and sent more shadow magic at us, but the golden wall held strong.
"This changes everything," the Shadow Lord Commander said softly. "If they can share divine power through pack bonds, they could create an army of god-powered mortals."
He looked at Elena with cold, calculating eyes. "Kill them all. Right now. Before they figure out how to use this properly."
But Elena wasn’t listening. She was looking at the triplets with an expression I’d never seen before.
Pure, insane hate.
"If I can’t have my sons," she said in a voice like poison, "then no one can."
She began to glow with the sa dark energy as the Shadow Lord Commander, but there was sothing different about it. Sothing that felt familiar.
That’s when I realized the horrible truth.
Elena wasn’t just working with the Shadow Lords. She was becoming one herself. And the power she was using to change wasn’t shadow magic.
It was the stolen life force of every pack mber who had died in the last fifteen years.
Including Alpha Darius.
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