Morrigan POV
The mont Lily’s shared power pushed against my shadow magic, mories I’d hidden for three hundred years ca flooding back like a dam breaking.
I staggered backward, clutching my chest as pictures flashed through my mind. A young woman with silver hair stood in a grove just like this one. Her Triple Moon Mark burning with pure light as she tried to heal a pack torn apart by war. The look in her eyes when she realized her power wasn’t enough to save everyone she loved.
That woman had been .
"No," I mumbled, shaking my head to clear the mories. "I’m not her anymore."
But Lily was looking at with those wide, innocent eyes that looked exactly like mine had once looked. Before I learned that hope was just another word for pain.
"You’re like ," she said softly. "You had the Triple Moon Mark too."
The shadow wolves around us stopped moving forward, waiting for my order. I could end this right now. One word from and they would tear the girl apart. But sothing held back.
"I was nothing like you," I growled, though my voice shook. "You’re weak. Naive. You think you can save everyone with love and friendship."
"What happened to you?" Lily asked, and her voice was so gentle it made my heart ache. "Who did you lose?"
The question hit like a physical blow. Suddenly I was seventeen again, standing in the ashes of my pack’s territory while the bodies of everyone I’d tried to save lay spread around .
"Everyone," I whispered before I could stop myself. "I lost everyone." The mories ca faster now, unstoppable like a flood. My pack had been stuck in a war between two massive wolf territories. Families were torn apart, children orphaned, adults killed for the cri of being in the wrong place at the wrong ti.
I’d tried so hard to stop it. My Triple Moon Mark had burned day and night as I used my healing power to save the wounded, my diplomatic skills to broker peace talks, my link to the pack to keep everyone together.
It hadn’t been enough.
"The Moonridge War," Lily breathed, recognition dawning in her eyes. "Elder Iris told stories about it. She said a young Triple Moon carrier tried to stop it but..."
"But failed spectacularly," I finished sadly. "Hundreds died while I played diator. My own parents, my little brother, my best friend – all dead because I was too weak to make the hard choices."
I could see my brother’s face so clearly now. Marcus had been only twelve when the enemy dogs found our hiding place. He’d looked at with such trust, thinking his big sister would protect him.
I’d been in another part of the territory, trying to negotiate with leaders who were already planning his death. "After everyone died, I made a promise," I continued, my voice getting stronger. "Never again would I let wolves destroy each other through pointless fights. Never again would children die because adults couldn’t control themselves."
"So you decided to control them instead," Lily said, understanding filling her voice.
"Yes!" I shouted, power sparking around . "At first, I just wanted to stop one small fight between nearby packs. I used shadow magic to make them forget their anger, to force them to work together. And it worked! No one died!"
The thought of that first success still thrilled . Seeing wolves who had been ready to kill each other suddenly helping each other, guarding each other’s children. It had felt like finally using my power the right way.
"But it didn’t stop there," I revealed. "Each ti I stopped a war, I saw ten more conflicts brewing sowhere else. Pack leaders making stupid choices that would get their people killed. Young wolves rushing into fights they couldn’t win."
I looked at Lily, willing her to understand. "I tried your way first. I spent fifty years traveling between packs, using my healing skills, trying to teach them to resolve conflicts peacefully. Do you know how many wars I stopped that way?"
"How many?" she asked quietly.
"None that lasted," I said angrily. "Every peace pact was broken within a generation. Every union fell apart when resources got scarce. Every promise of cooperation died the mont soone felt threatened."
The worst part was watching the sa patterns repeat over and over. Young alphas making the sa mistakes their dads had made. Betas following directions that led to disaster. Ogas suffering in silence while their voices went ignored.
"I realized that free will was the problem," I continued. "Wolves are too passionate, too short-sighted to make good choices for themselves. They need direction."
"You an control," Lily corrected firmly.
"Control that keeps them alive!" I snapped. "Under my direction, packs don’t fight wars. Children don’t starve. Families aren’t torn apart by stupid fights over territory."
"They also don’t choose their own paths," Lily shot back. "They don’t fall in love or follow their dreams or make their own mistakes."
"Mistakes that get people killed," I said. "Like the mistake you’re making right now by fighting instead of accepting my help."
Through the shadow connection, I felt my controlled wolves getting restless. They could feel my emotional turmoil and it was affecting their stability. I needed to end this chat before they started breaking free of my influence.
But looking at Lily reminded so much of myself at her age. So determined to save everyone. So sure that love would be enough.
"You’ll learn," I said sadly. "When everyone you care about is dead because you weren’t strong enough to protect them, you’ll understand. You’ll understand that sotis the only way to save people is to take away their freedom to destroy themselves."
"There has to be another way," Lily urged.
"I thought so too, once." I raised my hand and dark power began building around my fingers. "I gave the world three hundred years to prove wrong. All I saw was more war, more death, more pain. The only peace that lasts is the peace I make."
But even as I prepared to attack, doubt gnawed at . Lily’s pack seed different sohow. The way they’d shared power, the way they worked together – it reminded of dreams I’d given up long ago.
"Last chance," I said, though my voice lacked confidence. "Join willingly, and I’ll make your death quick."
Lily stood straighter, her own power bursting to life. "I’ll never give up hope that people can choose to be better."
"Then you’ll die the sa way I did," I said. "Believing in a dream that doesn’t exist."
I released my shadow power, sending it racing toward Lily and Caleb. But at the last second, sothing impossible happened.
The shadows stopped.
Not because Lily’s power blocked them, but because they refused to follow .
I spun around to stare at my army of controlled dogs. Their eyes were no longer empty black holes. Instead, they glowed with silver light – the sa light that circled Lily.
"What did you do?" I gasped.
"I didn’t do anything," Lily said, sounding as shocked as I felt. "They’re choosing to break free on their own."
One by one, my shadow wolves were rembering who they used to be. Rembering the people they’d been stolen from. The lives they’d lived before I forced them to serve .
And they were deciding to reject the control I’d given them.
"No," I whispered as my life’s work collapsed around . "This isn’t possible. People can’t choose good over power. They always choose death in the end."
But as I watched wolves I’d controlled for decades shake off my power and stand beside Lily, I felt sothing I hadn’t experienced in three centuries.
Doubt.
What if I’d been wrong about everything?
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