Chapter 145
Elowen POV
:.
62
Stormclaw Keep
Courtyard
Just After the Bomb Dropped
I couldn’t breathe in that war room anymore.
Not with the projection still flickering. Not with Vaela’s face burned into my skull. Not with Soria’s new fangs and that fucking smile. I needed air. I needed space. I needed to not burn the world down with my bare hands.
“Let’s walk,” I said, barely loud enough to be called a command, but it wasn’t a request either.
Luna Aelira was immediately at my side, calm and poised like always. “The temples are done,” she said softly. “Maybe you should see
them.”
Luna Nira nodded. “Ground yourself in what’s still sacred, daughter.”
Daughter. Gods. I didn’t say anything. Just nodded. Taya and Amaris joined us without question. Not as guards. Not as warriors. As women. As sisters.
We left the war room in silence, the heavy stone doors shutting behind us with a final thud. Behind those walls, the men were already barking strategy, Jace, Draven, Bram, Daxon, Rylen, Lachlan, and the others laying plans for blood and retaliation.
But out here? This was, mine. The first was the Moon Temple, it’s white stone veined with silver, wrapped in ivy and soft blue fireflies. It shimmered with soft light even under the midday sun.
I stepped inside alone. It smelled like moonwater and midnight wind, and in the center stood a pool so clear it reflected truth, not just
faces.
I knelt. Closed my eyes. Let the ache settle. They were mine. I loved them. And they still betrayed me. No answer came.
Just the stillness of the moon, watching silently above us all.
Next was the Earth Temple with its moss covered stone and thick wooden beams, with flowering vines crawling up every corner, the air sweet with lavender and damp moss.
Taya exhaled next to me. “I feel better just standing here.”
So did I. This temple wasn’t about vengeance. It was about roots. About who I was before the chaos. Before the betrayal. Before the blood.
I laid a hand on the ancient tree in the center, its bark warm with quiet magic. And for a moment, the rage dulled.
“Keep me steady,” I whispered.
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11:28 Wed, Oct 8
Chapter 145
The tree didn’t respond. But my heartbeat slowed.
(62
The Star Temple was crystalline–sharp, clear, reflecting every face back a thousand times. Inside, Amaris lit a candle and placed it before a small altar etched with the constellation of the Goddess.
I stood at the center and looked up. The ceiling was open to the sky. And though it was day, a shimmer of stars blinked faintly overhead.
“This one feels… loud,” I whispered.
Amaris nodded. “Because it sees everything. Past, present, future. It doesn’t lie.”
I turned slowly, seeing my reflection in the crystal.
Eyes rimmed with fury. Hair wild. Power humming in my veins.
Was this still me? Or something new?
The final stop. Golden stone. Heat in the air. Flames dancing along braziers that didn’t burn. This was strength. This was truth. This was the fire I’d buried under years of grief and trauma and survival.
I stepped inside and the air wrapped around me like a crown.
“Burn me clean,” I said to the flame. “And make me worthy of what comes next.”
Luna Aelira touched my shoulder. “You already are.”
Luna Nira stood before the flame and raised her hands. “Let them see your light and fear what it means.”
And I did. In that moment, I knew….I wasn’t just a wolf.
Or a bear. Or Fae. Or a woman broken by betrayal.
I was all of it. Hybrid born. Element marked. And not fucking done yet. We stood together in the courtyard, the four temples circling us like sentinels, the women beside me breathing deep in the silence.
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