Rowan's POV
The silver light burst through my mind like a thousand lightning bolts. I staggered backward as Arin's finished ritual sent shockwaves through every wolf bond in our territory. But while my brothers felt her steady power, I saw something else entirely. Visions. Ancient ones. A silver-eyed girl stood in a field of burning wolves. Three brothers fighting over a crown made of bones. A moon that bleeds red across a dead forest. I gripped the facility wall, trying to separate the predictions from reality. This had been happening since I turned eighteen—glimpses of futures that might be, pasts that shaped everything, truths that nobody else could see. And now I knew why. "Rowan!" Kael grabbed my shoulder. "You're bleeding." I touched my nose.
Red drops stained my fingers. The dreams always came with a price. "I'm fine," I lied, watching as more planes circled overhead. "But we have bigger problems." Through the broken windows, I could see Dad facing off with a woman in white. Even from this distance, her power made my skin crawl. Dark magic stuck to her like smoke. Queen Althara. The woman from my dreams. "Who is she?" Jaxon demanded, following my eyes. "Death," I whispered. Arin looked up at me sharply. "What did you say?" Before I could answer, another image slammed into my brain: Arin screaming as silver chains bound her wrists. Kael's green eyes turning empty and cold. Jaxon falling from a great height, his wings broken. Wait. Wings? Jaxon didn't have wings. Unless... "Elder Mava," I called quickly. "The promise you've been hiding.
Tell them now." The old woman's eyes went wide. "Rowan, no. You don't understand—" "Tell them!" I roared, and my brothers jumped at the anger in my voice. Elder Mava looked between us, her old hands shaking. "The ancient prophecy speaks of three guards bound to one soul. When the Silver Luna rises, they will gain powers beyond their wolf forms." "What kind of powers?" Arin asked quietly. "Kael will rule earth and stone. Jaxon will learn wind and flight. And Rowan..." She looked at me sadly. "Rowan will see all possible futures, until the burden breaks his mind." My brothers stared at me in shock. "How long have you known?" Kael demanded. "Since my eighteenth birthday." I wiped more blood from my nose. "The visions started then. At first, just dreams. But now..." I pointed at Arin. "Since she awakened, I can barely tell what's real anymore." "Why didn't you tell us?" Jaxon's voice cracked. "Because I saw what would happen if I did." I met his eyes. "In every vision where I reveal the truth early, someone dies." The words hung in the air like a death sentence. Outside, troops with silver weapons moved closer to the building. I could see their plan unfolding—surround us, cut off escape routes, force surrender through overwhelming numbers. But they didn't know about the forecast. They didn't know what we were about to become. "There's more," I continued, fighting another wave of images.
"Arin isn't just Luna Seraphina's daughter. She's the last of the Royal Bloodline—the family that once ruled all werewolves." Arin gasped. "That's impossible." "Your mother was the true High Luna. Althara killed her to steal the throne." I pointed at the woman in white outside. "But she couldn't find you. Dad's pack protected you without even knowing it." "The shifting mate bond," Elder Mava breathed. "It makes sense now. The Moon Goddess couldn't choose between the three guards because Arin needs all of you to survive what's coming." "What's coming?" Kael asked. I closed my eyes, letting the images flow: A war between packs that breaks the werewolf world. Arin stands before a council of Alphas, silver light blazing from her hands. One of my brothers lies motionless while the other two howl in grief. My eyes snapped open. "The Great Divide. Althara will use today's attack to support a war against 'unworthy' packs. She wants to rebuild the werewolf order with herself at the top." "And us?" Jaxon asked. "We're the only ones who can stop her.
But..." I paused, seeing the truth in a dozen different visions. "One of us won't survive it." The silence stretched like a taut wire. Finally, Arin stood up. Silver light still flickered around her like trapped starfire. "Which one?" "I don't know. The images keep changing based on our choices." I looked at each of my brothers. "But I know this—if we run now, everyone dies. If we fight together, we might save the pack." Through the window, I watched Dad trigger some kind of magical barrier. The air shimmered like heat waves. Protocol Seven. He was trapping everyone inside our area. "Smart," I mumbled. "Althara can't escape with her prize if she can't leave." "But neither can we," Kael pointed out. "We're not supposed to leave." I felt another vision growing behind my eyes. "This area is where it all ends. Where the Royal Bloodline either dies forever or rises to recover its throne."
Arin grabbed my arm. "The mate bond—will it stabilize?" I looked at her, then at my brothers. In some visions, she picked Kael and they ruled together in perfect harmony. In others, she picked Jaxon and their love story became folklore. And in a few rare glimpses, she picked me and we rebuilt the werewolf world from ashes. But in most images, she never chose at all. "The bond isn't meant to stabilize," I said softly. "It's meant to evolve." "Into what?" Before I could answer, the facility's front door burst inward. Soldiers in black tactical gear poured through, silver guns gleaming. "Nobody move!" their boss shouted. "By order of Queen Althara, you're all under arrest!" I felt my brothers tense beside me, ready to fight. But I saw how this played out—we'd win against these forces, but more would come. Waves of them, until we were tired and overwhelmed.
Unless we showed them what guards could really do. "Kael," I whispered. "The floor." He understood immediately. His power, newly awakened by Arin's rite, reached down into the earth beneath the building. The concrete floor cracked, then shattered upward in a wave of stone spikes that sent troops diving for cover. "Jaxon—windows." My brother grinned fiercely and raised his hands. Wind howled through the broken windows, turning glass shards into a whirling storm that pushed the soldiers back outside. "Now what?" Arin asked, her silver light glowing brighter. I closed my eyes and searched through a dozen possible futures. In most of them, we died in the next ten minutes. But in one—just one—I saw something different. A narrow path to victory that needed the ultimate sacrifice. "Now," I said, opening my eyes to look at the girl who held all our fates in her hands, "we do something that will change everything." I grabbed Arin's hand, feeling the mate bond flare between us.
"But first, you need to know the truth about why the bond keeps shifting." "Rowan, don't—" Elder Mava warned. "It's not choosing between us," I continued, ignoring her. "It's preparing us for what we have to become." "Which is?" I smiled sadly, seeing the end of everything in crystal clarity. "One soul in four bodies. The only way to defeat a queen is to become something better than royalty." Outside, more planes landed. Soldiers surrounded the building. And somewhere in the chaos, I heard Dad fighting for his life against impossible odds. The vision showed me exactly what happened next. And why only three of us would walk away from it.