Aurora's POV:
I didn't wait to hear more, my feet carrying me swiftly toward the forest's edge. The Moonlight Forest had always been our special place – where Markus and I would run together under the full moon, sharing dreams and secrets. The thought of him taking Sarah there made my chest ache.
Their voices reached me before I saw them, Sarah's musical laugh floating on the evening breeze. I moved closer, staying hidden behind an ancient oak, and the sight before me made my blood run cold.
Sarah clung to Markus's arm as they walked, her body pressed indecently close to his. The thin dress she wore left little to the imagination, and she made sure to brush her full breasts against him with every step.
"You make me feel so safe," she was saying, her voice breathy and sweet. "After everything that happened... I've never met an Alpha like you, Markus. So strong, so noble..."
I could see Markus preening at her words, his chest puffing out slightly. "The Storm Pack protects its own. And you're one of us now, Sarah."
"Am I?" She stopped, turning to face him with wide, innocent eyes that somehow managed to look seductive at the same time. "Sometimes I worry... Aurora doesn't seem to like me very much. And I would never want to cause problems between you..."
"Aurora will adjust," Markus said dismissively. "She's being oversensitive about this whole situation."
The casual cruelty of his words stole my breath. Before I could stop myself, I stepped out from behind the tree. "Oversensitive, am I?"
They jumped apart – though not quickly enough. Sarah's hands lingered on Markus's chest before she stepped back, her eyes wide with manufactured shock.
"Aurora!" Markus's tone carried a note of guilt that quickly transformed into irritation. "What are you doing out here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. "This is the forbidden forest, Markus. You're the one who always warned me about coming here alone."
"I'm helping Sarah adapt to pack life," he said stiffly. "She needs to learn our territory."
"In the forbidden forest? At twilight? With her dressed like that?" The words came out sharper than I intended, but I couldn't stop them.
Sarah's lower lip trembled perfectly. "I'm so sorry, Aurora. I didn't mean to cause problems. Markus was just being kind..."
Kind. Yes, I could see exactly how merciful he was. I turned to Marcus, my chest full of hurt and anger." Yesterday you said you'd come to me, and when you didn't, I thought you were tired and I didn't bother you. Today you still haven't come, so I felt like coming to see you. I was worried that you were not taking care of your health because you were too busy, but I didn't realize that you were so busy showing mercy,that you forgot our traditions, and how dare you bring her here."
"Aurora, you're being ridiculous," Markus snapped. "Sarah needs guidance—"
"And your hands on her waist are guiding her how, exactly?"
Sarah gasped dramatically. "I would never... Markus is your fiancé! I respect that!" But I caught the triumphant glitter in her eyes, the way she pressed closer to Markus even as she protested.
"You're letting your imagination run wild," Markus accused. "Sarah saved my life. I owe her—"
"You owe her basic gratitude, not intimate moonlit walks in our special place!" My voice cracked. "Have you forgotten everything we've been through? Have you forgotten that I've done the same before?"
"Of course I remember, and I'm also grateful, but I don't think we need to say these things." Marcus looked at me quietly, "And you've only hurt your leg, while Sarah nearly lost her life."
His words just drove me crazy, "Does the injury depend on the part? It's all the same."
"That's different," he insisted. "You're acting like a jealous child."
"A child?" I laughed bitterly. "I was a child when you fought three rouge wolves for me. I was a child when you saved me from that vampire. But I'm not a child anymore, Markus. I can see exactly what's happening here."
Sarah stepped between us, the picture of concerned innocence. "Please, don't fight because of me. I should go..."
"No," Markus said firmly, placing a protective hand on her shoulder. "You have every right to be here. Aurora is the one being unreasonable."
The betrayal cut deep, stealing my breath. "Unreasonable," I repeated softly. "Because I don't want another woman throwing herself at my fiancé? Because I don't want our sacred places violated?"
"You're twisting everything!" Markus growled. "Sarah needs protection, guidance—"
"And you're so eager to provide both," I cut in. "Tell me, Markus, when did you stop being my protector and become hers?"
Sarah's eyes gleamed with satisfaction even as she played the peacemaker. "I never meant to come between you. Perhaps if we all just took some time to calm down..."
"An excellent suggestion," I said, my voice eerily calm despite the storm raging in my heart. "I need to prepare for the festival anyway. Don't let me interrupt your... guidance session."
I turned and walked away, my spine straight despite the urge to run. Behind me, I heard Sarah's soft voice: "She hates me, doesn't she? Maybe I should leave..."
"No," Markus said firmly. "Don't let her attitude bother you. She'll adjust."
I made it back to my room before the tears fell. The gown lay on my bed, freshly repaired, but suddenly feeling like it belonged to a stranger. Disheveled, I picked up the gown and knelt beside my mother's trunk, ready to put it away. That's when I noticed something - the woodgrain on the right side was cracked by my fall, and from the outside I could see a glint of silver streaking through the seam.
I wiped my tears and started to examine the box more carefully. I compared the thickness of the boards on the left and right sides, and knocked on the right side again, and there really was a hidden compartment! I began to look for how to open this hidden compartment. The wooden boards were very solid, and I didn't want to easily destroy my mother's box.
My fingers groped inside the box, and I found a very small button. With a light press, the hidden compartment sprang open. Inside was a leather-bound book, its pages yellowed with age, and a silver rose-shaped bookmark was attached to the cover - the silver glint I had seen earlier had come from it.
My mother's diary. I knew it instantly, though I'd never seen it before. My hands shook as I opened it, but the writing inside was like nothing I'd ever seen – symbols and patterns that seemed to shift and dance before my eyes.
As I traced one of the symbols with my finger, pain shot through my head like a bolt of lightning. The room spun, power surging through me in waves. I tried to drop the diary, but my hands wouldn't obey.
"Aurora!" Fiona's panicked voice seemed to come from very far away. "Something's wrong. The magic—"
Everything went black.
When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in my room. I stood in the Moonlight Forest, but it was different – older, darker. The trees dripped with fresh blood, the moon above glowing an unnatural red. And there, in the center of a pool of blood, stood Sarah.
She turned to me, her smile savage, her eyes glowing with an unholy light. Blood dripped from her fingers as she reached toward me. "Little rose," she crooned. "Lost little rose, all alone in the dark..."
I tried to scream, but no sound came out. Blood, more blood flowed towards me, soaking me. Sarah approached me step by step. My fear-stricken face was reflected in her eyes. Her laughter echoed in the woods. She stretched out her hand toward me—it was a hand covered in blood, and I felt my wolf form emerging without my control—
I jerked awake on my bedroom floor, my body already halfway through the shift. Fur rippled across my skin as Fiona pushed to the surface, responding to a threat we couldn't fully understand.
"The diary," Fiona said urgently. "It's protected by old magic. Very old magic.We've been hit by a backlash of magical power."
I managed to force back the shift, but my hands were shaking as I carefully closed the diary and returned it to its hiding place.
But all I could think about was Sarah's blood-soaked smile in my vision, and the way the diary's symbols had seemed to whisper secrets I wasn't ready to hear.
"Something is coming," Fiona warned. "Something that's been waiting a very long time."
I looked at my reflection in the mirror – at the ceremonial robes that suddenly seemed to hold more meaning than I'd ever known, at my own face that looked somehow different after the vision.
"Who am I really?" I whispered to my reflection. "And what other secrets are hidden in my mother's diary?"
The festival sounds grew louder outside my window, but they seemed distant and unimportant compared to the mysteries suddenly unfolding around me. Sarah's true nature, my mother's hidden diary, Alexander's connection to an ancient song, an...