C6 The Moonborn

The air in the training room was heavy with the reverberations of yesterday's battle, and there was a slight smell of smoke and steel. My hands continued to shake as though the shadows had left their mark on my flesh. With his arms crossed and his eyes as keen as a blade, Thorn stood opposite me. His presence was simultaneously suffocating and grounding.

"Again," he said.

Reaching for the weight humming at the back of my mind, I took a trembling breath. Curling like restless smoke, the shadows flitted at my fingertips, eager and dangerous. The energy flared too fast for me to bend them toward the target, a broken piece of stone leaning against the wall. The stone was broken into pieces that were strewn all over the floor as the shadows swung out and snapped like whips.

The ensuing quiet weighed heavily on my chest.

My fists clenched. "I have no control over it."

Thorn moved purposefully across the room, exuding authority with each stride. He came to a close, too close stop. His wolf-gray eyes peered into mine, looking for signs of weakness. "You're scared of yourself," he muttered. "Before your enemies ever touch you, that fear will kill you."

Part rage, part something else I didn't want to mention, heat flared in my chest. "I don't feel scared."

He clenched his jaw. Abruptly, he reached out and firmly grasped my wrist. The contact caused the shadows to stir, crackling between us like static. His voice was low, harsh, and menacing. "Then prove it. Now. They can be bent without breaking.”

My pulse faltered from the force of his touch and his close proximity. I forced the shadows to obey by swallowing hard. I drew them slowly, trembling, into a single strand that was as thin as a ribbon and curled around his hand without hitting. Sweat trickled down my face from the effort.

A glimpse of something softer hidden beneath the steel caused Thorn's eyes to dart. "Better."

My chest hurt when I heard the word—praise and challenge all at once. My skin was cold where his hand had been as the shadows relaxed and faded back into me. For an instant, the only sounds in the room were the weight of his gaze and the pounding of my heart.

Then the air was split by the howl.

Guttural, low, and incorrect. Not a rogue. Not a wolf.

Thorn's head jerked in the direction of the window. His muscles tensed, ready. “Stay behind me.”

The torches along the walls sputtered before I could respond. As though the room itself were bending under an invisible force, the shadows surrounding us stretched strangely. I gasped. A voice slithered through the velvet and venom of the far corner.

"Thorn, are you training her?" It drewled. "How devoted you are. However, loyalty can be so brittle.”

A black-clad figure with coal-like eyes emerged from the shadows. Not Selene. Someone worse.

With a snarl low in his throat, Thorn tensed. "Korrin." The name was a knife in the air.

My blood ran cold as I froze. Here, within the estate, was Thorn's erstwhile ally, the one who was mentioned in half-truths.

He was grinning as well.

Long, jagged shadows filled the training room as the torches guttered once more. Tall and slender, Korrin stepped forward with an air of superiority. His amber eyes glowed with the dangerous serenity of someone who had nothing left to lose, and scars etched lines across his arms, a map of battles past.

He sneered, "Thorn, are you still defending lost causes? How charming. I thought you were too old to be a babysitter.”

Thorn became motionless. Motion is less deadly than stillness. He spoke through his teeth, his jaw clenched. "You don’t belong here."

"Oh, but I do." Slowly and deliberately, like a knife tracing skin, Korrin's eyes slid to me. “So this is her. The Moonborn.” His sly smile grew larger. "I had higher expectations."

Before I could think, the shadows inside of me awoke and responded. Pulsing with my rage, they curled at my fingertips. Thorn moved just enough to give a silent warning not to let them fly. However, Korrin's words pierced my chest, igniting something dangerous and raw.

I took a step forward. "You're not supposed to be here."

Low and as sharp as shards of glass, Korrin laughed. "Yet I am. Are these walls and this pack really going to keep me out? Little Moonborn, you don't know what's coming.”

"Say another word—" Korrin interrupted Thorn with a mocking bow.

"You'll what? Murder me? Years ago, you had your chance.” He glanced back at me with amber eyes. "No, you'll keep her safe. You do that. You hold on. You protect. However, what happens if she betrays you? What if you are the first thing she burns when her power consumes her?”

Tension shook the room. I could hear the rapid, irregular beat of my own heart. Although Thorn's breathing was steady, I could tell he was about to shift by the way his shoulders coiled.

I had to stop it from getting out of control. I pushed the shadows into my hands and held them there tightly while mentally telling myself to bend rather than break. Energy hummed through the thickening air. For a brief moment, Korrin's grin wavered.

"Don't you feel it too?" His tone twisted as he spoke softly. "That hunger within you. When it gets louder, you won't hear his voice. It will be mine.”

I could not control the violent flare of the shadows. Black tendrils swung like spears toward Korrin, causing the floor to tremble. Impossibly, the shadows stumbled in mid-air as he raised a hand. bent. redirected. turned back to face me.

They flinched away as I gasped and staggered. With the force piercing my chest like lightning, my knees almost buckled.

"Enough!" Thorn let out a roar. His voice vibrated with Alpha command as he moved between us, his wolf pressing against the edges of his skin. "I'll tear you apart, Korrin, or you'll leave."

Korrin simply smiled more broadly. "Be careful, dear friend. Threats can be harmful when she's listening.”

And then—like smoke unraveling—the shadows swallowed him whole. He was gone.

The silence left behind was crushing. My body trembled as the energy drained out of me, leaving nothing but aching muscles and the raw burn of fear. Thorn turned sharply, catching my arms before I collapsed.

“Ravenna.” His voice was gravel, rough with more than anger. His eyes searched mine, desperate, furious. “Don’t listen to him. Don’t let him inside your head.”

But his words had already taken root. Because he was wrong about one thing.

Korrin was inside my head.

And the shadows whispered his name.