The world fractured.
Lira's veins burned as Orion's blood coursed through her thick, ancient, alive. The lab's walls dissolved into static, replaced by a kaleidoscope of memories not her own: Selene's scream as Orion plunged a needle into her throat, a wolf's howl smothered by snow, a child's laughter in a burning castle. His memories. His sins.
"Lira!" Ryen's voice warped, distant.
She collapsed, her body convulsing. Silver light erupted from her skin, scorching the air. Kael's pack recoiled, their snarls twisting into whimpers as the light seared their fur. Finn staggered back, the locket slipping from his fingers, its chain melting into slag.
Vesper hissed, vampiric reflexes saving her from immolation. "You fool," she spat, retreating into shadow. "You've doomed us all."
Lira didn't hear her. Her bones cracked, reshaping. She tasted copper, felt her jaw unhinge as fangs stretched. Her vision fractured into prismatic shards.
This is what you are, Orion's voice purred in her skull. Perfection.
Ryen lunged, his hands blistering as he gripped her shoulders. "Fight it, Lira! Don't let him win!"
She writhed, claws raking his chest. Blood bloomed, dark and hot. He didn't let go.
"You knew," she choked, her voice layered human, wolf, something other. "You knew what his blood would do."
Guilt flickered in his amber eyes. Yes, he'd read Orion's journals. Yes, he'd known the risks. But the cure for his sister's curse had always been a lie. All he'd wanted was
"Stop her!" Kael roared, his scarred throat straining. The pack surged forward, fangs bared, but the silver light repelled them like a forcefield.
Finn grabbed the melted locket, its edges still glowing. "She's not your enemy! Look at her she's hurting!"
Kael backhanded him. Finn crumpled, blood dripping from his split lip. "You've chosen your side, pup."
Miles away, Selene jolted awake in Frostspire's throne room, her silver goblet clattering to the floor. Bloodwine seeped into the frost-laden cracks.
"Majesty?" Her sentinels stiffened.
She pressed a hand to her chest, where Lira's fading pulse echoed a phantom ache. No. Not yet.
"Prepare the hunters," she hissed, ice crackling in her palm. "My daughter is… evolving."
Lira's screams faded to guttural growls. The light dimmed, leaving her curled on the lab floor, trembling. Her hair was fully silver now, her eyes twin voids one crimson, one gold.
Ryen crouched beside her, breath ragged. "Lira?"
She flinched. Her claws retracted, but her fangs remained. "Did I… hurt anyone?"
"Just my pride." He forced a grin, but his hands shook.
Kael stepped into the lingering glow, russet fur singed. "What are you?"
Lira stood, movements too fluid, too precise. "What your war made me."
The pack growled, but Finn stepped between them, the melted locket raised. "She cured Evan! The feral in the woods he's human again!"
Silence.
Kael's gaze locked on Lira. "Prove it."
They dragged a captured feral into the lab a young woman with mangled fur and broken claws. Lira approached, instincts recoiling at the scent of rot and despair.
"Do it," Kael ordered.
She bit her wrist, offering her blood. The feral lunged, teeth sinking deep.
Agony.
Lira's vision flashed white. The woman's memories flooded her a childhood in the Fringe, a werewolf's bite, years of howling at a moon that never listened.
Then, stillness.
The feral's fur receded, claws softening into calloused hands. She blinked up at them, tears carving paths through grime. "Where… am I?"
The pack erupted. Some snarled, others stared in awe. Finn grinned, triumphant.
Kael said nothing.
The ambush came at dusk.
Vesper's hunters descended like shadows, silver blades glinting. Lira smelled Selene's perfume jasmine and frostbite on their armor.
"The queen wants her daughter's heart," Vesper hissed, cornering Lira near the crypt's entrance. "I'll settle for your head."
They clashed, Lira's hybrid speed meeting Vesper's centuries of training. A blade grazed her ribs; she retaliated with a kick that shattered Vesper's kneecap.
"You're still weak," Vesper spat, crawling backward. "Orion's blood can't save you from her."
Lira gripped her throat. "Tell Selene I'm coming for her throne."
She let her go.
Kael found her at dawn, sharpening a silver dagger.
"Your cure," he said, voice rough. "It leaves them human. Vulnerable."
Lira didn't look up. "You'd rather they die feral?"
He hesitated. "My pack… they're all I have."
"They're not yours." She met his gaze. "They never were."
The scar on his throat pulsed. For a moment, she thought he'd strike her.
Instead, he knelt.
"Teach me," he growled. "To lead. To… change."
He found her in Orion's crypt, staring at the hologram.
"I lied," he said quietly. "I knew his blood would trigger your transformation. I thought… if I could control it.."
"You'd what?" She turned, new eyes piercing. "Save me? Use me?"
"Love you."
The word hung between them, fragile.
She kissed him fangs and desperation and silver-tinged blood. He kissed back like a drowning man.
When they broke apart, her voice was steel. "Never lie to me again."
He nodded.
At midnight, Lira examined her reflection in a shard of glass. Her auburn roots were already returning, her eyes softening to amber and violet.
The transformation isn't permanent, she realized. Orion's blood is fading.
But in the Eclipse Wilds, shadows shifted. A camera lens glinted.
Well done, daughter, Orion's voice whispered. Now the real work begins.