<h4>Chapter 106: Chapter 106: The Dead Luna’s Secret</h4>


    Darian’s shadows went crazy. They twisted and writhed like live snakes around his feet. His mother was thought to be dead.


    Had been dead for five years. "Mom?" Ronan’s voice cracked like a little boy’s.


    The woman who looked like Luna Evelyn smiled. But it wasn’t right. Too big. Too sharp. "Hello, my boys. You’ve grown so much." Kael stepped protectively in front of ra. "You’re dead. We buried you."


    "Did you?" The fake Luna tilted her head. "Or did you bury what I wanted you to find?" Darian’s mind raced.


    He’d always been the smart one. The one who noticed details. And right now, every detail screamed danger. No shadow. Eyes that reflected light wrong. And the way she moved - too smooth, like she was flying instead of walking.


    "You’re not our mother," he said softly. "Aren’t I?" Sheughed, and the sound made ice form on the cave walls. "I gave birth to you. I raised you. I died protecting your precious pack secrets."


    "What do you want?" ra asked. Her golden light grew brighter, making the fake Luna hiss. "I want what’s mine. What was always mine." Elder Vera raised her staff. "Impossible.


    We felt you die. The pack mourned you." "The pack mourned a lie." The fake Luna’s form shimmered. "Just like everything else in your pathetic lives."


    Suddenly, Darian understood. The forecast. The trials. The way everything had gone wrong. "You’ve been controlling it all," he breathed.


    His brothers turned to stare at him. But Darian was focused on the thing wearing his mother’s face. "The trials were meant to separate us. Make us fight each other."


    "Very good, youngest son." The fake Luna pped mockingly. "You always were the clever one." "But why?" Ronan’s berserker power was rising again. "What do you gain?" "Everything." Her form began to shift.


    "The child ra carries isn’t just any prophecy baby. It’s the key to breaking every magical barrier that exists." ra gasped, clutching her belly. "What does that mean?" "It means," the creature continued, her voice deepening, "that whoever controls the child controls all magical beings.


    Every werewolf. Every witch. Every vampire." The original Alpha’sughter echoed from his chains. "I told you she was special!"


    "Shut up!" Kael’s ice powers red. But Darian was putting more pieces together. "The mate bond. The three-way link. It was meant to weaken us."


    "Exactly." The fake Luna’s skin was starting to crack like old paint. "Three confused boys fighting over one girl makes you all easier to manipte." "So you made uspete," Ronan growled. "Made us hate each other."


    "Made you doubt yourselves." The creature’s real form was showing through now. Something dark and twisted beneath the Luna mask. "Made you each think you were the problem." Darian felt sick.


    All his careful nning. All his ns to protect ra and win her love. It had all been trickery. "The visions in our trials," Kael said slowly. "Those were yours too." "Of course." The thingughed again. "


    Show Kael that ra will betray him, and he brings a cor to chain her. Show Ronan that he’s a monster, and he starts believing it. Show Darian that he needs to eliminate hispetition..."


    "And I start nning to betray my own brothers," Darian finished. The shame burned in his chest. ra stepped forward, her light burning. "What are you really?" The fake Luna’s disguise finally cracked fully.


    What stood before them was something old and hungry. Something that fed on pain and separation. "I am whates before the prophecies," it hissed. "What shapes them. What uses them."


    "A Maniptor," Elder Vera whispered. "I thought they were all destroyed centuries ago." "Surprise." The creature’s true form was terrible. Like a shadow given body and teeth. "And now, thanks to your lovely trials, the three strongest wolves in the pack are ready to tear each other apart."


    Darian looked at his brothers. Kael still held the metal cor. Ronan’s eyes were burning red with berserker rage. And Darian himself had spent days nning how to kill them both. "Perfect timing too." The Maniptor pointed at ra’s swollen belly.


    "The child will be born any minute now. Born into chaos and hate instead of love and unity." "We won’t let that happen," ra said furiously. "Won’t you?" The thing smiled with too many teeth.


    "Look around, little Luna. Your mates are ready to kill each other. How exactly do you n to stop them?" Darian felt the truth of those words. His shadows were already reaching toward his brothers, ready to strike.


    Kael’s ice was spreading across the floor. Ronan’s berserker power was making the air itself feel dangerous. They were on the edge of a fight that would destroy them all. "There is a way," Elder Vera said suddenly.


    "The true bonding practice. If performed properly, it could unite them instead of dividing them." "What ritual?" all three brothers asked at once. "The one your real mother died trying toplete," Elder Vera replied. "The one that would make your three-way bond a strength instead of a weakness."


    The Maniptor screamed with rage. "She’s lying! There is no such rite!" But Tobias stepped forward, his face grim. "Actually, there is. Luna Evelyn spent herst years studying it.


    She knew this day woulde." "Impossible!" The creature’s form writhed with rage. "I destroyed all traces of that knowledge!" "Not all." Tobias pulled a small leather notebook from his jacket.


    "She hid this with me before she died. The real ritual directions." Darian felt hope flicker in his chest. "What do we have to do?" "Trust each otherpletely," Tobias read. "ept each other’s ws. And choose love over power."


    "Simple words," Kael said. "But after everything..." "After everything," Ronan interrupted, "we’re still brothers." Darian looked at them both. Really looked.


    Kael, struggling with his need for power. Ronan, fighting his own inner monster. Both of them trying so hard to be worthy of ra’s love.


    Just like he was. "The creature’s right about one thing," Darian said softly. "We have been ready to destroy each other." His brothers tensed, expecting another treachery.


    "But it’s wrong about why." Darian let his shadows settle around his feet. "We weren’t fighting because we’re enemies. We were fighting because we all love her so much we forgot how to love each other." "Darian," ra whispered.


    "I’m sorry," he said, looking at Kael and Ronan. "For nning against you. For thinking I knew better. For forgetting that we’re supposed to be a team."


    Kael dropped the silver cor. "I’m sorry too. For not trusting you. For believing the worst instead of the best." Ronan’s red eyes started to fade back to normal.


    "And I’m sorry for being ready to kill you both. For thinking being a monster was easier than being weak." The Maniptor screamed with rage. "No! You don’t understand! The promise requires chaos!"


    "Maybe," ra said, her voice strong despite her clear pain. "But prophecies can be wrong." She doubled over suddenly, gasping. "The baby. It’sing now!" "The ritual!" Elder Vera yelled. "You mustplete it before the child is born!"


    But the Maniptor wasn’t finished. With a roar of rage, itunched itself at ra. All three brothers moved at once. Kael’s ice formed a barrier. Ronan’s berserker strength met the thing head-on. And Darian’s shadows wrapped around its limbs.


    For the first time since the trials began, they were working together. "Now!" Tobias yelled, reading from the notebook. "Join hands! All four of you!" Darian grabbed Kael’s hand. Kael grabbed Ronan’s.


    Ronan reached for ra just as another contraction hit her. "I can’t," she gasped. "It hurts too much!" The Maniptor broke free from theirbined attack and dove toward the struggling girl. "The child will be mine!" it shrieked. That’s when the cave filled with real light.


    Not ra’s golden glow, but pure white radiance that made everyone hide their eyes. When the light faded, another figure stood in the cave opening. "No," the neer said quietly.


    "The child will be exactly what it was always meant to be." Darian’s heart stopped. Because this time, he was looking at his real mother. Luna Evelyn, whole and alive and making a proper shadow.


    "Hello, boys," she said with a real smile. "Ready to learn what you’re truly capable of?" But before anyone could react, ra screamed.


    The baby wasing, and the Maniptor was making onest frantic lunge toward them both. The cave exploded into chaos just as everything went white.