Chapter 6 Bloodline of Ash and Echoes

Dominic Thorne's POV

I had fought wars in boardrooms and battlefields. I had faced rival Alphas, fanged assassins, and creatures that bled shadow instead of blood. But nothing, and I mean nothing prepared me for the moment Isla Lane stepped out of the dark and said "I was. Before they buried me alive."

Sierra stood beside me, bone dagger clutched like salvation. Her breath shallow. Her pulse stammering. But she didn't move. She didn't flinch. That's when I knew the girl I met on that rooftop was gone. This woman beside me was something else entirely. Something half-risen from the grave, forged in grief and fire and hunger for the truth.

Elias flanked us, quiet but ready, eyes darting, hand near his blade.

I took a step forward.

"You should be dead."

Isla lifted her hood back. The years hadn't been kind to her. Not in the way time wears you down, but in the way trauma distills you into something unrecognizable. Her eyes still held that same dark steel Sierra inherited, but her cheekbones were sharper, her skin paler, her presence-colder.

"I was," she said. "Then I woke up in a graveyard with a sigil carved into my back and a curse binding my name from memory."

Sierra's voice cut through the silence. "What do you mean, binding your name?"

Isla's eyes flicked to her daughter. "Do you remember my lullaby? The one I used to hum when you were sick?"

"No."

"You're not supposed to. They erased me from you, Sierra. Every song, every story. I was a threat to them, so they didn't just hide me. They scrubbed me out of your soul."

I felt something stir deep in my gut, something old and uneasy. Magic like that wasn't priestess work. That was blood-witch territory, ancient, outlawed, dangerous.

Sierra's knuckles whitened around the dagger. "Why come now? Why show up tonight?"

"Because your blood called me. I felt it burn the earth." Isla turned her gaze to the estate behind us. "Alaric is making his move. And if he gets his hands on her-"

"He won't," I said.

She looked at me like I was a naive child. "He already has."

Sierra flinched, and I felt a growl rise in my throat. Not the territorial kind. The helpless kind. The kind that tastes like failure.

"What does he want from me?" Sierra asked.

Isla hesitated.

And that was the first crack.

When people hide truth, their silence carries more weight than their lies.

Elias took a step forward. "Speak."

"I should have never let you be born," Isla whispered.

The words hit harder than any blow.

Sierra reeled back like she'd been struck, and for a moment, no one moved. Not even the night.

"I didn't mean it like that," Isla said, voice trembling now. "I meant-they told me you wouldn't survive. That a Crux child would destroy the balance. But I felt you grow inside me like wildfire and I-" She cut herself off. "I chose you anyway. And I paid for it."

I moved closer to Sierra, placing my hand on the small of her back. She didn't lean into it, but she didn't pull away either.

"You knew about the trafficking," I said to Isla. "The priestess network, the stolen children-"

"I built the resistance," she spat. "Your father hunted us down one by one. Took our daughters. Our sons. Used their blood to forge pacts with things no sane Alpha would dare invoke."

Sierra's voice was thin but razor-edged. "Why didn't you come back sooner?"

"I tried," Isla said, pain bleeding into her words. "Every moon cycle, I walked toward the veil. Every time I reached out, something pulled me back. Your birthmark? That wasn't a blessing. It was a lock. A brand that sealed you from me-and from yourself."

I looked at Sierra's hand, still wrapped tight around the dagger. She hadn't noticed the glow pulsing from the blade again. Soft, steady. Responding to the truth.

Elias muttered something in an old tongue. Then louder, to Isla: "You brought a shadow with you. You weren't followed, were you?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Of course not."

A scream cut through the trees.

Not human. Not wolf.

Something worse.

"Inside," I barked. "Now."

We moved fast. Isla didn't hesitate. Neither did Sierra.

As soon as we entered the foyer, the wards snapped. I felt them crumble like glass under boot. Every protective seal on the estate-disarmed.

I spun to Elias. "Vault door. Now."

He bolted.

I turned to Isla. "What did you bring here?"

Her face turned white. "Not what. Who."

Sierra looked between us. "Tell me."

"Your twin," Isla whispered. "The one I thought died in childbirth. She didn't. Alaric took her. Raised her in the dark. And she's here."

Sierra went still.

Then, chaos.

The front windows shattered in unison. Wind blasted through the house, smelling like rot and iron.

A figure stepped through the debris. Same face. Same eyes. But wrong.

Where Sierra had fire, this one had ice. Where Sierra had will, this one had worship. She moved like a predator wrapped in silk. And when she spoke, it wasn't to me. It was to Sierra.

"You're late."

"Who are you?" Sierra asked.

"Your sister," the girl replied. "I'm what you would've become if you hadn't been spared."

She stepped further into the light.

Every inch of her screamed blood magic. Runes carved into her collarbone. A necklace of teeth. Her smile was too wide, too calm.

"I'm Selene."

Sierra took a breath so sharp it hurt just to hear it.

"No. That's impossible."

"I was born first," Selene said. "They kept me. Trained me. Fed me the truth while you were fed lies."

"You're lying."

Selene tilted her head. "Do you dream of running through fire? Of wolves chanting your name? That's not prophecy. That's memory. Mine."

I saw Sierra's knees start to shake. I grabbed her wrist. Held her steady.

"You're not her," Sierra said. "You're not me."

"Not yet," Selene smiled. "But soon."

Then she raised her hand.

And the floor opened beneath us.

A sigil carved in old stone flared to life-one none of us had seen before. The house groaned. The walls cracked. And somewhere deep below, something started breathing.

"She's opening the Hollow," Isla gasped.

"No," Elias growled. "That place was sealed for a reason."

I shoved Sierra behind me. "What's in there?"

Isla's answer chilled me.

"The first Alpha."

Selene's eyes burned. "Time to meet your true ancestor, sister."

Sierra stepped forward. Not out of bravery. Out of fury.

"You want to drag me into your blood cult? Then bring it. But I don't kneel to monsters."

She raised the dagger.

It flared like lightning.

And Selene, for the first time, stepped back.

The sigil cracked.

The wind died.

And the creature beneath the floor screamed.

Not in rage.

In recognition.

The house exploded into silence.

Everyone stared at Sierra.

Even the shadows seemed to wait.

Her voice came low. Sharp. Unyielding.

"I'm not your echo."

Then she turned to me, eyes blazing.

"I want answers. I want to know what Alaric did. What you knew. And I want every lie buried in this house burned to ash."

I nodded once.

"Then tomorrow, we go to the archives."

Selene didn't move.

Just smiled.

"You'll come willingly, eventually," she whispered. "All things born of prophecy do."

Then she vanished into the dark, like she never existed.

The floor sealed behind her.

Sierra didn't move.

Not for a long time.

I stood beside her, ready if she collapsed.

She didn't.

She turned to her mother.

"You let her live."

Isla's silence said everything.

Sierra looked at the dagger still glowing in her hand.

And for the first time since she entered my world, she looked like she belonged in it.

Not by accident.

By blood.

That night, Sierra dreamed of fire. But this time, she didn't run from it.

She walked into the flames.

And someone was waiting.

Not Selene.

Not Alaric.

But the First Alpha.

And he said her name like a prayer.

"Crux."