The council chamber felt colder than Elara expected. Though deep underground, the air carried an ancient weight, as though the stone walls remembered every secret ever spoken here.
Six elders sat in a half-circle, cloaked in dark furs and authority. Kael stood by her side, but he was silent now, as tradition demanded. This was Elara's moment to be tested.
The eldest, a woman with pale eyes like storm clouds, leaned forward. "You bear the mark of the Moonline," she said, her voice echoing slightly in the cavern. "But blood alone does not make you one of us. The last time a child of the moon was born… kingdoms fell."
"I don't want power," Elara said softly, her hands clasped before her. "I didn't ask for this."
"Prophecy doesn't ask for permission," a second elder replied. "It simply is."
Kael clenched his fists but stayed silent, his golden eyes fixed on the council.
Another elder, a thin man with a voice like brittle leaves, asked, "Do you remember your lineage, girl? Your ancestors?"
Elara shook her head. "No. I don't even know who my parents were."
Murmurs rippled through the chamber.
"You could be a threat to all shifters," the storm-eyed elder said. "And there are many who would kill you before the prophecy awakens."
Kael stepped forward, voice hard. "She is under my protection. Anyone who touches her answers to me."
"Even your strength cannot stop fate, Alpha," the eldest said.
Elara looked around the room, heart pounding. "I didn't choose this. But if I was born for something greater, then I won't run from it. I'll learn. I'll fight if I must."
The room fell silent again.
Then slowly, the storm-eyed elder nodded. "Very well. You will train with us. With our seer, with our warriors. If you are truly the Moon's chosen, the bond will show us."
As they were dismissed, Kael placed a hand at the small of her back, guiding her from the chamber.
"You were brave in there," he murmured.
"I was terrified," she whispered.
"But you stood your ground," he said, smiling faintly. "The moon chose well."
And outside, beneath the stars, a shadow watched them—eyes burning, the first hunter sent to reclaim what should never have survived.
---