Triple Moon Rising: An Omega's Destiny

Chapter 175: Grief and Connection

LILY POV

I threw Elder Iris’s book across the room with such force that it hit the wall and pages scattered everywhere.

"It’s not true!" I screamed at the empty air. "She’s lying! She has to be lying!"

But even as the words left my mouth, I knew they weren’t true. Elder Iris had never lied to me. Not once in all the years I’d known her. And now she was gone, and her final words were ringing in my head like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.

It’s her son.

The void entity that had been terrorizing our pack, the thing that had tried to transform Luna, the being I thought was my lost brother - it was my child. A child I didn’t even know I had.

I sank to my knees among the scattered pages, and that’s when it hit me.

Pain. Raw, crushing, intense pain that felt like someone had reached into my chest and squeezed my heart until it burst.

I doubled over, gasping for breath as waves of pain crashed through me. This wasn’t like the gentle warmth of love or the fierce burn of protectiveness. This was sharp and terrible and it made me want to crawl into a dark hole and never come out.

But underneath the pain was something else. Something I hadn’t felt in months.

I was feeling. Really, truly feeling.

Tears poured down my cheeks as I grieved for Elder Iris, for the doubt about my supposed son, for all the months I’d spent as an empty shell. Each sob hurt, but it also proved I was alive again.

"Lily?" Caleb’s voice came from the doorway. "I heard yelling. Are you—"

He stopped when he saw me on the floor, surrounded by scattered papers and crying harder than I’d cried since my change.

"She’s gone," I whispered. "Elder Iris is really gone."

Caleb ran over and pulled me into his arms. "I know. I’m so sorry."

"But that’s not the worst part," I said, my words buried against his chest. "Caleb, what she said before she died. About the void thing being my son. How is that possible? I’ve never had a child."

Caleb held me tighter. "Maybe she was confused. She was dying, and sometimes people say strange things when—"

"No." I pulled back to look at him. "You know as well as I do that Elder Iris was never confused about anything. She knew things. Saw things. If she said that thing is my son, then somehow it’s true."

The thought made me feel sick. How could I have a child and not know it? And how could that child have become something so terrible?

"We’ll figure it out," Caleb promised. "Together. But right now, we need to focus on the current threats. Luna is still talking with those humans, and we don’t know what they want."

I nodded and starting gathering up the scattered pages from Elder Iris’s journal. My hands were still shaking, but I forced myself to read her closing words.

The void thing is not our enemy. It is our lost family.

Lily must not let the pack fight. She must choose another way.

The Triple Moon bearer can bring them home, but only if she knows the cost.

"Caleb," I said slowly, "what if Elder Iris was right about everything? What if the void entity isn’t trying to kill us but trying to come home?"

"You mean your... son... might not be evil?"

I winced at the word ’son,’ but forced myself to think about it rationally. "Think about what happened when he changed Luna. He didn’t kill her or hurt her. He just... emptied her. Made her peaceful."

"That’s not exactly better."

"But what if that’s how he sees love?" I continued, the pieces beginning to fit together in my mind. "What if he’s so hurt and lonely that he thinks the only way to keep people safe is to take away their ability to feel pain?"

Caleb frowned. "That’s a pretty twisted way of thinking."

"Is it?" I asked. "Three months ago, I decided to sacrifice my emotions because I thought it would save everyone. How is that different from what he’s doing?"

Before Caleb could answer, we heard screaming from outside. We ran to the window and saw Luna stumbling back into the pack clearing. Her face was white with fear, and she was running as fast as she could.

"Emergency meeting!" she screamed. "Everyone to the main hall! Now!" noveldrama

Caleb and I traded worried looks before running outside. Other pack members were already moving toward the hall, their faces full of fear and confusion.

Inside the hall, Luna stood at the front, breathing hard and looking like she’d seen a ghost.

"The humans," she gasped. "They have Daniel. They’ve been controlling his thoughts for weeks, using him to spy on us."

Gasps and angry yells filled the room. Someone yelled about saving Daniel, while others talked about fighting the humans.

"There’s more," Luna continued, raising her voice. "They want Lily. They’ll trade Daniel for her and leave the rest of us alone. If we refuse, they’ll use their mind control techniques on all of us."

The room exploded in chaos. Some people yelled that we should fight, others that we should negotiate, and a few that we should run.

But I barely heard them. I was looking at Luna’s face, seeing something there that made my blood turn cold.

She was lying.

Not about the people or Daniel or the mind control. I could tell those parts were true. But there was something else, something she wasn’t telling us.

"Luna," I called out over the noise. "What aren’t you saying?"

She met my eyes, and for a moment I saw guilt and fear and something that looked almost like relief.

"They gave me until dawn to decide," she said quietly.

"To decide what?"

Luna’s voice broke as she spoke the words that would change everything.

"Whether to bring you to them freely, or let them come here and take you by force. Along with anyone who tries to protect you."

The room fell silent.

"But Lily," Luna added, tears starting in her eyes, "there’s something else. Something I didn’t tell them."

My heart stopped. "What?"

"I’m already carrying a message. From the void entity. It’s coming here tonight, no matter what we decide about the people."

She pulled a small, dark gem from her pocket. It glowed with void energy.

"It says it’s time for the Triple Moon carrier to come home. Time for mother and son to be reunited."

The crystal began to glow brighter, and suddenly I could hear a voice in my head. Young and sad and terribly familiar.

Mother, I’ve been waiting so long for you to remember me.