Chapter 15: The Prophecy
Vivian Grey’s POV
Zaliver’s gaze lingered on me for a heartbeat longer than I expected, his expression unreadable as ever, before he turned to face the gathered pack. My stomach twisted into a knot. Some of the youngest among them couldn’t have been older than thirteen or fourteen. All eyes were locked on him and by extension, me.
From the edge of the crowd, Courtney and Mila both flashed me a wink. Friendly, maybe. Reassuring, possibly. But I had no clue what message they were trying to send. Whatever it was, I didn’t have time to decode it.
Zaliver spoke, and like gravity itself had shifted, the entire crowd snapped to attention. Silence dropped around us like a thick, expectant fog. And despite the chaos in my head, I couldn’t look away. Watching him command a room, no, an entire pack, was like witnessing a storm in stillness. Beautiful. Terrifying. Unshakable.
"You are all aware of the recent raids our pack has conducted," he began, voice calm yet absolute. "I’m here to confirm their suspension."
A low ripple of surprise moved through the crowd, but no one dared speak.
"Eighteen years ago," he continued, "I received a message. A prophecy, if you will. That a child, a girl, would be born. And that she would one day be mine."
My breath caught. My pulse pounded in my ears.
"I didn’t believe it then. Not until a few years ago, when things began to align. And now," he paused, and the entire forest seemed to hold its breath, "I’m here to confirm that the prophecy was true."
My stomach dropped.
Wait, what?
The raids were about me?
I stood there, trying to process that. Eighteen years ago, before I could even walk, before I had any say in any of this, something or someone had already written me into Zaliver’s story. The raids, the packs torn apart, the she-wolves collected and released, the terror my own mother had felt when she woke me up in the dark to run, all of it traced back to a prophecy about me. A girl who had no idea she existed in anyone’s plans but her own.
I didn’t know whether to feel chosen or cornered. Probably both.
Someone predicted I was meant for Zaliver?
I didn’t know how to feel about that. Confused? Pressured? A little sick?
"I present to you," Zaliver said, taking a deliberate step to the side, "my mate Vivian Grey. Your Luna."
All eyes snapped to me.
The weight of it hit differently than I expected. Not a gentle settling, more like something dropping from a great height and landing square on my chest. A hundred silver gazes, all at once, all on me. I felt every single one of them.
And I knew what they saw: a girl with messy brown hair, dark circles under her eyes, still wearing sweatpants because no one warned me that I’d be announced like this today. I looked like I had just rolled out of bed and wandered into a supernatural summit. Which, honestly, wasn’t that far from the truth.
I forced a smile. The kind that felt stretched too tight. I avoided eye contact, especially with those piercing silver eyes. I didn’t dare open myself to their minds either, not now. I wasn’t ready to hear what they were thinking. I was barely holding onto my own thoughts.
Was I even Luna material?
Zaliver may have accepted me as his mate and introduced me to the pack, but I wasn’t blind to the weight that came with that title. Luna. It sounded regal. Powerful. But me?
I’d never been good with leadership. In school projects, I was either bossy and controlling or completely detached and still bossy. It wasn’t that I didn’t care. I just didn’t know how to lead people without falling apart inside.
Power and I? We didn’t mix well.
Zaliver stepped closer, casting his tall shadow over me. Next to him, I probably looked like a lost fan trying to take a picture with a basketball legend. His presence made the crowd visibly soften, expressions shifting from wary to something warmer. Well, most of them.
There was one girl in the crowd whose glare could’ve melted steel. Yeah, I saw you.
Zaliver didn’t acknowledge her. Instead, he raised his voice again. "To celebrate, the pack will have a full-pack hunt tonight."
The effect was instant. Eyes lit up across the gathering, excitement rippling like wildfire. A full-pack hunt? That was rare. Dangerous. Usually banned, unless it was under tight control. Too many wolves in one hunt led to bloodlust, chaos, destruction. In the human world, that kind of thing could expose us.
But then I remembered, this wasn’t the human world.
Zaliver owned this entire island. And it wasn’t just any island, it was practically the size of a state. A place where wolves could run free without hiding.
He had no limits here.
"That’s all you need to know," he said smoothly. "This changes nothing. Our plans remain unchanged. Spread the word. Enjoy."
Just like that, it was over.
My mind was still catching up when he reached for me and pulled me into him. His touch was firm, grounding, right as the entire pack burst into movement, wolves rushing off toward the forest in flashes of fur and wild energy. A few lingered, watching me, but Zaliver growled, low and commanding.
They vanished in an instant.
He let go of my arm, stepping back slightly, his attention drawn toward the dark treeline.
He was watching something.
Or someone.
His jaw had tightened, almost imperceptibly, the way it did when he was calculating something rather than reacting to it. Whatever was out there, he’d already sensed it before the pack dispersed. Maybe before we even arrived.
My wolf growled softly inside me, her hackles rising. She didn’t like it. Whatever or whoever he was sensing, she didn’t trust it. And lately, her instincts had been sharper than mine.
I followed his gaze into the darkness between the trees, and for just a second, I thought I saw something shift. A shadow that moved when nothing else did.
Then it was gone.
Or it had never been there at all.
"Zaliver," I said quietly.
He didn’t answer. But his hand found my wrist in the dark, and he held it.
That was answer enough.
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