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And then the moment they’d all been fearing came. They were together, lounging on the couch in Servas’s living room, barely speaking a word. “We should go to bed,” Servas said, frowning as he looked at the clock. “Though I’m not feeling tired.”

It was almost midnight, and usually, they would’ve been in bed for two hours by now. But Isam felt it too, a restlessness that was impossible to ignore. “Maybe it’s the full moon,” he offered.

He’d barely gotten the last syllable out when a wave of power slammed into him so hard that he blacked out for a moment, his body going slack. When he came to, Servas was holding him, though groaning himself. What the fuck had that been? Someone had shifted, but it had never felt like that, not even when it had been one of the main four.

Isam couldn’t even get a “thank you” out to Servas before another power surge hit him, shaking his body with a force that rattled his teeth, bringing tears to his eyes. Mostyn grunted, clutching his stomach, and Servas gritted his teeth.

“Jesus,” Mostyn managed. “What the fuck just happened?”

They looked at each other, then shot up straight. Palani. It had to be Palani.

It took them less than twenty seconds to run out the door, scrambling to grab shoes and boots and jackets. But where were they going? Isam would have thought to Jawon’s House, but no, his wolf led him elsewhere.

Then he heard it, the deep, furious howl of a wolf. Vieno. Somehow, he recognized him, even though he’d never heard him howl before…and certainly never like this. Inside him, Isam’s alpha bristled, wanting to shift, to join Vieno in protesting. But protesting what? Why was Vieno outside, howling at the moon? Had Palani died? Or had something else happened? The little omega sounded so angry, so furious, but also so powerful. Isam wanted to bow for him, acknowledge that power.

They joined others as they rushed to the hill where Jawon and Dane lay buried, the spot that held such magical power. When Jawon had been buried, it had moved, shifted. The earth herself had buried him, and even now, chills danced down Isam’s spine as he thought of it. It had been a full moon then too, though the moon seemed exceptionally bright tonight, even for a full moon.

Something stilled inside him, even as he watched Lidon come forward to talk to Vieno. Something that recognized the magic in the air. An expectant magic, an ancient power that waited to…to erupt. To heal. To restore. To bring back to life.

Vieno was the True Omega. Isam had heard the prophecy, how one day, Vieno would bring back to life what was dead. He knew Vieno had tried everything these last few weeks, had asked Grayson and Lidon and Uncle Leland and everyone else he could think of for advice. No one had known what to do, how to make this prophecy come true.

But it would.

Vieno growled, then cried out again, so loud and piercing that the sound forced its way into Isam’s soul.

He began to shake, blindly reaching for his mates’ hands. “Hold on to me,” he whispered. “We’re about to witness a miracle.”

He’d barely finished when the very ground beneath his boots moved. His arms came around his mates, gathering them close as they held on to keep from falling. An earthquake. Just like with Jawon’s funeral.

Inside Isam, something bloomed, like a flower bud forcing its way through the dark soil toward the light. He lifted his head and saw it. The moon was red. Blood red.

“Look at the moon,” he whispered, and trembling, Mostyn and Servas looked up. Their mouths dropped open.

Servas gasped. “The True Omega…”

“The what?” Mostyn asked, and somehow, they’d never told him this part. Maybe because they hadn’t wanted to give false hope.

But Isam couldn’t explain now because he was forced to his knees, forced to bow and honor what would bring life back. They all did, lying flat on the earth that only now stopped shaking, as the moon above them turned fully red.

It was happening.

His alpha knew it on a level Isam couldn’t explain, as if a severed connection had been restored. Palani was alive. He shouldn’t be, and he hadn’t been, but he was alive. He’d been saved by the power of the moon and the earth and the True Omega. By the power of their allegiance to Lidon, to the True Alpha, and his pack. By their faith in the old ways, their honor, and their care for the weak and the oppressed.

Vieno’s howl changed. Grief turned into praise, a lament into a joyful song, anger and fury into gratitude and celebration. Palani was alive.

And when Isam finally saw the beta walking up to them, Enar by his side, carrying little Hakon, Isam let his tears flow freely.

“He’s alive!” Mostyn whispered, looking absolutely stunned. “That’s impossible. He should be… He was dead.”

Isam held both his mates close. “And now he’s alive. Praise be to the moon and the earth…and to the True Omega.”

They watched as Lidon sank to his knees, sobbing as he held Palani. “My Palani…”

What had been broken had been healed.

What had been dead had been brought back to life.

This truly was the time of the wolf shifters, and Isam had never been more grateful and proud to be a part of the Hayes Pack.