Seraphina's POV
Light explodes from my body like a star being born.
I scream as my bones crack and reshape. But this time, it's different from the forest. This time, the change doesn't hurt—it feels powerful. Like something locked inside me is finally breaking free.
"Get back!" Lyra shouts, pulling Caelan away from me.
But he fights her grip, trying to reach me. "She needs help—"
"She needs space!" Lyra yanks him behind a pillar just as the light flares brighter.
My skin splits—not with blood, but with pure white fur. My hands hit the ground as paws, but they're bigger than before. Much bigger. My whole body grows, muscles rippling under my coat. I feel teeth sharpen in my mouth. Claws extend from my paws.
When the light finally fades, I'm standing on four legs in the middle of Caelan's destroyed room.
But I'm not the small white wolf from the forest anymore.
I'm massive. As tall as a horse. My white fur glows with silver markings that pulse like moonlight. When I breathe, frost forms in the air.
"By the gods," Lyra whispers. "She's not just a shifter. She's—"
"A Luna Wolf," Caelan finishes, his voice filled with awe. "The Moon Goddess's own bloodline."
The three remaining creatures back away, their yellow eyes wide with fear for the first time.
"Impossible," one hisses. "The Luna Wolves were extinct!"
I bare my teeth at them. A growl rumbles from my chest that shakes the windows. This body feels right. Powerful. Like this is what I was always meant to be.
The creatures look at each other. Then they run for the broken window.
"Oh no you don't!" Lyra throws a knife. It catches one creature in the back, and it explodes into ash.
I leap after the other two. I'm so fast. In three bounds, I'm at the window. My jaws close around one creature's cloak. I shake my head once, and it shatters like glass.
The last creature makes it through the window and runs across the grounds. But I'm not letting it escape to report back to whoever sent them.
I jump through the window, landing in the dead garden three floors below. The impact doesn't hurt. This body is built for power.
The creature is fast, but I'm faster. I chase it across the grounds, my paws silent on the grass. Everywhere I step, flowers burst into bloom. The dead garden comes alive under my feet—white roses, silver lilies, glowing blue forget-me-nots.
I'm not just a predator. I'm life itself.
The creature realizes it can't outrun me. It spins around, pulling a curved blade. "If I'm going to die, I'm taking you with me—"
I don't let it finish. My jaws close around it, and it explodes into ash like the others.
Silence falls over the garden. I stand there, breathing hard, my body still glowing with power.
Then I hear clapping.
A man steps out from behind a hedge. He's handsome in a cruel way, with golden hair and a smile that makes my fur stand on end. He wears expensive clothes and a crown-shaped pin on his chest.
"Magnificent," he says. "Absolutely magnificent. A Luna Wolf, alive and powerful. And serving my dear nephew." His smile sharpens. "How convenient."
I growl at him. This man feels wrong. Dangerous in a different way than the creatures.
"Easy, beautiful beast. I'm not here to fight." He walks closer, not showing any fear. "I'm Lord Regent Aldric, the kingdom's ruler until my nephew comes of age. You must be the new servant who survived his curse." His eyes gleam with greed. "Or should I say, the Luna Priestess who's been hiding in plain sight?"
How does he know what I am?
"You're wondering how I know." He laughs. "Because I'm the one who hired the witch to curse Caelan fifteen years ago. I'm the one who ordered the Oracle purge that killed your mother. And I'm the one who's been sending servants to die in his room, proving to the kingdom that he's too dangerous to rule."
My growl turns into a snarl. This man killed my mother. Cursed Caelan. Murdered seventeen innocent women.
"Don't look at me like that. It's just politics." He examines his fingernails. "I need the throne, and Caelan needed to be... removed. The curse should have driven him mad or killed him by now. But then you appeared." His eyes lock on mine. "The one person who can touch him. The one person who can break his curse. That makes you very dangerous to my plans."
He pulls something from his pocket. A small crystal that glows with the same purple light as the symbol at my house.
"This is a binding crystal. It can trap a Luna Wolf's spirit and force her to obey commands." He holds it up. "Your mother escaped one of these twenty years ago. But you won't be so lucky."
The crystal starts to glow brighter. I try to back away, but my paws won't move. Purple chains made of light shoot from the crystal, wrapping around my legs.
I struggle, but the chains tighten. The more I fight, the more they burn.
"There we go," Aldric says softly. "Don't fight it. Soon you'll be under my control. And then I'll use you to kill Caelan myself. A tragic accident—the prince killed by the very Luna Wolf he tried to save. The kingdom will beg me to take the throne permanently."
The chains pull tighter. I feel my consciousness slipping. The wolf inside me howls in rage and fear.
No. No, I won't let him use me. I won't hurt Caelan.
But I'm getting weaker. The binding is too strong.
"Seraphina!"
Caelan's voice cuts through the fog in my mind. I see him running across the garden, Lyra close behind. His gloves are off, his hands smoking with that black curse power.
"Get away from her!" he roars.
Aldric sighs. "Such terrible timing, nephew. I was hoping to avoid this mess, but—"
Caelan doesn't let him finish. He lunges at his uncle, his bare hand reaching for Aldric's throat.
But Aldric is ready. He pulls out a second crystal—this one black as midnight. When Caelan's curse power hits it, the crystal absorbs it like a sponge.
"Did you really think your curse would work on me?" Aldric asks. "I helped create it. I know all its weaknesses." He pockets both crystals. "But I'm not ready to kill you yet. Not until I have her fully under control."
He snaps his fingers.
The purple chains explode with power. I scream—a wolf's howl of agony—as the binding tries to force its way into my mind.
I feel it trying to take control. Trying to make me obey. Trying to turn me into a weapon.
But something else fights back. Deep inside, where my mother's binding spell used to be, I feel warmth. Like she left something behind to protect me.
A voice—my mother's voice—whispers in my mind: "Fight it, my darling. You're stronger than any binding. You're my daughter. You're the Moon Goddess's chosen. Fight!"
Power surges through me. Not the purple binding power, but silver light. My own power. My true power.
The chains crack.
Aldric's eyes widen. "Impossible! No one can break a binding crystal!"
I throw back my head and howl. The sound echoes across the entire palace. The chains shatter into a million pieces of purple light that fade into nothing.
I'm free.
And I'm furious.
I take one step toward Aldric. Then another. My lips pull back from my teeth.
He backs away, fear finally showing on his face. "Guards! Guards, stop that creature!"
But no guards come. Because Lyra is standing at the garden entrance with her sword drawn, blocking anyone from entering.
"Just you and the wolf now, Lord Regent," she calls. "Let's see how you do without your crystals and your hired monsters."
Aldric pulls a dagger from his belt. "You think I'm afraid of an overgrown dog?"
I'm about to show him exactly what this "overgrown dog" can do when another voice speaks.
"Uncle."
Caelan walks up beside me. He places his bare hand on my fur—the first time anyone has touched me in my wolf form. I feel his curse power, but it doesn't hurt me. Instead, it mixes with my Luna power, creating something new. Something stronger.
"You cursed me," Caelan says quietly. "You killed my sister. You murdered seventeen innocent women. You tried to steal Seraphina's freedom." His silver eyes glow brighter. "And now you're going to pay for all of it."
Together, we take a step forward. Man and wolf. Curse and blessing. Death and life.
Aldric looks between us, and for the first time, I see real terror in his eyes.
"This isn't over," he says. Then he throws a smoke bomb at the ground.
When the smoke clears, he's gone.
But he left something behind. Scratched into the ground where he stood is a message:
"Three days until the Blood Moon. When it rises, the curse will either be broken... or become permanent. Choose wisely, nephew. Save the girl, or save the kingdom. You can't have both."
I shift back to human form, suddenly exhausted. Caelan catches me before I fall, not caring that I'm naked. Lyra quickly throws her cloak over me.
"What does that mean?" I ask, my voice hoarse. "What's a Blood Moon?"
Caelan's face has gone pale. "It means we have three days to break my curse completely. If we don't, the curse will spread. It won't just kill people who touch me. It will kill everything in the entire kingdom."
My blood runs cold. "Everything?"
"Every plant. Every animal. Every person." He looks at me with haunted eyes. "The curse will turn me into death itself, killing everything I care about. Including you."
"Then we break it," I say firmly. "We have three days. We can—"
"The ritual to break it requires a sacrifice," Lyra says quietly. "A life for a life. Someone has to die to free him."
"No," Caelan says immediately. "I won't let anyone die for me. I'll find another way, or I'll—" He stops.
"Or you'll what?" I demand.
His silver eyes meet mine. "Or I'll end myself before the Blood Moon rises. Better one death than millions."
"No!" The word tears from my throat. "You're not dying! I just found you! I—"
Footsteps echo across the garden. Multiple people running toward us.
"The Queen," Lyra says. "And she's not alone."
A beautiful woman in silver robes appears, flanked by guards. She has Caelan's eyes. This must be his mother.
But she's not looking at him. She's staring at me with tears streaming down her face.
"Mirelle?" she whispers. "No... not Mirelle. But you have her eyes. Her face." She walks toward me slowly. "You're her daughter. You're Seraphina."
"You knew my mother?"
"She was my closest friend," Queen Elara says. "She was the Oracle who served this palace before she disappeared. Before she died protecting you." She reaches out like she wants to touch my face but stops. "She told me if anything happened to her, I should find you. Protect you. Help you break the curse."
She pulls out a scroll sealed with wax. "She left this for you. Instructions for the ritual. But there's something else you need to know."
"What?" I'm almost afraid to ask.
The Queen looks at Caelan, then back at me. "The curse isn't random. It was designed specifically to be broken by one person. Someone with Luna blood. Someone whose power comes from life itself, not death."
"Seraphina can break it," Caelan says. "That's good news—"
"Let me finish," the Queen says. "The curse can only be broken if the Luna Priestess willingly bonds herself to the cursed person. Permanently. For life." She meets my eyes. "It means binding your soul to his. Becoming his mate. Forever. No escape. No freedom. You'll be tied to him until one of you dies."
The garden goes silent.
"And there's more," the Queen adds. "If you fail—if the ritual goes wrong—both of you will die. Not just him. Both."
I look at Caelan. He's staring at the ground, his hands clenched into fists.
"Don't," he says without looking up. "Don't even think about it. I won't trap you like that. You just got free from people who used you. I won't be another person who steals your choice."
But I'm already stepping toward him.
"What are you doing?" he asks, finally meeting my eyes.
I take his bare hand in mine. Skin to skin. Life and death touching without destroying each other.
"I'm choosing," I say. "For the first time in my life, I'm choosing what I want. And I choose—"
The sky splits open with a crack of thunder.
Dark clouds pour across the full moon, turning it blood red.
"No," the Queen gasps. "The Blood Moon. It's early. It shouldn't be here for three days!"
The air turns freezing cold. Caelan's curse power explodes outward in a wave of black smoke. Plants wither and die. The guards cry out and stagger back.
But I don't die. I stand there holding his hand while his curse tries to kill everything around us.
"I can't control it!" Caelan shouts. "Everyone get back! I'm losing control!"
"The Blood Moon is accelerating the curse," the Queen says. "We have minutes, not days! Seraphina, if you're going to do the ritual, it has to be now!"
"How?" I shout over the wind that's picking up. "What do I do?"
The Queen throws me the scroll. I catch it and tear it open.
The instructions are simple. Terrifying, but simple.
"To break the curse: The Luna Priestess must give three gifts to the cursed. First, a drop of her blood freely given. Second, a piece of her soul willingly shared. Third, a vow spoken under the Blood Moon binding their fates together forever. If true love exists between them, the curse will break. If not, both will die."
True love. We've known each other for less than an hour.
But as I look at Caelan—at his silver eyes full of pain and loneliness, at the way he's trying so hard not to hurt anyone even as his curse tears through him—I realize something.
Maybe love isn't about time. Maybe it's about recognition. About seeing someone and knowing, in your bones, that they were meant to find you.
"Okay," I say. "I'll do it."
"You'll die," Caelan says. His voice breaks. "We don't love each other. We just met. The ritual will fail, and you'll die, and it will be my fault—"
"Then we'll die together," I say. "But I don't think we will."
I bite my finger and let a drop of blood fall on his hand. It glows silver where it touches him.
The curse power screams and writhes, fighting against my Luna magic.
"First gift given," the Queen says, reading over my shoulder. "Now the second. You have to share your soul with him."
"How?"
"Kiss him," Lyra says. "A kiss shares breath, shares life, shares soul."
Caelan and I stare at each other.
"This is insane," he whispers.
"Completely," I agree.
And then I kiss him.
The moment our lips touch, the world explodes with light.
I feel our souls connecting. His darkness and my light swirling together. His loneliness and my pain merging. His strength and my hope combining into something new.
When we break apart, we're both glowing—him with silver light, me with shadows that don't hurt.
"The third gift," the Queen says urgently. "Speak the vow!"
I look at Caelan. Take both his hands.
"I, Seraphina, daughter of Mirelle, last of the Luna Priestesses, freely give my fate to yours. I bind my life to your death, my light to your dark, my soul to yours for as long as we both live. Let the curse break or let us fall together. I choose you. I choose us. I choose—"
The Blood Moon pulses with blinding red light.
Everything goes white.
When I can see again, I'm lying on the ground. Caelan is beside me, unconscious.
The Queen leans over us. "Did it work? Are they alive?"
I try to sit up. My body feels different. Lighter somehow. And I can feel Caelan—actually feel him, his heartbeat matching mine, his breathing syncing with mine.
We're connected. Bonded. Mates.
His eyes flutter open. They meet mine.
"I can feel you," he whispers. "Inside my head. In my heart. Everywhere."
"Me too," I say.
He lifts his bare hand and touches my cheek. I don't die.
Then he touches the grass. It doesn't wither.
He touches a dead flower. It blooms back to life.
"The curse," Lyra breathes. "It's gone."
Caelan starts to laugh. Then cry. Then laugh again. He pulls me into his arms—skin to skin, no barriers, no fear.
"You broke it," he says against my hair. "You actually broke it. I can touch. I can feel. I can—"
He stops. Goes very still.
"What?" I ask. "What's wrong?"
He pulls back, his face pale. "The bond. I can feel everything through it. Your emotions. Your thoughts. Your..." His eyes widen. "Your memories."
"So? That's part of being mates, isn't it?"
"Seraphina." His voice is shaking. "I can see what Aldric did. What he's planning. And it's so much worse than we thought."
"What do you mean?"
"He didn't just curse me. He cursed the entire royal bloodline." Caelan grabs my shoulders. "Every Thorne child born from now on will carry a dormant curse. It will activate on their thirteenth birthday, just like mine did. He's destroying my family line forever."
My blood runs cold. "But... but we broke your curse. Doesn't that break them all?"
"Only mine," the Queen says quietly. "Each curse has to be broken individually. Which means..." She looks at Caelan with horror. "If you have children, they'll be cursed too."
The truth hits me like a physical blow.
I just bound myself for life to a man who can never safely have children. Never have heirs. Never continue his bloodline.
And because I'm bonded to him, I can never have children either.
I chose him. And in doing so, I chose to end any chance of a family.
"I'm so sorry," Caelan whispers, tears streaming down his face. "If I'd known, I would never have let you do the ritual. You gave up everything for me, and I—"
A slow clap echoes across the garden.
Aldric steps out from the shadows, that cruel smile on his face.
"Magnificent," he says. "You broke his curse. You bound yourself to him. And now you've both realized the terrible truth." He laughs. "The curse was never about killing Caelan. It was about making sure the Thorne line dies with him. No heirs. No future. No hope."
He pulls out a sword. "But I can't risk you finding a way around it. So I'm going to kill you both right now, while you're weak from the ritual. And then I'll take the throne unopposed."
Guards pour into the garden. His guards, wearing his colors.
We're surrounded. Exhausted. Defenseless.
And out of time.