POV: Kael
Are you sure?
I have to ask. Have to give her one last chance to change her mind. Because once we do this, there's no going back.
Seraphina meets my eyes. I'm sure. Do it before I lose my nerve.
I pull the truck off the main road onto a hidden path. We're five minutes from pack territory close enough to get there fast if we need to, far enough that no one will interrupt.
Finn, I say into the phone. Buy us thirty minutes.
I'll do my best. He pauses. Kael? You're doing the right thing.
I hang up and turn to Seraphina. My mate. Finally, after four years of waiting, she's choosing me.
The emergency bond is simpler than the full ceremony, I explain. But it's just as permanent. We exchange blood and I mark you with a claiming bite.
Will it hurt?
For a second. Then the bond will flood you with endorphins. You'll feel... everything.
She nods, trying to look brave. Through the bond, I feel her fear mixing with determination.
We don't have to rush this, I say softly. We could find another way
No. She grabs my hand. Everyone has taken my choices from me. Marcus. Natasha. Damien. Even my mother with her binding spell. This is MY choice. I choose you, Kael. I choose us.
My chest tightens. Four years. Four years of loving her from a distance. And now she's choosing me.
I pull out my knife. Your hand.
She holds it out steady. I make a small cut across her palm. She doesn't flinch.
Then I cut my own palm. Blood wells up, dark red.
When our blood mixes, the bond will lock into place, I warn. You'll feel everything I feel. See everything I've done. My past, my darkness, all of it.
Good, she whispers. I want to know the real you.
I press my palm to hers. Blood mingles.
The bond EXPLODES.
Four years of locked-away feelings crash through me. Through us. Seraphina gasps as my emotions flood into here very moment of longing, every night of torture, every second of loving her in silence.
And I feel hers. The loneliness in her marriage. The feeling that something was missing. The nights she cried during full moons without knowing why.
She was always meant for me. And she was calling out to me without even knowing it.
Kael, she breathes. I can feel everything
I know. I cup her face. Do you want to stop?
No. Finish it.
I pull her close. The claiming bite seals the bond permanently. It goes here I touch the junction between her neck and shoulder. Everyone will see it. Know you're mine.
Do it, she whispers.
I let my wolf rise just enough for my canines to extend. Then I bite down.
Seraphina cries out, but not in pain. The bond pulses between us, locking into place with an almost audible click.
I release the bite and lick the wound closed. It'll heal quickly, leaving a perfect scar. My mark.
It's done, I say roughly. You're mine now. Forever.
And you're mine. She touches the mark, wincing slightly. Then she smiles. I can feel you. Like you're part of me now.
That's the bond. I rest my forehead against hers. We're connected. Forever.
For one perfect moment, everything else falls away. Damien. The threats. The exile order. None of it matters.
She's mine. Finally.
My phone rings, shattering the moment. Finn.
Guards are two minutes out, he says urgently. Get to the compound now. I've gathered loyalists. About forty wolves who'll stand with you.
Forty against the whole pack?
It's all I could get on short notice. Damien's got the rest convinced you're dangerous. He pauses. But you're mated now. That changes things. Pack law protects bonded pairs.
Not if the Council overrules it.
Then we fight. Get here. We'll make our stand together.
I drive fast. Seraphina is quiet, touching the mark on her neck. Through the bond, I feel her mix of emotions fear, determination, and something that feels like peace.
No matter what happens, she says. I don't regret this.
Neither do I.
We reach the compound to find chaos. Finn's loyalists have formed a barrier in front of Kael's wing. On the other side, Council guards wait with weapons drawn.
Elder Damien stands at the front, his face bruised from my mate's power. When he sees us, his eyes narrow.
There they are, he announces. Traitors to the pack.
I step out of the truck, putting myself between Seraphina and the guards. We're not traitors. We're following pack law. We've completed the mating bond.
Gasps ripple through the crowd. Seraphina steps beside me, showing the claiming mark on her neck.
Pack law protects mated pairs, I continue. You can't exile her now.
Unless the mating was done under duress, Damien says smoothly. Which it clearly was. You forced her to save yourself.
No one forced me. Seraphina's voice rings clear. I chose this. I chose him.
A convenient claim, Teresa says from beside Damien. But the Council has voted. The exile order stands.
Then the Council is breaking pack law, Finn calls out. And we won't stand for it.
The forty wolves behind him howl in agreement. The sound raises the hair on my neck.
Damien's smile turns cold. Then you're all traitors. Guards take them.
The guards move forward. My loyalists tense, ready to fight.
Civil war. It's about to tear the pack apart.
STOP!
The voice cuts through everything. Everyone freezes.
An old man walks through the crowd. He's thin, gray-haired, but his violet eyes are sharp and familiar.
Seraphina gasps. Uncle Isaac?
The man I've never seen before reaches the center of the standoff. He looks at Seraphina with sad eyes.
I'm sorry, child. I should have come sooner. He turns to face the pack. I am Dr. Isaac Vale. Brother to the late Luna Mara Vale. And I'm here to tell you the truth about what Seraphina is.
Damien goes pale. You're supposed to be dead.
Many things were supposed to happen, Elder Damien. Isaac's voice carries authority. Including your plan to steal my niece's Moonborn powers failing.
The pack erupts in whispers. Moonborn. The forbidden bloodline.
Isaac looks at Seraphina. Your mother and I are the last of the Moonborn Lunas. We went into hiding twenty years ago when hunters came for our family. Your mother bound your powers to protect you. She died keeping you safe.
Seraphina's eyes fill with tears. She sacrificed herself?
Yes. And now I'm here to finish what she started. Isaac turns back to the pack. Seraphina Vale is Moonborn the most powerful Luna bloodline ever known. And anyone who tries to harm her will answer to me.
White light begins glowing around Isaac's hands. Power ancient and terrifying.
Damien stumbles backward. Impossible. There can't be two of you.
Three, a new voice calls from the shadows. A figure steps forward, and my blood runs cold. It's Natasha. But her eyes are glowing the same violet as Seraphina's. There are three of us now. And Damien, you just made a very big mistake.