Chapter 162 Red Moon Rises

Chapter 162 Red Moon Rises
(Lyra)
I climb down from the treehouse, Felix lands beside me and straightens his jacket. I don’t say anything, and he doesn’t either, but I can tell some of the tightness has eased out of him as we make our way back to the ceremony. He catches Kieran’s eye as we approach, then Dorian’s. Kieran gives the smallest nod, and Dorian’s shoulders drop by half an inch. That is all that passes between them, and it is enough. Umbros steps back to my side the second I reach the front. His hand finds the small of my back in one smooth movement, and I lean into the touch. Mum stands in the centre of the clearing with my fathers behind and beside her, all of them dressed in black and silver, all five crowns glinting whenever the moon catches them. She looks like she belongs there. She always did, even before the throne.
Kieran moves back into place on one side of the aisle, Dorian on the other, and Felix steps into the middle. Three future Alphas. A future Luna waiting just out of sight. And Red Moon is watching every inch of it. Mum lifts one hand, and the last of the murmuring dies. I look toward the white curtains strung near the back doors of the packhouse and feel it before I see anything. The threads. They shift low and bright through the clearing, silver laced with deeper tones, tightening between my brothers and the place where Scarlett waits hidden beyond the fabric. Their threats draw taut the way strong bonds do when they crave their other half. Then the curtains part and Scarlett steps through. She is dressed in silver threaded through with black. The gown falls clean and soft around her body, elegant without swallowing her, strong without hardening her. Her hair has been left mostly down, only the front pulled back from her face. Alpha Zion steps out beside her, dressed in black formal wear that sits broad and clean across his shoulders, his arm bent for her hand to rest in the crook of it. Scarlett’s fingers curl there tightly for half a second before she seems to relax them. Then, together, father and daughter begin the walk down the aisle.
The clearing rises as one. Every wolf in Red Moon stands. The moon catches across Scarlett’s silver dress and turns her almost luminous as she moves, Zion keeping pace beside her with the kind of quiet pride that says more than any speech could. At the centre of the clearing, Kieran, Dorian, and Felix wait. When Zion reaches the front, he stops, Scarlett at his side, and turns her gently toward them. His voice carries low, but powerful through the clearing. “I, Alpha Zion, present my daughter, Scarlett, to stand where fate and bond have called her. To the future Alphas of Red Moon, I give her with my trust, with my blessing, and with the expectation that she be honoured as she deserves.” Then he places Scarlett’s hand forward, first to Kieran, then lets her step fully into place between my brothers.
“It is with honour that we gather beneath the moon and witness, to mark the ascension of new leadership within Red Moon. Before this pack, before the bonds that tie blood to duty and home to heart, we call Kieran, Dorian, and Felix to stand as Alphas of this pack, and Scarlett to rise beside them as Luna.” Mum announces to the pack. Then she calls them one by one. “Kieran, do you come before your pack of your own will?”
“I do.”
“Dorian, do you come before your pack of your own will?”
“I do.”
“Felix, do you come before your pack of your own will?”
“I do.”
“Scarlett, do you come before this pack of your own will, to stand beside those the bond has tied to your life, and to claim your place as Luna of Red Moon?”
“I do.”
“Do you swear to guard this pack above pride, above fear, and above self?” Mum asks, and they collectively answer. “We do.”
“Do you swear to guide its people with strength, to shelter its young, to honour its dead, and to keep Red Moon standing through peace and through blood?”
“We do.”
“Do you swear to one another, to stand united where the pack must see strength, honest where the pack must see truth, and unbroken where the pack must see home?”
“We do.” Mum lifts a hand, and Noah steps forward carrying a ceremonial bowl of dark metal, polished bright at the rim. Levi carries the blade. Mum takes the blade and offers it to Kieran. He accepts it without hesitation, slicing it clean across his palm before letting his blood fall into the bowl. Dorian goes next, then Felix, then Scarlett, each adding their blood to the same vessel until four separate lines have become one dark gathering at its base. Then Mum takes the bowl in both hands. “For blood given,” she says quietly. She tips it just enough for the mixed blood to catch the moonlight, and then I feel it. The bond of Red Moon shifts. It does not snap from my mother and fathers. It unfurls and loosens with grace. It spreads outward like something old and living, taking one final breath before reshaping itself. The pack threads move through the clearing in a rush, I feel all the way down to my bones, winding away from the place they have sat for years and sinking into new anchors.
It binds Kieran first. Then Dorian, locking into place with a force that feels like stone driven into earth. Then Felix, his thread settling into the pack like he was always meant to carry it, whether he believed it or not. And Scarlett. Scarlett comes into Red Moon like moonlight over dark water. Her presence is soft, while theirs is sharp. Calm where they carry weight—woven through as their perfect equal, their other halves. Their Luna.