Chapter Fifty-Five: What the Blood Knows
Chapter Fifty-Five: What the Blood Knows
Faith woke to the sound of low chanting. For a moment, she thought it was her wolf still humming in the aftermath of their bond’s deepening but the cadence was too measured, too deliberate.
Elder Nareen knelt at the edge of the den, her hands spread over a shallow clay bowl. Inside it, dark water rippled with the reflection of the dawn light bleeding in from outside. The old woman’s eyes lifted, sharp as a hawk’s.
“You should not be awake yet,” Nareen said.
David stirred behind Faith, his arm still heavy across her waist. His breathing was slow but not the shallow rasp of a man on the edge anymore. He was healing,truly healing and she knew it .
Faith pushed herself upright, the blanket slipping down her shoulders. “What are you doing?”
Nareen gestured to the bowl. “The ritual you performed it left a trace in the blood. I read it to see the wound’s depth. But what I found…” Her voice trailed off, her gaze pinning Faith as if weighing her soul. “Child, that was no Omega’s blood I saw.”
Faith blinked. “What are you talking about? I am an Omega. I’ve always been…”
“No.” Nareen’s word cut like a blade. She reached for the bowl and tipped it just enough for Faith to see. The water swirled, and for a heartbeat Faith swore she saw her own reflection crowned in silver light, eyes glowing gold. “The blood sings differently for a Luna.”
Faith’s breath caught. Her wolf bristled, not in denial but in recognition.
“That’s not possible,” she whispered.
“It is truth,” Nareen said, standing slowly. “An Omega’s blood bends to others. A Luna’s commands. And when you bound yourself to your Alpha last night, the blood woke to what it truly is. The bond forced it into the open.”
Faith shook her head, the words tangling in her throat. Memories she’d buried clawed to the surface the way her wolf had never truly submitted to anyone but David, the strange strength in her visions, the flashes of power she’d blamed on adrenaline.
“You mean… I was never what they told me I was?”
Nareen’s lined face softened. “You were hidden, child. Buried under a lie, perhaps for your safety, perhaps for someone’s gain. But no lie can survive the mate bond’s truth.”
Faith’s chest tightened, the revelation landing heavy. Every scrap of her identity the quiet and timid Omega, the girl who wasn’t meant to lead, who needed protection crumbled under the weight of what Nareen was saying.
David stirred again, his voice still rough from sleep. “What’s going on?”
Faith looked back at him. He was propped on one elbow now, watching her with that too-perceptive gaze. She didn’t know how to say it, so she let the truth spill in the simplest form.
“She says I’m not an Omega.”
David’s eyes narrowed, flicking to Nareen. “Explain.”
Nareen didn’t flinch. “Your mate’s blood carries Luna power. She is not merely your equal in the bond she is your counterpart in rule.”
David’s gaze returned to Faith, and in it she saw no disbelief, no hesitation. Only understanding.
“I knew,” he said quietly.
Faith’s stomach dropped. “You knew?”
“I didn’t know the word for it,” he admitted. “But I’ve felt it from the moment I scented you. An Omega doesn’t stand toe-to-toe with an Alpha’s wolf and not flinch. You’ve been leading me as much as I’ve been leading you, you just didn’t see it.”
Her pulse thundered. “And you didn’t tell me?”
His jaw flexed. “Would you have believed me before now?”
She wanted to say yes, but the truth was tangled. The Omega she’d believed herself to be would have laughed in his face.
Nareen’s voice cut through the charged silence. “The war will not wait for you to settle your truth, Luna. The Orell witch will feel this awakening in her bones. She will come for you harder now.”
Faith’s wolf surged forward, teeth bared at the thought. The fear was still there, coiled in her gut but beneath it was something hotter, sharper.
“Then let her come,” Faith said, her voice steadier than she felt.
David’s mouth curved into something dangerous, and he reached for her, his hand sliding along her thigh in a way that was both grounding and claiming. “That’s my Luna.”
Nareen nodded once, satisfied. “You will need trainings more than combat. The bond between Alpha and Luna is a weapon, but only if you wield it with precision. And your visions…” Her eyes narrowed. “They may not be visions at all, but memory from a time before the blood wars.”
Faith’s breath hitched. She thought of the chains in her dreams, the gods watching from their thrones of stone. If those weren’t just dreams what did it mean for her?
David’s hand squeezed hers. “We’ll figure it out.”
For the first time since the war began, she believed him. Not because he was strong enough to protect her but because now she knew she was strong enough to stand beside him.