Chapter 16 up
The night before the message was sent, I couldn’t sleep.
I stood in front of the stone mirror in my chamber, staring at my reflection as if trying to confirm that the woman there was truly me. The faint claw marks along my arm had already begun to dry. Small wounds. Nothing serious.
But the look in my eyes was different.
Sharper.
More prepared.
My wolf was no longer merely reacting. She was waiting.
A soft knock sounded at the door.
“Come in,” I said without turning.
Kael entered without unnecessary noise. He wasn’t wearing his Alpha coat or any symbol of rank. Just simple dark clothing. Yet his presence still filled the room.
“You’re not asleep,” he said.
“I’m thinking.”
“Thinking… or planning something that will make me worry?”
I smiled faintly and finally looked at him. “Both.”
He stepped closer, stopping right behind me. Our reflections stood side by side in the mirror—Alpha and Luna, but also a man and a woman standing on the edge of something bigger than themselves.
“I’m going alone tomorrow,” I said.
His gaze shifted in a fraction of a second. “No.”
“I’m not going to attack. I’m just going to show myself.”
“That’s more dangerous.”
I turned fully to face him. “That’s the point.”
Silence fell.
“They’re measuring me,” I continued. “They want to know if I’m your weak point. If I hide, they’ll be certain I am.”
“And if you get hurt?” His voice was low, almost trembling with restrained emotion.
“If I get hurt, that’s a risk I chose. Not one you forced on me.”
That made him fall silent.
I stepped closer. “I don’t want to be protected from this war, Kael. I want to be part of how we win it.”
His eyes searched my face as if looking for doubt.
He didn’t find any.
Finally, he exhaled slowly. “I’ll let you go.”
His tone was heavy.
“But not alone.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he was faster.
“Not a large force. Just my two best scouts. They won’t be seen. But they’ll be there.”
I considered it.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
For a moment, there was no politics. No war.
Just us.
He lifted his hand and touched the bond mark on my neck, his thumb brushing slowly over it.
“Do you know what it means if something happens to you?” he asked softly.
“I know.”
“You’re not just a Luna.”
I looked at him.
“You’re my choice.”
My heart pounded harder.
I tilted my face up and kissed him—not as a Luna supporting her Alpha, but as a woman choosing the man before her.
The kiss was deep. Slow. Full of promises unspoken.
If this was the beginning of war, then it was also the beginning of something more than a political bond.
The next dawn, thin mist hung over the eastern forest.
I stood at the border of Dravaryn territory in human form. No symbols. No Luna crown. Just simple training clothes and the bond mark at my neck.
I wanted them to see who I truly was.
Not title.
Not wealth.
Not status.
Just me.
I stepped across the boundary deliberately.
My wolf was alert, but not afraid.
The eastern forest was quieter than it should have been.
Too quiet.
I stopped in a small rocky clearing—a strategic spot visible from every direction.
“I know you’re there,” I called out.
My voice didn’t shake.
“I know you’re watching.”
The wind shifted. Leaves rustled.
Then a figure stepped out from the shadow of the trees.
Not an ordinary rogue wolf.
He stood upright in human form. His hair was long and tangled. His eyes were bright yellow—brighter than any I had ever seen.
He wasn’t wild.
He was a leader.
“I was wondering when you’d come alone,” he said in a voice so smooth it was almost gentle.
“And I was wondering when you’d stop hiding,” I replied.
The corner of his lips lifted.
“Luna of Dravaryn. Or former child of Ardhavarna?”
I didn’t react.
“I didn’t come bringing war,” I said. “I came with a message.”
“A message from your Alpha?”
“A message from me.”
He tilted his head, intrigued.
“You’re targeting me,” I continued. “Not the territory. Not the villages. Me.”
Silence.
He didn’t deny it.
“You want to see whether I’m strong enough to be defended,” I went on, “or fragile enough to be used as bait.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You’re smarter than I expected.”
I stepped forward once.
“If you want war, do it honestly. Don’t hide behind tests.”
A low chuckle slipped from his throat.
“The war has already begun, Luna. You just haven’t seen the whole chessboard yet.”
My chest tightened.
“Ardhavarna will soon cut your name from its bloodline,” he said casually. “And when that happens, you’ll stand without blood and without old protection.”
So he knew.
The Ardhavarna council had already moved.
“And you think that makes me weak?” I asked.
“No,” he said quietly. “It makes you alone.”
I smiled faintly.
“You’re wrong.”
I didn’t need to explain.
The bond at my neck pulsed warmly.
He saw it.
And for the first time, his expression changed.
“You really chose him,” he murmured.
“Yes.”
A long silence stretched between us.
Then he said something that made my blood run cold.
“Then we’ll see… how much he’s willing to lose to keep you.”
The air shifted.
My wolf felt it before I saw it.
Four shadows moved fast from the right.
Attack.
I shifted in a single breath.
This fight was different.
They weren’t charging blindly.
They were coordinated.
Two distracted me, one forced distance, another aimed for my throat.
I defended. Bit. Dodged.
But their goal was clear.
Capture.
Not kill.
One managed to slash my shoulder deep enough that I was dragged backward.
I snarled, blood running warm down my skin.
Their leader didn’t join the fight.
He only watched.
Evaluating.
And just as one wolf tried to pin my leg—
The world shook with a roar I knew better than my own breathing.
Kael.
He wasn’t supposed to be here.
But he came.
He slammed into two attackers at once with brutal force that cracked the ground beneath them.
The battle turned chaotic.
The rogues retreated one by one as they realized they’d lost their advantage.
Their leader smiled faintly before stepping back into the shadows.
“We’ll meet again, Luna.”
Then they vanished.
I shifted back into human form, breath uneven.
Kael was in front of me within seconds.
His hands checked my bleeding shoulder.
“I’m fine,” I said, even as pain spread.
“You’re not alone,” he said sharply, almost angry.
“I know.”
He looked at me.
And beneath his anger was raw fear.
“I felt it when you were hurt,” he said quietly. “Our bond—”
“I felt it when you got close,” I whispered.
Silence fell.
We stood too close. Too aware of each other.
“I didn’t come because I doubted you,” he said at last. “I came because I can’t stay still when you’re in danger.”
I lifted a hand to his face.
“And I don’t want you to.”
The blood on my shoulder was drying.
But something else was growing stronger.
Our enemies now knew one thing.
I wasn’t passive bait.
I fought.
And Kael…
He would never let me fall alone.
But as we returned toward the border, a scout came running in a panic.
“Alpha! Luna!”
His face was pale.
“Ardhavarna has announced its official decision.”
My heart pounded.
“What?” I asked.
He bowed his head.
“Your name has been removed from the bloodline. Legally… you are no longer part of Ardhavarna.”
The wind stopped.
Silence.
I waited for the pain to hit.
For something to shatter.
But what came instead was… a strange stillness.
Then a long breath left my chest.
It’s over.
Truly over.
I turned to Kael.
“I don’t have my old home anymore,” I said softly.
He took my hand.
“You have a home.”