Chapter 18 up
The letter arrived without a trace.
Not through the main gate. Not through the guards. Not through the scouts who usually carried official messages between packs.
It was lying on the edge of my window when I returned from morning training.
A single sheet of aged paper sealed with black wax.
The crest of Ardhavarna.
My heart struck once—hard—before I touched it.
I had already been erased from their bloodline. By law, I was no one to that pack.
But blood never truly obeys law.
I broke the seal.
The handwriting inside wasn’t Father’s.
Not the Council’s.
It was older. Firmer. More… familiar.
Grandmother’s.
The only one in Ardhavarna who had ever looked at me not as a political pawn, but as a granddaughter.
My fingers trembled slightly as I read.
Airin,
If this letter reaches you, then everything has already begun to move as I feared.
The erasure of your name is not an ending. It is protection.
There is something in your blood that must not fall into the hands of the East.
You are not merely descended from an ordinary Alpha.
You are the last living line of the pure Crimson Moon Blood.
My breath caught in my throat.
Crimson Moon.
I read again, slower.
Generations before you hid this truth. Your blood comes from the lineage of the first Alpha who was blessed directly during the great Crimson Moon phenomenon three generations ago.
That blood strengthens bonds. Intensifies dominance. And in certain rituals… it can unite rogue packs under a single will.
My hands froze.
Ritual.
The rogue leader.
The way his eyes had looked when he said I was more than just a Luna.
If the rogues knew this truth, they would never stop.
They didn’t want territory.
They wanted a symbol.
Your blood could make their leader unstoppable… or shatter their entire power structure.
I swallowed.
So that was why.
Not because I chose Kael.
Not because of political conflict.
I had been a target… long before I left Ardhavarna.
The last lines hollowed out my chest.
Your exile was accelerated to sever official ties. If you are no longer part of Ardhavarna, then legally your blood cannot be claimed as belonging to any pack.
Forgive us for not telling you sooner.
— Grandmother
I let the letter fall onto the table.
Everything I thought was an emotional decision by the Council…
Might have been planned.
Was Liam’s betrayal part of the protection too?
Was his claim over Namira…
Not just ambition?
My chest tightened.
How much of my life had never truly been mine?
My wolf paced restlessly.
Angry.
Not at Ardhavarna.
Not at Kael.
At the truth that had been hidden.
I didn’t hear Kael enter.
But I felt him.
The bond at my neck warmed.
“What is that?” he asked.
His voice was calm, but his aura shifted instantly when he saw my face.
I didn’t answer right away.
I should have.
I knew that.
But a small part of me wanted to protect him.
If he knew my blood could be used in ritual—
He would react.
He would strike first.
And that could trigger war sooner.
“A letter from Ardhavarna,” I said at last.
His eyes hardened slightly. “A threat?”
“No.”
I turned toward the window.
“An explanation.”
He stepped closer. “About what?”
Silence stretched between us.
I could tell him everything.
But I remembered the forest.
The coordinated attack.
They wanted to capture me, not kill me.
And if Kael knew my blood could strengthen rogue Alpha dominance…
He might see me as something to guard not only because he loved me.
But because I was powerful.
I didn’t want that.
“Nothing important,” I said quietly.
Mistake.
I felt it the moment the words left my mouth.
Kael’s aura changed.
“Not important?” he repeated.
“I’m no longer part of Ardhavarna.”
He moved until he stood directly in front of me.
“Airin.”
His tone wasn’t angry.
It was a warning.
“I can feel your heartbeat change from the moment I walked in,” he said. “Don’t tell me it’s not important.”
I lowered my gaze.
For the first time since becoming Luna, I avoided his eyes.
“I just don’t want you to overreact.”
“To what?”
He waited.
And I knew.
If I didn’t tell him now, a crack would form.
Not from sabotage.
From us.
I exhaled slowly.
“My blood,” I said softly.
“What about it?”
I handed him the letter.
He read in silence.
The further he read, the tighter his jaw became.
When he finished, the room felt smaller.
“So,” he said slowly, “the rogues aren’t hunting you just because you’re Luna.”
I nodded.
“They want your blood for a dominance ritual.”
“Yes.”
A long silence.
Then he looked at me.
“And you weren’t going to tell me?”
I held my breath.
“I just found out.”
“But you almost chose to keep it.”
His voice sharpened.
Not as an Alpha.
As a man who felt shut out of the truth.
“I didn’t want you to feel like you had to protect me more than you already do,” I said quickly.
He let out a short laugh. No humor.
“You think this is about ego?”
“I think this is about stability. If you know my blood can amplify dominance—”
“I don’t care about dominance!” he snapped.
His Alpha aura flared for a second, making the air tremble.
“I care because someone might try to kidnap you for a blood ritual!”
My chest shook.
He rarely raised his voice at me.
And when he did—
It was fear.
“I don’t want to be the reason you lose control,” I whispered.
“I lose control because you hide things from me.”
Silence fell like stone.
That hurt.
Not because he was angry.
But because he was right.
I stepped closer.
“I’ve spent years being used as a political tool,” I said softly. “I don’t want to become a weapon again. Not even at your side.”
His eyes softened slightly.
“You’re not a weapon,” he said firmly.
“But my blood could make you stronger.”
“I don’t need your blood to be Alpha.”
His voice didn’t waver.
That wasn’t pride.
That was certainty.
He lifted his hand and touched my face.
“If they want you because of your power, that’s not a reason for me to see you as a weapon.”
My heart trembled.
“I see you as the woman who chose me.”
Tears I hadn’t noticed gathered in my eyes.
“I’m scared,” I admitted softly.
His brow furrowed.
“Not of war,” I continued. “But of the possibility that all of this… was arranged. My exile. Liam’s claim. The eastern attacks.”
I swallowed.
“What if I’ve just been moved from one chessboard to another?”
This silence was different.
Deeper.
Still.
Kael stepped closer until my forehead nearly touched his chest.
“If you’re a pawn,” he said quietly, “then you’re a pawn who refuses to move by the rules.”
His arm wrapped around my waist.
“And if anyone tries to move you again… they’ll face me.”
I let out a small laugh through my tears.
“You’re angry at me.”
“I’m angry because you tried to carry this alone.”
He lowered his head until our foreheads touched.
“I will never see you as the source of my power,” he whispered. “You are my choice. Not my weapon.”
The bond at my neck warmed.
Not because of fate.
Not because of blood.
But because of choice.
Yet beneath that warmth, my thoughts still spun.
If my blood truly could unite rogue packs under one will…
Then the eastern leader would never stop.
And if Ardhavarna accelerated my exile to protect me…
Did that mean they knew something even worse was coming?
I looked at Kael.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“If my blood can strengthen a rogue Alpha’s dominance…”
He stiffened.
“…then my blood might also be able to break that ritual.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You’re not going near any ritual.”
“Listen first.”
I took his hand.
“If I understand my power, then I’m no longer just a target.”
Silence.
Slowly, his anger shifted into something steadier.
More strategic.
“We’ll learn everything,” he said at last. “Not just from Ardhavarna. From our own spiritual elders.”
I nodded.
For the first time since reading the letter, my fear eased slightly.
Not because the threat was gone.
But because I wasn’t hiding it anymore.
Still, one question lingered in my chest.
If my exile was protection…
Then who leaked the secret of my blood to the rogues?
And had the traitor inside Dravaryn’s walls…
Already learned the truth?