The Claiming Moon rose blood-red above Feralmoor Ridge.
It was the same moon from five years ago—the one that had once lit the moment Seren Vale was marked, claimed… and rejected.
But tonight, the moon wasn't here for fate.
It was here for reckoning.
⸻
Seren stood in the ritual ring once more, but this time, her stance was unyielding. Her silver-lined armor reflected the moonlight. Her blade was strapped to her back, but she didn't reach for it.
Power hummed at her fingertips—old, holy, and wild.
Behind her stood Elder Rowan and the High Circle, all watching silently. Even Lucien Redfang lingered in the trees beyond, his breath misting in the cold, waiting to see if she would break… or make Kael bleed.
Across the circle, Kael approached.
No longer in ceremonial Alpha garb.
No longer shielded by arrogance.
He walked barefoot, stripped down to linen pants and a band around his chest that bore the Blackthorn crest. His eyes—gold again, but rimmed with exhaustion—never left hers.
"You came," he said softly.
"I didn't come for you," she replied.
He nodded once. "I know."
A long silence passed between them, charged like the air before a storm.
Then Rowan spoke. "By the Claiming Moon, we gather for judgment. The cursed bond must either be sealed… or severed forever."
Seren lifted her chin. "Let it burn before I give it blindly."
Kael stepped forward. "Then let me show you who I've become."
He reached out, offering his hand—not to grab her, not to mark her, but to let her choose.
Seren stared at it.
The bond pulsed between them, still broken… still frayed… but not dead.
Not yet.
"You rejected me," she whispered. "In front of everyone. You made me collapse. You let them see me as weak."
"I know," Kael said. "And I will spend every moon until I die unlearning that cruelty."
He dropped to one knee.
The pack gasped again. A second kneeling.
This was no performance.
Kael placed his hand flat on the earth.
"I offer the bond freely," he said. "No claim. No dominance. Just the truth: I want you—not because fate demands it… but because I can't survive the curse without becoming someone worthy of your fire."
Seren's chest ached.
She wanted to scream.
To cry.
To run.
But instead—she reached for the dagger.
⸻
Gasps rippled through the crowd as she cut a clean line across her palm.
Moonblood poured from her hand, glowing under the red moon.
Then she did something no one had ever seen in Blackthorn history.
She knelt across from him.
Two wolves, two flames, two broken halves.
"I don't forgive you," she said. "But I believe you're trying. So I choose."
She pressed her bloody palm to his heart.
Kael inhaled sharply as a mark blazed across his chest—a silver glyph etched by her hand, not the goddess.
Then, Seren tilted her head, exposing her neck.
"You may mark me. But only if you understand: This time, it's not the Moon's decision. It's mine."
Kael leaned in, reverent.
He pressed his lips to her neck, and when his teeth sank in, the bond flared—not like fire, but like stars colliding.
The ritual stones glowed white.
The wolves howled.
Magic rippled through the earth, ancient and new.
The curse shattered.
Kael gasped as the madness cleared from his veins.
And Seren…
Seren didn't fall this time.
She rose.
A Moonblood Matriarch.
⸻
Elder Rowan smiled as the light faded.
"It is done," he said. "The curse is broken."
But Seren wasn't smiling.
She turned to the crowd.
"I was made a servant. An orphan. A scapegoat. Then I was a weapon. But now…"
She looked at Kael, who was still on his knees.
"…now, I am your equal. And if I am to rule beside anyone, it will not be because I was chosen. It will be because I chose back."
She extended her hand to Kael.
He took it.
And she pulled him to his feet—not as her Alpha, but as her partner.
⸻
Later that night, they stood alone beneath the moon that had once cursed them.
Kael's hand brushed hers.
"Does this mean you'll stay?" he asked.
Seren looked up at the stars, then back at him.
"No," she said. "It means we start again. This time, together."
She leaned in, voice low, sacred, final.
"This time… I mark you. And I do it freely."
"You should've stayed gone," Kael growled. "But I'm starting to think you came back to destroy me."
Seren stood barefoot at the edge of the packhouse ruins, her breathing shallow, her hands trembling from the surge.
"I didn't mean to… I just—"
"You almost collapsed half the forest," Kael hissed, gripping her by the arm. "You think that won't spread? The Council will come sniffing."
"Let them." She pulled away. "They should've come years ago."
Kael stared at her, searching her eyes. "What are you really doing here, Seren?"
She looked away. "Maybe I came back to see if the man who once protected me still exists."
Kael stepped closer, the air thick with history and heat. "He died the night he let you go."
For a long second, silence held.
Then, a howl split the distance.
"Sh*t," Kael muttered. "They know."
Seren's heartbeat spiked. "Who—"
"The Elder Council. They felt the flare. They're summoning me at dawn."
"Because of me," she whispered.
"No," Kael said darkly, his eyes glowing. "Because of us. They always feared what we might become together."
And as he walked away into the dark, Seren realized something terrifying:
If Kael was summoned… she'd be next.