~Annalyn POV~
The chill of the forest seeped into my bones, but the fire in my blood still hadn't cooled. I stood under the crimson moon, naked and trembling, my thighs streaked with dried blood, and the scent of sex and magic clinging to my skin.
I wasn't alone, they were coming. I heard them...howls breaking through the trees, sharp and desperate. Not celebration, not ritual, they were hunting and the target was me.
I stumbled forward, branches scratching my skin, bare feet sinking into the mossy floor. Every breath I took burned, as if the air itself was turning against me. My head pounded with two heartbeats...mine and the other. Her voice was quieter now, but still present.
"They fear you because they know what you are."
I gritted my teeth. "Then maybe they should be afraid."
But even as I said it, I was scared too. Scared of what I'd become, of what I had done, and of what I might do again.
The memory came in flashes. Matteo's body on mine, his hands worshipping me. His mark sinking deep into my flesh, and then....blackness.
I kept walking, following the river that snaked through the forest. My skin felt tight. My senses too sharp. I could hear insects crawling beneath bark, the heartbeat of a deer a mile away, the scent of iron in the wind. Blood!
And then I saw him, Lucas. He emerged from the trees like a shadow, his eyes glowing faint gold, clothes torn, fists clenched.
I stopped, chest heaving. "Lucas."
He didn't smile, didn't soften.
His voice was hard. "Where is Matteo?"
"I don't know, I woke up alone."
He stepped closer. "You ran, after the mark. After you screamed."
"I didn't mean to."
"I know." He reached for me, then stopped. "But you're not just you anymore, are you?"
I swallowed. "She's inside, but I'm still here."
"Then prove it."
He tossed something at my feet, clothing. A shirt, his, I pulled it over my head, the scent of him grounding me.
He stepped closer, his eyes still cautious. "You didn't just wake up changed. You woke up as a queen."
"I don't want to rule."
"Too bad," he said. "They've already chosen sides."
The howls returned...closer this time.
I looked over my shoulder. "What if they try to kill me?"
Lucas's jaw clenched. "Then they die."
Behind him, more movement. Calix emerged from the trees, blood on his knuckles, shirt missing, body tense.
"She's alive," he said. "And the pack knows, now they're scared."
"Of her?" Lucas asked.
"Of what she carries."
My eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
Calix stared at me. "You're glowing."
I looked down, he was right. A faint silver shimmer danced across my skin, not light but power.
"I can't control it," I whispered.
"Then let us," Lucas said. "You don't have to do this alone."
Suddenly, the trees behind us cracked, and Matteo step out.
He stumbled into the clearing, shirt torn, blood dripping from his face.
"Ezra," he growled. "He's rallying the rogues."
Lucas stepped toward him. "What?"
"He's going to perform the final binding," Matteo said. "He thinks if he takes her soul during the eclipse, he can resurrect the original Moon Alpha completely."
My knees buckled, and Lucas caught me.
"You said I had a choice," I whispered. "You all said I could choose my path."
Matteo touched my face gently. "You still can. But we need to stop him before he forces the choice on you."
The wind picked up, carrying with it the scent of ash and ozone, which means Ezra was close.
"I'll draw him out," I said.
Lucas's head snapped toward me. "What?"
"He wants me, not you, not the pack, but me!"
"You'll die."
"Maybe." I looked at them all...Lucas, Calix, Matteo. "But if I don't face him, we all die."
The ground trembled under our feet. Far in the distance, lightning split the sky and the eclipse had begun. And so had the war.
The wind carried ash and static. Each breath tasted like fire, like endings, like rebirth.
The forest, once familiar, now shimmered with strange energy. Trees bent under the weight of the coming eclipse. Shadows moved even when nothing else did, the sky bled gold into crimson.
Lucas, Calix, and Matteo stood at my back, forming a triangle around me as if they could shield me from what was coming. But I knew they couldn't. Not from this.
Ezra was waiting, and part of me wanted him to.
"Annalyn," Lucas murmured, his voice husky, deep, touched by something worse than fear, "you don't have to do this alone!"
I turned to him. My palm rose to his cheek, and for a moment, I let my soul lean into his.
"I've never been alone," I whispered. "Not since you first touched me."
Calix stepped closer. He cupped my waist, his heat grounding me, his voice full of warning. "If you get too close to him, we might not be able to pull you back."
"You won't have to," I said.
Matteo's eyes, always guarded, now brimmed with something tender and broken. "Promise us you'll return."
I didn't make promises I wasn't sure I could keep. So instead, I kissed each of them...slowly, deeply and savoring the way their hands trembled, the way they tasted of hope and surrender.
Then I turned and walked into the storm. The clearing opened like a mouth.
Ezra stood at its center, shirtless, arms inked with old runes, silver cuffs gleaming at his wrists. The blood moon overhead painted him in a surreal glow...part god, part demon.
"Annalyn," he said, as if he had been dreaming my name.
The sound of it sent a ripple through my spine.
"You came."
"I always do."
His smile twisted. "You drank my blood, let me mark you. You burned for me."
I stepped closer. "And you lied to me."
"I told you the truth no one else would. You were never meant to be owned by one mate, you were born to rule over all of us."
He stepped forward, our bodies were inches apart. The bond between us vibrated...raw, tangled, unfinished.
"You feel it," he whispered. "The hunger, the power. Let me finish it, let me make you what you were born to be."
My heart thundered, my wolf clawed at the inside of my ribs. But I shook my head.
"You don't want me. You want her.... the old bitch inside me! You want to bring her back."
Ezra's eyes darkened. "She is you, and without her, you'll die."
He gripped my wrist and dragged me into the ritual circle. Candles blazed in a perfect ring, the scent of jasmine, blood, and burning salt filled the air.
The eclipse began, the moon turned black, and the world trembled. The moment the first shadow passed over the moon, my body ignited.
Every nerve ending screamed. Every inch of skin felt too tight, too exposed. I fell to my knees, gasping as something inside me roared awake.
Ezra stood behind me, his breath hot against my neck. "This is it, give in!"
He slid his fingers down my spine, igniting sparks along the way. I should have resisted.
But his touch... it awakened something too primal to deny.
My back arched and my legs opened. I screamed his name... not in pain, but in savage need.
He undressed me slowly, reverently. Not like a lover, like a priest preparing a sacrifice. I was shaking, burning, drowning. But I didn't stop him.
When his mouth met my breast, I cried out, the sound raw and desperate. He tasted me like he owned me, like he was starving for centuries and I was his only salvation.
His hand moved between my thighs.
"You're ready," he breathed. "You were always ready."
Then he entered me, and the world shattered.
My scream tore through the forest, a mix of ecstasy and agony, fury and fire. The power burst from my chest, pushing through my skin, blinding light filling the ritual circle.
Ezra growled, holding me tighter.
"Don't fight it, let her through."
But I didn't want her, I wanted myself.
I turned my head, met his eyes, and whispered, "You were never strong enough to handle me."
And then...I broke the circle. The explosion knocked us both backward. I landed hard, naked, panting, my skin glowing, blood streaking my thighs.
Ezra coughed, his chest scorched, his arms trembling. "What... what did you do?"
"I took the power, but not her."
"You'll die."
"Maybe." I stood slowly, every muscle screaming. "But you won't live to see it."
And then Lucas arrived, his claws were out and his eyes were gold fire. Behind him, Calix and Matteo stormed into the field.
"You hurt her," Lucas said, voice shaking with rage.
Ezra laughed, bitter. "She wanted it."
"She chose us, not you!" Matteo shouted
They lunged, three alphas against one ancient monster, and me...still glowing and trembling.