KAINE'S POV
I tear through Damien's warriors like they're made of paper.
Blood sprays. Bones break. My Lycan roars with fury as I fight toward Aria's unconscious body. But there are too many of them, and Damien keeps backing away, dragging Aria with him toward a hidden exit.
"Kaine!" Thane shouts. "The ceiling!"
I look up just as silver nets drop from above—the same trap they tried at my fortress. Thane and I dodge, but three of the warriors Damien brought get caught. The silver burns through them instantly.
Damien planned this perfectly. He wanted me to come. Wanted me trapped in his territory with witnesses who'll say I attacked first.
"You can fight," Damien calls, still retreating with Aria. "Or you can save your warriors. Your choice, King."
The silver nets are spreading, filling the corridor with deadly poison. My warriors are strong, but silver kills Lycans. If I don't get them out now, they'll die.
I meet Thane's eyes. He knows what I'm thinking.
"Go," he says. "Save them. I'll get the queen."
I hate it. Hate leaving Aria in Damien's hands even for a second. But my warriors are dying, and a king protects his people.
I grab the silver nets with my bare hands—the pain is excruciating but I'm old enough to survive it—and tear them apart. My warriors stumble free, their skin smoking where the silver touched them.
"Out! Everyone out!"
We fight our way back through the pack house. More guards flood in, but they're no match for Lycan warriors in full rage. We burst into the night air, and I immediately howl for Thane.
No response.
My blood runs cold.
"Where is he?" I demand of my warriors.
"He went after the queen like you ordered," one gasps. "Through the hidden passage."
I run back inside, following Thane's scent through corridors I don't know. The trail leads down, deeper underground than the omega quarters. Into tunnels that smell like old magic and older blood.
This isn't just a dungeon. It's something worse.
I find Thane unconscious at a sealed door, a dart in his neck. Witch poison—not deadly but effective. He'll wake in an hour.
The door is marked with symbols I recognize. Ancient werewolf ritual marks. The kind used for power transfers.
Damien isn't just keeping Aria prisoner. He's preparing to steal her power through a blood ritual. And if he succeeds, he'll become unstoppable—an Alpha with Moon's Chosen abilities.
I try the door. It's sealed with magic too strong for me to break alone.
"Sera!" I roar into the night. "I need you NOW!"
Minutes pass like hours. Finally, Sera appears with five Lycan warriors, her purple eyes glowing with power.
"Where is she?" she demands.
"Behind this door. He's preparing a ritual. Blood moon is tomorrow night—he's going to transfer her power to himself."
Sera's face goes white. "That ritual requires the victim to be conscious and willing. Or in so much pain they'd agree to anything to make it stop."
Rage unlike anything I've felt in three centuries floods through me. "Open. This. Door."
"I'm trying!" Sera's magic batters against the seal. "It's strong. Really strong. Someone powerful helped him set this up."
"Elder Marcus," I snarl. "He was in on this from the start."
"The council wanted Moon's Chosen dead. This is worse—they want her power for themselves." Sera's magic finally cracks the seal. The door swings open.
Inside is a ritual chamber lit by black candles. Symbols cover every surface. And in the center, chained to a stone altar, is Aria.
She's awake but barely. The poison keeps her weak, unable to move or speak. Tears stream down her face as Damien prepares the ritual tools—silver knives, a ceremonial bowl, herbs that reek of dark magic.
"Kaine," Damien says calmly. "Right on time. You can watch your queen give me everything."
I shift into my full Lycan form and charge.
Damien throws powder into the air. A barrier springs up between us—translucent but solid. I slam into it and bounce back.
"Witch magic," Sera gasps. "He's got a powerful witch helping him. I can't break through alone."
Damien smiles. "The blood moon rises in six hours. By dawn, I'll have Moon's Chosen power flowing through my veins. I'll command every wolf in existence. Even you, King Kaine, will kneel before me."
"I'll kill you first."
"You'll try." Damien traces a knife along Aria's arm, drawing blood. She whimpers, and the sound breaks something in me. "But the ritual requires very specific timing. If you interrupt it before completion, she dies. If you wait until it's complete, I become unstoppable. Either way, you lose."
He's right. The rage clears from my mind enough to think. If I break through now, the ritual's backlash will kill Aria. If I wait, Damien gets her power.
"There's a third option," Sera whispers. "But you're not going to like it."
"Tell me."
"The ritual transfers power from one wolf to another through a blood bond. But if Aria had a stronger bond to someone else—a bond deeper than the mate bond she had with Damien—the ritual would fail. The power would go to that person instead."
I understand immediately. "The Chosen Bond. The one forming between Aria and me."
"It's not complete yet. You've only touched twice. But if you complete it before the ritual finishes—" Sera meets my eyes. "—you'd take her power instead of Damien. You'd become the first Lycan with Moon's Chosen abilities."
"How do I complete the bond?"
"You have to give her your life force. Permanently bind yourself to her. If she dies, you die. If you die, she dies. You'd be linked forever—no separation, no divorce, no escape. You'd feel everything she feels, and she'd feel everything you feel. You'd basically be giving up your independence for eternity."
Three hundred years ago, I swore I'd never bond with anyone again. The pain of losing my first mate nearly destroyed me. Binding myself to Aria means opening myself up to that pain again.
But it also means saving her life.
"How long do I have?" I ask.
Sera checks the ritual symbols. "Once he draws the third blood mark, the transfer begins. That gives us maybe four hours."
"Then we have four hours to complete the Chosen Bond." I face my warriors. "Guard this chamber. No one gets in or out. Sera, you're with me."
"Where are we going?"
"To the one person who knows more about ancient bonds than anyone alive." I shift back to human form. "We're going to find the Moon Priestess."
"The Moon Priestess hasn't been seen in two hundred years. She could be dead."
"She's not. I know where she's been hiding." I look back at Aria through the barrier. She's watching me with terrified eyes, silently begging me to save her. "I'm coming back for you," I promise. "Hold on just a little longer."
We run from the chamber, leaving warriors to guard the door. Above ground, I howl for my fastest scouts.
"The Moon Temple," I tell them when they arrive. "North mountains. Find the Priestess and bring her back here in three hours. Tell her the Lycan King demands an audience. Tell her Moon's Chosen has returned and needs her help."
The scouts disappear into the night.
Thane groans awake. I help him up, quickly explaining the situation.
"You're going to complete a Chosen Bond?" He stares at me. "You know what that means. You'll never be free of her. Never be able to love anyone else. If she betrays you—"
"She won't."
"You don't know that. You've known her for two days."
"I know enough." I meet his eyes. "Three hundred years ago, fate chose my mate and I lost her. This time, I'm choosing. And I choose Aria."
Thane studies me, then slowly nods. "Then let's save your queen."
We return to the ritual chamber. Through the barrier, I watch Damien work. He's drawn two blood marks on Aria's arms. One more and the transfer begins.
"Sera," I say quietly. "If this doesn't work—if we can't complete the Chosen Bond in time—I want you to break that barrier and kill Damien even if it kills Aria too. Don't let him take her power."
"Kaine—"
"That's an order. Death is better than letting him have her like this."
Sera's face is grim, but she nods.
We wait.
Minutes crawl by like hours. Damien prepares his ceremonial tools, chanting in the old language. Aria's eyes start to glaze over from the poison and pain.
Finally, when I'm about to lose my mind, one of my scouts returns.
"My king! The Priestess—she's coming. But she says the blood moon has already started rising. We might be too late."
I look through the chamber's high window. The moon is turning red at the edges.
And Damien raises his knife to draw the third blood mark.
"No more time," I tell Sera. "Break the barrier. Now."
"But the ritual—"
"NOW!"
Sera unleashes her magic. The barrier cracks but doesn't break. Damien draws the third mark.
Silver light explodes from Aria's body.
The power transfer has begun.