Elara's POV
The power won't stop screaming inside me.
I'm still standing in the temple, my hand on the shattered crystal, and memories that aren't mine flood my brain. I see my ancestors—beings made of starlight who created the Moon Goddess herself. I see them being hunted, killed, destroyed because other wolves feared their power.
I see my mother placing a seal on baby me with trembling hands. "They'll kill you if they know what you are," she whispers. "But one day, you'll show them all."
The memory shatters.
I'm back in the temple, gasping. The mark on my chest—no longer black and dying, but glowing with swirling constellations—pulses with cosmic fire. My silver hair floats around me like I'm underwater. When I look at my hands, they shimmer with starlight.
This is what I really am. Not weak. Not worthless.
Starborn.
And Dante rejected me without knowing what he destroyed.
The thought of him sends a shock through my chest. Suddenly I feel him—miles away, his heart stopping and starting, panic flooding through him. The bond didn't break when he rejected me. It transformed into something else. Something that ties his life to mine.
I feel his pain. His confusion. His terror.
Good. Let him suffer.
"You feel the connection, don't you?" A voice speaks from the shadows.
I spin around, power crackling at my fingertips. A woman steps into the moonlight—beautiful, with silver skin that glows and eyes full of galaxies. She's see-through, like a ghost.
"I'm Lyria, the last true Starborn before you," she says. "I died three hundred years ago, but I stayed here to teach you."
"Teach me what?"
"How to use your power. How to make wolves kneel." Her smile is sharp. "And how to weaponize the bond connecting you to the Alpha King who rejected you."
For three hours, she trains me. Shows me how to pull energy from the stars, how to create shields and weapons from cosmic light. She teaches me the bond's secret—every time I think of the rejection, Dante's heart stops. Every time I feel pain because of him, he feels it ten times worse.
"Can I control it?" I ask.
"Yes. You can make him suffer more. Or..." She hesitates. "You could ease his pain."
"Why would I do that?"
"Exactly." Lyria's form begins fading as dawn breaks. "Show them, Elara. Show them what happens when they destroy a star."
She disappears, leaving me alone.
Except I'm not alone.
Through the bond, I feel Dante getting closer. He's in the Veilwood. Coming for me.
He'll be here soon.
I should run. Hide deeper in the forest.
But I don't want to run anymore. I want him to see what I've become.
I walk outside and stand in the clearing, glowing with power. My heart pounds as I wait.
Fifteen minutes later, Dante crashes through the trees.
He looks terrible—pale, shaking, dark circles under his silver eyes. When he sees me, he freezes.
I'm not the broken girl he rejected anymore. I stand tall, radiating cosmic fire, and he's the one who looks broken.
"Elara," he breathes.
"Alpha King," I say coldly.
He flinches. "I didn't know what you were. I didn't know about the Starborn—"
"You didn't care." My voice is ice. "You saw someone you thought was beneath you, and you destroyed her. Now you only care because it's killing you."
"That's not true. Let me explain—"
"No." I raise my hand, and power crackles around my fingers. He steps back, eyes wide. "You rejected me. You banished me. The fact that I survived doesn't mean you get to walk back into my life."
Then Dante does something that shocks me.
The mighty Alpha King drops to his knees.
"Please," he whispers, tears in his eyes. "End the curse. I'll give you anything—money, power, a place in the court. Just make it stop."
And I understand.
He's not here because he's sorry. He's here because he's suffering.
He doesn't actually care about me. He just wants the pain to end.
The realization should hurt. Instead, it makes everything clear.
"I can't end the curse," I tell him. "The universe controls it, not me. We're both stuck with the consequences of what you did."
His face goes white. "Then what do I do?"
"You live with it." I turn my back on him. "Go back to your kingdom. You wanted to be free of me. You are. I want nothing from you."
"Wait—"
I walk back into the temple. The moment I cross the threshold, a barrier of cosmic light springs up, blocking him out.
He slams against it, but it holds. He can't follow.
Through the barrier, I watch him collapse, hand pressed to his chest where his heart stutters.
I could ease his pain right now. Could make the bond hurt less.
Instead, I sit down in the temple and close my eyes.
Let him suffer like I did.
He taught me what rejection feels like.
Now it's his turn to learn.
But then I hear it—a wolf howling in the distance. Not Dante's howl. This one is deeper. Older. Powerful but somehow gentle.
Someone else felt my awakening.
Someone else is coming.
Through the cosmic power flowing through me, I sense him—a wolf king from the frozen North, ancient and strong, drawn to me like a moth to flame.
And unlike Dante, this one isn't coming to beg.
He's coming to kneel.