The Blood Tether had changed everything.
Ava sat by the window of the master suite, watching the moon—now a nearly perfect, luminous orb—climb over the jagged peaks of the Blackwood mountains. Tomorrow was the Moon Ceremony. Tomorrow, she would either be crowned a Queen or burned as a heretic.
But it wasn't the fear of death that kept her heart racing tonight. It was the hum.
Ever since the ritual in the obsidian hall, she could feel Silas. It wasn't a voice in her head, but a physical resonance. When he was angry, her skin felt electric; when he was near, a warmth bloomed at the base of her spine. Right now, he was down in the war room, and she could feel his cold, calculating focus—a sharp, icy edge in the back of her mind.
The door clicked open. Ava didn't need to turn around to know it was him. The Blood Tether sang his name before his boots even hit the carpet.
"You should be resting," Silas said. His voice was tired, stripped of the public Alpha mask. He pulled off his tie and tossed it onto a leather chair.
"I can't sleep with your thoughts screaming in my head, Silas," Ava replied, finally turning to face him.
Silas paused, his hand halfway through unbuttoning his shirt. A slow, dark smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Are they screaming? I'll have to try and keep them down. I wouldn't want you knowing exactly what I'm planning to do to Marcus once this ceremony is over."
"It's more than that," Ava said, standing up. The ivory silk of her nightgown swayed around her ankles. "I feel... the bond. It's starting to feel less like a lie and more like a tether. Is this what a real mate bond feels like?"
Silas's expression shifted. The smirk vanished, replaced by a look of intense, brooding hunger. He walked toward her, his presence closing the distance until the air between them felt thick enough to drown in.
"A real mate bond is a gift from the Goddess," Silas murmured, stopping inches away. He reached out, his knuckles grazing her cheek. "A blood tether is a curse we chose. It's deeper, Ava. It doesn't just connect our souls; it stitches them together with needles of fire. If I die tomorrow, you'll feel my heart stop. If you burn... I'll burn with you."
The weight of his words settled over her. He wasn't just protecting his property anymore. He had linked his life to a woman who carried his enemy's child.
"Silas, why?" she whispered, her hand moving to his chest, feeling the steady, powerful thrum of his heart. "You're an Alpha. You could have any pure-blooded Luna in the world. Why risk the 'fire' for me?"
Silas gripped her waist, pulling her flush against him. His eyes were molten silver in the moonlight. "Because the pure-blooded Lunas are boring, Ava. They want my title. They want my strength. But you..." He leaned down, his lips ghosting against her ear. "You walked into my study with a knife in your eyes and a secret in your belly, and you dared to demand a king's protection. I didn't choose you because of the Goddess. I chose you because you're the only thing in this world that makes me feel like a man instead of a monster."
Before she could respond, the tether suddenly spiked. A jolt of pure, external malice pierced their shared consciousness.
Silas stiffened, his head snapping toward the door. "Someone is in the manor."
"Silas?"
"Stay here," he commanded, his voice shifting back into the lethal Alpha growl. His eyes flashed yellow. "Do not open this door for anyone but me."
He vanished into the hallway, his movement a blur of predatory speed.
Ava stood in the center of the room, her heart hammering against her ribs. The tether was vibrating now—a low, rhythmic warning. Danger. Danger. Danger. Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. The silence of the manor felt heavy, unnatural. Ava paced the floor, clutching a silver letter opener she'd snatched from the desk.
Suddenly, a faint scratching sound came from the balcony.
Ava whirled around. The glass doors were locked, but a shadow was moving against the curtains. A rhythmic thud-thud-thud, like the beating of a drum.
"Silas?" she called out, her voice trembling.
No answer. Only the wind.
She walked slowly toward the balcony, the letter opener raised. She pulled back the curtain with a jerk.
There was no one there. But pinned to the glass with a jagged, rusted dagger was a small, blood-soaked bundle.
Ava's breath hitched. She unlocked the door and reached out, her fingers shaking. She unwrapped the bundle. Inside was a tiny, hand-carved wooden wolf—and a lock of golden hair that looked exactly like her own.
A note was tucked into the wolf's mouth.
"The Blood Tether is a clever trick, little rogue. But blood can be poisoned. Meet me at the Silver Falls in one hour, or the Alpha won't live to see the sunrise. I have the venom that can break even a Blackwood's soul." — M.
Panic surged through her. Marcus. He knew about the ritual. He had found a way to weaponize the very bond that was supposed to save her.
She looked at the door. Silas was out there, hunting a ghost, while the real serpent was waiting at the falls. If Silas was caught in a trap designed to break the tether, the feedback would kill them both—and the baby.
Ava looked at the moon. The hour of judgment was approaching. She couldn't wait for Silas to return. If she stayed, he would walk into an ambush. If she went, she was walking into the jaws of the man who had destroyed her life once before.
But she wasn't the same fragile girl who had been exiled six months ago. She had Silas's blood in her veins now. She had the Blackwood fire.
She grabbed her leather jacket and slipped out onto the balcony, disappearing into the dark canopy of the forest.
The tether screamed in the back of her mind, Silas's confusion and growing rage echoing through their link as he felt her leaving the territory.
I'm doing this for us, she thought, hoping he could hear her through the blood. For the heir you claimed. For the monster I'm starting to love.
The hunt was on, and this time, the prey was going to bite back.