Iris POV
We're running through a forest that wants us dead.
Kael leads the way, still chained at the wrists because no one trusts the curse won't flare mid-battle. Behind us, twenty Shadowpaw warriors form a protective circle. And behind them, the sounds of Morganna's army getting closer.
Faster! Rowan shouts. They're gaining!
My injured knee screams with every step, but I don't slow down. Can't slow down. The Moonstone Pool is our only chance, and it's still half a mile through the Veil Woods.
Through the bond, I feel Kael's constant awareness of my location. Every time I stumble, his head whips around. Every time I gasp in pain, his control slips a little more.
I'm fine, I say before he can ask. Keep moving!
An enchanted rogue crashes through the trees to our left. Rowan intercepts it with brutal efficiency, his claws tearing through cursed flesh. Two more attack from the right. More Shadowpaw warriors peel off to fight them.
We're being picked apart.
Alpha! One of the warriors—a young female with brown fur—screams as three rogues drag her down. ALPHA!
Kael stops dead. Through the bond, I feel his instinct warring with duty. Save his warrior, or get me to the ritual site.
Go! the warrior screams. Complete the ritual! That's an order from your
Her words cut off in a gurgling sound that makes my stomach turn.
Kael roars—pure rage and anguish, but Rowan physically shoves him forward. She bought us time! Don't waste it!
We run.
More warriors fall behind us, sacrificing themselves to slow the army. Each death hits Kael like a physical blow through the pack bonds he still maintains. I feel his guilt, his fury, his desperate need to turn back and fight.
Almost there, Sera pants beside me. She's older, slower, struggling to keep pace. The pool is just beyond that ridge—
An explosion of dark magic tears through the trees ahead of us.
Morganna steps out of the shadows, flanked by two massive alphas I don't recognize. Behind them, dozens of wolves—not rogues, but pack wolves. Organized. Deadly.
Going somewhere, Beast? Morganna's smile is cruel. I thought we could finish our conversation from earlier.
Kael positions himself between her and me, his chains rattling. Let my pack pass. Your fight is with me.
Oh, but it's so much more satisfying this way. She gestures to the wolves behind her. These are Alphas Marcus and Theron. They agree that a cursed alpha is too dangerous to leave alive. That Shadowpaw territory should be... redistributed.
The two alphas step forward, eyeing Kael like predators circling wounded prey.
You're barely holding yourself together, Marcus—the larger one—says. Your pack is falling apart. Give up the territory, and we'll make your death quick.
Never, Kael growls.
Then we'll take it by force. Marcus shifts, not cursed like Kael, but clean and powerful and completely in control.
The fight explodes before I can blink.
Kael meets Marcus mid-shift, his curse-twisted form somehow keeping pace with the full alpha. They collide with bone-shaking force. Rowan and the remaining warriors engage Theron and his wolves.
Morganna walks toward me, leisurely, like she has all the time in the world.
You know what's funny, little omega? She raises her hand, dark magic crackling. I was going to let the curse kill him slowly. But watching him die protecting you? That's so much better.
Sera steps in front of me. You'll have to go through me, witch.
Gladly. Morganna's magic lashes out.
Sera screams.
NO! I catch her as she falls, her body convulsing from the dark magic. Through my hands, I can feel it spreading—curse-corruption that's eating her from the inside.
Sera, hold on
The ritual, she gasps, blood trickling from her mouth. You have to... complete it... only way...
Her eyes flutter closed.
Rage explodes through me—white-hot and absolute. My weak wolf howls, and for the first time in my life, she doesn't sound pathetic. She sounds furious.
I stand, facing Morganna with Sera's blood on my hands.
You're going to regret that, I say quietly.
Morganna laughs. Oh? And what are you going to do about it, weak little
I pull.
Not Kael's power this time. Mine. Whatever the bond awakened in me, whatever made me strong enough to channel alpha dominance, I pull all of it to the surface.
Silver light explodes around me, so bright Morganna stumbles back.
Impossible, she breathes.
I don't know what I'm doing. Don't know how I'm doing it. But I can feel the Moon Goddess's presence thrumming through the Veil Woods, and somehow, I reach for it.
The light intensifies, and I feel my wolf changing, not breaking, but transforming. Growing. Becoming something she was never supposed to be.
Through the chaos of battle, Kael's head snaps toward me. Our eyes lock, and through the bond, I feel his shock.
Because I'm shifting.
But not into my usual weak, tiny silver wolf.
I'm becoming something else entirely.
My body stretches, grows. Fur erupts across my skin—not gray this time, but brilliant silver that glows with its own light. My bones reform, bigger and stronger than they've ever been. Power floods through me, raw and primal and absolutely terrifying.
When the shift completes, I tower over Morganna.
I'm not an omega anymore.
I don't know what I am.
But I'm not weak.
Morganna's face drains of color. What... what are you?
I don't answer. Can't answer. Because something is happening inside me—the bond with Kael burning brighter, the Moon Goddess's presence flooding through every cell, and my wolf howling with recognition.
This is what I was always meant to be.
Through the bond, I feel Kael's awe and terror mixing together. Iris? What's happening to you?
I don't know, I send back. But we're about to find out.
Morganna raises both hands, gathering more dark magic than I've ever seen. I don't care what you've become. You're still going to die!
The magic flies toward me, a killing blow, enough power to destroy a dozen wolves.
I should dodge. Should run. Should do something.
Instead, I roar.
The sound shakes the forest, and silver light erupts from my body in a wave. It crashes into Morganna's dark magic, and the two forces collide with an explosion that levels trees.
When the light fades, I'm still standing.
Morganna is on her knees, staring at me with absolute shock.
You're Moonborn, she whispers. The Moon Goddess chose you. But that's impossible. The ritual hasn't even,
She doesn't finish.
Because Kael breaks free of Marcus and appears beside me, his curse-twisted form moving with lethal grace. He's covered in blood, some his, most not, and his eyes are blazing gold.
But when he looks at me, they soften.
Together? he sends through the bond.
Together, I confirm.
We face the army side by side. The cursed alpha and whatever I've become. Two broken pieces that somehow make a whole.
Morganna pushes to her feet, fury replacing her shock. Kill them both! Now!
The army surges forward.
And that's when the Moon Goddess herself speaks—her voice echoing through every mind in the clearing:
ENOUGH.
Everything stops.
Every wolf freezes mid-attack. Every weapon hangs suspended. Even Morganna's dark magic stutters and dies.
Silver light floods the clearing, so bright I have to close my eyes. When I open them, a figure stands at the edge of the Moonstone Pool.
She's beautiful and terrible, made of moonlight and starfire, ancient beyond comprehension. The Moon Goddess in physical form.
Her eyes sweep across the clearing, and wolves fall to their knees. Alphas bow their heads. Even Morganna looks terrified.
Then the Moon Goddess's gaze lands on me and Kael.
The ritual is not yet complete, she says, her voice like music and thunder combined. But the bond between you has awakened something I have not seen in a thousand years.
She moves toward us, and I feel power radiating from her that makes my transformation look like a candle next to the sun.
Iris Thorne, she says, and hearing my name from her lips makes my soul ache. You were never meant to be omega. I made you weak to teach you strength. I made you invisible to show you how to be seen. And I gave you a mate who needed someone strong enough to love him despite the monster he'd become.
She turns to Kael. And you, my cursed child. You who fought so hard to remain honorable even as darkness consumed you. You who protected the weak even as you became what they feared.
Her expression softens with something that might be pride or sorrow.
You were both tested. Both broken. Both remade. She raises her hand. And now, you will be rewarded.
Light explodes from her palm, flooding into both of us.
I feel the curse shattering, not burning away slowly like the ritual would do, but breaking apart like glass. Kael screams, his body convulsing as five years of corruption tears free.
And I feel my wolf settling into her new form—powerful, blessed, eternal.
When the light fades, Kael collapses.
I shift back to human and run to him, my heart in my throat. Kael! KAEL!
He doesn't move.
The Moon Goddess kneels beside us. The curse is broken. But the damage it did... She touches his chest gently. His body and soul need time to heal. Time he may not have.
No, I whisper. No, you can't— Please, we were supposed to have a future
She looks at me with infinite compassion. There is one way to save him. But it will require the very sacrifice you were willing to make.
My blood runs cold. The ritual? But you just
Not the Moonfire Ritual. Something different. Something more. Her eyes bore into mine. I can bind your life force to his. Share your Moonborn power to heal what the curse destroyed. But doing so will tie your fates together permanently. If one dies, both die. If one suffers, both suffer. You will never be separate again.
She pauses, letting that sink in.
This is not a mate bond, child. This is something deeper. Souls intertwined so completely that you become two halves of one whole. Forever.
I look down at Kael—his human face finally restored, but so pale. Through our mate bond, I feel his life flickering like a candle about to go out.
There's no choice. There never was.
Do it, I say.
Iris, wait, Rowan starts, but I cut him off.
Do it, I repeat to the Moon Goddess. Bind us. Save him. I don't care about the cost.
She smiles, sad and beautiful. Then let it be done.
She places one hand on my chest, one on Kael's.
And the world explodes into silver fire.