Chapter 25: Mourning the Dead AMARA, Grief wasn’t something I could afford to feel. Not now, not with everything at stake. But even the hardest hearts have their cracks, and mine, despite all the walls I’d built, had started to splinter. It clung to me like an invisible weight, a shadow that followed me through every room, through every decision, every step I took. The death of my mother left a gaping hole inside me, one I couldn’t fill with anything—nothing that mattered, anyway. Not power. Not revenge. And certainly not the coronation ceremony that was fast approaching. She had been the foundation of my every choice, my every ambition. She was the reason I had forged the alliances I had, the reason I’d moved through this world with such calculated precision. It had always been about getting closer to the Luna position, the power that would make me untouchable. And now, I was just days away from standing beside Xander Sinclair, the Alpha-in-waiting, his Luna. But the truth that g
Chapter 26: Wolves in the GardenDEREK,There were whispers in the halls again.They didn’t sound like ordinary voices. They slithered between stone walls and danced along the marble floors—low, guttural murmurs laced with shadow magic and old blood. Even the wind carried secrets now, curling through the corridors of the ancestral estate like a predator that had caught a scent.I didn’t need to hear the exact words. I could feel the truth behind them.The pack was uneasy. Not just because of the upcoming coronation—though that was enough to stir even the oldest wolves. No, something darker was at play. A sickness was spreading beneath the surface of our traditions, something ancient and coiled tight, waiting to strike.And at the center of it stood the mating ceremony that would bind Xander to Amara and crown her Luna.But the truth clawing at the edges of my mind had little to do with ceremony or crowns. It pulsed beneath the earth, beneath our skin, an inherited warning echoing thro
Chapter 27: She Is mineAmara,The silver gown clung to my skin like a second soul—stitched in sacred moon-thread, blessed by the High Priestess herself, and dyed with the blood of a sacrificial wolf whose name had long been struck from our records. Not even whispers dared resurrect it.Its weight was unbearable, a constant reminder of the ancient rituals and heavy expectations I was about to fulfill. And yet I wore it proudly. Because weakness had no place in the eyes of the Crescent Moon Pack—not in our traditions, not in our future, and certainly not in our leaders. Especially not in me.The ceremonial chamber loomed ahead like a cavern of judgment. The scent of history and power bled from every stone: myrrh and dried bloodroot, incense and shadow, and the musky heat of wolves who had spent too long trapped in their human skins. High above, runes were carved into the arched ceiling, pulsing faintly with dormant magic. The flames from iron braziers flickered, throwing long, dancing
Chapter 28 – The Shattered SilenceAmaraThe chamber trembled under the weight of Derek’s declaration. The tension hung in the air like a storm cloud, heavy and charged. I could feel the walls themselves vibrating, as if they too were bracing for what was to come. The once serene gathering of the Council of Elders, a meeting that had begun with ritualistic reverence, now resembled a pack on the verge of disintegration. Derek stood in the center, his presence an immovable force, his gaze steady, like the calm before a tempest. His exposed arm gleamed in the dim light, and in his hand, he held a relic—a mark glowing faintly with an eerie, otherworldly light."This mark," Derek’s voice rang out, slicing through the murmurs of confusion and disbelief, "is proof. Only the true bloodline bearer can possess it." His eyes turned to me then, narrowing with a chilling certainty that sent a tremor down my spine. "And I know it’s not just me. Amara has the same mark."The gasps that followed were
Chapter 29 – The battleAmaraThe silence that followed was suffocating. It was as though the air itself had thickened with the weight of my words, curling around us, forcing us to confront the truth that had shattered everything. Xander stood before me, his gaze intense, unreadable, and yet, there was something raw in the way his shoulders tensed. It was the kind of tension that signified a battle—internally, externally, both.His voice broke the stillness, low and seething. "What are you saying, Amara? What is this? That mark—that bond—what does it mean? Is Derek involved in all of this?"I could see the flash of disbelief in his eyes. He couldn’t understand, couldn’t wrap his mind around how all of this had unfolded. And honestly, I couldn’t either. I wanted to explain it to him, to tell him what had happened, but the truth was, I was still struggling to comprehend it myself."I don’t know, Xander," I murmured, feeling the weight of my own confusion pressing down on me. "I don’t kn
Chapter 30 – The Unraveling. Amara I hadn’t anticipated this. Not really. The sudden shift, the chaos of everything spiraling out of control, it caught me off guard. But as the High Priestess stared me down, her eyes piercing through the veil of uncertainty that had surrounded me since the bond first awoke, something unexpected flickered within me. I didn’t know what it was at first—fear, excitement, or something darker, more primal. But I felt it coil deep inside me, ready to rise, to embrace the chaos. This was what I had wanted, wasn’t it? For so long, I had been living under the shadow of expectations—family, tradition, power struggles that had shaped every aspect of my life. But now, everything was in disarray. The pack was on the edge, the Elders were uneasy, Xander was struggling to keep control—and me? I was at the center of it all, the fulcrum upon which everything teetered. Derek, the bond, the mark—it was all unraveling, piece by piece, and I was at the heart of it, wa
Chapter 31– The Power Within Amara, The silence that followed the explosion of magic was thick—alive, even. It curled around every Elder, coiled around the High Priestess like a snake ready to strike. And I stood in the eye of the storm, calm and steady, as if I had been born for this moment. Because, in truth, I had. I didn’t anticipate all of this unfolding so chaotically, not exactly. I hadn’t expected the sacred hall to fracture with raw energy or the Elders to recoil as if they’d seen a ghost from their nightmares. But part of me… part of me was thrilled that everything had descended into this exact kind of disarray. After all, hadn’t I wanted this? Hadn’t I whispered to the wind for the veil to tear, for the illusion to shatter? This is what it looked like—power shifting, old orders falling. The High Priestess looked like she wanted to disappear into the floor, and the Elders, for once, were speechless. That was worth every second of pain I had endured. A small, satis
Chapter 32– The One Who Watches the Fire Derek She was fire incarnate. I should’ve looked away. Should’ve intervened. Should’ve done anything—anything—but instead, I stood frozen, watching her become the very storm I’d spent years trying to control, contain, or at the very least, understand. The sacred hall split at its seams, stone groaning beneath the weight of ancient forces clawing free. The protective runes flickered like dying stars, as if the old gods themselves were blinking in disbelief. The Elders gasped, their power unraveling like thread in her presence, while the High Priestess staggered as though her spine had been ripped from her body. And Amara… Amara stood tall, unshaken, the eye of the tempest. As if she had not merely survived the chaos—but had birthed it. Maybe she had. My heart pounded, sharp and erratic. Not from fear—no, it was something deeper. Darker. The kind of dread that only comes when you realize you've spent your entire life playing by rules
Chapter 39: Embers of RebellionAmara – Crescent Moon Pack, North TowerThe wind howled through the open windows of the North Tower, carrying with it the unmistakable scent of something ancient—charred bone mingling with the faint, bitter tang of blooming wolfsbane. It was a scent that felt alive, as if the very air around me was remembering something old, something primal. It lingered in my lungs, tugging at memories I hadn’t dared to revisit.I stood at the edge of the balcony, feeling the cold stone beneath my boots, watching as the full moon cast its pale, silvery light across the courtyard below. The night felt heavy, pregnant with change. The pack was shifting—restless and uneasy. Their energy hummed beneath the stones of the tower, vibrating through the very ground. They could feel it too—the subtle turn of the tide, the stirring of the wolves who’d been dormant for so long. This was the moment everything began to unravel. The end of silence, and the beginning of something wild
Chapter 38: Threat to the pack Luna Susanna’s Council Chamber – Crescent Moon Pack The air in the council chamber was heavy with silence—dense, unyielding, oppressive. It wrapped around us like a shroud, and yet the weight of it came not from the absence of words, but from everything left unsaid. The room—once the very heart of discipline, law, and sacred tradition—now pulsed with the low, crackling hum of rebellion. I stood before them, my grandsons. Wolves born of the same bloodline but carved into entirely different shapes by time, by pain, by ambition. Xander, the storm I never saw coming, stood tall and coiled in the shadows, tension radiating off him in waves. His jaw was clenched, his eyes ice and fire all at once—defiant, unflinching. One hand rested on the hilt of his blade. It wasn’t for show. Since his return, he always kept it close, as if the world offered no safety unless steel was within reach. Derek was seated, his posture deceptively composed, but I knew t
Chapter 37: The stormAmaraThe storm inside me hadn’t calmed—it had only begun to rise.Word of what happened in the forest spread like wildfire. They whispered about the power I’d unleashed, how the trees had trembled and the earth had cracked beneath my feet. Some thought it was a trick. Others said I had used forbidden magic. But the truth was far more dangerous than their speculation—I had awakened something ancient, something primal, and I was no longer the girl who had once begged for a place in this pack.Some feared me now. Others watched me with wary curiosity, uncertain if I was a threat or a miracle. That suited me just fine. Let them wonder. Let them squirm.Let them remember every time they laughed behind my back, every moment they sided with Derek after he rejected me and spun his tale of a heartbroken Alpha protecting the pack from a "dangerous, unstable" woman. Let them remember how easily they sympathized with him—how they painted him as the victim and me as the vill
Chapter 36: True powerAmara,Now that I had this power, this connection with Xander, nothing could hold me back. The bond I shared with him wasn’t just a thread of fate—it was a weapon, a force I hadn’t even begun to understand fully. But I felt it, thrumming through my veins like molten fire. It was a force that had been awakened in me, one that I had never known existed. A strength, a power, so potent that it could level everything in my path.Xander, for all his cold and calculating exterior, had never once shown me his true power. He was the one who had always kept his distance, held his cards close to his chest, as if the world needed to be convinced of his strength. But now, that strength had passed into me—whether I wanted it or not—and it was time to make them all feel it.Derek had no idea what he had unleashed when he betrayed me. He thought he could walk away from this unscathed. He thought the pack would continue to support him, console him, and forgive him as they always
Chapter 35.The FlashbackAmaraI had barely begun to recover from the overwhelming shock of what had happened when I was rushed to the hospital. The emotional toll had been too much for me to bear—my body had betrayed me in the worst way possible. I couldn’t stop shaking, couldn’t stop crying, and my mind kept replaying the image of Derek and that man in the bathroom over and over again. The betrayal was too much.But it wasn’t just the physical pain I had to endure. It was the humiliation that stung the most. I had been so sure of everything—of Derek, of our bond, of my place in the pack. Now, I was left shattered, broken, and uncertain. I was the victim here, and yet it felt like the world was painting me as the one at fault.They all pitied Derek.When I woke up in the hospital, my head foggy with painkillers, the first thing I saw was him. Derek. He was standing at the foot of my bed, a picture of remorse, his face pale, his eyes wide with guilt. His lips trembled as he tried to
Chapter 34 Flashback – The Day Everything Changed Amara I stood before the mirror, my hands trembling as I adjusted the gown for what should have been the most important day of my life. The evening was supposed to be ours—mine and Derek’s. Our mating ceremony. The day we would officially unite our bond before the pack, a promise of forever. The dress, delicate and embroidered with silver, shimmered against the light. Its fabric clung to my body just enough to feel like it belonged to me, each thread whispering of the promises I had clung to for so long. My long hair fell in soft waves around my shoulders, a veil covering my face to add to the mystique. I had never felt more beautiful, more ready to step into this new chapter with the man I loved. But as the minutes ticked by, the excitement began to shift. Derek should have been by my side by now, helping me get ready, reassuring me as we prepared for the ceremony. But he was nowhere to be found. A sudden wave of unease gripp
Chapter 33– The Broken Oath Xander The bond was gone. One moment, it was there—tight and blazing like a chain around my ribs—and the next, it shattered. No warning. No pain. Just… emptiness. It was like dying. I stumbled back from the altar, my breath caught somewhere between a growl and a scream. The sacred circle flickered violently, and then dimmed, lifeless. Every rune, every whispered chant, every drop of ancestral magic—snuffed out by her. Amara. My mate. My fucking mate. She looked at me with those eyes—calm, cold, victorious—and I knew. This wasn’t a mistake. This wasn’t an accident. She had planned it. All of it. The girl who had once bowed her head to me, who had once stood quietly behind her pack’s fall, had just destroyed the one thing I had built this entire future on. The bond. The heirloom bloodline. The legacy. Gone. Burned to ash by the very woman I had dragged back from ruin. And standing beside her like a smug shadow—Derek. My jaw locked
Chapter 32– The One Who Watches the Fire Derek She was fire incarnate. I should’ve looked away. Should’ve intervened. Should’ve done anything—anything—but instead, I stood frozen, watching her become the very storm I’d spent years trying to control, contain, or at the very least, understand. The sacred hall split at its seams, stone groaning beneath the weight of ancient forces clawing free. The protective runes flickered like dying stars, as if the old gods themselves were blinking in disbelief. The Elders gasped, their power unraveling like thread in her presence, while the High Priestess staggered as though her spine had been ripped from her body. And Amara… Amara stood tall, unshaken, the eye of the tempest. As if she had not merely survived the chaos—but had birthed it. Maybe she had. My heart pounded, sharp and erratic. Not from fear—no, it was something deeper. Darker. The kind of dread that only comes when you realize you've spent your entire life playing by rules
Chapter 31– The Power Within Amara, The silence that followed the explosion of magic was thick—alive, even. It curled around every Elder, coiled around the High Priestess like a snake ready to strike. And I stood in the eye of the storm, calm and steady, as if I had been born for this moment. Because, in truth, I had. I didn’t anticipate all of this unfolding so chaotically, not exactly. I hadn’t expected the sacred hall to fracture with raw energy or the Elders to recoil as if they’d seen a ghost from their nightmares. But part of me… part of me was thrilled that everything had descended into this exact kind of disarray. After all, hadn’t I wanted this? Hadn’t I whispered to the wind for the veil to tear, for the illusion to shatter? This is what it looked like—power shifting, old orders falling. The High Priestess looked like she wanted to disappear into the floor, and the Elders, for once, were speechless. That was worth every second of pain I had endured. A small, satis