The silver bolt burned like liquid fire in Cedric’s shoulder.
Alaric’s triumphant sneer twisted as he raised his sword for the killing blow.
“The Sullivan line ends tonight!”
But Rowena moved like lightning.
The iron poker she had used earlier flew from her hand, striking Alaric’s wrist with a sickening crack.
The crossbow clattered to the floor.
In that split second, Cedric roared and lunged.
His clawed hand closed around Alaric’s throat, lifting the traitor clear off the ground.
“You murdered my brother,” Cedric snarled, voice distorted by the partial shift.
“You hunted his mate.
You threatened my Luna.
”
Alaric choked, eyes bulging with terror.
“Buckley… promised me the throne…”
With a brutal twist, Cedric snapped his neck.
The traitor’s body dropped lifeless among his fallen guards.
The two surviving soldiers immediately fell to their knees, baring their throats in total submission.
Rowena rushed to Cedric, tearing more fabric from her dress to staunch the silver wound.
“You reckless fool,” she whispered, tears streaming down her face as she pressed the cloth against his shoulder.
Their eyes met, and the mate bond flared hot between them—raw, undeniable, and full of centuries of waiting.
Vivian, still weak but now in human form, cradled her newborn son.
“Arthur,” she murmured, kissing the baby’s silver hair.
“Your father would be so proud.
”
The next days were a whirlwind of blood and justice.
Cedric’s loyal forces swept through the castle at dawn.
Lord Richard Buckley, Rowena’s treacherous uncle, was dragged from his eastern stronghold in chains.
During a public trial in the Great Hall, his crimes were laid bare: the false accusation against Rowena’s father, the ambush on Lord Arthur, and the conspiracy with Alaric to seize power.
Rowena stood beside Cedric, no longer in rags but in a deep emerald gown that matched her eyes.
When she testified, her voice rang clear and strong across the hall.
The nobles who once scorned her now listened in stunned silence.
Buckley was executed at sunset.
As his head rolled, the kingdom breathed its first free breath in months.
In the quiet aftermath, Cedric took Rowena to the moonlit balcony overlooking the kingdom.
The silver wolf—Vivian—rested nearby with little Arthur, now healthy and cooing softly.
“I never dreamed my mate would be the woman brave enough to hide a pregnant wolf in my own stables,” Cedric said, pulling her close.
His shoulder was still bandaged, but the silver poison was fading thanks to her herbal care.
Rowena leaned into his chest, listening to his strong heartbeat.
“I never dreamed the terrifying Alpha King would kneel for a stable girl and a wolf.
”
Their first kiss was slow, deep, and filled with every fear, every hope, and every moment of longing they had endured apart.
The mate bond sang between them, golden threads of fate weaving their souls together.
A week later, under a full moon, Cedric crowned Rowena as his Luna in a ceremony that united the packs.
Vivian stood proudly beside them, her son wrapped in royal furs.
The kingdom that had once whispered of curses now celebrated the return of balance.
Months turned into years.
Little Arthur grew strong, shifting for the first time on his fifth birthday, much to his mother’s tearful joy.
Rowena bore Cedric two children of their own—a fierce daughter with her mother’s courage and a son who carried the Alpha’s golden eyes.
The House of Sullivan flourished.
The stables where it all began were transformed into a sanctuary for rescued animals and a training ground for young healers.
Rowena established schools of herbal medicine across the realm, ensuring no one would ever suffer in silence again.
On quiet nights, Cedric would find his Luna in the royal gardens, the same silver wolf—Vivian—resting at her feet while their children played.
He would wrap his arms around her and whisper the words that had changed everything:
“I went looking for peace that night… and found my entire world.
”
Their love story became legend—the Alpha King who found his destined mate not on a throne, but sleeping in the hay beside a pregnant wolf who refused to abandon her.
And in the kingdom of Oak Haven, no one ever mocked the “cursed” or the broken again.
Because sometimes, the greatest treasures are hidden in the places others fear to look.
The End
