“Stop Her,” the Alpha King Said When He Noticed the Blind Omega Dancing Alone by the Throne

“Stop Her,” the Alpha King Said When He Noticed the Blind Omega Dancing Alone by the Throne

The waterfall roared behind her like a living thing.

Drowning at everything except the sobs that tore from Saraphane’s chest, she pressed her back against the slick stone wall of the hidden cavern.

Her knees drawn up to her chin, her pale arms wrapped around herself as though she might shatter into a thousand pieces if she let go.

Foolish, she whispered to herself between ragged breaths.

“So foolish to believe it would be different this time.”

The mating ceremony had been set for sunset.

Saraphene had spent three days preparing.

Three days of hope blooming in her chest like the first flowers of spring, Caleum had chosen her.

He had looked into her silver gray eyes and spoken the words of intention before the entire pack.

For once, for the first time in her 23 years, someone had seen path, her sister’s golden beauty, and chosen the quiet Omega with the strange eyes.

And then Evangeline had smiled.

That smile.

Saraphene knew it better than she knew her own reflection.

The slight curve of lips.

The predatory gleam in those amber eyes that everyone else mistook for warmth.

Evangeline had worn that smile when she stole Saraphine’s first suitor at 16.

Again at 19, when a kind beeta from the neighboring territory had shown interest, and now at the ceremony that should have bound Saraphene to her faded mate, Evangeline had worn it once more.

Sister, Evangeline had purred, stepping between Saraphine and Caleum with liquid grace.

Surely you understand.

Some wolves are simply meant for greater things.

Saraphine had watched Caleum’s eyes glaze over, watched his nostrils flare as he caught whatever intoxicating scent Evangeline was releasing, watched him turn away from his intended mate as though Saraphene had never existed at all.

The pack had laughed.

Some had pied.

Most had simply looked away, embarrassed by the spectacle of the unwanted Omega being cast aside yet again.

So Sarapine had run.

She fled through the forest until her lungs burned.

Until the sounds of celebration faded behind her, until she found herself at the ancient waterfall that marked the boundary between packed territories, the cavern behind the cascading water had always been her secret refuge, the one place where no one ever thought to look for her.

Now, as the evening light filtered through the curtain of water in fractured rainbows, Sarapine finally let herself break.

Why, the word escaped her like a wounded animal.

Why am I never enough?

She pressed her forehead to her knees, her dark hair falling around her like a shroud.

The waterfall drowned out the world, but it could not drown the voice in her head that whispered she would always be second, always overlooked.

Always the shadow to her sister’s blazing sun.

The scent reached her before the sound did.

Cedar and winter frost and something deeper, something that made every nerve in her body sing with sudden awareness.

Saraphene’s head snapped up, her silver eyes widening as a massive shadow moved through the waterfall.

A man emerged from the cascade, water streaming from shoulders, broad enough to block out the fading light.

He was impossibly tall, his dark hair, plastered to a face carved from granite and moonlight.

But it was his eyes that stole her breath deep gold burning like captured sunlight fixed on her with an intensity that made her wolf stir for the first time in years.

Who are you?

Saraphine breathed, scrambling backward against the stone.

This is pack territory.

You cannot be here.

The stranger did not answer.

He stood frozen in the shallow pool at the cavern’s entrance, his chest heaving as though he had been running for miles.

His golden gaze swept over her tear stained face, her trembling form, the ceremonial dress now soaked and ruined.

Something shifted in his expression.

Something raw and fierce that made her heart stutter.

When he finally spoke, his voice was low and rough, carrying an authority that made her wolf want to bear its throat in submission.

Mate, the single word echoed off the cavern walls, and Saraphine felt her world tilt on its axis.

No.

The word left Sarapine’s lips before she could stop it, sharp with disbelief.

No, that cannot be.

She pressed herself harder against the stone wall, her heart hammering so violently she was certain he could hear it.

The stranger, this intruder, remained motionless at the cavern’s edge.

Water still dripping from his jaw, his golden eyes never leaving her face.

“You feel it,” he said.

“It was not a question.”

His voice rolled through the space between them like distant thunder.

“The pole, the recognition.”

“Your wolf knows.”

Saraphene shook her head violently.

But even as she denied it, something deep within her stirred.

Her wolf, the quiet, dormant creature that had barely surfaced since she presented as an omega at 13, was suddenly awake, alert, straining toward this stranger with desperate hunger.

“I do not know you,” she managed.

“And I have already been claimed tonight.”

“Or did you not notice the ceremonial dress?”

The stranger’s jaw tightened.

“You wear the dress, yet you weep alone behind a waterfall.

You have been claimed by no one.”

The accuracy of his observation cut deeper than any blade.

Sarah finds chin lifted, a spark of defiance flickering through her grief.

What happens in my pack is none of your concern.

You are trespassing on sovereign territory.

If our alpha discovers you here, your alpha, the stranger interrupted, a dangerous edge entering his tone would do well to explain why I have found my mate crying in a hidden cave wearing another male’s ceremonial colors.

My mate, there it was again.

The words sent a shiver racing down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold.

“Who are you?”

Saraphene whispered.

The stranger stepped forward, and the last rays of evening light caught his features fully for the first time.

High cheekbones, a strong nose, lips that looked carved from determination itself, a thin scar traced from his left temple to his jaw, the mark of someone who had known battle.

But it was the way he carried himself that made her breath catch.

This was not merely a warrior.

This was someone accustomed to command.

My name is Kalin Voss, he said quietly.

Alpha King of the Northern Realm.

The cavern seemed to contract around her.

Saraphan’s vision swam.

The Northern Realm, the vast territory that stretched from the frozen mountain to the shadow forests encompassing 12 packs under a single rule.

The Alpha King, whose name was spoken in whispers, whose power was said to rival the ancient wolves of legend.

That cannot be, she breathed.

The Alpha King is a myth.

A story told to frighten pups into obedience.

Something almost like amusement flickered across his hard features.

“I assure you, little Omega, I am very real.”

He took another step forward.

Close enough now that she could feel the heat radiating from his massive frame and very much standing before my mate.

Sarah’s wolf whimpered inside her chest, not in fear, but in recognition, in longing.

The sensation was so foreign, so overwhelming that tears pricricked her eyes again.

“You have made a mistake,” she said, her voice cracking.

I am no one, a worthless omega from a small pack.

My own intended chose my sister over me.

Not 3 hours passed.

You cannot possibly tell me his name.

The quiet fury in those three words silenced her.

Kalan’s eyes had darkened to molten amber, and the air around him seemed to vibrate with barely contained power.

Tell me the name of the male who dared reject what is mine.

I am not yours.

Sarapine protested weakly.

But even as she spoke, her wolf howled in disagreement.

I do not even know you.

Kalin closed the remaining distance between them in a single stride.

He did not touch her.

Something held him back.

Some thread of restraint that seemed to cost him dearly.

But he lowered himself until his face was level with hers until she could see the flex of bronze in those striking eyes.

Your eyes, he murmured, and his voice had lost its sharp edge, becoming something almost reverent.

They called them cursed, did they not?

Different.

Wrong.

Saraphine flinched.

Her silver gray eyes, the mark that had set her apart since birth, that had made the pack whisper of ill omens and tainted blood.

I have searched 300 years for eyes like yours, Kalan said softly.

Eyes that match the prophecy, eyes that mark the true Luna of the northern realm.

Before Saraphine could process his words, a howl split the night close, hunting, furious.

Then another and another.

Kalin’s head snapped toward the waterfall, his body shifting to place himself between her or the entrance.

“They are coming for you,” he said flatly.

“My pack,” Saraphine realized with growing dread.

“They must have noticed I fled.

My father will not touch you.”

The Alpha King’s voice had turned to steel.

“Not while I draw a breath.”

He turned back to her, and in his eyes she saw something that made her heart clench not possession or demand, but a question, a choice.

Come with me, Kan said.

Let me take you somewhere safe, somewhere you will never be made to feel worthless again.

The howls were growing closer.

Saraphane could hear voices now, her father’s thunderous roar, Evangeline, sharp commands, the baying of wolves who had never once defended her.

She looked at the stranger before her, this alpha king who spoke of prophecy and called her his mate and knew she stood at the edge of an abyss.

“Why should I trust you?”

She whispered.

Kalin extended his hand, palm up, in the ancient gesture of offering because I will spend every moment proving that you should.

Outside, shadows moved through the trees.

Her old life waited to drag her back into its suffocating embrace.

Saraphine placed her trembling hand in his.

The moment their fingers touched, heat flooded through Sarapine’s veins like liquid fire.

She gasped, her knees buckling and would have fallen if Calin had not caught her against his chest.

The bond he murmured against her hair.

It recognizes what your mind has not yet accepted.

Before she could respond, he swept her into his arms as though she weighed nothing at all.

Hold your breath.

What?

They plunged through the warfall.

The cold hit her like a physical blow, stealing whatever breath she had managed to hold.

But Calin’s arms remained steady around her, his body shielding her from the worst of the cascades force when they emerged on the other side.

The forest stretched before them in shades of silver and shadow.

There, a voice rang out through the trees of Angeline’s voice, sharp with triumph.

“I see them,” Kalin set Sarapine on her feet, but kept one hand firmly clasped around hers.

“Can you run?”

“I yes, I think so.”

“Then run.”

They tore through the underbrush together, branches whipping at Sarafine’s face and arms.

Behind them, the sounds of pursuit grew snarls and howls and the heavy thud of paws on forest floor.

Her pack was hunting her.

The realization should have terrified her, but with Kalin’s hand wrapped around hers with his steady presence beside her, she felt something she had not felt in years.

Alive, they burst into a moonlit clearing, and Saraphene stumbled to a halt, her lungs burning.

At the far edge of the open ground, a dozen wolves waited in perfect friation.

Massive creatures with coat of midnight black and winter white, their eyes gleaming with intelligence that marked them as shifters.

“My guard,” Calin said.

“They will escort us to the border.”

“Saraphene,” she spun at her father’s roar.

Alpha Hendrik Ashford emerged from the treeine in human form, his face twisted with rage.

Behind him came Evangeline, still beautiful despite the exertion of the chase, and Caleum, the male who was supposed to be Sir Fine’s mate.

Now watching the scene with glazed confusion.

“You dare,” Henrik snarled, his eyes fixed on Kalin.

“You dare touch my daughter.”

“Your daughter,” Calin replied, his voice dangerously soft.

“Whom you allowed to be humiliated before her entire pack.”

“Your daughter, whom you raised to believe she was worthless.

Your daughter, who is my faded mate?

The clearing went silent.

Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.

Impossible.

Evangeline breathed, and for the first time, fear flickered in her amber eyes.

She cannot be made it to.

You are the alpha king.

I am.

Kalin’s golden gaze swept over Evangeline with cold dismissal.

And you are the sister who has stolen from her time and again.

Yes, I can smell it on you.

The artificial pherommones, the manipulation.

Did you think such tricks would work on me?

Evangeline’s face drained of color.

I do not know what you silence.

The single word carried the weight of absolute authority.

Evangeline’s mouth snapped shut against her will, her eyes widening in shock.

Beside her, Caleum shook his head as though emerging from a fog.

Confusion and dawning horror spreading across his features.

Saraphy, Caleum whispered, looking at her as though seeing her for the first time.

What?

What happened?

Why am I?

You were manipulated, Kalin said flatly.

Your intended has been using forbidden arts to cloud the minds of males.

This one is not the first she has stolen from your sister.

That is a lie, Hendrickk bellowed, stepping forward.

Evangeline would nare.

Would she not?

Kalin’s voice dropped to something almost gentle as he looked at Sarapine.

How many times, little one?

How many males has she taken from you?

Sarapon’s throat tightened.

The years of pain of watching potential mates turn away from her mid-sentence as soon as Evangeline entered the room.

Of being told she was not trying hard enough, that something must be wrong with her.

Three, she whispered.

Three before Caleum.

A low growl rumbled from Kalin’s chest.

Three.

And your pack did nothing.

Your father did nothing.

She lies.

Evangeline screamed, her composure finally cracking.

She has always been jealous of me.

This is her revenge, seducing the alpha king with her pathetic tears.

Enough.

Kalin raised one hand and the wolves of his guard rose as one.

Saraphine is leaving with me.

This is not a negotiation.

This is not a request.

Any attempt to stop us will be considered an act of war against the northern realm.

The blood drained from Hendrick’s face.

War with the Northern Realm would mean annihilation.

Everyone present knew it.

“You cannot simply take her.”

Evangeline hissed.

Desperation making her reckless.

“She belongs to this pack.”

Kalin turned to Saraphine and his hard features softened almost imperceptibly.

“Do you wish to stay?”

Saraphene looked at her father, who had never once defended her.

At Evangelene, whose beautiful face was twisted with hatred, at Caleum, who still seemed lost in confusion.

“No,” she said quietly.

“There is nothing for me here.”

“Then we go.”

Calin swept her into his arms once more, and before anyone could move, he was running faster than any wolf she had ever seen.

His guard flanking them in perfect formation.

The last thing Sarapine heard was Evangeline’s scream of fury echoing through the trees like the cry of a wounded beast.

This is not over, sister.

Do you hear me?

This is not over.

But the wind swallowed the words, and Sarapine closed her eyes, pressing her fate against Kalin’s chest as he carried her toward a future she could not yet imagine.

They traveled through the night, stopping only when the first gray light of dawn began to bleed across the horizon.

By then, Saraphine’s body had surrendered to exhaustion, and she drifted in and out of consciousness, aware only of Kalin’s steady heartbeat beneath her ear and the warmth of his arms around her.

When she finally woke fully, she found herself in a bed softer than clouds beneath blankets that smelled of pine and winter roses.

The room around her was carved from dark stone, but great windows let in streams of pale sunlight, and a fire crackled in a hearth large enough to stand in.

You are awake.

Saraphine turned her head to find an elderly woman seated beside the bed.

Her white hair braided with silver beads, her weathered face kind.

The woman rose and pressed a warm cup into Saraphine’s hands.

Drink, she commanded gently.

Honey and herbs for strength.

You have been through much.

Where am I?

Saraphine managed, her voice rough from disuse.

Thornhaven Castle, heart of the northern realm.

I am Isald, keeper of the kings household.

The woman’s dark eyes twinkled.

And you child have caused quite a stir.

Sarah fine’s cheeks flushed.

I did not mean to cause trouble.

The king kalin he found me and I.

Hush.

Eold patted her hand.

There is no trouble only joy.

We have waited three centuries for you.

Three centuries.

Saraphine frowned.

Kalin said something similar about searching for.

But that cannot be literal.

No wolf lives 300 years.

Ehold’s expression grew serious.

No ordinary wolf child.

But the Alpha King is not ordinary.

None of his bloodline are.

She hesitated, then seemed to reach a decision.

There is much you do not know about the world you have entered.

But such explanations should come from him.

Not me.

As if summoned by her words, the chamber door opened.

Kalin entered, and Saraphine felt her breath catch all over again.

In the morning light, stripped of the drama of their first meeting, he was somehow even more striking.

He had changed into clothes of deep charcoal that emphasized the breath of his shoulders, and his dark hair was still damp from bathing.

“Leave us,” he said to his old, though his eyes never left Saraphine’s face.

The old woman bowed and departed, closing the door softly behind her.

In the silence that followed, Sarapine was acutely aware of her own disheveled state, her hair tangled, her ceremonial dress replaced by a simple sleeping gown she did not remember putting on.

“How do you feel?”

Kalin asked, stopping at the foot of the bed, though uncertain of his welcome.

Confused, Saraphine admitted, frightened, overwhelmed, she paused, but also safe, which makes no sense because I do not know you at all.

The bond, Kalin said quietly.

It creates a sense of security between mates.

Your wolf recognizes me even if your mind does not.

About that, Saraphane set down her cup and met his golden gaze.

You keep calling me your mate, but I have never felt the pull before.

Are not with Caleum, not with anyone.

My wolf has been silent since I was 13.

I thought I thought perhaps I was broken.

Something flickered across Kalin’s features, understanding perhaps or sorrow.

You were not broken.

You were waiting.

He moved closer, lowering himself into the cherries old had vacated.

May I tell you a story?

Sarapine nodded slowly.

300 years ago, Kalin began.

There was a prophecy spoken by the last of the moon seers.

She foretold that the alpha bloodline would face extinction, a curse laid upon us by an enemy we never saw coming.

One by one, the females of my family died without bearing heirs.

My mother, my sisters, my aunts gone.

His voice remained steady, but Sarapine could see the ancient pain in his eyes.

The curse was specific, he continued.

No female born of wolf blood could carry a child of the alphaline.

The only hope was a mate marked by moons eyes, a sign that the curse had no hold over her spirit.

Moons, Saraphine whispered, her hand rising unconsciously to touch the corner of her eye.

Your eyes, Kalin confirmed, the same shade that appeared in the Sears vision.

I have searched every pack, every territory, and every corner of the realm for three centuries.

And I found you crying behind a waterfall, believing yourself worthless.

Sarapan’s throat tightened.

So you need me for for breeding to break a curse?

No.

The word was fierce.

Immediate.

Kalin leaned forward, his hands gripping the arms of the chair as though restraining himself from reaching for her.

I need nothing from you that you do not freely give.

The curse is my burden, not yours.

If you wish to leave, I will ensure your safety anywhere in the realm.

But I found you, Saraphene, and the bond is real.

Whatever happens from this moment forward is your choice.

She studied him in silence, searching for deception and finding none.

This male, this king was offering her something she had never been given before.

A choice.

If I stay, she said carefully.

What happens?

You learn who you truly are.

You discover why your wolf has been silent.

Why your eyes mock you as different.

Why you survived years of your sister’s manipulation when others would have broken.

Kalin’s gaze softened.

And perhaps in time, you allow me to court you properly.

Despite everything, a small smile tugged at Saraphine’s lips.

Court me.

You are the alpha king.

You could simply command.

I could, he agreed.

And something warm flickered in those golden depths.

But I would rather earn what I could take.

You deserve that much, little one.

Before Sarapine could respond, pain lanced through her skull sun, blinding and incomprehensible.

She cried out, clutching her temples as images flooded her mind.

Fire and shadow.

A figure wreathed in darkness.

Evangeline’s face twisted into something inhuman.

And above it all, a voice like poisoned honey.

Did you think you could escape me, little sister?

Serifying, Calin’s voice cut through the agony, his hands suddenly on her shoulders, steadying her.

What is it?

What do you see?

But she could not answer.

The vision held her in its grip.

And through the flames and shadow, she saw something that made her blood run cold.

Evangeline standing over Kalin’s body.

A silver blade buried in his chest and her sister’s triumphant smile as she whispered, “The alpha king falls and his precious mate will watch.”

The vision released her as suddenly as it had struck.

Saraphine collapsed against the pillows, gasping, and her silver eyes wide with terror.

“She is coming,” she breathed.

“My sister, she is coming to kill you.”

Kalin’s expression did not change, but his eyes had turned to molten steel.

“Then she will learn,” he said quietly.

“What happens to those who threaten what is mine?”

The days that followed blurred together in a haze of discovery and wonder.

Thornhaven Castle was nothing like the modest pack house where Saraphene had spent her entire life.

Corridors stretched endlessly, carved from obsidian stone that seemed to drink in the torch light.

Tapestries depicting ancient battles hung from walls three stories high.

And everywhere she walked, wolves bowed their heads in deference.

To her, “They know who you are.”

Eold explained, “On the third morning, guiding Saraphine through the castle gardens.

Word spreads quickly in the northern realm.

The Alpha King has found his maid at last.

But I have done nothing to earn their respect,” Saraphine protested.

I am still the same Omega who could not even keep a mate in her own pack.

Eold stopped walking and turned to face her with surprising intensity.

You are not the same.

You never were what they told you.

The curse that silenced your wolf.

The manipulation that stole your suitors.

None of it was your failing.

You survived what would have destroyed others.

What do you mean the curse that silenced my wolf?

The old woman hesitated, glancing toward the castle as though seeking permission.

That is not my tale to tell.

But know this, child.

Your wolf is not silent.

She is waiting.

And when she finally wakes, Yald’s eyes glittered with something like anticipation.

The realm will tremble.

Before Sarapine could press further, a familiar scent reached her cedar and winter frost, and her heart stuttered traitorously in her chest.

She turned to find Calin approaching across the frost touched gardens, his dark cloak billowing behind him.

He had kept his distance since revealing the prophecy.

Respectful, patient, maddening.

Every morning he sent flowers to her chamber winter roses that bloomed only in the northern realm.

Every evening he dined with her in the great hall, asking about her day, her thoughts, her dreams, never once pressing for more than she offered.

It was driving her slowly insane.

Walk with me, Kalin offered his arm in the formal manner of old.

There is something I wish to show you.

Saraphene hesitated only a moment before accepting.

The contact sent warmth spiraling through her veins, and she wondered if she would ever grow accustomed to the effect he had on her.

He led her through winding paths she had not yet explored, past fountains that somehow flowed despite the winter chill, until they reached a secluded grove at the garden’s heart.

At its center stood an ancient tree, its bark silver white, its branches reaching toward the sky like supplicating arms.

The Moon Whisper Tree, Kala said quietly.

Planted by the first alpha of my line over a thousand years ago.

It is said that the tree reflects the truth of those who stand beneath it.

Saraphine approached slowly, drawn by something she could not name.

The bark seemed to pulse with inner light, and as she reached out to touch it, a jolt of energy raced up her arm.

Images flooded her mind, not the dark visions of her sister, but something older, deeper.

She saw a woman with silver eyes standing before a great assembly of wolves.

She saw moonlight pooling in cupped hands like liquid silver.

She saw herself, but not as she was transformed, powerful, radiant with inner fire.

“What was that?”

She gasped, pulling her hand back.

Kalin’s expression was unreadable.

“The tree showed you something.

What did you see?”

“Myself,” she whispered.

“But different, stronger.

And there was a woman who looked like me standing before hundreds of wolves.”

“The first Luna,” Kalin said.

And his voice held a note of wonder.

The original bearer of moon silver eyes.

She was not merely a mate to the alpha king of her time.

She was his equal in every way.

A healer, a seer, a warrior.

When necessity demanded, he turned to face Sarapine fully.

Her bloodline was thought to have died out centuries ago.

Until you.

You think I am descended from her?

I do not think.

I know.

Kalin stepped closer.

Close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his body.

The tree does not lie.

Saraphene, whatever your pack told you, whatever your sister made you believe, you are not worthless.

You are not weak.

You carry the blood of the most powerful Luna who ever lived.

Tears pricricked at her eyes.

Then why?

Why was my wolf silenced?

Why could I never feel the bond with anyone before you?

Because you were waiting for me, he said simply.

And I for you, the curse that struck my bloodline, it was designed to prevent exactly this union.

Someone knew what would happen if the Alpha King and the Moon Silver Luna ever found each other.

Before he could say more, a horn sounded in the distance.

Three sharp blasts that echoed across the castle grounds.

Kalin’s entire demeanor transformed.

The tender suitor replaced by the Alpha King in an instant.

Intruders at the border, he said grimly.

Stay here.

Do not leave the castle grounds.

Kalin, he cuped her face in his hands, the gesture so sudden and intimate that her breath caught.

Promise me, he demanded.

Whatever happens, whatever you hear, you will not leave these walls.

The intensity in his gaze made her wolf stir with something like, “Fear not of him, but for him.”

“I promise,” she whispered.

He released her and was gone, shifting midstride into a massive black wolf that tore across the gardens toward the distant sounds of chaos.

Saraphine stood alone beneath the moon whisper tree, her heart pounding, her newly awakened senses straining toward the horizon, and carried on the wind, faint but unmistakable.

She heard a laugh she knew better than her own heartbeat.

Evangelene had found her.

The battle at the border raged for hours.

Saraphene paced her chamber like a caged animal.

Every nerve in her body screaming to go to Kalin to help him to stand beside him against whatever threat had come.

But she had promised.

And despite the terror clawing at her chest, she would not break her word.

Eald brought news in fragments.

A rogue pack had attacked the northern border.

Dozens of wolves led by someone whose identity remained unclear.

There had been casualties on both sides, but the alpha king was holding the line.

He is the strongest warrior in the realm, the old woman assured her.

No enemy has ever bested him in combat, but Saraphene had seen the vision.

The silver blade, Kalin’s body falling, and she could not shake the certainty that something was terribly wrong.

Night fell, and still there was no word.

Saraphene stood at her window, watching torches move in the distance like fireflies.

Her wolf paced inside her, more agitated than it had ever been, desperate to break free.

“Please,” she whispered to no one.

“Please let him be safe.”

A knock at her door made her spin.

“Enter!”

But it was not I who stepped through.

It was not anyone from the castle at all.

“Hello, sister.”

Evangeline stood in the doorway, her golden hair cascading over shoulders draped in black silk.

She looked exactly as she always had, beautiful, perfect, and untouchable.

But there was something different in her amber eyes.

Something dark and ancient that made Saraphene’s blood turn to ice.

“How did you get in here?”

Saraphine demanded, backing toward the window.

“The castle is guarded by wolves.”

Evangeline laughed.

The sound like breaking glass.

Wolves are so easily manipulated.

Sister, “You of all people should know that.”

“What do you want?

What I have always wanted?”

Evangeline moved into the room with predatory grace, circling Saraphine like a shark scenting blood.

Everything that should have been mine, the power, the position, the mate.

Kalin will never be yours.

Perhaps not.

Something flickered across Evangelene’s perfect features.

But then I do not need him alive to claim what he possesses.

Saraphine’s heart stuttered.

The attack at the border.

That was you.

A distraction.

Clever little Omega.

Evangeline’s smile widened.

The border attack serves its purpose.

But the true prize is here.

The Northern Realm seat of power.

And you, me, I have nothing you want.

You have everything I want.

Evangeline’s eyes flashed from amber to pitch black.

You want to know a secret, sister?

I am not just a wolf.

I have never been just a wolf.

The power I possess, the ability to manipulate, to control it, comes from somewhere much older, much darker.

What are you?

Saraphene breathed.

I am the curse.

Evangeline’s voice dropped to something inhuman.

I am what has hunted the alpha bloodline for 300 years.

I was placed in your family before you were born.

Waiting for this moment.

Waiting for the moons air to finally appear so I could destroy her before the prophecy could be fulfilled.

Saraphine’s mind reeled.

Not her sister.

Never truly her sister.

Some dark entity wearing Evangeline’s face, plotting for decades, destroying every chance at happiness Saraphine had ever had.

The males I stole from you.

Evangeline continued, her voice a serpent’s hiss.

I did not want them.

I simply could not allow you to bond, to grow strong, to discover what you truly are.

Rage ignited in Sarapine’s chest of fury so profound it burned through everything else.

Deep within her soul, something stirred, something that had been sleeping for 23 years.

Her wolf, it rose not with a whimper, but with a roar that echoed through every fiber of her being.

Power flooded her veins, silver and ancient and absolutely merciless.

Her hands began to glow with pale light.

What?

For the first time, fear flickered across Evangeline’s face.

That is impossible.

Your wolf is bound.

Was bound.

Sarapine growled.

And her voice had changed deeper, resonant with power that was not entirely her own.

But you made a mistake, sister.

You made me feel.

Rage, betrayal.

The desire to protect what is mine.

The light intensified, burning where their skin touched as Evangeline lunged for her throat.

The creature shrieked and stumbled backward, smoke rising from her palms.

This is not over.

The creature wearing her sister’s face snarled.

The curse cannot be broken by one half awakened Omega.

Your precious Alpha King will still fall.

And when he does, you will watch everything you love burn.

Shadows gathered around Evangelene, swirling like a living cloak.

And in an instant, she was gone.

Saraphene collapsed against the wall, gasping, her hands still glowing faintly.

The power that had surged through her was receding now, leaving exhaustion in its wake.

But beneath the exhaustion was something else.

Clarity.

She knew now what she had to do.

The vision had shown her Kalin’s death.

But visions were not certainties.

They were warnings, and she would be damned before she let that warning come true.

Saraphane pushed herself to her feet and ran.

The northern border was chaos.

Sarafine had never run so fast in her life.

Her lungs burned.

Her muscles screamed, but she did not stop.

Could not stop the bond that connected her to Kalin pulsed with increasing urgency.

A beacon guiding her through the darkness.

She burst through the treeine to find a battlefield strewn with fallen wolves.

Some were the black and silver of the northern realm.

Others were strangers, their coats matted with blood and dirt.

The sounds of combat still echoed from deeper in the forest snarls and howls and the unmistakable clash of supernatural forces.

Kalin.

She breathed and the bond flared in response, pulling her forward.

She found him in a clearing ringed by ancient oaks, locked in combat with three wolves that moved with unnatural coordination.

His massive black form was bleeding from a dozen wounds, but his eyes still blazed with golden fury, and every snap of his jaws sent another enemy flying.

But they were not trying to kill him.

Saraphine realized with growing horror they were hurting him, driving him toward the edge of the clearing where a figure waited in the shadows.

Evangeline, her sister.

The creature wearing her sister’s face stood with inhuman stillness, a blade gleaming in her hand, not steel.

Silver, pure silver, deadly to any wolf, forged into a weapon designed to kill kings.

Kalin Saraphine screamed his name, and his head snapped toward her voice.

That moment of distraction was all the enemy wolves needed.

They lunged as one, driving Kalin to the ground, pinning him with their combined weight.

He thrashed and snarled, but even the alpha king could not fight three attackers and maintain his focus on the true threat.

Evangelene stepped forward, raising the silver blade.

How fitting, she purred, that his mate should witness the end.

No power surged through Saraphine, the same power that had burned Evangeline in the castle chamber.

But it was stronger now, fed by desperation and love, and the primal need to protect her mate.

Her mate.

The word echoed through her mind with absolute certainty.

Kalin was hers, had always been hers, and she would die before she let him be taken from her.

The change came without warning.

Saraphene had never shifted before.

Her wolf had been silent for so long that she had forgotten the sensation was even possible.

But now, as rage and love and desperate power collided in her heart, her body erupted.

Bones cracked and reformed.

Muscles tore and rebuilt themselves in new configuration.

Fur the color of moonlight burst from her skin.

A hell ripped from her throat that shook the trees themselves.

When the transformation completed, she stood on four legs, her coat shimmering with silver light, her eyes blazing with moon silver fire.

Her wolf was massive, nearly as large as Kalin’s own form, the wolves pinning Kalin froze, their instincts screaming at them to flee.

Even Evangeline took a step backward, her black eyes widening.

Impossible.

The creature breathed.

The binding should have held for another decade at least.

Saraphine did not waste breath on words.

She launched herself at the nearest enemy wolf and her jaws closed around its throat with lethal precision.

The creature dissolved into shadow.

The second wolf met the same fate.

The third tried to flee, but Kalin was already free and his vengeance was swift.

Then they stood together, the Alpha King and his Moonsilver mate.

Facing the darkness that had haunted both their bloodlands for centuries, Evangeline raised the Silver Blade.

Prophecies can be broken.

Destinies can be rewritten.

She moved with inhuman speed.

The blade arsing toward Calin’s heart, but Sarapine was faster.

She threw herself between them, and the silver blade meant for her mate buried itself in her chest instead.

The pain was beyond anything she had ever known.

Silver burned through her veins like liquid fire.

She collapsed.

Shifting back to human form as her body convulsed.

No.

Kalin’s anguished roar shattered the night.

He shifted and caught her before she hit the ground, cradling her against his chest.

No, no, no, Saraphene, stay with me.

Blood soaked through her ruined dress.

The silver blade protruded from just below her heart.

Each beat pushing more poison through her system.

How touching!

Evangeline sneered, circling them.

The Omega dies for her king, but ultimately meaningless.

Without the moon’s silver bloodline, the curse remains.

Kalin’s golden eyes lifted to meet Evangeline’s black gaze, and what Saraphene saw there made even her fading consciousness shiver.

Rage, pure and absolute.

You think I will let her die?

His voice was barely human.

“You think I have waited three centuries only to lose her now?”

He bent his head to Saraphine’s throat, to the place where her pulse fluttered weakly against her skin.

“Forgive me, my love,” he whispered.

But I will not let you go.

And then his teeth pierced her flesh.

The mating bite.

Power exploded between them.

A connection so profound it transcended the physica.

Saraphine felt Kaan’s essence pour into her his strength, his will, his absolute refusal to accept her death.

It merged with her own power.

The moon’s silver light that had been awakening inside her.

And together they became something greater than either could be alone.

The silver poison began to recede.

What?

Evangeline stumbled backward.

That is not possible.

Should have killed a normal wolf.

Saraphin rasp, her eyes fluttering open, blazing now with combined gold and silver.

But I am not normal, and neither is he.

She reached up and pulled the blade from her own chest.

The wound already beginning to close.

The silver that had been poisoned moments ago now flowed through her veins as power.

Transformed by the completed mate Bond, Saraphene rose to her feet, supported by Kalin’s arm around her waist.

Together, they faced the creature that had tormented them both for so long.

The prophecy spoke of two bloodlines united, Kalin said.

The Alpha King and the Moon Silver Luna joined as one.

Only together could they break the curse.

And now we are joined.

Saraphine finished lifting the silver blade in her hands.

It glowed with pale light.

Shall we see what a united cursebreaker can do?

Evangeline’s black eyes darted between them, genuine terror crossing that stolen face.

I am ancient.

I am eternal.

I will return.

No, Saraphine said simply.

You will not, she threw the blade.

It flew straight and true, guided by moons power and three centuries of accumulated vengeance.

It struck Evangeline directly in the heart, and the creature screamed a sound that seemed to come from the depths of hell itself.

Shadows erupted from her form, writhing and twisting in their death throws.

The beautiful facade crumbled, revealing something dark and shapeless beneath.

And then, with a final whale of defeated fury, it dissolved into nothing.

The curse was broken.

Saraphene swayed, and Kalin caught her immediately.

He pulled her against his chest, his face buried in her hair, his body trembling with emotions held in check for 300 years.

“You foolish, brave, impossible woman.”

He breathed against her temple.

“You could have died.”

“So could you,” she whispered back.

And I was not about to let that happen.

He pulled back just enough to look at her and she saw tears tracking down his face.

“My mate,” he said, and the word held all the reverence of a prayer.

“My Luna, my heart.”

Sarapine reached up to touch his face.

“I love you,” she said.

And the words felt like coming home.

“I think I have loved you since you walked through that waterfall.”

Kellen’s answering smile was sunrise after an endless night.

“And I have loved you for 300 years, Sarafon.

I simply did not know your face until now.

He kissed her then, beneath the ancient oaks, surrounded by the aftermath of battle and the dawn of something new.

One month later, the northern realm had never seen such a celebration.

Thornhaven castle blazed with a thousand torches, their light reflecting off banners of black and silver that hung from every tower.

Wolves had traveled from all 12 territories to witness what many had believed would never come to pass the mating ceremony of their alpha king and his luna.

Saraphene stood before the mirror in her chambers, hardly recognizing the woman who gazed back at her.

Gone was the timid Omega who had hidden behind waterfalls and believed herself worthless.

In her place stood someone new, shoulders straight, chin lifted, silver eyes blazing with quiet power.

The gown she wore had been crafted by the realm’s finest seamstresses.

Moon silver silk that seemed to shimmer with inner light.

Around her throat, she wore a single pendant of black stone set in silver.

Kalin’s mating gift containing a fragment of the moon whisper tree.

“You look like a queen,” Eold said softly from behind her.

“I feel like I am dreaming,” Sarafine admitted.

“Part of me still expects to wake up behind that warfall, alone and unwanted.”

“That girl is gone.”

Eold moved to stand beside her, meeting her eyes in the mirror.

She served her purpose.

She survived long enough to find her true destiny.

But she is not who you are anymore.

A knock at the door drew their attention.

My lady, it is time.

The great hall had been transformed.

Thousands of candles floated overhead, held a loft by magic older than the castle itself.

Wolves in human form lined the walls, their eyes tracking Saraphine’s progress down the central aisle with expressions of awe, but Saraphine saw none of it.

Her entire world had narrowed to the figure waiting at the far end of the hall.

Kalin stood before the ancient throne dressed in ceremonial black that made his golden eyes burn like captured sons when she reached him.

He extended his hand and she placed her fingers in his palm without hesitation.

“You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” he murmured low enough that only she could hear.

“You have seen me covered in blood and dirt, half dead from silver poisoning,” she whispered back.

“And you were beautiful then, too.”

The elder who would perform the ceremony stepped forward, his white hair falling past his waist.

We gather tonight to witness a union 300 years in the making.

His voice carried effortlessly to every corner.

The prophecy spoke of this moment.

And now at last it comes to pass.

He turned to Kalin.

Alpha King Kalanvos.

Do you claim this woman as your mate?

Do you vow to protect her, to honor her, to stand beside her until your spirits return to the moon?

I do.

Kalin’s voice rang with absolute certainty.

I have claimed her in battle and in blood.

I claim her now in love and in light.

She is my mate, my Luna, my heart.

The elder turned to Saraphine.

Saraphine of the Moon Silver Line.

Do you claim this man is your mate?

Do you vow to stand beside him to rule with him to be his strength when he falters and his shelter when storms reach?

Saraphene looked into Kllin’s golden eyes, the same eyes that had found her, crying behind a waterfall that had seen her worth when no one else had.

I do, she said, and her voice did not waver.

He found me when I was lost.

He saw me when I was invisible.

He loved me when I believed myself unlovable.

I claim him as my mate, my alpha, my everything.

Then by the authority vested in me by the moon herself, I declare this bond sealed.

Kellen cradled her face in his hands with infinite tenderness.

Then tilted her head gently to the side and pressed his mouth to the mark he had already made.

When his teeth sank in, renewing the bond, Saraphine gasped, not in pain, but in overwhelming sensation.

Their minds crashed together, and she felt his love vast and endless as the northern sky.

When he finally lifted his head, the hall erupted in howls of celebration.

Later, on the balcony overlooking the vast expanse of the northern realm, Kalin turned her to face the horizon.

Across the landscape, thousands of wolves had gathered, their voices lifted in a song that shook the foundations of the earth.

“They are singing for you,” Kalin murmured.

“For their Luna, the one who broke the curse, the one who saved their king.”

Tears streamed down Sarah Fine’s face.

I do not deserve this.

You deserve this and more.

He cupuffed her face so she had no choice but to meet his eyes.

You deserve to be loved fiercely and completely.

You deserve to stand in the light instead of hiding in shadows.

Kalan, for 300 years, I existed.

I ruled.

I fought.

But I was not truly alive.

I was waiting waiting for you without knowing your face or your name.

And now that I have found you, I understand what all those centuries were for.

What were they for?

She asked softly to make me worthy of you.

Saraphine kissed him then, pouring everything into the press of her lips against his.

The bond between them sang with completion with the absolute certainty that they had been made for each other.

When they finally broke apart, Kalin’s eyes held a question.

Are you ready to rule beside me, my Luna?

Saraphine smiled full and bright and utterly unafraid.

I survived 23 years believing I was worthless.

I survived a curse designed to destroy me.

I survived a silver blade to the heart.

She traced the scar on his jaw.

I think I can handle whatever comes next.

Together, they turned to face the howling wolves, the moonlit realm, the future that stretched before them bright with promise.

She had started this journey as an omega no one wanted.

Crying behind a waterfall because her sister had stolen yet another chance at happiness.

She ended it as the Luna of the northern realm.

Made it to a king who would burn the world for her.

And as the moon rose full and silver above them, Saraphane made a silent vow.

She would never hide again.

She would never believe herself unworthy again.

She would stand in the light beside her mate.

And together they would build something that would last for eternity.

Because that was what true mates did.

They found each other against impossible odds.

They fought for each other when all seemed lost.

And they loved each other fiercely, completely eternally until the stars themselves burned out.

Thank you so much for listening.

I hope you enjoyed the story.

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Until next time, take care of yourselves and remember, your true mate might be just around the corner when you least expect