3.Blood Moon
1497 Words
°RYDER°
The elder’s voice cuts through the blood-pounding roar in my ears.
It sounds like it’s underwater—distant, drowned by the surge inside me.
The whole room—dozens of Alphas, smug politicians, old bastards in ceremonial robes—all watching me. Waiting for the monster to step forward. To see the Alpha who hasn’t stepped out of his territory in two years.
My wolf is already moving. Prowling beneath my skin like fire in my veins, snarling against bone and restraint. The Blood Moon pulses above like a wound in the sky, staining the chandelier red. The glass trembles. The air splits wide open.
It feels like the universe itself is holding its breath.
But I don’t move.
Not yet.
And she’s standing there—right there—in white and silver, trying to look composed. Trying to act like she didn’t feel me the moment I crossed that door. Like her wolf didn’t just scream what mine already did.
Mate.
I stare at her.
My mate.
Standing beneath the Blood Moon, bleeding for some other bastard.
My chest tightens. The muscles in my jaw lock. My fist curls.
The urge to rip her away from all of this is nearly blinding.
I shouldn’t be here. I swore I wouldn’t come.
But she chose the Blood Moon.
Knowing damn well what it meant.
She lit the match. She just didn’t expect me to walk into the fire or did she?
I force my feet forward. Every step across the ceremonial hall echoes like thunder. Someone finally says it—
“Alpha Ryder Williams.”
The distance between us shrinks. The tension stretches, cracks. Her shoulders stiffen. But she doesn’t look at me.
Coward. Brave. Both.
Her scent hits me like a punch to the gut.
Rose and rain—sharp, wild, familiar.
Like spring after a funeral. Like home after a war.
I breathe it in. Choke on it.
But she doesn’t.
Of course she doesn’t.
Kara Livingston was always good at pretending.
She turns. Her glowing eyes meet mine.
And my wolf surges forward—feral, unstoppable, growling his claim.
Mine. Mate. Ours.
Her wolf answers instantly with a growl of her own. She staggers back.
That sound—Gods, I’ve missed it.
Still pretending?
Now it’s too late.
When the Blood Moon rose, I should’ve turned my back. Let her marry that golden-haired coward standing beside her.
But no.
When my Beta handed me the invitation, her name inked in gold beneath another man’s—I saw red. And the scent hit me—faint traces of her still clinging to the card.
It shouldn’t have mattered.
But it did.
And now I’m here. Standing before her like a curse she summoned on herself.
A war rages inside me.
My heart is a battlefield. My breath, a weapon.
My wolf howls every time I try to look away. And I hate that I want to give in. That even now, with every reason to walk—every scar, every betrayal—I still ache just to touch her.
How can you want what you swore you’d never forgive?
How do you breathe near someone who once made you feel invincible—and then made sure you’d never feel anything again?
I want to lash out. I want her to flinch the way I did.
But I also want her to turn to me. To run to me.
I feel sick.
I feel alive.
Aleric steps in front of her, growling. “What are you doing, Ryder?”
“Claiming what’s mine.”
“She’s mine,” he hisses.
Pathetic.
“She was never yours,” I snarl, my wolf rising with me.
“She gave her blood.”
Like that means anything. A woman who doesn’t care about hearts shouldn’t speak of blood.
“But not her vow,” I say coldly. “And her wolf has already answered me.”
And she answers again. Loud. Fierce.
“Enough! This is a ceremony—she’s already promised!” Richard growls.
Promised?
She was made for me.
“Then let me make it official.” I take a step closer. “I invoke the Blood Moon Claim.”
Gasps. Whispers. Chaos rippling like fire.
“You understand the consequences?” the elder asks.
“I do,” I say, eyes locked on her.
“Kara Livingston. Do you accept the mate claim of Alpha Ryder Williams?”
She doesn’t speak.
My wolf surges again. The Blood Moon above. Her scent around me. It’s all driving him insane.
But she’s still composed. Always the clever one.
My wolf claws at my chest, furious and aching, growling her name with every breath. He doesn’t care that she left.
He just knows she’s ours.
And he’s louder. Stronger. Wilder.
Take her. Claim her. Ours.
I grit my teeth.
“...Yes.”
Her voice is quiet. But it slams through me like a blade.
It guts me open.
Her father roars. Aleric lunges. Chaos erupts.
Yes.
This is what she deserves.
“They’re faking it!” Aleric yells, grabbing her wrist.
I clench my jaw. “Are we?”
Before anyone can stop me, I move. Cross the space, grab a nearby omega, and pull her forward.
Only one person realizes what I’m doing.
“Ryder!”
Her voice. My name.
It hits harder than any punch.
Fuck that.
I crash my lips to the omega’s.
“Ahh!”
A scream tears across the room—her's.
She clutches her chest like something just split her in two. Her wolf howls. Mine answers, twisted in rage and triumph.
I shove the omega away and turn back.
Kara’s eyes shine with tears—but her spine stays steel.
She doesn’t break.
Good. Let her feel it and survive it. Just like I did.
“This is the proof,” the elder says. “Only a true mate’s betrayal causes pain without a mark.”
“But she was already promised!” Richard shouts.
“No vow is greater than the Blood Moon,” the elder snaps. “The Moon Goddess herself has spoken. Be grateful your daughter was chosen.”
The Moon Goddess made a mistake.
Or maybe she’s giving me a chance to make one.
“This can’t be real,” Aleric spits. “She’s not his.”
“Silence!”
“The wolves have answered. The Moon has blessed. There is no law above this bond,” the elder declares.
“We bear witness to the union created by the Moon herself.”
The guards drag Aleric and Richard down.
“Alpha Ryder… claim your Luna.”
Claim my Luna.
Or my mistake.
I step forward. Slow. Deliberate.
She’s trying so hard not to shake. Not to show the effect I have on her.
Each step is a war between instinct and memory.
My wolf snarls—Mine. Ours. Now.
But my mind remembers.
Remembers how she left me bleeding.
And never came back.
She doesn’t flinch.
Of course she doesn’t.
Still proud. Still sharp-jawed.
But her hands tremble.
Good.
Let her feel a fraction of what I’ve felt.
I stop in front of her.
The bond pulses between us like a live wire.
My skin buzzes. My blood riots.
My wolf is losing his mind. He’s clawing at my insides, like he’d rip through my skin just to mark her—right here, in front of them all.
And maybe I want that.
Maybe I want to ruin her the way she ruined me.
Or maybe… I just want to touch her once
without all the lies in the way.
“You’re trembling,” I murmur, low enough that only she can hear.
Her eyes narrow. But I catch it—the hitch in her breath.
“You’re imagining things.”
“Am I?”
“You’re playing a dangerous game.”
“So are you.”
“Why did you plan your wedding on the Blood Moon?”
“Why did you come?” she asks—quiet, sharp. But her throat moves. A flicker. A swallow.
She’s not as untouched by this as she wants to be.
She knew why I came.
And I knew why she chose tonight.
We’ll never say it. But we both know.
We always do.
The room disappears.
I lean in. My lips brush the curve of her jaw. Just above where my mark should go.
Her scent—rose, wild, mine—wraps around me like it never left.
For one heartbeat, I let myself submerge in it.
Then, I whisper—
“Because you’re mine. To love. To ruin. To hate.”
She exhales like I stabbed her.
And I pull back before I do something worse.
The elder clears his throat.
“We must witness the bond.”
I take her hand—
And the world tilts.
Her skin against mine.
My wolf howling.
And nothing has ever felt more right.
Or more wrong.
- Writer
