Chapter 22 – The Blood Oath
557 Words
The moon hung high and red in the sky, casting its eerie glow across the Shadow Forest. Trees swayed as if whispering ancient secrets. Seraphina stood alone, her crimson cloak wrapped tightly around her body. Her heart pounded like a drum as she neared the sacred circle of stones—the place where the oath would be made.
The Alpha King's command still echoed in her mind:
"Find the witch. Make the blood oath. Or you will never be free."
Seraphina never wanted freedom more than she did now. Not from the pack. Not from the curse. But from the pain of loving someone she could never have—King Theron.
“You came,” a voice slithered through the darkness.
Out of the shadows stepped the witch. Lady Morritha. Her eyes glowed like dying embers, and in her hand, she held a dagger carved from obsidian.
“I came for the oath,” Seraphina replied, her voice steady, though her body trembled.
The witch sneered. “Even if it means tying your soul to the Alpha King forever?”
Seraphina hesitated.
Was this what she wanted?
To stay by his side, even if it broke her completely?
She saw him again in her mind—his piercing gaze, the way his hands had held her trembling form the night they first kissed. How he had pulled away the next morning and pretended it had never happened.
She clenched her fists. “Yes. Even then.”
The witch motioned toward the altar stone. “Cut your palm. Let the blood touch the stone. Speak his name, and bind your fate.”
Seraphina stepped forward. The dagger was cold and heavier than she expected. As she pressed it to her palm, she thought of the prophecy—the one carved into the ancient scrolls of the Moon Keepers:
"When the wolf falls for the flame, the kingdom will burn."
She wasn’t just any flame. She was fire itself.
With a swift motion, she sliced her palm. Blood dripped onto the altar, sizzling as it touched the stone.
“I, Seraphina of the Ember Bloodline, swear my life to King Theron of the Ironfang Pack.”
Thunder cracked in the distance.
Morritha cackled. “It is done.”
But Seraphina felt no change. No magic. Just emptiness.
Until she turned around.
Standing at the edge of the circle was Theron.
His golden eyes locked with hers.
“You made the oath.”
“I had to.”
He stepped forward. “Do you even know what you’ve done?”
Seraphina’s voice cracked. “Saved your throne. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
Theron’s jaw tightened. “No. I never wanted this. I wanted to protect you. To keep you away from this fate.”
She laughed bitterly. “Too late.”
He moved toward her, gripping her shoulders. “You’re mine now. You understand that, don’t you? Bound by blood. You can’t walk away.”
“And if I wanted to?”
He didn’t answer. He couldn’t.
The silence between them was heavier than the night sky.
“I’ll never forgive you,” she whispered.
Theron looked down. “And I’ll never forgive myself.”
Behind them, the witch disappeared into the fog. The ritual was complete. The bond sealed. And the betrayal between hearts had only begun.
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- Writer
