The Fifteenth Morning

Chapter 9: Her Wolf Awakens

The howl did not stop.

Kael's wolf was still on its knees, but its head was thrown back, howling at the ceiling of the Great Hall. It was not a howl of pain. It was a howl of claiming. A howl that every wolf in the Northern pack had heard only once in their lives - when an Alpha found his true Luna.

Aria was frozen. The silver mark on her shoulder was still glowing, and now the light was spreading. It was not burning anymore. It was warm. Like moonlight was pouring into her veins.

"Her wolf... is awake," Elder Mara whispered, and then she dropped to her knees too. "The Blessed Luna has returned."

One by one, the hundred wolves in the hall started kneeling. Not to Kael. To Aria. The wolfless widow they had called cursed for two years.

Aria couldn't breathe. "What... what are you all doing? Stop!"

Kael finally moved. He pulled her closer, his arms still around her, his golden eyes now back to normal, but filled with something she had never seen before. Awe. And fear.

"Aria, listen to me," he said, his voice low so only she could hear. "You need to control it. Your wolf has been sleeping for years. If you don't control it now, it will take over."

"I don't have a wolf!" she cried, but even as she said it, she felt it. Inside her chest. A second heartbeat. A soft growl that was not Kael's. It was hers.

For three years she was told she was wolfless. After her mate Jax died on the battlefield, they said her wolf died with him. That she had killed him with her curse. That she was empty.

But she was not empty. She had never been empty.

"I feel her," she whispered, tears falling down her face. "I feel her."

Kael's hand, which was hovering over her glowing mark, finally touched it.

The moment his skin touched the silver light, the hall went silent.

A wave of pure power exploded from Aria's shoulder. It threw Kael back, but gently, like a wind. The silver light burst out of her body and hit every wolf in the room.

And for a second, everyone saw it.

Not Aria the cursed widow. They saw a wolf. A giant, pure white wolf with silver eyes and small white flowers blooming around its paws where it stepped. A wolf made of moonlight.

Aria gasped and fell back. The vision was gone. The mark was still glowing, but softer now. And inside her head, she heard a voice for the first time in three years.

Finally. You finally let me breathe.

Aria's hands went to her mouth. "Did... did you hear that?"

Kael was staring at her, his own wolf growling inside him, but not in anger. In submission. "That was your wolf. What's her name?"

"I... I don't know," Aria said. She closed her eyes and focused inside, on that second heartbeat. "What is your name?"

The voice laughed, soft and warm. I am Lyra. And we have been caged for too long.

"Lyra," Aria whispered out loud. "Her name is Lyra."

Elder Mara started crying loudly now. "Lyra! The Blessed Luna's wolf was named Lyra! It is in the prophecy! Chapter 4 of the old book - The white wolf Lyra will return when the pack is on the edge of war!"

Kael stood up slowly. He looked at his pack - his entire pack - on their knees in front of his brother's widow. His brother's widow who was now glowing like the Moon Goddess herself.

He had hated her for two years. He had forced her into this marriage to save his pack's reputation after Jax died. He had called her cursed, wolfless, a burden. He had told her she would never be his Luna, only a name on paper.

And now his wolf was whispering one word in his head over and over.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

Not brother's widow. Not burden. Mate. His true, blessed mate.

"Aria," he said, and his voice broke. He went back down on one knee, but this time not because his wolf forced him. This time he chose to. He took her trembling hands in his. "For two years, I called you cursed. I was a fool. Will you... will you ever forgive me?"

Aria looked at him - Kael Blackwood, the Ruthless Alpha, the man who had never apologized to anyone in his life, kneeling in front of her, in front of everyone.

And inside her, Lyra growled, but not in hate. In power.

He rejected us. He let them call us cursed. Make him earn it.

Aria took a deep breath. The glow on her shoulder finally faded, leaving behind a new mark. Not grey and dull like before. It was silver. Pure silver, with tiny white flowers around it that seemed to move when she breathed.

She stood up. On her own. For the first time, she did not need Kael to hold her up.

"I don't know, Alpha Kael," she said, her voice still shaking, but loud enough for the whole hall to hear. "You said I was never going to be your Luna. You said I was wolfless. So why are you kneeling now?"

The whole pack held its breath.

Kael looked up at her, and for the first time since she had known him, the Ruthless Alpha looked... helpless. Completely at the mercy of the woman he had called wolfless.

"Because you are my Luna," he said simply. "My blessed Luna. And I will spend the rest of my life proving it to you if you let me."

Aria stared at the hundred wolves still on their knees. At Elder Mara crying with joy. At Kael kneeling in front of her.

Two years she was called cursed. Today, she was called blessed.

And her wolf, Lyra, was finally awake.

She was not going to bow again. Not to anyone.

To be continued.

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