The Fifteenth Morning

Chapter 8: The Blessed Mark Burns

Aria couldn't breathe.

The entire hall was silent. Every wolf in the pack was staring at her, their mouths open in shock.

Because Kael's wolf was kneeling.

The most ruthless Alpha in the Northern pack, the man who was supposed to be her husband's brother, the man who hated her for being wolfless, for being cursed - his wolf was on its knees in front of her. His head bowed low, his golden eyes closed in submission.

This had never happened before. An Alpha never kneels. Especially not for a wolfless widow.

"What... what is happening?" Elder Mara whispered, her old hands trembling.

Kael himself looked as shocked as everyone else. He was on his knees, his body shaking as he fought his own wolf. "What are you doing? Get up!" he growled at his wolf, but his wolf didn't listen.

His wolf only had eyes for Aria.

Aria took a step back, her hand going to her throat. "I... I didn't do anything. I swear!"

But then she felt it. A burning sensation on her shoulder. Right where her dead mate had marked her years ago. That old, faded mark that had turned grey after his death suddenly started to burn like fire.

"Ah!" she cried out, falling to her knees as well.

Kael's head snapped up. His wolf let out a loud howl that shook the walls. In a second, he was beside her, his arms around her.

"Aria! What is it?"

"The mark... it's burning!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her face. The pain was unbearable, like someone was branding her with hot iron.

Elder Mara suddenly screamed. "The Blessed Luna! The prophecy! Look at her mark!"

Everyone looked. Aria's dress had slipped from her shoulder, and there, where the dull grey mark used to be, a new mark was glowing. It was not grey anymore. It was silver. Pure, bright silver, with light coming out of it like moonlight. And around it, small, delicate white flowers were blooming on her skin, made of light.

The mark of the Blessed Luna. The mark that should not exist, as Chapter 6 said. The mark that had disappeared for a hundred years.

"Impossible," Kael whispered, his fingers hovering over the glowing mark, not daring to touch it. "You... you are the Blessed Luna? But they said you were wolfless. Cursed."

Aria was crying from the pain, but also from the confusion. "I don't know what this is! I have been called cursed since my mate died! They said I killed him! That I am wolfless!"

"You are not wolfless, child," Elder Mara said, tears now in her old eyes as she knelt down beside Aria. "Your wolf was never gone. She was just sleeping. Waiting for the right Alpha to wake her. Waiting for her true blessed mate."

Kael's wolf howled again, louder this time, and finally, Kael understood. His wolf was not kneeling because it was defeated. It was kneeling because it had found its Luna. Its blessed Luna. Its true mate.

All this time, he thought he was forced to marry his brother's widow to protect the pack. He thought she was a burden. But she was his destiny.

"Aria," Kael said, his voice no longer cold and ruthless. It was soft, broken. "My wolf... he says you are ours. You are our mate. Our blessed mate."

Aria looked at him through her tears, the silver mark still glowing brightly on her shoulder, lighting up her face.

"But you rejected me. Your whole pack rejected me. You said I was cursed."

"And I was a fool," he said, and in front of the entire pack, the ruthless Alpha who never bowed to anyone, bowed his head and placed his forehead on her glowing shoulder. "Forgive me, my Luna. Forgive my pack. We called you cursed when you were actually blessed."

The moment his skin touched her glowing mark, the burning stopped. The pain vanished. Instead, a warm, powerful energy flowed through both of them. Aria gasped as she felt something wake up inside her chest. A soft growl, a second heartbeat.

Her wolf. Her wolf was finally awake.

And Kael's wolf, finally satisfied, stood up, tall and proud, and howled to the moon, declaring to the whole world that he had found his Blessed Luna.

And his wolf would never let anyone call her cursed ever again.

Aria couldn't breathe. Her knees had hit the cold stone floor of the Great Hall, but she didn't feel the pain. She couldn't feel anything except the burning on her shoulder.

The entire pack was silent. A hundred wolves, men and women who had spent the last two years calling her cursed, wolfless, a widow who brought death, were now staring at her with wide, terrified eyes.

Because Kael was kneeling.

Kael Blackwood. The Ruthless Alpha. Her dead husband's elder brother. The man who had forced her into this marriage to save his pack's reputation, the man who had looked at her with nothing but disgust since the wedding night in Chapter 2. He was on his knees in front of her.

Not as a man. As a wolf.

His wolf had taken over. His eyes were glowing a fierce golden color, his canines sharp, his entire body trembling as he bowed his massive head low to the ground. An Alpha never bows. An Alpha never kneels. Especially not for a woman they called a wolfless widow.

"What in the name of the Moon Goddess is happening?" Elder Mara whispered, her voice shaking. Her old hands clutched her staff tightly.

Kael growled at his own wolf, trying to fight it. "What are you doing? Get up! You are an Alpha! You don't kneel for her!"

But his wolf didn't listen. His wolf let out a low, mournful whine and crawled closer to Aria, sniffing the air around her.

"I... I didn't do anything!" Aria cried, tears filling her eyes. "I swear I didn't do any magic! I am wolfless! You all said it!"

But then the burning got worse. It was on her left shoulder, right where Jax, her first mate, had marked her three years ago. That mark had turned grey and dull after he died on the battlefield. Everyone said it was proof that she had killed him with her curse.

Now that grey mark was on fire.

"AH!" Aria screamed, her hand clutching her shoulder. She fell forward, and Kael caught her instantly. His arms, strong and warm, wrapped around her.

"Aria! What is it? Talk to me!" His voice was no longer cold. It was panicked.

"It's burning! It's burning like fire! Please make it stop!" she sobbed against his chest.

Elder Mara, who had been the only one to ever show her some kindness since Chapter 3 when the elders feared her, suddenly stumbled forward. Her eyes were fixed on Aria's shoulder.

"Move the dress! Move her dress!" she shouted.

Kael didn't hesitate. He gently pulled the fabric of her simple grey dress down from her shoulder.

And everyone gasped.

The dull grey bite mark was gone.

In its place, a new mark was glowing. It was pure silver, shining so brightly that it lit up Aria's pale skin and Kael's face. It was not a normal wolf mark. It was intricate, beautiful, with tiny patterns of crescent moons and stars inside it. And around it, blooming out of her skin like real flowers made of moonlight, were small white Moon Lilies.

The mark of the Blessed Luna.

The mark that was supposed to be a myth. The mark that Chapter 6 said should not exist.

"No... this is impossible," Kael whispered, his golden eyes wide as he stared at the glowing mark. His fingers hovered over it, shaking, afraid to touch it. "The Blessed Luna... she disappeared a hundred years ago. The prophecy said she would never return."

"The prophecy said she would return as a cursed widow!" Elder Mara cried, tears streaming down her wrinkled face. She fell to her knees beside Aria. "Don't you see, Kael? They called her wolfless because her wolf was too powerful to be sensed! They called her cursed because her first mate was too weak to hold her blessed power, so he died! She didn't kill him! Her blessing killed him!"

Aria was sobbing now, not from pain anymore, because the moment Kael's skin had brushed near the mark, the burning had lessened. It had turned from painful fire to warm, tingling heat.

"My wolf... I can feel her," Aria whispered, her eyes wide. For the first time in 22 years, she felt a second heartbeat inside her chest. A soft, sleepy growl that was slowly waking up. "She is awake. She is saying... she is saying she was waiting."

"Waiting for whom?" Kael asked softly, his forehead now resting against hers.

"For her true mate. For the Alpha strong enough to not die from her blessing," Elder Mara answered for her. She looked at Kael with new respect and fear. "Your wolf knelt, Kael. Not because he was defeated. He knelt because he recognized his Luna. His Blessed Luna. Your wolf is the only one strong enough in this entire pack to be her mate. That is why your wolf knelt in Chapter 7. He was submitting to his true Luna."

The realization hit Kael like a thunderbolt.

All this time, he thought he was being punished by having to marry his brother's cursed widow to keep the pack from falling apart after asking 'Who Killed My Mate?' in Chapter 4. He thought Aria was a burden, a tragedy, a dark and serious responsibility.

But she was his destiny. She was the reason his wolf had been restless and angry for years. She was the Luna his wolf had been searching for.

"Aria," he said, his voice breaking. He cupped her face with both his hands, forcing her to look at him. His golden eyes were no longer cold and ruthless. They were full of guilt, awe, and a possessive love that was even stronger than before. "Look at me. My Aria. My Luna."

"I am not... I am not cursed?" she asked in a small voice.

"You are the most blessed wolf in a hundred years," he said, and then, in front of the entire pack who had hated her, the ruthless Alpha Kael did the unthinkable. He bowed his head low and pressed his lips gently, reverently, on her glowing silver mark.

The moment his lips touched the mark, the mark pulsed with bright light, and a wave of pure moon energy exploded out of Aria, washing over the entire hall.

Everyone felt it. Their wolves howled inside them, not in fear, but in joy and submission.

And inside Aria's chest, her own wolf finally woke up fully and howled back, loud and beautiful, for the first time in her life.

Her wolf was not wolfless. She was a white wolf, blessed by the moon herself.

And Kael's wolf stood up tall beside her, no longer kneeling, but standing guard, ready to kill anyone who ever dared to call his Blessed Luna cursed again.

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