Three marks, one mate

Forty six

Zachary's POV

I sat in the armchair by the hearth as the sunlight spilled into my chamber with my laptop sitting forgotten on my knees.

I had spent the last three hours trying to track Maeve’s digital footprint, but my mind kept drifting back to the bed.

It was as though my wolf didn't like that I wasn't emotionally available for Desiree. He wanted to be out for her. Wanted my fangs hovering over her still body but I didn't want to be the one carrying the whole disturbance.

Desiree looked so small under the silk duvets. She wasn't tossing or turning anymore and her breathing was now so smooth and soft.

Something I have been praying to the moon goddess for. She was too fragile and soft to be facing this kind of trouble every damn time she woke up to live.

"She's been under for ten hours," Brandon murmured. He was sprawled in the chair opposite me, his head tilted back against the leather. He looked like a man who had gone ten rounds with a feral bear and lost. "Martha says the physical healing is done. It’s just a mental strain now."

"She over-bound a King, Brandon," I said softly, my voice sounding raspy in the quiet room. "The psychological toll of touching a mind like Elias’s... it’s not something you just sleep off."

Grayson entered from the balcony, bringing a draft of cool, pine-scented air with him. He was carrying a tray with three cups of coffee, the steam rising in lazy curls. He handed one to me and one to Brandon.

"The pack is quiet," Grayson reported, sinking onto the edge of the ottoman. "I told the sentries she’s resting after the 'coronation exhaustion.' Maeve is keeping her distance for now, probably waiting to see if Desiree wakes up with her mind intact."

I took a sip of the bitter coffee, letting the heat ground me. "And Hecate?"

"In the garden with Avery," Grayson said. "Avery’s trying to process twenty years of abandonment in a single morning. It’s... a lot."

A soft moan from the bed shattered our conversation.

We were all on our feet in an instant, but we didn't rush. We had learned the hard way that crowding her after a trauma only triggered her wolf’s defensive instincts.

Desiree stirred, her hand reaching out blindly to the empty space beside her. Her eyes flickered open, blinking rapidly against the morning light. They were clear, a deep, warm brown that held none of the traumatic experience last night.

"Brandon?" she whispered, her voice tiny.

Brandon moved first, sitting on the edge of the mattress and taking her hand with a tenderness that always surprised me. "I’m here, Des. We’re all here."

She sat up slowly, leaning her back against the headboard. She looked at the three of us, a small, confused frown creasing her brow. She looked at her hands, tracing the faint silver lines with her thumb, then looked back at us.

"Why are you all looking at me like I’m made of glass?" she asked, a smile playing on her lips.

I felt a cold stone drop in my stomach. The bond was humming with something strange. "Desiree,” I said, stepping closer. "What’s the last thing you remember?"

She tilted her head, thinking. "The coronation. The dancing. I remember... I remember feeling a bit dizzy. And then I think I went to the office to talk to you three because I felt overwhelmed." She paused, her frown deepening. "Did I faint? I feel like I’ve been asleep for a week."

Brandon’s grip on her hand tightened almost imperceptibly. He glanced at me, his eyes wide with a silent question.

She didn't remember.

She didn't remember the vision of Zelda. She didn't remember the "Maker of Bonds" revelation. She didn't remember the dungeon, the violet thread, or the moment she had channeled our power to blast a King out of her reality.

"You had a reaction to the coronation energy," I lied smoothly, my mind already racing through the implications. If she didn't remember her power, she couldn't control it. But if I told her everything now, I risked shattering the fragile peace she had finally found. "It was a lot of new magic hitting you all at once. You’ve been resting."

"Oh." She seemed to accept that, leaning her head back. "I feel... different. Lighter. Like a weight I didn't know I was carrying is just... gone."

"That’s good, sweetheart," Grayson said, his voice thick with emotion. He reached out and brushed a stray hair from her forehead. "That’s exactly what we wanted."

For the next hour, we kept it calm. We talked about mundane things..the breakfast menu, the weather, Avery’s new training schedule. We let her be the girl who had just become Luna, not the weapon that had just declared war on the Rogue King. We watched her eat a small bowl of fruit, the silver scars on her hands catching the light every time she moved.

Eventually, she grew tired again, the healing process still demanding its toll. We tucked her back in, and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Once we were back in the hallway, the mask of "calm" fell away instantly.

"We can't keep this from her," Brandon hissed, pacing the narrow corridor. "She’s a Binder, Zachary! If she accidentally binds the cook to the gardener because she’s 'feeling lighter,' we’re in trouble."

"We can't tell her yet," I countered, my voice low but firm. "Her mind has walled those memories off for a reason. If we force her to remember the darkness before she’s strong enough, it’ll break her."

"She’s right about one thing," Grayson added, looking out the window toward the gates. "She is lighter. The darkness she was carrying…that seed Elias planted…it’s gone. She’s pure Moon-Born now."

I was about to respond when I saw a movement in the courtyard below.

Elder Maeve was standing near the fountain, but she wasn't alone. She was speaking to a man in a dark, hooded cloak. He was tall, his posture fformal. He didn't look like a rogue, and he certainly didn't look like a member of our pack.

He handed Maeve a small, black envelope.

Maeve took it, her fingers trembling slightly. She looked up toward the Alpha’s wing, and for a split second, I swear our eyes met. She didn't look triumphant anymore. She looked terrified.

The man turned and walked toward the gate, vanishing into the mist like he had never been there.

"Zachary?" Brandon asked, noticing my silence.

"We have a problem," I said, pointing toward Maeve. "She just received a message. And judging by the look on her face, the 'political affairs' she was dealing with aren't over."

I left them and hurried down to the courtyard. By the time I reached the fountain, Maeve was gone.

I looked down at the flagstones where the man had stood. There was a symbol I had only seen in the forbidden archives of the High Council.

A moon being swallowed by a serpent.

The symbol of the ‘Void-Binders’.

My heart went cold. Hecate had said Desiree was the first Binder in three centuries, but she hadn't said she was the ‘only’ one.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, dialing a number I hadn't called in years.

“It's Zachary,” I said when the line picked up. “I need the translation of the first prophecy. Not the one the pack knows. The real one that mentions the Fourth Mate thingy.”