ASH AND THE MOON

Chapter 10: The Eve of the Wolf

One day until the full moon.

I woke before dawn with the taste of metal in my mouth.

The bond was louder now.

Not a feeling anymore.

A presence.

Every heartbeat beneath the estate echoed through my body like a second pulse beneath my skin. Every growl from the Iron Vault vibrated inside my ribs. Even the moon itself felt closer — heavier — like the sky was slowly lowering around Ironhold.

And somewhere inside that crushing silver pressure, the goddess waited.

Watching.

You know what must happen, a voice whispered inside my head.

I sat upright in bed.

Cold sweat covered my skin.

"No," I whispered into the darkness. "I don't."

But deep down?

I think I already did.

The estate was silent as I crossed the halls before sunrise.

No guards.

No servants.

Even the wolves outside had gone quiet, as if the entire territory was holding its breath for tomorrow night.

The Iron Vault waited beneath the library.

I stopped outside the black iron door and pressed my palm against it.

Cold.

But beneath the cold—

Heat.

Wild. Violent. Alive.

"Lucian."

Nothing.

Then chains rattled somewhere deep inside.

"Lucian, please."

A growl answered me.

Low.

Ancient.

Hungry enough to make my knees weaken.

"Go away, Isabella."

His voice barely sounded human anymore.

Too deep.

Too rough.

Like something larger was forcing the words through his throat.

"I'm not leaving."

Silence.

Then a violent crash exploded against the other side of the door hard enough to shake the walls.

I flinched.

"GO."

The roar cracked through the iron.

But underneath it—

Pain.

Fear.

Desperation.

I leaned closer to the door.

"You're scared of hurting me."

A long pause.

Then, quietly:

"I can smell you through the metal."

My breath caught.

"Your heartbeat," he rasped. "Your blood. Your fear." His voice dropped lower. Rougher. "Your arousal."

Heat flooded my face instantly.

Even now.

Even terrified.

My body still reacted to him.

The wolf inside him gave a dark, pleased rumble.

Lucian made a strangled sound afterward, like he hated himself for it.

"You want me," he whispered. "And the wolf wants to tear that need out of you with his teeth."

I closed my eyes briefly.

"You're not the wolf."

A bitter laugh echoed behind the door.

"I'm not sure there's a difference anymore."

I opened the vault.

The smell hit first.

Iron.

Smoke.

Something burning beneath the skin.

Lucian stood in the center of the chamber wrapped in chains thick enough to anchor ships. Black iron coiled around his wrists, chest, throat, and ankles. The stone floor beneath him was cracked from strain.

His shirt was gone.

And for the first time, I saw all of him.

The scars.

God.

Claw marks carved across his ribs. Burn scars over his shoulders. Silver lines crossing his back like old lightning strikes.

And over his heart—

A black vein pulsed beneath his skin.

Alive.

Wolf's Bane Heartfire.

His eyes locked onto mine instantly.

Pure gold.

No gray remained.

"You shouldn't have come here."

Steam curled from his mouth when he spoke.

Not cold air.

Heat.

Like something inside him was burning alive.

"You told me to leave," I said softly. "You didn't lock the door."

"I can't." His chains groaned as he shifted. "The wolf would break it."

"Then hold him tighter."

I stepped closer.

Lucian recoiled immediately.

Actually recoiled.

His body slammed backward against the chains as if I was the dangerous one.

"Don't," he said hoarsely. "Tomorrow night the moon rises. I won't be able to stop him."

"You mean yourself."

"I mean the part of me that still wants to ruin beautiful things."

The honesty hurt worse than anger.

I kept walking toward him anyway.

The wolf growled.

Low.

Possessive.

Mine.

The word slammed through the bond so hard my breath caught.

Lucian's eyes widened slightly.

"You heard that."

"Yes."

A muscle jumped in his jaw.

"He wants to claim you."

The air thickened around us.

"Not gently," he continued quietly. "Not sweetly. Not the way humans imagine love." Shame darkened his face. "The wolf claims like predators do. Possession. Hunger. Territory."

I stopped directly in front of him.

"What if I still choose you?"

His entire body went still.

The chains stopped rattling.

Even the wolf quieted.

"What?"

I swallowed hard.

"The poison transfers through the claiming bite." My voice trembled despite myself. "Elara told me. Margo confirmed it."

Lucian's face lost all color.

"No."

"Lucian—"

"No." The chains exploded taut as he lunged forward violently. "Absolutely not."

"Listen to me."

"It would kill you."

"Maybe."

"It WOULD." His voice cracked into something raw and terrified. "Do you understand what you're offering? You're asking me to infect you with the thing that destroyed me."

I stepped closer anyway.

Close enough to touch the black vein above his heart.

The moment my fingers brushed his skin—

Lucian gasped.

The vein pulsed violently beneath my palm.

Heat shot through my body like liquid fire.

Not pain.

Recognition.

The bond flared alive between us so intensely the room spun.

"Isabella," he breathed.

"You've spent five thousand years fighting this poison," I whispered. "And it still owns part of you. Maybe the answer was never destroying it."

His eyes searched mine desperately.

"Maybe the answer was sharing it."

Horror crossed his face.

"To you."

"To someone moon-touched."

The wolf inside him surged instantly at those words.

Mine.

The growl vibrated through the entire chamber.

Lucian squeezed his eyes shut like it physically hurt him.

"How long have you known?" he asked roughly.

"Since last night."

"And you still came here?"

I gave a shaky smile.

"You said it yourself. I'm not a coward."

For a second something almost like grief crossed his face.

Then slowly, carefully, he lifted his shackled hands and wrapped them around my wrists.

The iron chains were freezing.

His skin burned underneath them.

"If we do this," he whispered, "there is a very real chance you die in my arms."

"And if we don't?"

Silence.

Because we both knew the answer.

Eventually the wolf would win.

Eventually Lucian would lose himself completely.

Eventually the Ash King would return.

I placed my other hand over his heart.

Right over the poison.

"Then trust me."

The words shattered something inside him.

I saw it happen.

Five thousand years of loneliness.

Of guilt.

Of chains.

Of believing love only ended in ash.

His forehead dropped against mine.

The chains trembled violently around him.

"I have waited centuries," he whispered brokenly, "for someone to say those words and mean them."

"I mean them."

His breathing roughened.

"So do I."

Slowly, reverently, Lucian pressed a kiss to my forehead.

Not hungry.

Not possessive.

Sacred.

A vow instead of a touch.

The black vein over his heart pulsed once beneath my hand.

Then twice.

And somewhere high above Ironhold, the moon began to rise.