Chapter 7
716 Words
The next day, Seraphina came to Elara’s chambers. Elara was alone, brushing her hair by the window. She froze when she saw the former Luna in the doorway, her heart lurching into her throat. Seraphina Blackwood was the last person she’d expected to seek her out.
“May I come in?” Seraphina asked, her tone cool but not hostile.
Elara nodded, not trusting her voice.
Seraphina entered, closing the door behind her. She stood by the fireplace, her posture as rigid as ever, her blue eyes fixed on Elara with an unreadable expression.
“I’ve spent the last decade hating you,” Seraphina said quietly. “It was easier than hating my husband. You were an abstraction—a nameless woman who had tempted him, seduced him, broken our bond. I never let myself think of you as a person.”
Elara’s hands tightened in her lap. “I understand.”
“Do you? Do you understand what it was like to discover that the man I’d loved for thirty years had been sharing his bed with a girl young enough to be his daughter? To watch my whole world crumble?”
“No,” Elara whispered. “I don’t. But I am sorry. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I was just... trying to survive.”
Seraphina was silent for a long moment. Then, slowly, her expression softened—just a fraction.
“My son loves you,” she said. “I’ve never seen him like this. He’s always been driven, ambitious, dedicated to the pack. But since you came, there’s a light in him that wasn’t there before. I can’t hate the person who put it there.”
Elara’s breath caught. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I won’t stand in your way. I can’t promise we’ll ever be friends, but I can promise I’ll try to accept you. For Kael’s sake, and for the pack’s.” Seraphina paused at the door. “The Moon Goddess chose you. I have to trust that she knows what she’s doing.”
And then she was gone, leaving Elara alone with something she hadn’t felt in years.
The ceremony was held on the winter solstice, beneath a sky blazing with stars.
The pack gathered in a clearing deep in the forest, where ancient oaks formed a natural cathedral. Torches lined the path, their flames dancing in the cold air. At the center of the clearing stood a stone altar, draped in white and silver, the colors of the Nightshade Pack.
Kael waited at the altar, his heart pounding with an intensity he hadn’t felt since his first shift. He wore a black tunic embroidered with silver thread, and his dark hair was loose around his shoulders. His wolf, Kyr, was practically purring with anticipation.
And then she appeared.
Elara walked down the torchlit path on Magnus’s arm—a gesture that had shocked everyone, including Kael. The former Alpha had volunteered to escort her, calling it his penance and his blessing. Seraphina had watched with a tight jaw but had said nothing.
Elara was breathtaking. Her gown was silver, flowing like liquid moonlight, and her dark hair was crowned with a wreath of winter roses. When she reached the altar, Magnus placed her hand in Kael’s and stepped back.
“Take care of her,” Magnus said gruffly. “Better than I did.”
Kael nodded, his throat tight.
The ceremony was brief by werewolf standards—an exchange of vows, a sharing of blood, and then the marking. Kael drew Elara close, his lips brushing her ear.
“Ready?”
She nodded, tilting her head to bare her neck.
He bit down, sinking his teeth into the delicate curve where her shoulder met her throat. She gasped, her fingers digging into his arms, but she didn’t pull away. The bond snapped into place, a rush of sensation and emotion that left them both breathless. He felt her—her hopes, her fears, her love—as vividly as he felt his own.
“Your turn,” he whispered, offering his own neck.
She bit him, and the bond was complete. Two souls, intertwined. Two wolves, bound forever.
The pack howled their approval, and the sound echoed through the mountains like a hymn.
- Writer
