BLESSING LUNA RISING

THE CLAIM

CHAPTER 2

Darius didn't wait for my answer to settle. He didn't need to.

He yanked me against his chest, one arm of scarred muscle and midnight cloak locking around my waist like I belonged there. Like I had always belonged there.

The entire Sacred Circle forgot how to breathe.

I could feel every wolf staring. Ten thousand pairs of eyes. Ten thousand heartbeats stuttering under the Blood Moon. The torches that had hissed so loudly moments ago were silent. The drums were dead.

All I could hear was him. His heart, slow and brutal against my cheek. His scent - pine and smoke and winter storm and sin - flooding my lungs until I couldn't remember what Kael had ever smelled like.

Kael finally broke.

"She is MINE!" he roared, his voice cracking with Alpha fury. He lunged from the obsidian dais, his ceremonial silver claws flashing. "You have no right, Darius! She is pack! She is under MY protection!"

Darius didn't even flinch. He just turned his head, slowly, and looked at Kael.

One lethal, bored glance from the Lycan King.

The power that rolled off him was not an Alpha command. It was older. Deeper. It was the command of the first wolf. The law before laws.

Kael's knees buckled mid-step. He crashed to the ground, his forehead slamming into the sacred dirt with a sickening thud. His arms gave out. His entire body trembled as an invisible force pinned him down.

Ten thousand wolves whimpered and dropped their heads. Even Seraphine Vale, perfect in her white lace, fell to her knees, her face pale as death.

Only I remained standing. Because he was holding me up.

"Darius," I whispered, my fingers clutching his cloak. My voice was shaking. "Stop. You're hurting him."

His storm-grey eyes dropped back to me, and for a second the cold in them thawed. Just for me.

"He hurt you first, little Luna," he murmured, his mouth brush