CHAPTER - 6
1703 Words
The night was too quiet for peace.
Wind scraped against stone. Torches burned low, their blue light licking the edges of the dark like restless spirits.
Selena still sat before the window , her breath fogging the glass. The mark on her wrist pulsed softly, threads of light breathing in and out like a second heartbeat. Sleep had long abandoned her; all she could do was wait.... for dawn, for truth, for pain she could already feel coming.
A knock broke the silence.
Three slow taps. Heavy. Commanding.
Her heart leapt.
She rose, fingers trembling slightly as she opened the door.
Alpha Lucienne stood there... bare-armed, his hair slightly damp, a storm of restraint simmering behind his eyes. The torchlight threw his features into shadows that didn’t belong to any mortal. His scent, woodsmoke and cold rain rolled through the doorway like temptation itself.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, his tone quiet but edged.
“I should be asking you the same,” she murmured.
He stepped inside without waiting for an answer. The room suddenly felt smaller, the air sharper. “The mark is glowing,” he said, eyes narrowing toward her wrist. “Has it been doing that all night?”
“Yes.”
He came closer. She could feel the heat of him now, though his gaze was made of frost. “Does it hurt?”
“Only when you’re near.”
That made him pause. The flicker in his eyes wasn’t anger this time... something else, unspoken, dangerous. “Then it’s reacting to me,” he said lowly. “As it should.”
“Or as it shouldn’t,” she whispered. “If this bond was meant for Seraphine...”
“Don’t say her name,” he cut in, voice slicing the air cleanly. “Not tonight.”
Selena’s lips parted, but no sound came. He took another step closer, and the mark on her wrist blazed in response. The light crawled up her arm like moonfire, and for a moment, his gaze dropped to it.... drawn, hungry, conflicted.
He reached for her wrist.
“Don’t,” she breathed.
He froze, inches away. “Why?”
“Because I don’t know what will happen if you touch me.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what I need to know.”
Before she could stop him, his fingers brushed the edge of her skin, and the world seemed to ignite.
The mark flared between them, light spilling through the dim room in liquid silver. Selena gasped as her knees nearly buckled, and Lucienne caught her by the waist, pulling her against his chest. The pulse between them was wild, furious, alive.
Her voice trembled. “Alpha…”
His jaw clenched. “You feel that too.”
“It’s… burning.”
“It’s binding,” he corrected quietly. “This is what the Moon does when she claims.”
She looked up at him, heart pounding hard enough to hurt. “Then why does it feel like it’s tearing me apart?”
Lucienne didn’t answer. His gaze dropped to her lips for a fraction of a heartbeat before he turned away sharply, releasing her.
“This bond,” he said, pacing toward the window, “it shouldn’t exist. Not this violently. It’s unstable. And that makes it dangerous.”
Selena steadied her breath. “Dangerous for who? You or me?”
“For both.” His tone was flat, but his shoulders were tense. “If it isn’t true, if the fire rejects it, you’ll die. But if it is…” He paused, his voice darkening. “If it is real, then the Moon has made a mockery of us all.”
She frowned. “You’d rather it be false?”
He turned slowly, his eyes meeting hers with a kind of ache she didn’t understand. “I’d rather it wasn’t you.”
The words struck deeper than she expected.
Selena’s throat tightened, but she forced her voice steady. “Because you wanted Seraphine.”
Lucienne’s expression hardened. “Because I wasn’t meant to feel this way.”
She took a step closer. “And what way is that?”
He didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.
But his silence said enough.
The distance between them was thin as breath when Seraphine’s laughter echoed faintly from down the corridor... soft, practiced, haunting. It shattered whatever had started to build in the room.
Lucienne’s jaw tightened. “Rest while you can. The fire waits for no one.”
He moved toward the door.
“Alpha,” Selena said quickly.
He stopped, hand on the handle.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For saving me from my mother’s guards that night.”
His voice was quiet, almost gentle. “I didn’t do it for you.”
“Then for who?”
He hesitated, then left without answering.
The door clicked shut. The silence that followed was deafening.
---
Dawn came too soon.
The fortress bell tolled, deep and slow. Selena’s pulse echoed with every strike. She dressed in the ceremonial robe left by the servants....white as snow, thin as prayer, and followed the guards through the silent halls.
Outside, the world was painted in silver and frost. Warriors stood in a ring around the ritual ground, a vast circle of carved stone glowing faintly with runes. At the center, a brazier blazed with blue fire, its flames rising high and restless.
Seraphine was already there, wrapped in crimson, her beauty weaponized as always. She turned as Selena approached, her smile sweet but her eyes glimmering with poison. “You look nervous.”
Selena met her gaze evenly. “You look desperate.”
Seraphine’s smile didn’t falter. “We’ll see who looks what when the Moon makes her choice.”
Alpha Lucienne stood beside the brazier, his face unreadable. His cloak was gone, his black tunic sleeveless, his arm bearing the ancient mark of his line, the mark that meant his command could bind or destroy.
When Selena entered the circle, he raised his hand. “Kneel.”
She obeyed.
The fire flared.
Lucienne’s voice deepened, taking on the weight of ancient tongue. “By the bond of blood and moon, I call upon the flame of truth. Let it reveal what was born of destiny… and burn what was born of deceit.”
The runes brightened. Wind howled. Selena’s skin lit from within, the mark blazing brighter than the fire itself.
Pain tore through her wrist, climbing up her arm in waves of molten light. She gasped, clutching her chest as the heat spread into her heart. Her vision blurred, and for a moment, she thought she saw the Moon itself bleeding light through the clouds.
Lucienne’s voice broke through the roar. “Selena!”
She lifted her head, eyes glowing faintly silver. “It’s… it’s burning me alive.”
He reached forward instinctively, but one of the elders hissed, “Do not interfere, Alpha! If you touch her now, the fire will bind you completely!”
Lucienne froze, torn between duty and something deeper clawing inside him.
Seraphine’s lips curled faintly, unseen by most. “Looks like the Moon has made her choice.”
Selena’s scream cracked through the air.
The fire surged higher, then abruptly dimmed, flickering, unsure. A ripple of energy burst outward, throwing everyone back a step. When the light finally faded, Selena collapsed to the ground, trembling, the mark on her wrist now glowing faintly gold.
Lucienne knelt beside her before anyone could stop him, his hand gripping her shoulder. “Selena. Look at me.”
Her breath shuddered. “It didn’t burn me.”
“No,” he said quietly. “It sealed you.”
A collective murmur spread through the crowd. One of the elders spoke in disbelief. “That… that mark is divine. The Moon herself forged it anew.”
Seraphine’s face drained of color. “No. That can’t be.”
Lucienne stood slowly, eyes locked on Selena like he’d just witnessed something impossible. “The bond wasn’t a mistake.”
Selena tried to rise, but her knees gave out. He caught her again, steadying her with an arm around her waist. For a heartbeat, they were too close.... her trembling breath against his neck, his pulse thunder beneath her hand.
Seraphine’s voice broke the spell. “Alpha Lucienne! This isn’t fair! You can’t just accept this!”
He turned, his expression cold as winter steel. “The Moon decides, not I. And she’s spoken.”
“But—”
“Enough.” His tone left no room for argument. “Your mother’s lies end here. Selena stays under my protection until the full moon. Any who challenge that answer to me.”
The crowd dispersed in silence, the air thick with unease.
Seraphine’s eyes burned with unshed fury as she watched them walk away.
---
Later, in the quiet of the eastern corridor, Lucienne stopped and turned to Selena.
“You defied death,” he said softly. “Even the fire couldn’t touch you.”
“I don’t know why,” she whispered.
His gaze searched hers, and something unreadable flickered there.... something like awe, or fear. “Maybe because you were never meant to be destroyed.”
Selena’s heart fluttered. “And you? Were you meant to save me?”
He didn’t answer. His hand brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, slow, almost reverent.
Then he whispered, “Rest, Selena. You’ll need your strength. What comes next will be worse than fire.”
Her breath caught. “What do you mean?”
He met her eyes, gray steel laced with sorrow. “Because now that the Moon has claimed you… everyone who fears her power will come for you.”
Before she could speak, he turned and walked away, his cloak cutting through the light like a promise and a warning.
Selena stood frozen in the corridor, her wrist still glowing faintly through her skin.
Outside, thunder rolled across the mountains.
And somewhere in the shadows, Seraphine whispered to the wind, her voice trembling with hate and prophecy...
“She may have his bond. But I’ll have his heart… even if I have to tear hers apart to get it.”
- Writer
