5 Years Ago
The night of the ritual arrived, and everyone was expectant, including those who had objected to the marriage.
The moon hung impossibly full above Silvercrest, so bright it painted the forest in pale fire. It was not merely watching us. It was waiting.
I stood barefoot at the heart of the sacred clearing, the cold earth pressed into my soles, the ancient runes carved into the stones glowing faintly beneath my feet. The air tasted different here. Older and charged with a power that made my wolf stir restlessly beneath my skin, pacing, alert, reverent.
This place had witnessed the birth of Alphas, the fall of tyrants, and the binding of souls meant to alter the course of packs. Tonight, it would witness me.
Clay stood opposite me, stripped of his armour, clad only in ritual
