Chapter Five
1044 Words
ROWAN
The merchant leading the caravan raised his arm. "We leave in ten minutes!" he called.
Around us, men hurried between the wagons, securing ropes around wooden crates and checking the horses one last time before the journey. Children chased one another through the gathering while women bargained over bolts of fabric and sacks of grain.
I adjusted the strap of the leather satchel on my shoulder and drew a slow breath.
This was really happening.
In a few short minutes, I would leave Silver Crest behind. The thought brought an unexpected sense of peace.
Elder Mira stepped closer, pressing a small cloth pouch into my hand. "There are more gold coins inside," she said quietly. "Don't spend them carelessly."
I looked at the pouch before closing my fingers around it. "I don't know how I'll ever repay you."
"You don't." A gentle smile softened her face. "The only thing I ask is that you survive."
Emotion tightened my throat. "I will. No matter what happens..."
Her gaze lingered on me for a long moment before dropping briefly to my satchel. “May the Moon be with you, child”
A loud crack of a whip echoed across the road.
The horses shifted impatiently as the first wagon began rolling toward the eastern gate.
"It's time," Elder Mira whispered.
For a heartbeat, my feet refused to move.
I turned slowly, my eyes drifting toward the distant outline of Silver Crest.
Somewhere inside those walls, Damien was preparing to marry my sister. My parents were undoubtedly helping arrange every last detail of the ceremony. The pack was celebrating a future that no longer included me.
A sharp ache spread through my chest, but it wasn't as unbearable as it had been yesterday.
Perhaps this was what acceptance felt like.
I drew one final breath of the crisp mountain air.
"Goodbye," I whispered.
Whether I was speaking to Damien...
To my family...
Or to the girl I used to be...
I wasn't entirely sure.
Then I turned away.
Without looking back again, I climbed onto the last wagon of the merchant caravan.
The driver flicked the reins, and the horses surged forward. As the wheels rumbled over the stone road and passed beneath the towering gates of Silver Crest, I felt something inside me loosen.
DAMIEN
Two days later*
The mating ceremony was perfect.
Moonlight lit the sacred grove. White flowers hung from every oak tree. The pack had gathered in their finest attire, voices buzzing with excitement and pride.
Seraphina stood beside me in a gown of moonlight silk that shimmered with every breath she took. She looked radiant. Powerful. Exactly as a future Luna should.
Everyone said so.
My wolf should have been content. Satisfied. Victorious, even.
Instead, he paced restlessly beneath my skin, snarling at nothing and everything.
I kept my expression calm as the elder bound our wrists with a ceremonial ribbon of white and gold. Seraphina’s fingers felt cool against mine.
When she smiled up at me, soft and adoring, the pack erupted in cheers.
I smiled back.
I had to.
This was the right choice.
The only choice.
The prophecy had been clear—painfully so. One of the Grey daughters would birth the Silver Wolf. The stronger bloodline. The one who carried ancient power in her veins. Seraphina had always been the obvious answer. Everyone had known it.
Including me.
Until the moment the golden mate bond had snapped into existence between Rowan and me in front of the entire pack.
I had felt it. That undeniable pull. The way my wolf had howled in recognition. For one devastating second, everything I thought I knew had fractured.
Then I remembered the prophecy.
Duty before heart. So I had done what needed to be done. I rejected her. Publicly. The way an Alpha should.
The pain that tore through the fresh bond had nearly brought me to my knees, but I hadn’t let it show. Not when hundreds of eyes were watching. Not when my pack’s future hung in the balance.
Seraphina squeezed my hand now, pulling me back to the present.
The elder’s voice rang out clearly. “Under the eyes of the Moon Goddess, the bond is forged.”
Seraphina tilted her head, exposing the smooth column of her neck. The traditional offering. My wolf should have surged forward with hunger. Instead, he recoiled.
I stepped closer anyway.
My hand settled on her waist. I could feel the rapid beat of her heart. The pack watched in silence as I lowered my head and let my fangs lengthen.
The moment my teeth pierced her skin, a bond snapped into place. Seraphina gasped softly, her fingers tightening on my shoulders. A faint glow of golden light enveloped us both as the Moon Goddess witnessed the union. The pack howled in celebration.
It was done.
I had marked her.
Seraphina was now my mate. My Luna.
I pulled back and licked the wound closed, the metallic taste of her blood lingering on my tongue. She looked up at me with shining eyes, radiant with triumph. I forced a smile and kissed her forehead as thunderous applause shook the grove.
This was the right choice.
The only choice.
Later that night, long after the celebrations had quieted and Seraphina lay sleeping beside me in the Alpha’s chambers—her fresh mark gleaming silver on her neck—I stood at the window staring out over the dark forest.
Rowan was gone.
I had gone to Elder Mira’s cottage at dawn, hoping to speak with her one last time. To explain. To somehow make the unbearable ache in my chest make sense. Mira had lied to my face. I knew it. Rowan had been there.
And now she had left the territory.
My wolf had been inconsolable ever since.
I clenched my jaw and gripped the windowsill until the wood groaned.
"She’ll be fine," I told myself. "She’s strong enough to survive this."
But the lie tasted like ash.
Because deep down, a small, treacherous part of me already wondered if I had made the worst mistake of my life.
I pushed the thought away.
The prophecy was clear.
Seraphina was the future.
Rowan was… a weakness I could no longer afford.
- Writer
