Episode 17
1408 Words
The Luna’s Promise
The morning light slipped through the sheer curtains, casting long golden ribbons across the bed. Kael lay half-asleep, his body warm and heavy beside hers, an arm draped possessively across her waist. Isla lay still, tracing small circles along his forearm, savoring the rare stillness.
“You’re thinking too loudly,” Kael murmured, his voice husky against her neck.
She smiled softly. “How can you tell?”
“Because I know the sound of your silence now.”
She shifted, turning to face him. “You said you wanted to stay in bed all day.”
“I meant it.” He reached out, brushing her hair away from her cheek. “I want a thousand mornings like this—with you.”
His words reached somewhere deep in her chest, softening the ache she hadn’t realized she carried.
“You mean that?” she whispered.
Kael’s brow furrowed. “Isla… I’ve faced curses, exile, betrayal—but the only thing I fear now is losing you. I will protect you with everything I am. I won’t let anything touch you. I swear it.”
Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. “I’ve never been protected. I’ve always had to run, to endure, to patch myself back together when people broke me.”
He kissed the tip of her nose and lingered, his forehead resting gently against hers. His voice dropped, low and full of something that trembled between reverence and ache.
“You don’t have to run anymore,” he said. “Not from them. Not from what you feel.”
He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes.
“Tonight, I’ll show them who you are. The woman who didn’t flinch when I was a beast. Who stood beside me when the world believed I was lost—when even I believed love was cursed.”
His fingers tightened slightly around hers. “They’ll see the strength in you, Isla. The kind that doesn’t need claws to tear down fear. The kind that saved me when nothing else could.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to name you my Luna. Not in secret. Not just in bond. But to the whole damn world.”
Her breath caught. “And if they don’t accept me?”
“They’ll learn.” His gaze was fierce. “Or they’ll fall in line.”
She nodded slowly. “I want to tell you something too.”
Kael listened intently as she traced the scar along his collarbone, her voice low and trembling.
“When I first walked into that facility and saw you strapped down… I didn’t know who you were. I didn’t even understand what I was looking at. But something about you—something wild and wounded—called to me.”
Her fingers brushed softly over his chest, like trying to memorize him by touch.
“They told me you were dangerous. Unreachable. That I shouldn’t get close. But even behind the glass, even with the blood and the chains… I didn’t feel fear. I felt you.”
She swallowed hard.
“You looked at me like I was the first thing you’d seen in years that didn’t try to hurt you. And I knew, right then, I couldn’t walk away.”
Kael’s throat worked silently. His hand slid to the back of her neck, holding her like she was something fragile and sacred.
“I didn’t save you, Kael,” she whispered. “You saved me too.”
He swallowed hard.
“You never looked at me like I was weak. Not once. You made me feel like I mattered. That I wasn’t just surviving—I was becoming.”
Her voice cracked. “And I choose you, Kael. Even if fate says I shouldn’t. Even if everyone else does too.”
He didn’t speak. He kissed her, long and deep, as if sealing a vow between their skin.
Later that day, whispers flowed like river water through the stronghold.
The Luna would be revealed.
Kael’s return had already shaken the Ironmane hierarchy. But claiming a human? That was something else entirely.
In the council chambers, Vespera sat beside the elders, her face composed, her tone syrupy.
“She’s… fragile,” one muttered.
“She’s untrained,” another said. “A liability.”
Vespera folded her hands in her lap. “If he names her tonight, we support him. Publicly. But we must prepare for instability. Wolves need strength—not sentiment.”
The oldest elder leaned in. “And if she stumbles?”
“Then we make sure she doesn’t rise.”
They nodded grimly. Vespera smiled—just enough to keep her teeth hidden.
Isla stood before the mirror in her quarters, heart pounding. A soft green velvet gown hugged her frame, silver clasps at her shoulders shaped like crescent moons. The fabric shimmered when she moved.
“You look like a Luna,” the maid whispered behind her.
Isla met her gaze in the mirror. “Do you really think so?”
“I think the Alpha does.”
Outside, wolves had already gathered in the central courtyard. Banners snapped in the wind. Torches lit the path to the fire dais.
Kael waited near the archway, dressed in black with a silver crest across his chest. His expression softened the moment he saw her.
“You look like the moon itself,” he murmured, offering his hand.
She took it.
Together, they walked into the fire circle. The crowd fell silent, hundreds of wolves turning to look. Isla’s heart raced, but she kept her chin up.
Kael stepped onto the raised platform, pulling her gently beside him.
His voice carried over the courtyard. “Ironmane. You once called me your Alpha. And I accepted that responsibility. Even when I was cursed. Even when I was lost.”
No one moved. Only flickering firelight.
He looked down at Isla, the firelight casting a soft glow across her face.
“But I wasn’t alone,” he said, voice steady but full of emotion. “This woman—Isla—she found me when I was nothing but a ghost. She saw me, when I couldn’t even look at myself. She healed what the curse tried to destroy.”
His fingers tightened gently around hers.
“She chose me… when she had every reason not to. And because of her, I stand here today—your Alpha once more.”
Kael turned his gaze back to the pack, scanning the faces, the doubt, the uncertainty.
“She might not have been born among us. She doesn’t bear our scars or our blood… but she has our strength. She has earned her place.”
He lifted Isla’s hand, holding it high.
“I love her. And if you still call me your Alpha, then I ask you to stand with me—and learn to love her too.”
He lifted her hand, his thumb brushing over her knuckles as he turned to the crowd with conviction burning in his eyes.
“This is Isla. My mate. My….”
A sudden gust of wind howled through the trees, sharp enough to silence the breath in every chest. The flames of the surrounding torches hissed and flickered, some dying outright.
A voice rang out—clear, commanding, ancient.
“Kael Draven…”
The entire courtyard fell still.
Whispers broke out among the gathered wolves as heads turned, eyes widening.
“…you would name her your Luna?”
Gasps spread like wildfire.
The crowd instinctively parted.
And there, stepping through the circle of firelight, came the Moon Priestess.
She was cloaked in a robe of glowing white, her silver hair whipping behind her in the unnatural wind. Her feet were bare, untouched by the cold stone beneath her. Her presence stole the air from the night.
All eyes turned to her.
“I-is that the Priestess?” someone whispered.
“What is she doing here?” another murmured. “Is she here… to bless them?”
“Or to stop it?” a voice answered grimly.
Kael’s hand slowly fell away from Isla’s. His gaze locked with the Priestess’s, eyes narrowing—but there was no defiance in her expression. Only inevitability.
Her gaze flicked once to Isla.
In a still, cold, calculating way.
And then she said nothing.
Because she didn’t have to.
The night held its breath.
- Writer
