The Vow He Broke

The altar chilled my bare back. The four silver needles had been pushed into the skin around my swollen belly, each one joined to a violet rune cut into the stone. Every pulse pulled more life force from me. The same force that kept my unborn son alive ran through the grooves and into the next ritual circle. He kicked once. The movement barely reached my palm. I waited for another and counted the pulls of the runes in between. "Kaelen, please." My throat was too dry for more than a whisper. "He's getting weaker. Our pup can't take much more." Kaelen stood outside the circle with one hand near the master rune. The violet light left hard shadows across his face. His attention stayed on the velvet cot beside him. Selene lay there in a white shift, breathing in careful little gasps. Color returned to her cheeks each time the runes drew from me. The channels ended beneath her wrists. Kaelen came close enough to wipe the wetness from my cheek. I remembered that touch from nights when it had meant comfort. "Hold on, my love. The pack needs this." He glanced at my belly. "A little blood won't harm the son of an Alpha. He'll endure." The moonstone charm at my wrist tapped against the altar. Kaelen had carved it on the night we first heard our son's heartbeat. His thumb had slipped twice because he kept smiling. He saw the charm. His jaw locked for a second. Then he pressed the master rune. The needles pulled harder. Pain ran across my stomach, and the faint movement under my hand stopped. "I'll make it up to you, Elara," Kaelen said. "Once Selene is healed and the prophecy is fulfilled, you can ask me for anything." I had been asking him to spare our child. He kept speaking as though some later gift could replace the life under my hand. My fingers loosened around the moonstone. I stopped wasting breath on pleas and watched the violet current run toward Selene. At last, the runes dimmed. The needles withdrew, leaving four open punctures. I shook so badly that my wrist kept knocking against the stone. The chamber door slammed open. Zane rushed in with his sword half drawn, then stopped at the edge of the circle. "Luna." His gaze dropped to the altar. Blood had gathered beneath my hips, thick enough to cling to the carved channels. It had turned black. Zane took one step back. "Black blood. Goddess, no." Every she-wolf knew the sign. The child was gone. The curse had reached my womb, and no life would take root there again. Healers called it the final curse. Kaelen turned. For the first time that night, he looked directly at me. His hand fell from the master rune as he stared at the black stain. The border alarms began before he found a word to say. Red warning stones flared along the walls. The floor shifted under the altar, and dust dropped from the ceiling. Warriors screamed new positions beyond the door. The curse-beasts had reached the temple.