BLACKRIDGE: FORGED FROM FIRE

"Kenny."

I forced myself to look up. My voice broke from the pain.

Kenny Havon turned around. His golden pupils looked especially cold in the moonlight.

The she-wolf in his arms, Leah Sterlace, was giggling. She was tracing circles on his chest with her fingers.

"Ella, you couldn't even handle a few rogues?"

Kenny sounded obviously impatient. "With this level of performance, you're not fit to be my Luna."

I closed my eyes.

Silver toxin was the hardest thing for a werewolf to withstand, but I had to hold on.

Tomorrow was the night of the full moon, the day Kenny and I were supposed to hold our marking ceremony.

I had waited seven years for this day.

I had stayed by his side back when Kenny wasn't even an Alpha yet.

Seven years ago, he was still a werewolf cast aside by his own family.

I was the one who helped him secure a chance to participate in the Moon Goddess's trial. I was the one who went through life-and-death encounters with him again and again. When he lost control during the full moon, it was my singing that soothed his raging soul.

Now he was an Alpha, and he ruled over the entire southern territory.

Suddenly, I was no longer good enough for him.

"Ella, are you okay?" A few young warriors stepped forward. They wanted to help me up.

Kenny gave them a cold look. "Let her handle it herself. If she can't even endure an injury like this, how is she qualified to be my Luna?"

The warriors retreated awkwardly.

Leah walked over and crouched in front of me. In a voice only the two of us could hear, she said, "You look so pitiful when you're bleeding, Ella."

I ignored her.

"Oh, right. Kenny said he's taking me to see the stars tonight."

Leah tilted her head to one side and pretended to smile sweetly. "The marking ceremony might get canceled because Kenny's wolf said I'm his destined mate."

I snapped my eyes open.

Kenny walked over and pulled Leah back into his arms. "That's enough. Ella, can you make it home on your own?"

The silver toxin was eating away at my organs. I could feel my life slipping away.

Even so, I still nodded.

"Good."

With his arm around Leah's waist, Kenny turned away. "Oh, right. The marking ceremony tomorrow is postponed. I've got things to deal with. I won't be coming back tonight."

He didn't even look back when he said it. It sounded as casual as telling me he wouldn't be home for dinner.

In seven years, this was the ninety-ninth time Kenny postponed our marking ceremony.

Every time, there was a reason.

He was always busy with territory wars, external threats, and power struggles.

I pulled out the shattered fang embedded in my shoulder. The sound of flesh tearing echoed through the silent night.

Blood surged out, but with the last of my strength, I sealed the wound.

"Got it," I said.

Kenny paused for a moment. He seemed surprised by how calm I was, but he said nothing.

He disappeared into the depths of the forest with Leah.

Moonlight filtered through the treetops and cast shadows across the ground.

I kneeled in a pool of blood and reached for something in front of my chest.

It was a wolf-fang necklace that Kenny had given me the day he became Alpha.

He had said, "Ella, I'm giving you my wolf fang. It represents my love for you."

Seven years had passed. Our marking ceremony still never happened.

I tore the necklace off and tossed it into the nearby spring.

The water swallowed the wolf fang and, with it, the very last of my hope.