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Bonded to My Mate's Uncle
Bonded to My Mate's Uncle
Penulis: Healy

Chapter 1

Penulis: Healy
I found the old communication crystal.

Silas's forgotten promise.

He had vowed long ago that if I ever chose to be his mate, this was how I should call him.

I sent a pulse of energy into it.

His shock vibrated through the psychic link.

"Aurora. You are certain?"

"I am certain. Does the offer stand?"

"It was never withdrawn."

Dizzying relief washed over me.

He wasn’t just an alternative. He was an ascension.

"Good. I accept."

My chamber door flew open.

Caspian stood there.

"The Binding is off," he stated.

No warmth in his voice.

"My true mate will be Vivian."

His Alpha aura was a suffocating weight.

His eyes held a cold, decisive light.

It was too knowing. Too cruel for this night.

Did he remember too?

I saw my son's still form in the Grey Zone mud. I remembered the first death that paved the way for all others—his brother, the true heir, mysteriously poisoned. Caspian’s rise began with that funeral pyre.

This time around, he was in for a disappointment.

"Good," I said, my voice flat.

"I was coming to tell you the same."

Confusion flashed across his face.

"What game are you playing?"

I walked past him into the great hall.

The elders lingered there. I needed witnesses.

"Caspian Blackwood, Alpha of the Shadowmoon Pack."

My voice was clear and carried. All murmuring stopped.

"I, Aurora Sterling, reject you as my mate."

Sharp gasps filled the air.

"I sever our proposed bond."

Caspian's face paled, then darkened with pure fury.

The ritual demanded his response.

Through clenched teeth, a growl building, he spat the words.

"I accept."

The pathetic, fading tether between us snapped. Gone.

He stepped close. His breath was hot on my ear.

"You will die scratching in the dirt." He paused. "Just like before."

Just like before. The confirmation was a bolt of ice. He remembered everything.

"We will see," I said. It was a promise.

I walked out into the cool night air. It tasted of freedom. And danger.

Silas found me at the Silverbend clearing.

Alive. Vital. Not the shattered man from my memories. The power around him was quiet, a deep, still lake compared to Caspian’s churning, violent river. It didn’t demand submission. It commanded it by its very nature.

Tears welled up. I walked into his open arms.

He held me. No questions. Just a shelter.

"Tell me what you need," he murmured.

"Safety. A chance. To never be at his mercy again."

"Done."

He took my left wrist. His thumb pressed over my pulse point.

Warm, tingling energy flowed. It felt clean and sharp, like moonlight given form. It didn’t just mark me. It seemed to gently overwrite the lingering, greasy feel of Caspian’s claim.

A delicate, silvery sigil wove itself under my skin.

It glowed once, soft and sure. Then it faded to a faint tracing.

A promise. A shield.

"You are under my protection. My intended," he said.

"When you are ready, we complete the bond."

He arranged a secure apartment far from pack lands.

I was safe. For now.

My reprieve was brief. News, it turned out, had already spread like wildfire.

By morning, my rejection was the scandal of the supernatural circles.

My phone buzzed incessantly.

Unknown numbers. Pack mates with fake concern or open ridicule.

I ignored them all.

The most persistent was Caspian.

His messages started as arrogant demands.

They quickly degraded into vitriolic rants about my ingratitude, my downfall.

I blocked him.

His retaliation was petty.

A pack enforcer arrived, dumping a single box on the porch.

It held the few personal items I'd left behind.

All but one thing was returned.

My little shadow-kitten, Nyx, was not in the box.

A scrawled note from Vivian was inside.

[We do not harbor useless creatures.]

My heart clenched. I had to go back.

At twilight, I returned to the Blackwood estate.

Vivian answered the door. She was draped in silk, smirking.

"The discarded mate returns." Her voice was a purr. "Here to beg for a servant's position?"

Caspian appeared behind her. His arm snaked around her waist.

His gaze was icy. "Changed your mind already?" He sneered.

"You can kneel. Swear fealty. That is all that is left."

"I am here for Nyx," I said flatly. I moved to step inside.

As I passed under the chandelier, the light caught the silvery tracing on my wrist.

Caspian moved with shocking speed. He grabbed my arm. His fingers dug in.

"What is this?" he demanded. Fury colored his voice. "A cheap glamour? Who did this?"
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  • Bonded to My Mate's Uncle   Chapter 8

    We did not have a lavish celebration.We had a quiet ceremony in the moonlit grove. Just Silas and me. And the pack elders as witnesses.We completed the bond.The silvery mark on my wrist flared with heat. It deepened. It became part of me.A perfect, shimmering match to the one that appeared on his.His storm-grey eyes held mine."Mine," he whispered. A claim. A promise."Yours," I whispered back. A surrender. A choice.Later, we stood on the citadel walls. Reports had come.Caspian had been cast into the Shattered Expanse. The portal had closed behind him.The last image was of him standing on a cracked plain, head thrown back in a silent scream.Vivian was in the Silent Tomb. The heavy stone door was sealed.Her voice, they said, could be heard for the first day. A muffled, endless shriek.Then, silence.Julian ruled Shadowmoon with a steady hand. The alliance was stronger than ever.He visited once. He looked at peace."The pack is healing," he said. He nodded to me. "Thank you."

  • Bonded to My Mate's Uncle   Chapter 7

    The trial was not held in a secret chamber.It was held in the Stone Circle, under the open sky.The entire Silvercrest pack and Shadowmoon representatives attended.Caspian and Vivian were brought forth. They were bound in magic-suppressing irons.Caspian looked hollow. His eyes burned with a feverish light.Vivian looked defeated, but hatred still simmered in her gaze.Silas presided as High Alpha. He laid out the charges.Murder of a pack Alpha. Conspiracy. Treason against the pack alliance.The evidence was presented. The financial records. The video log. Witnesses from Ironhaven.It was incontestable.When asked for their defense, Vivian broke first."It was him!" she shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at Caspian."He planned it all! He forced me! I was afraid for my life!"Caspian turned his head slowly. He looked at her as if seeing a stranger.A stranger covered in filth."You greedy, sniveling serpent," he said, his voice low and ragged."You begged for a role. You whispere

  • Bonded to My Mate's Uncle   Chapter 6

    The new rumor was more insidious. It did not attack me directly. It attacked through Julian.Whispers said the younger Blackwood brother had been embezzling pack funds for years.That he had conspired with outside forces.And that his key informant within Caspian's inner circle had been me.The story was clever. It explained my sudden shift to Silas.It painted Julian as a traitorous usurper. And it made me his accomplice.The effect was immediate. The alliance between Silvercrest and the newly led Shadowmoon grew tense.Elders looked at Julian with suspicion. They looked at me with wary eyes.Silas called Julian to a private council. I was present.Julian's face was grim. "The funds were siphoned by Caspian," he said, his voice tight."I was tracking them. I have records. But they are hidden. He moved them through shell accounts.""Where are the records?" Silas asked. His tone was calm."In a secured vault. In a neutral territory bank," Julian said."Only Caspian or someone with his b

  • Bonded to My Mate's Uncle   Chapter 5

    We returned to the Silvercrest citadel. The next hours were a blur.I was the new Luna. The reality settled like a heavy, glorious cloak.News traveled to the cells. A guard reported Caspian's reaction.He had raged for an hour. Then he fell silent.He carved my name into the stone wall with his fingernails. Over and over.Vivian's reaction was different. She sat perfectly still. Then she smiled. A cold, calculated smile.She called a guard over. She whispered to him. Her eyes gleamed in the dark.Two days later, the first rumor surfaced. It slithered through the lower ranks.The new Luna is a curse-bringer. She killed her first child with her own weakness. Her presence will blight Silvercrest's strength.Silas heard it before I did. His anger was a cold, sharp thing.He summoned the pack. He stood before them with me at his side."Let this be heard once," he said. His voice cut through the hall."My mate, your Luna, Aurora, is under the moon's own blessing."He looked at the gathered

  • Bonded to My Mate's Uncle   Chapter 4

    The gasps that echoed were deafening.Caspian's face went bone-white. Vivian looked as if she had been physically struck.Silas's Alpha power rolled out. It wasn't a burst, but an unveiling. The full, serene, and terrifying depth of his power unfolded. Not to attack, but simply to exist without restraint. It was the difference between a lightning bolt and the gravity of a planet.A palpable force.Caspian grunted. A sound of pure, animal distress. His own Alpha power, which he had always worn like armor, crumpled inward. Not defeated in battle, but rendered irrelevant.His knees buckled.He was forced down onto the cold marble floor. Not by violence, but by the sheer, humiliating physics of hierarchy. His body betrayed him, obeying the deeper law written in his blood.The silence was absolute. Then, chaos erupted.Caspian made a raw, animal noise from the floor."You and him?" Rage and humiliation warred in his eyes. "My uncle?"He tried to surge up against the invisible weight."Auror

  • Bonded to My Mate's Uncle   Chapter 3

    I did not turn to face him."You think everything revolves around you.""You will be a laughingstock! My discarded mate, clinging to my uncle's coattails!""He offers me safety. Respect. You never offered either."He laughed. A harsh, ugly sound."Respect? You are a pity project!"He threw something at my feet. It clattered on the stone.A sleek black card. The universal access key to all Blackwood assets."Take it," he said. His voice turned persuasive."Call off this farce. Come back. You can have a wing in the new manor. A quiet life."He leaned closer."It is better than being his dirty secret."I looked at the card. It was the symbol of my old prison. Gilded and hollow.For a fleeting second, old fear whispered.I bent down. I picked up the cold titanium card.I focused all my will. All the strength forged in loss and rebirth.Into my hands.With a sharp, satisfying crack, I snapped it in two.I let the pieces fall between us."The only thing I want from you is distance."My voice

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