Chapter 3: Silver and Smoke

POV: Luna

The door breaks. Not splinters; shatters. 

Aiden hits Jace hard enough to crack the stone under my feet, sending a shockwave through my chest. They go down in a tangle of claws and bared teeth, two halves of the same bloodline trying to tear each other apart. Jace still has one hand locked around my wrist, but Aiden rips him away with a brutal twist.

"Step away from her, Jace." Aiden’s voice is too quiet, lacking its usual command. "Your exile ends tonight if you don't yield."

Jace scrambles up, black claws gouging the damp stone. He wipes blood from his split lip and grins, completely unbothered by the threat. "She’s not yours to command. The bond chose me first. You felt it snap."

The twin bond between them pulls at my ribs, tight and sickening. Nineteen years of resentment, snapping all at once.

Aiden doesn't argue. He sweeps low, catches Jace’s leg, and drives him into the floor. The crack of bone is loud in the enclosed space. Pinning his brother with a knee to the chest, Aiden shifts his forearms back to human and looks at me.

"Look at me, Luna."

My body obeys before my mind can catch up.

"Acknowledge your Alpha," he says, his silver eyes blown wide. "Or watch him die."

Fear spikes, cold and sharp. But underneath it, a heavy pull makes my knees weak. Jace was heat and chaos. Aiden is just gravity.

Closing the distance, he steps toward me, leaving Jace gasping under his knee. When his bare fingers brush my jaw, I forget to breathe. Jace’s touch burned, but this freezes. A chill spreads through my chest, clearing my head. My sealed Lunissa blood hums against his skin. Frost and silver.

Aiden’s thumb traces the mark Jace left on my neck. His jaw tightens. "Your blood feels different to me," he murmurs. "Ice."

Before I can answer, the narrow window slit explodes. 

Purple eclipse light and stone dust shower the room. Something whistles past my throat, so close the wind ruffles my hair. 

Thud.

A black-feathered arrow sinks three inches into the stone where my head just was. Liquid wolfsbane drips from the tip, hissing against the rock.

Aiden throws his body over mine, his weight pinning me to the floor. "Down!" he roars.

I’m shaking. Reaching out with numb fingers, I touch the fletching. "It’s coated," I gasp. "They want me dead."

"They want the heir dead," he corrects, his voice tight against my ear.

Heavy boots echo from above. Whispers in a language that isn’t wolf. This isn’t just Raven’s jealousy. This is an invasion.

Aiden’s posture shifts, the strategist taking over. "Jace, hold the door," he orders, scooping me into his arms. His grip is bruising, but I don’t fight it. "I’m taking her to the Inner Sanctum."

Jace scrambles up, dark fur rippling up his arms as his beast rises. He faces the dark corridor, laughing recklessly. "Don't lock me out, Aiden!" he shouts.

"Stay alive to complain," Aiden snaps back.

We run. Aiden carries me like I’m his to protect, not his prize. His scent; Vine and cold cedar; overpowers the smoke and blood in the air. My cheek presses against his shoulder, feeling the rapid, steady beat of his heart. 

He doesn't hesitate once. Left. Right. A sharp turn through a narrow passage I didn't even know existed. The air grows colder with every step until breathing stings. Shadows stretch and warp as we pass ancient barriers, the magic thick and heavy. We reach a dead end of solid rock. Aiden slams his palm against the stone. Runes flare silver beneath his skin, and the wall grinds open.

The vault door seals behind us with a heavy thud, cutting off the outer sound.

We’re in his private chambers. Pale stone, moon-drenched from the skylight. Silver wards hum along the walls. The furs on the bed are deep and soft, a stark contrast to the cold stone of the undercroft.

Lowering me to the edge of the bed, his chest heaves. For the first time since I’ve known him, the perfect Alpha mask shatters completely. He looks exhausted. The lines around his eyes are drawn tight, and his hands frame my face, trembling slightly with restraint as he stares at the mark on my neck. His silver eyes are dark, the pupils blown wide with a mixture of jealousy and raw fear.

"He touched you," he says, his voice rough.

"He got me out," I whisper.

"I know." He presses his forehead to mine. His skin is freezing. "I hate him for it. I should have been the one to pull you from the dark."

His hands slide to my shoulders. "Luna, I felt the bond snap through the twin link. I felt every second. Tell me you're still here."

The ice in my chest pulses. I cover his wrists with my hands. "I’m here, Aiden."

Something in his rigid posture breaks. He kisses me. It’s deep, steady, and crushing, like he’s trying to memorize the shape of my mouth. I kiss him back, my hands tangling in his silver hair.

The bond between us flares. The cold in my chest turns to clear, blinding light. Pulling me against his chest, he wraps his arms around me. He presses his lips to the unmarked side of my neck, his breath hot against my skin.

"May I?" he whispers.

"Yes."

He bites down gently on the juncture of my neck and shoulder, opposite Jace’s mark. I gasp as his silver claiming settles deep into my veins. It doesn’t hurt. It feels like coming home. His magic floods my veins, washing away the lingering scent of smoke and blood. It’s a claiming of the soul, not just the flesh.

The second bond seals with a pulse of white light. The ancient Lunissa seal inside me cracks further. Aiden groans, his grip tightening as he shudders against me.

We stay tangled on the bed, breathing hard, listening to the quiet of the warded room.

After a long moment, Aiden reaches over and picks up the black arrow he’d pulled from the wall. He tosses it onto the furs. The wolfsbane still hisses faintly.

I look at the crude sigil. Two crossed fangs over a broken moon.

"Draveth," Aiden says, spitting the name. "Draven’s mark. He thinks the mate bond is a chain, a weakness to be severed. If he can’t break you to his will, he’ll kill you before you can unite the kingdoms."

The high of the bond fades, leaving cold reality. I’m a target.

Drawing me flush against his side, he drapes an arm across my waist. "The elders say four mates will burn the world to ash," he says quietly. He looks at me, his silver eyes tired but fierce. "Let them try and take you."

I understand then. He looks at me as if the kingdom could burn, and he wouldn't care.

I open my mouth to answer.

The temperature in the warded room plummets. Frost races up the silver bedposts, crackling like breaking glass. The air leaves my lungs in a white puff. The wards on the walls flicker violently; but they don’t break.

They were bypassed.

A shadow detaches from the corner of the ceiling. It elongates, liquid and unnatural, until it pools on the floor and rises.

Aiden is on his feet in an instant, claws out, throwing me behind him.

A sleek, elegant figure drops silently to the furs, twin daggers gleaming in the moonlight. Golden eyes sweep the room with lazy, lethal amusement.

Kai, the Mountain Lion Prince, tilts his head. His silky smile is deadly.

"A beautiful sentiment, Silver Alpha," he purrs, spinning a blade between his fingers. "But you forgot to check the rafters.”