Dorian POV Tessa was trembling by the time we returned to our quarters. Not from fear.From too much power - too much truth - unleashed all at once.I guided her to the bed, gently pulling off t-shirt as if she were made of moonlight and embers. Her eyes were heavy, but her body still pulsed with energy. I could feel it under her skin. Ancient. Uncontainable.Her wolf was awake now. And so was mine.“She’s not the same girl we met,” my wolf murmured, awe lacing every syllable. “She’s a storm, wearing soft skin.”I pulled the covers up over her bare shoulders and climbed in behind her, drawing her against my chest like she was the only warmth left in the world.She didn’t speak. Just curled into me with a sigh that broke something open in my chest.I kissed the back of her neck, murmured, “Sleep,” into her hair.And this time, she did. But I didn’t. Not for hours.I lay awake in the dark, staring at the ceiling, listening to the rhythm of her breath. The bond between us wasn’t just h
Tessa POVThe room was quiet, but inside me, a storm raged.Not the kind that broke trees or tore roofs from homes - no. This one unfolded inward, like roots splitting through stone.I sat in Dorian’s lap, his arms strong around me, grounding me, but I felt like I was floating just above the skin of the world. Like the veil had lifted - and now I couldn’t go back."You’re awake now," Sable whispered inside me. Her voice no longer distant, no longer muffled by fear or magic. "You remember enough to begin."My hands trembled. Not from fear. From knowing.From a quiet, rising awareness that everything I believed about myself - the story I’d been told - was only a shard of the truth. And the rest?Buried.Hidden by spells. By tears. By choices made before I could speak for myself.Dorian hadn’t said anything since I told him. He just held me tighter, as if his silence could protect me better than words.I leaned into him, cheek pressed to the solid warmth of his shoulder, and let myself b
Tessa POVThe doors hadn’t even closed behind them before my knees buckled.Dorian caught me instantly, his arms locking around my waist, strong and steady, anchoring me in place. But even his touch couldn’t stop the way my body trembled. It wasn’t fear.It was something older. Deeper. Like I’d opened a door inside myself and couldn’t shut it again.I didn’t want to.“I’m okay,” I whispered, though my voice sounded distant even to my own ears.“You’re more than okay,” Dorian murmured behind me, his breath warm against my neck. “You just shook the bones of the Council’s spine, and you didn’t even try.”I wanted to believe him. But something in me still pulsed too loud - too alive.My skin prickled. The air still tasted like smoke and power. My hands had stopped glowing, but the pressure under my skin was still there. A hum. A heartbeat.And then Sable spoke again. “You felt it, didn’t you?”Her voice was clearer now than it had ever been - no longer a whisper in the shadows of my thoug
Dorian POVI didn’t sleep. Couldn’t.Even as Tessa drifted deeper into rest, tangled in my arms, my wolf remained sharp-eyed and alert. The bond between us hummed like a live wire, thrumming with magic and something older - wilder. I could feel Sable’s presence in the back of my mind, watchful now. Quiet, but present.We were marked by something ancient. And if I could feel it, others would too.A sharp knock split the quiet.I went still.Three precise raps. Measured. Not panicked. Not friendly either.Tessa stirred, but I brushed my lips against her forehead. “Stay,” I whispered. “I’ll handle it.”I slid from the bed, throwing on a pair of pants and grabbing the nearest shirt - still warm from earlier. My wolf growled low in my chest as I moved to the door, scent already catching what lay beyond."Not pack. Foreign. But not rogue either.""Council."I opened the door without ceremony.“Alpha Dorian.” The voice was clipped. Formal. And far too self-assured for someone standing at my
Dorian POVThe storm of our bodies had passed, but its echoes lingered in the silence.Tessa lay curled against my chest, her breath warm against my skin, her hand resting over my heart like it belonged there. I watched her, unable to look away. Her lashes fluttered softly as she drifted toward sleep, her expression serene, almost glowing in the faint silver light that spilled through the window.She looked like peace. She felt like home.And still - despite the quiet, despite the warmth of her in my arms - the fire in my chest refused to settle. It wasn’t just desire anymore. It was something older. Deeper. Primordial.My fingers traced the curve of her spine slowly, grounding myself in the rhythm of her breathing. I didn’t want to wake her. I just wanted this. Her. Everything.My wolf stirred in the back of my mind, pacing silently, eyes fixed on her too. "She’s more than we dreamed."“I know,” I whispered."She carries something ancient inside her, he murmured. Not just Alpha blood
Dorian POVTessa sat in the water leaned against my chest, flushed from the heat of the water and the aftermath of power she didn’t yet understand. Her eyes held the remnants of uncertainty, but her body - her body was relaxed against mine, like she trusted me to hold her through the unraveling.She didn’t realize she was becoming divine. And fuck, that only made her more dangerous. More mine."I told you", my wolf murmured, voice low and hungry inside my head. "She isn’t just a Luna. She’s a goddess reborn. A storm in our hands.""Our storm. The Council was terrified of her. Rightly so."They saw only a threat - something wild, unstable, impossible to control.But I saw the truth.She wasn’t just the mate I’d waited for. She was the perfect partner for the empire I intended to build. A queen for wolves who had none. A weapon forged in silence, tempered by fate. She would raze the old world, and I would shape what rose from the ashes.Together, we would tear the old order down.But be
Tessa POVThe bathwater was almost too hot, but I didn’t care.My muscles throbbed in that strange, aching way that came after shifting mid-battle and throwing around magic I barely understood. The lavender oils I had poured in floated in milky swirls around my legs, soothing the dried blood from my skin.I leaned my head back against the cool tile and let out a slow breath.Everything felt heavy. My body, my mind, my soul. The shock of what had happened hadn’t fully faded - not the battle, not the mark on that rogue’s neck, and definitely not the pulse of raw power that had exploded out of me like a damn earthquake.I hadn’t meant to do that. It just happened. Like I was a storm waiting for a trigger.The door creaked open.I didn’t move. Not even when I felt his presence cross the threshold - heavy, warm, utterly Dorian. I’d know the way he moved even if I were blind. Controlled. Predatory. Alpha.A soft rustle of clothing followed, and I cracked one eye open just in time to see his
Dorian POV I heard the battle before I saw it.The clash of bodies, the thunder of paws on forest ground, the sharp screams cutting through the mind link - it was chaos laced with something else. A pressure, humming low in my chest. I wasn’t sure if it was fear or fury until I saw her.Tessa. Or rather - Sable.She stood in the middle of it all, her silver-white form glowing with power, fur bristling like lightning-charged air. Around her, the battlefield had gone still. Rogues lay strewn across the clearing, limbs twisted, eyes wide in frozen terror. Others backed away from her, ears pinned, whimpering like they’d seen a god rise from the dirt.And maybe they had.Because the ground beneath her paws still glowed faintly - blackened earth etched with the echo of raw force. Whatever she'd just done had cracked the air open. I could feel it in my bones.She’s not the same, my wolf said, quiet and reverent. She’s waking up.I stepped closer, slow, silent. Rylan stood at the edge of the
Tessa POV The scream shattered the still morning air. "They’re here. West sector. It’s bad."The mind link crackled with the panicked voice of one of their scouts - young, but experienced enough that his fear sent me bolting without hesitation.The forest blurred as my paws hit the earth. Wind slashed past my muzzle, cold and biting. I was faster now. Stronger. Lighter. Every step surged with a new energy thrumming through my limbs - wild, powerful, alive.Gone was the girl who questioned her place. I was Luna. Every part of me knew it. And so did the forest. Its heartbeat matched mine.Through the mind link, I felt the alarm ignite across the pack. Warriors mobilizing. Dorian’s presence - dark, steady - anchored the chaos. Galen was already at the perimeter, shifting mid-run, his thoughts like stone under pressure. Rylan’s voice followed, sharp and sure:“Sable, we’re holding the inner ring. Come from the ridge. High ground. Push them inward.”“On it,” I replied, crisp and clear.I