The Binding and the Storm

Larissa’s POV

The air was heavy—so heavy it pressed against my lungs, thick enough to choke on.

I stood before the mirror, barely recognizing the reflection staring back at me. The ceremonial dress clung to my body like it had been sewn from my own skin. Deep crimson silk shimmered over my curves, a golden sash knotted tight at my waist, the emblem of the Nightfang Pack gleaming like a wound. My hair was pinned up, too neat, too delicate, with traitorous strands curling around my temples as if mocking me.

Behind me, my mother hovered like a ghost.

“You look beautiful,” she whispered, her voice scratchy with emotion. “I never imagined it would be like this.”

I didn’t turn. Didn’t blink. Just stared into the glass as though I could unmake it all by sheer will.

“Neither did I.”

A silence settled—uneasy, heavy—until she broke it.

“I failed you.”

The words stung more than I expected. I almost flinched.

“You left me,” I said quietly. The mirror didn’t reflect tears. Only steel. “When I needed you most.”

“I know,” she breathed. “And I’m so sorry.”

She stepped back then, her presence fading from my side like morning fog. I didn’t ask her to stay. The ceremony hour was close.

And I would walk into it alone, even if the hall was full.

---

The great hall blazed with suspended lanterns, thousands of them casting golden fire across the circular chamber. It should’ve felt magical. But all I saw were eyes. Watching. Weighing.

Judging.

Whispers rose like the tide against stone.

"Is that her?"

"She was exiled."

"Why would Xavier choose her?"

I walked forward, each step deliberate, my gaze locked ahead. My chin stayed high. If I faltered now, they’d see it. They’d smell it. Wolves always do.

Let them look.

Let them choke on their curiosity.

I was done hiding.

Xavier waited at the altar, cloaked in ceremonial black. His expression was unreadable—almost carved. But when I got close, something flickered in his eyes.

Regret? Guilt? Restraint?

It didn’t matter anymore.

Our hands met. A silver thread wrapped around our wrists—light, yet it burned like it knew the truth of us. The priestess began her chant, ancient words that should’ve meant something. To me, they sounded like chains being forged.

“Under moonlight, by blood and vow, Alpha and Luna are joined…”

Then it was my turn to answer.

But the past struck first.

---

Flashback

Rain drenched the clearing. I was soaked, shaking. My heart—barely holding itself together.

“Xavier, please,” I whispered, arms wrapped around my own body like it could hold in the ache.

He wouldn’t even meet my eyes.

“You think I’d choose someone like you?” His voice was cutting. Sharp. “You’re weak. Powerless. I need a Luna, not a burden.”

The words cracked something vital inside me.

“We were meant—”

“No,” he snapped. “You were convenient. Nothing more.”

My world fractured.

I stumbled back, rain mixing with the heat of my tears. Shame. Rage.

“Get out of my sight, Larissa. You embarrass me.”

---

I blinked the memory away—barely.

But I didn’t fall.

Didn’t run.

“I accept,” I said.

The words felt like rust in my throat, scraping on the way out.

The priestess nodded. “By sacred rite and ancestral decree, your souls are now entwined. May the bond forged tonight be eternal—through blood, moonlight, and the will of the Elders.”

The silver thread shimmered once—then vanished like smoke.

A ripple of response passed through the crowd. Some clapped, others stayed stiff and silent. Waiting. Watching. Like they expected the earth to rise up and correct this mistake.

Xavier’s grip tightened—whether to steady me or himself, I didn’t care. My fingers were numb.

And then, the storm struck.

A gust of wind, unnatural and violent, roared through the chamber, extinguishing several lanterns in one breath.

Gasps echoed.

A voice followed.

Deep. Raw. Familiar.

“So this is what you’ve come to, Xavier… marrying the very girl you once threw to the wolves?”

I froze.

No. No, it couldn’t be—

All heads turned toward the grand entrance.

And there he was.

Alpha Kai.

Tall. Cold. Unrelenting. His cloak moved like shadow turned to flesh, and his eyes—icy blue and burning—locked onto me with terrifying precision.

Xavier tensed beside me. His jaw tightened.

“You don’t belong here,” he growled.

But Kai laughed. The sound was poison dipped in velvet.

“Neither did she. But here she stands. Your bride. Your Luna.”

Then he looked at me—and didn’t look away.

“Tell me, Larissa… is this truly what you want? Or are you just trying to survive?”

The hall erupted—guards moving, wolves growling, murmurs swelling like a rising sea.

But I stood still.

Kai’s voice had pulled something old and rotting from beneath my skin.

Memories of pleading eyes. Of silence when I begged. Of betrayal that never healed.

And still, he was here.

Challenging everything.

One storm had passed.

But this—this was the beginning of another.

---

“I accept,” I’d said. But now it echoed inside me like a warning.

The priestess raised her hands. “By sacred rite and ancestral decree…”

The cord vanished.

And with it, something inside me curled in and died.

The crowd seemed to relax.

I didn’t.

Then came the sound—sharp, deliberate. A heel on marble. A voice that slid through the air like silk soaked in venom.

“How poetic,” Selene called from above, her voice slicing through the quiet.

“Sealing a bond built on betrayal.”

She stood in red, the color of spite, her eyes glinting like polished knives.

And beside her…

My breath stopped.

Him.

Kai.

Again.

This time, he didn’t storm in like chaos—he unfolded. Smooth. Unhurried. Like a nightmare remembered too late.

His presence sucked the warmth from the air. Calm. Deadly. Absolute.

He wasn’t here to fight.

He was here to haunt.

Our eyes met.

Everything inside me went still.

He shouldn’t be here.

He should’ve stayed in the past, buried with everything else I’d tried to forget.

Xavier’s hand gripped mine tighter—but it felt like a lifeline tied to an anchor.

Kai’s voice came low. “You’ve bound her with words. But what of choice? What of truth?”

No one answered.

Because deep inside me, in the part that still knew right from survival, the part that once believed in love—there was only silence.

Splintered and cold.

Two Alphas.

One past I couldn’t escape.

And me, standing between them.

A binding that felt more like shackles than sanctuary.

Was this what survival meant now?

Choosing the lesser wound?

Becoming Luna, not because I healed, but because I endured?

I looked at Xavier—the man who broke me before the world ever could.

I looked at Kai—the man who watched and did nothing.

And then I looked at myself.

A reflection in a broken mirror.

A girl wrapped in silk, standing tall in a room that would gladly see her fall.

And for the first time, I didn’t know who I was anymore.