The healing

KAIA VELEN POV

The moon temple became our sanctuary.

For three days straight, Damien and I worked with the healers to restore the imprisoned females. The ritual had drained so much from them that some of them could barely shift. Their Moonfire was dim, flickering like candles about to go out. But slowly, with salves and old magic and our own power channeled into them, they started to glow again.

The young girl—her name was Mira—was the first to recover enough to talk.

She sat with me on the steps of the temple on the fourth morning, and her eyes were clearer than they'd been when we found her.

"How long was I down there?" she asked.

"Three months," I said. "But you're out now. And you're safe."

"Safe," she repeated, like it was a word she didn't quite understand anymore. "What happens now?"

"Now you heal. You learn to control your Moonfire. And you decide who you want to become."

She looked at me, and I saw something shift in her expression. Hope. Real hope.

"I want to be like you," she said. "Strong. Not afraid."

"I'm terrified all the time," I admitted. "But I stopped letting the fear make my decisions."

She nodded like that made sense, and then she asked the question that every single female in that temple was probably thinking: "What about the other packs? Will they come for us? Will they try to use us like he did?"

I didn't have a good answer. So I told her the truth.

"Maybe. But you won't face them alone. Damien will protect you. And so will I."

---

By the end of the first week, the females were strong enough to leave the temple.

Damien had established a separate quarters for them—a section of the compound that was theirs alone, protected, safe. Some of them wanted to stay with the pack. Others wanted to leave, to go north to Sera's settlement where they could be around other cursed females.

Damien let them choose.

"This is what separates a real leader from a monster," I heard the older female—her name was Senna—tell one of the younger ones. "He's giving us agency. He's letting us decide our own fate."

The packing happened in the afternoon. I helped Mira tie up a bundle of clothes and supplies, and she looked back at the compound like she was saying goodbye to a nightmare.

"Are you going north?" I asked.

"I think so," she said. "I need to be around people who understand. People who won't look at me like I'm a curse."

"You're not a curse," I said. "You're a survivor."

She hugged me before she left, and I realized I was crying.

By sunset, nine of the seventeen had chosen to leave for Sera's settlement. Damien provided them with warriors as escorts and supplies for the journey. He didn't make them feel guilty for leaving. He just made sure they were protected.

The other eight chose to stay.

---

The pack's adjustment to Damien's rule was slower than I expected.

Some of them embraced him immediately. Others were still loyal to Rafe's memory, still believed the lies, still thought a female with Moonfire was a curse. Damien handled it with patience I didn't know he had.

He held council meetings. He explained what Rafe had done. He showed the evidence—the letters, the ritual circle, the crystal that had drained the females' power. Slowly, the resistance faded. Not into acceptance. But into understanding.

I watched him become Alpha in a way that went beyond just winning the challenge. He *became* the pack. He cared about their welfare. He made decisions based on what was best for them, not what was easiest for him.

It was attractive in a way that made my chest tight.

---

On the tenth night after the challenge, Damien found me in the moon temple where I was helping Senna with Moonfire control exercises.

"Come with me," he said, and his voice was different. Softer. Like he was asking for something personal instead of giving an order.

I followed him through the compound and out into the forest. The full moon was rising—the same moon that Rafe had planned to use for his ritual. But now it just looked beautiful.

Damien had prepared a clearing. There was a circle of stones and candles, and a space in the middle where the moonlight fell in a silver sheet.

"What is this?" I asked.

"This is where I mark you," he said. "Officially. Completely. No more hiding. No more pretending the bond isn't there."

"Damien—"

"I know you're not ready. I know we have the trial tomorrow, and everything is still unstable. But I need you to know that you're mine. That no matter what happens, the pack understands that you're the one I've chosen."

He stepped closer, and I could feel the Alpha power radiating off him. Could feel it call to something deep inside me.

"I choose you," he said. "Every second of every day. I choose you."

He pulled me close, and his mouth found the curve of my neck. His teeth grazed my skin—not breaking, just threatening. Promising.

"Say yes," he whispered against my throat.

"Yes," I breathed.

His teeth sank in.

The marking bite burned like silver fire. Not painful. Just intense. All-consuming. I felt the bond between us complete in a way it hadn't before. His Alpha power flowed into me, and my Moonfire flowed into him, and for a moment, we were completely intertwined.

When he pulled back, there was a mark on my neck. A crescent moon shaped scar that glowed faintly silver.

"Now everyone will know," he said. "You're my mate. You're my Luna."

"I don't want to be Luna," I said, even as the words registered how important this moment was. "I told you. I want to be your Blade. I want to fight. I want to—"

"I know." He kissed my forehead. "And you will. But you'll do it as my bonded mate. As the female I chose. As the one who has my heart."

I looked at him in the moonlight, and I realized that somewhere along the way, I'd stopped being afraid of loving him. I'd stopped being afraid of what it meant to be tied to someone this completely.

"Okay," I said. "Okay. I'm yours."

"You always were," he replied. "You just finally admitted it."

---

The next morning, we faced Rafe's trial.

The council had assembled in the main hall. The pack filled the gallery. And Rafe sat in chains, looking like a shadow of the man he'd been.

Damien sat on the Alpha throne—his throne now—and looked down at his former friend with an expression that was completely blank.

"You are charged with the murder of Lyra Morrison," Councilor Chen read from the official documents. "You are charged with the attempted murder of Alpha Damien Blackwood through ritual poisoning. You are charged with the enslavement and torture of seventeen females with Moonfire abilities. You are charged with treason against the Blackmoon Pack. How do you plead?"

For a moment, Rafe said nothing.

Then he laughed.

It was a broken sound, like something inside him had finally shattered completely.

"I plea guilty," he said. "To all of it. But you know what? I don't regret it. I regret that I didn't kill him when I had the chance. I regret that I didn't drain her completely before she escaped."

He looked at me, and his eyes were completely void of humanity.

"She should have been mine," he said. "She rejected me, and I should have made her understand what that costs."

I felt Damien's hand grip the armrest of the throne so hard that stone cracked.

"The sentence for treason and murder is execution," Councilor Chen said formally. "To be carried out at sunset. May the Moon Goddess have mercy on your soul."

Rafe was dragged away, and he didn't fight. Just went quietly, like he'd already accepted his fate.

But as he passed me, he whispered something that made my blood freeze: "This isn't over. Darkness always returns."

I felt Damien stand up. Felt him move toward Rafe like he was going to finish him right there.

But I grabbed his hand.

"Let him go," I said. "Let the pack see justice done properly. Let him die knowing he lost."

Damien looked at me, and I saw the war happening in his expression. The Alpha wanting vengeance. The man wanting to protect me.

Finally, he nodded and sat back down.

But his hand never left mine for the rest of the trial.