Chapter 3

The next morning, I refused to give Lucian another tear, I stood in front of my mirror and stared at the woman staring back at me.

My eyes were swollen from the night before, but I covered the evidence. I brushed my dark auburn hair until the waves fell neatly over my shoulders. 

I chose a deep burgundy dress that hugged my curves instead of hiding them. The neckline was modest, the sleeves elegant, and the skirt fell smoothly to my ankles.

I looked at myself for a long moment. Yesterday, I would have wondered whether Lucian would approve.

Today, I didn’t care,I wasn’t dressing for him. I wasn’t dressing for Selene. I was dressing because I refused to walk into the Moon Sanctum looking like a woman who had been discarded. I slipped on my shoes and fastened the familiar silver bracelet around my wrist.

The bracelet had been there for as long as I could remember. Cressida, my aunt, had given it to me when I was a child.

Never take it off, Merryn.

She had never explained why, and didn't question her until now.

I left my room and headed downstairs. Lucian was waiting downstairs.

His gaze lifted when I approached. For a moment, he said nothing. His eyes moved over me slowly.

Not with the disgust I had grown used to. Something else flickered across his face.

Surprise, perhaps. He looked at me properly. For the first time in a very long time. I walked past him.

“Ready?”

His jaw tightened.

“Yes.”

I didn’t look back. The carriage ride to the Moon Sanctum was silent. Neither of us spoke.

I watched Albion pass through the window, my reflection faint against the glass.

Three years ago, I had entered the Vale estate believing I was beginning my life.

This morning, I was going there to end it.

Or at least, I thought I was. The Moon Sanctum stood at the heart of Aurelia, its white stone walls rising above the surrounding buildings. 

Silver symbols had been carved into the entrance centuries ago, glowing faintly beneath the morning light. By the time we arrived, witnesses had already gathered.

Council representatives,  Pack elders. Members of Lucian’s family even Selene stood among them, of course she did. Her eyes met mine. She gave me a small smile. I returned nothing.

Lucian walked ahead, and I followed.  The doors of the Sanctum opened.

Inside, the air was colder. At the center of the chamber stood the Moonstone.

A massive piece of pale crystal rested beneath the altar, its surface glowing with soft silver light.

The priest stood before it. He was an elderly man with white hair and solemn grey eyes. He looked between Lucian and me.

“Alpha Lucian Vale. Merryn Vale. You have both requested the dissolution of your Moonbound marriage.”

My throat tightened.

“Yes,” Lucian answered.

The priest turned to me.

“Merryn?”

I looked at Lucian.

He wasn’t looking at me. His gaze was fixed on the Moonstone. I breathed in.

“Yes.”

The priest raised both hands.

“Then speak the words of release.”

Lucian went first.

“I release you from my name, my house, and my bond.”

The words struck strangely, not because they hurt. Because they didn’t.

Yesterday, they would have destroyed me. Today, they sounded like a door opening. The priest looked at me. I repeated the words.

“I release you from my name, my house, and my bond.”

Silence followed. The priest waited. Nothing happened. The Moonstone continued glowing. He frowned.

“That is unusual.”

Lucian’s expression darkened.

“Do it again.”

The priest looked at him sharply.

“The Moon Goddess does not require repetition.”

“Then something is wrong.”

The priest turned back toward the altar. He placed both palms against the Moonstone.

“By the authority of the Moon Goddess, I command this bond to be released.”

Nothing, no light, no reaction, not even a flicker. 

The priest’s face tightened.

He tried again.

“Release.”

Still nothing.

A murmur moved through the witnesses. Lucian stepped forward.

“Why isn’t it working?”

“I don’t know.”

The priest sounded genuinely unsettled. My heart began beating faster. I looked at my wedding ring.

It felt strangely warm.

Then..

CRACK.

The sound came from us. Everyone froze. A thin black line appeared across the floor beneath the altar. Another crack followed. Then another.

The Moonstone split, a violent pulse exploded through the chamber.

People screamed, I was thrown backward. My shoulder struck the floor. Lucian stumbled several feet away. The priest crashed against the altar. The candles surrounding the chamber went out simultaneously. Darkness swallowed everything. Then my bracelet burned.

I gasped. My hand flew to my wrist. Heat tore through my skin.

“Ah!”

I ripped my sleeve back. The silver bracelet was glowing. Not reflecting light. Producing it. A strange pulse moved through the metal.

Once.

Twice.

Then the floor beneath me began to glow. I pushed myself upright. An ancient symbol appeared beneath my feet. Black lines intertwined with silver.

A circle.

Inside it was a crescent moon crossed by a dark eclipse.

The chamber fell silent.

The priest stared at the symbol.

All the color drained from his face.

“Where did you get that bracelet?”

I swallowed.

“Cressida gave it to me.”

“When?”

“When I was a child.”

“Did she tell you what it was?”

“No.”

My voice shook.

“She only told me never to remove it.”

The priest took a slow step backward.

His eyes remained fixed on my wrist.

“Eclipse…”

Lucian turned toward him.

“What does that mean?”

The priest didn’t answer.

“Father.”

Lucian’s voice sharpened.

“What does it mean?”

The priest looked at him.

Then at me.

“This isn’t a normal Moonbond.”

My stomach dropped.

“What?”

He swallowed.

“It is a Bloodlock.”

The word seemed to echo through the chamber.

Lucian’s expression hardened.

“What is a Bloodlock?”

The priest hesitated.

“A bond created by blood rather than consent.”

My pulse quickened.

“Between who?”

The priest looked at Lucian.

Then me.

“Someone deliberately connected something inside you to the Vale bloodline.”

I stared at him.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“It means your marriage may never have been merely a marriage.”

Lucian stepped toward us.

“Who would do that?”

The priest’s eyes dropped on my bracelet.

“That is the question you should be asking.”

My skin prickled.

I looked down.

The bracelet was still burning.

“Why me?”

The priest opened his mouth.

Then stopped.

His expression changed.

His eyes widened.

“Merryn.”

“What?”

“Your bracelet.”

I looked at it.

A thin line had appeared across the silver.

“No…”

The line spread.

Crack.

The bracelet split down the middle.

A sharp gasp escaped me.

The two halves fell apart.

And suddenly, every wolf outside the Sanctum began howling.

Not one.

Not ten.

Hundreds.

The sound rolled through Aurelia like a wave.

The windows rattled.

The walls trembled.

People backed away from me.

I couldn’t breathe.

The priest stared at my wrist in horror.

“Impossible.”

I looked down.

Silver light was moving beneath my skin.

Not around me.

Inside me.

Thin veins of light spread from my wrist, crawling slowly toward my arm.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

“What is happening to me?”

The priest didn’t answer.

He couldn’t.

He was staring at me like he’d just seen a ghost.

Then he whispered,

“The Eclipse Wolf…”

And the silver light beneath my skin flared.