Called to the Circle

Chapter 9

Called to the Circle

 POV: Adelina McKenna

The call came at dusk.

I’d just begun to sketch again something simple, a pine tree against the ridge outside my window, but my hands kept trembling. The charcoal smeared. I couldn’t get the shape right.

Then came the knock.

Not Maren this time.

A different wolf. A younger male with sharp features and golden eyes.

“Adelina McKenna,” he said stiffly. “The Council summons you to the Circle. Immediately.”

Not a request.

A command.

I stood slowly, setting the sketchpad down beside the parchment with the Moon Matron seal. My hand brushed the edge of the ancient document, and I felt the whisper of something powerful stir beneath my skin.

My wolf growled softly.

She was restless tonight. On edge.

She knew something was coming.

And so did I.

The walk to the Circle felt like a funeral procession.

Two guards flanked me. Wolves lined the halls as I passed silent, still. Some watched me with open hostility. Others with wary fascination. But no one looked away.

They could smell it now.

The shift in me.

I wasn’t just Dax’s unclaimed mate anymore.

I was a threat to everything they understood about bloodlines, tradition, and control.

The Circle was already full when I arrived.

The amphitheater blazed with torchlight. Shadows danced across stone pillars. The entire pack had gathered more than a hundred wolves seated in the carved rows surrounding the open center.

At the highest tier sat the Council, robed and solemn.

Dax stood below them, on the ground floor of the circle.

Alone.

Not in his throne. Not on the platform.

On the same level as me.

I was led to a point directly opposite him, across the center ring.

Our eyes met immediately.

The bond sparked. Not as violently as before. Not as raw.

But deeper.

He looked tired. Tense. Haunted.

And something in his posture told me this wasn’t his idea.

No, this was theirs.

A show. A judgment.

And I was the main attraction.

The silver-robed woman from the Council stepped forward.

“Tonight,” she announced, her voice echoing through the Circle, “we gather to address a matter of legacy and law.”

Murmurs rippled around the amphitheater.

She continued, “The Alpha has recognized a fated bond. With an unclaimed wolf. A half-blood with unverified ties. And a bloodline that may belong to a lineage long thought extinct.”

She turned toward me, voice sharper now.

“Adelina McKenna, you stand before the Council of the Silver Fang. Do you acknowledge the bond?”

I lifted my chin.

“I do.”

Clear. Unshaken.

The woman nodded, turning to Dax.

“Alpha Reyes. Do you acknowledge it?”

Silence.

Tension thickened around the Circle like fog.

My heartbeat thundered in my ears.

And then, finally, he spoke.

“I do.”

A collective intake of breath swept through the arena.

But the Council leader raised her hand.

“Then the question remains: will you complete the claim?”

Another pause.

This time, longer.

I stared at him.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t look at me.

Didn’t breathe.

Just stood there, shoulders stiff, jaw clenched.

And that silence said everything.

The Councilwoman turned back to the crowd.

“According to tradition, if the Alpha does not claim his mate within three nights of bond confirmation, the bond may be broken. Severed by decree. With no consequence to the pack.”

The words felt like acid in my ears.

Severed.

Nullified.

Like it was nothing.

A bond older than memory. A tie formed by blood and spirit.

Reduced to paperwork.

Reduced to politics.

“Do you wish to break the bond, Alpha Reyes?” she asked.

And this time, Dax looked at me.

Not the way he had before—not like a man trying to resist fate.

This time, his eyes were wild.

Desperate.

Like someone standing at the edge of a cliff, about to make the leap… or walk away.

“I ” he started.

And I snapped.

“No,” I said.

My voice rang across the circle.

Every head turned.

“I have something to say.”

The Councilwoman frowned. “You are here to answer, not to speak.”

“I’m here to decide my future,” I said. “And if you’re going to treat this bond like a business contract, then I’ll speak like a negotiator.”

A few murmurs. Some gasps.

Dax’s eyes locked on mine.

The bond between us thrummed with energy hot and wild and pulsing just beneath the surface.

“You want me judged?” I said, stepping into the center of the circle. “Fine. But judge all of me. Not just my blood.”

I pulled the parchment from my coat.

Held it up for the crowd to see.

“This is a record of the Moon Matron Line. My father’s blood. My legacy. Forgotten, yes. But not false.”

The torches flickered.

Wolves shifted in their seats.

“This pack was built on the bones of wolves who followed tradition blindly,” I continued. “Who feared power they couldn’t control. Who silenced voices that didn’t bow.”

My voice grew louder.

Stronger.

“But I am not here to bow. And I am not here to be claimed like property.”

Gasps rippled through the assembly.

I turned to Dax.

“I don’t need your approval,” I said. “I don’t need your protection. But I won’t let you stand there and pretend you don’t feel this.”

I placed a hand over my chest.

“Because I feel it. Right here. Every moment. Every breath.”

The bond flared hot, bright, undeniable.

He took a step toward me.

Just one.

Enough.

Then came the sound of footsteps.

From behind the Council.

Caleb emerged from the shadows, holding something in his hands.

A second scroll.

“My apologies,” he said calmly, “but I believe this belongs in the record.”

He passed it to the silver-robed woman.

She unrolled it and her face paled.

“This can’t be verified,” she said.

“Actually, it can,” Caleb replied. “I cross-checked it with the hidden registry. Adelina’s father Callen of the Hollow Moon is listed. And he was mated to a human.”

The crowd gasped.

“Which means she is not an outsider,” Caleb said. “She is descended from a warrior caste older than any pack in this room.”

The Council buzzed with quiet debate.

I stood frozen, heart racing, trying to process what Caleb had just done.