016

– Vuk Kael Lasković

The doors slammed shut behind her with a finality that echoed through the chambers like the closing of a crypt.

I stood there, frozen in place, hands still half-raised from where they’d cradled her face. The warmth of her tears lingered on my palms, a ghost of salt and sorrow. The room felt suddenly too large, too empty — her absence a void that swallowed the air.

She’d said no.

Not just to the crown.

To everything.

“I don’t even know if I like you… or if it’s just this overbearing mate bond…”

The words hung in the silence, repeating, twisting like a blade in an old wound I didn’t know I had.

My vision tunneled. Hellfire surged along my veins, gold flickering under my skin like living flame. The torches flared higher, shadows writhing.

A low growl built — silent at first, then ripping out as my fist cracked the obsidian table. Shards flew. Wine bled across the floor.

Hours blurred in destruction and silence.

Finally, I left the ruin and prowled to the war room.

Eryx was there, reviewing maps.

He looked up, took in my face, and straightened.

“My lord.”

I paced, staring at borders as if they held answers.

Minutes stretched.

Finally, indirect: “What does it mean… when a female rejects being with you?”

Eryx’s stylus paused. “If a female rejects you it means she hates you. it’s so simple.”

“What?!” I half-yelled, head snapping toward him.

He grinned. “Hates you, Alpha. Despises you. Probably plotting your slow demise.”

“Hate me…” I repeated, swallowing hard, the words sinking like stones.

Eryx watched, amusement fading to realization.

“Alpha… is this about you?”

I didn’t answer.

He circled closer, hand dramatically on chest.

“By the gods… the Devil rejected? Are you going to lose your mate?!”

“Shut up,” I snarled, but weakly.

He ignored it, pacing theatrically.

“So… does it really mean she hates me?” I muttered, the words scraping out like gravel. “If she rejects… the proposal?”

Eryx stopped pacing, eyes going wide as if I’d just confessed to treason.

“What proposal are we talking about here, Alpha?”

I met his gaze, pride burning in my throat.

“The Luna…”

“Huh!!!” He threw his hands up, staggering back like I’d struck him. “Of course!! Who would want to be Luna?!”

My heart seized.

“Think about it!!” he continued, voice rising with genuine shock. “She’s still under shock!! You can’t just ask her to be Luna like that!!! Auction block to mating to wearing the crown of the Northern Dominion in weeks? If I was her, I would run away too…”

“Run away?!” The words cracked out of me, heart aching like a fresh wound. Fear hit like ice in my veins — cold, paralyzing.

I hoped Maureen wasn’t going to do that… gods, not that. Not leave me in this endless night alone again.

“Why would she run away…” I whispered, sinking into the throne, the weight of centuries pressing down.

“Well, it’s clear the whole thing is too much!!” Eryx said, dropping the drama, voice serious now. “Give her time, Alpha. Let the pack grow to like her first. Prove the court’s not a threat. Be patient — let her come to you.”

I stared at the flickering holo-maps, pride crumbling to dust.

“How on earth can I be patient…” I rasped, voice raw. “I just want her beside me at all times…”

Eryx softened, pulling up a chair.

“Well, it doesn’t work that way… She’s not a toy or something… she’s a person, not a possession.”

The truth stabbed deep.

“So what do I do!!” I demanded, desperation bleeding through. “What do I do to keep her by my side? Every second I’m scared of losing her — of not seeing her face again. I want her in me, in my blood, in my heart. I want her all… every breath, every heartbeat, every star in my endless night.”

Eryx’s eyes gentled.

“You just have to take it slow… Let her fall in love with you, and not just the bond. Let her feel you — the male beneath the devil.”

“Oh… okay…”

I canceled everything that day — council meetings, border inspections, the hunt. All of it ash compared to this.

Eryx stayed, coaching in quiet murmurs: how to speak without command, how to listen, how to touch without claiming.

Childish lessons for an ancient monster.

But for her, I’d learn.

Night fell eternal outside.

I bathed in silence — hot water doing nothing to soothe the ache — and changed into loose linen trousers and a simple shirt, open at the throat. No armor. No crown.

I entered the chambers quietly.

She wasn’t asleep.

She sat on the edge of the bed, wrapped in furs, silver eyes wary in the hellfire glow.

I stopped a respectful distance away, heart thundering.

“Will you come with me?” I asked softly, extending a hand — no demand, just hope.

She hesitated, then nodded.

I took her hand — gentle, reverent — and led her through quiet corridors, out a side door into the frozen gardens.

Snow crunched under our feet, auroras swirling overhead in ribbons of green and violet. The air was crisp, biting, but I shielded her with my body as we walked to a secluded clearing — ancient stone benches circled by thorned ice roses that bloomed only under moonlight.

I stopped, turning to her, hands framing her face with infinite care.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, voice rough with regret. “For forcing you. For rushing. I held the world in my hands and tried to crown you with it before you were ready. It was my failing — my fear of losing you making me blind.”

She shook her head, tears glistening.

“No… I’m at fault. I shouldn’t have been so harsh. I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay,” I cut in gently, thumb brushing her cheek. “You spoke truth. And truth from your lips is the only gospel I’ll ever follow.”

She bit her lip, eyes searching mine.

I led her to the bench, sat beside her — close but not crowding — and tilted her chin up.

“Look,” I murmured.

We watched the stars together — endless, ancient lights in the velvet black.

Then I called on old magic — hellfire and lunar threads woven from my bloodline.

Fireflies bloomed from nothing — thousands of them, golden and crimson sparks dancing in the snow. They swirled around us like living stars fallen to earth, warm despite the cold, lighting her face in soft glow.

She gasped, hand flying to her mouth.

And as they danced, I shaped a crown from the lights — delicate filaments of flame weaving into a circlet of glowing thorns and roses, resting gently on her white-gold hair.

She touched it, wide-eyed, breathless.

“You are already my queen,” I whispered, voice thick with everything I felt. “In every way that matters. The crown is yours whenever you choose it — not because the moon demands, but because my heart kneels to you alone. You are the light that ends my darkness, Maureen. The breath in my immortal lungs. The only eternity I crave.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks, sparkling in the firefly glow.

“I would burn the stars themselves to see you smile like this,” I continued, leaning close, forehead to hers. “I curse the centuries without you, and bless every second with you in it. You are my salvation, my moon, my everything — bond or no bond, I am yours until the gods fall and the world ends.”

She trembled, lips parting on a soft sob.

The fireflies swirled closer, wrapping us in warmth.

And in that moment, under the auroras and my magic, the devil held his moon — gently, desperately, completely in love.