The Luna’s Trial

The room was dark, the fire burned low, and Kade’s weight beside me was the only thing keeping me from unraveling.

But his stillness wasn’t the calm of sleep. He was awake. Watching me.

“Tell me,” he murmured, his voice low, more command than request.

My throat tightened. “It was just a dream.”

Kade shifted, propping himself on one elbow. In the half-light, his golden eyes caught fire. “No. You saw something. I felt the bond strain.”

Bond. Always the bond. I hated how he said it like it was some tether tying me down, when sometimes it felt more like a fuse, ready to ignite.

I swallowed hard. “It was… shadows. Wolves. And him.”

Kade’s jaw tightened. “Who?”

I hesitated. Saying it out loud felt like giving it power. But Kade’s gaze brooked no lies.

“An Alpha,” I whispered. “Not you. His eyes were silver, cold. He said…” My voice faltered.

“What?” Kade’s grip closed around my wrist, tight enough to sting.

I met his stare, my own words tasting like ash. “He said the bond would devour me. And when it does… you’ll kill me yourself.”

The silence after was worse than any snarl.

Kade’s body went still, his breath a hiss between his teeth. For a heartbeat, I thought he’d deny it—call it fear, nothing more. But his expression darkened, something raw and dangerous flickering in his eyes.

“I know that voice,” he said at last, so quietly it made my skin prickle.

My pulse stuttered. “What?”

He pushed off the bed, pacing like a caged predator. His fists flexed at his sides, claws sliding in and out, betraying the storm inside him. “Silver eyes. That bastard haunts every shadow.”

“Kade—who is he?”

He didn’t answer right away. When he turned back, his face was carved from stone, but his voice cracked with restrained fury. “Cassian. Alpha of the Hollowfang. He should be dead. I killed him myself.”

My stomach lurched. “Then how—?”

“He’s not a man anymore.” Kade’s voice dropped, ragged. “Not a wolf either. He’s something else. A revenant. A shadow Alpha. And if he’s reaching you through dreams, then the bond between us…”

He stopped, biting the words back, but I caught the flash of fear in his eyes.

“Say it,” I whispered.

His silence was answer enough.

The air between us throbbed with tension, with unspoken truths. If Cassian could reach me, if he could poison my dreams, then maybe the vision hadn’t been a lie. Maybe the bond would devour me. Maybe Kade would—

“No.” The word cracked from him like thunder. In an instant he was in front of me, gripping my face, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Listen to me. I will never harm you. Not bond. Not prophecy. Not fate. If Cassian thinks he can twist that, he’s already lost.”

I wanted to believe him. God, I wanted to. But the wolf inside me stirred restlessly, whispering of hunger and fire, and I couldn’t silence the echo of Cassian’s voice.

Before I could speak, a sharp knock rattled the chamber door.

Kade’s head whipped toward it, a snarl curling his lips. “What?”

A muffled voice answered, laced with tension. “Alpha. The pack demands audience. They’ve called for the Luna’s trial.”

Ice slid down my spine.

Kade’s claws dug into the wooden bedpost as he rose, fury radiating from him. “They dare—”

I sat up, my heart hammering. “What trial?”

His eyes met mine, gold burning hot enough to scorch. “To prove you’re worthy. Or die trying.”

The door creaked open, revealing wolves waiting in the hall, their gazes fixed on me like vultures circling prey.

And in that moment, I understood.

This wasn’t just about me. It was about all of them. A pack divided. A Luna questioned. And a bond that might shatter under the weight of prophecy and blood.

The trial wasn’t coming.

It had already begun.

The Blackwood pack’s trial ground was no courtroom. No laws written on parchment. No mercy carved into stone.

It was a ring of earth, scarred and blood-soaked, surrounded by wolves whose eyes gleamed in the firelight. Their growls hummed low, restless, like a storm gathering strength. The trees loomed above, branches twisted and reaching, as if even the forest leaned in to watch.

Kade’s hand was a vise on my wrist as he pulled me into the center. His rage was a pulse I could feel in my veins, but when he looked at me, it wasn’t anger I saw. It was wariness. And beneath it, a flicker of fear he didn’t want me to notice.

“This is madness,” he snarled at the elders gathered on the edge of the circle. “You dare call for a trial against my mate?”

One of the elders—tall, silver-haired, his eyes shadowed with age and authority—stepped forward. “The pack demands proof. She is not wolf-born. Yet she carries your mark. That alone tears the laws we’ve lived by for centuries.”

“She is mine,” Kade’s growl thundered. “That should be enough.”

But the murmurs from the crowd made it clear—it wasn’t. Not for them.

The elder’s gaze slid to me, piercing. “Then let her prove it. By blood. By strength. By survival. If she cannot, then she cannot stand at your side as Luna.”

The crowd’s growl rose, a chorus of approval.

My stomach twisted. Prove it? Against what? Against who?

“Kade,” I whispered, my voice barely audible over the noise.

He turned to me, his eyes molten gold. For a moment, the Alpha mask slipped, and I saw the man beneath—angry, protective, desperate. “I’ll kill them before I let them touch you.”

I swallowed hard, shaking my head. “If you do… they’ll never follow me. They’ll never follow us.”

The truth hung there like a blade between us.

Kade’s jaw clenched so tight I thought it might shatter. But at last, he released me, his voice rough with fury he barely contained. “Then fight. Not to prove yourself to them. To prove to the wolf inside you that you’re more than their prey.”

The elder raised his hand. Silence fell.

“Bring forth the challenger.”

The crowd parted, and a figure stepped into the ring. Broad shoulders, scarred arms, eyes gleaming with savage hunger. Not an elder. Not a wolf driven by law. This was a volunteer.

A wolf who wanted me broken.

His name hissed through the crowd: Rylan. A warrior. A wolf who had once vied for Alpha himself before Kade shattered him in combat. His grin curved sharp as he looked at me, hunger and mockery in equal measure.

“So this is the human who thinks she can wear the Luna’s crown,” he sneered. His voice carried, taunting. “I’ll end her before she learns to crawl.”

The crowd roared approval.

My pulse hammered. My hands shook. And beneath my fear, the wolf stirred—eager, restless.

The elder’s hand fell. “Begin.”

Rylan moved like lightning, claws flashing. I barely ducked in time, his strike tearing the air beside my head. Instinct drove me back, stumbling, dirt scattering beneath my boots. He was faster, stronger, every muscle coiled for the kill.

“Pathetic,” he snarled, lunging again.

Something inside me snapped.

Heat roared through my blood, claws ripping from my hands, my vision sharpening until I could see every twitch of his muscles, every breath clouding from his lips. My fear burned away in a rush of fire.

I slashed back. My claws caught his arm, ripping deep. His blood splattered the dirt. The crowd gasped.

Rylan staggered, then grinned wider, eyes alight with the thrill of the fight. “There’s the beast. Let’s see if it can bleed.”

He lunged again, faster, his claws catching my side. Pain ripped through me, hot and sharp, but even as I staggered, the wound knit itself, flesh closing before my eyes.

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Whispers hissed: Not human. Not wolf. What is she?

I straightened, blood on my lips, claws ready. “Try harder.”

Rylan roared and charged, his full weight slamming into me. We hit the dirt hard, his claws at my throat. His breath reeked of blood and fury. “You don’t belong here!”

Something primal surged inside me. Not fear. Not despair. Rage.

I shoved up, my strength no longer mine alone but the wolf’s, the bond’s. Rylan’s eyes widened as I rolled us, pinning him beneath me. My claws hovered inches from his throat, my vision gone gold, my growl ripping from deep inside me.

The crowd howled, frenzied, torn between horror and awe.

Rylan spat blood in my face. “Do it. Kill me.”

For a heartbeat, the wolf in me screamed yes. Hunger coiled low, sharp and demanding. But another voice whispered too—Kade’s voice, rough with warning. Don’t lose yourself. Control it. Control her.

My claws trembled. I could end him. Prove myself in blood. Or I could—

I slammed my claws into the dirt beside his throat, inches from ending him. The earth split, dust flying.

Rylan froze, breath ragged.

I leaned close, my voice low, guttural, mine and the wolf’s together. “I don’t need your blood to prove I belong. I already do.”

Gasps rippled through the pack. Some in awe. Some in fury.

I rose, leaving Rylan gasping in the dirt. My claws retracted slowly, my body trembling with the restraint it had taken to stop. The wolf inside me paced, restless, unsatisfied, but leashed. For now.

Silence blanketed the ring.

Then Kade stepped forward, his voice a snarl that shook the trees. “You saw her strength. You saw her restraint. You saw her claim her place as Luna. Any who deny it will answer to me.”

The crowd erupted—some in cheers, others in defiance. The divide was still there, sharp and dangerous.

But when Kade’s eyes met mine, for the first time since the bond, I felt something more than fear, more than hunger.

I felt power.

And I knew the wolf within me wasn't done yet.