Chapter #10 Morning After

Emara Dell POV

I woke up feeling like warm honey poured over a bruised peach. Sore. Glowy. Floating. Absolutely wrecked in the most magnificent way possible.

My entire body sang with the memory of Fenric’s hands, his mouth, his voice, gods, his voice, swearing devotion into my skin like prayers he’d been holding for lifetimes.

I stretched under the blankets and immediately winced… then giggled.

“Oh goddess,” I whispered into the pillow, “he ruined me.”

A low, smug growl sounded from behind me.

“Not ruined,” Fenric murmured, sliding an arm around my waist and pulling me back against his chest. “Marked. Loved. Claimed. Cherished. Transformed.”

I melted. His lips brushed my shoulder. “And ready for more.”

“Ready for....Fenric, I can barely walk.”

“Then I’ll carry you,” he said, already rolling me onto my back, his eyes dark and hungry. “Again.”

I squeaked. He kissed me slowly, and I felt that telltale heat start curling inside me again just as.....

BANG BANG BANG

“HELLO?” Rowan’s voice echoed happily from the hall. “ARE YOU TWO ALIVE OR DO I NEED TO PERFORM LAST RITES?”

Fenric growled like he was ready to kill someone. I shoved a hand over his mouth. “Do not murder Rowan.”

He licked my palm. I yelped.

“EMARA,” he shouted, “IF YOU DO NOT OPEN THIS DOOR I AM COMING IN ANYWAY AND NOBODY WANTS THAT.”

Fenric snarled, “I do.”

“Fenric,” I hissed, “stop threatening to seduce my best friend by accident.”

Rowan gasped through the door. “Is he naked? Tell me he’s naked.”

“He’s always naked,” I muttered.

“That is an acceptable lifestyle,” Rowan announced.

I scrambled out of bed on trembling legs, wrapped in Fenric’s oversized shirt, which smelled like bone magic and devotion, and cracked the door open.

Rowan beamed at me, then froze.

“Oh my god. You’re walking funny.”

I slapped his arm. “Hush!”

Fenric appeared behind me like a predator scenting fresh prey. “She is walking beautifully.”

Rowan made choking noises. “I can’t be here anymore.”

“Then leave,” Fenric said, deadpan.

“RUDE.”

I hugged Rowan before he could storm away, well, shuffled into him since my legs had gone on strike.

He hugged me back fiercely. “You look happy. And glowing. And also like your pelvis is in twelve pieces. I’m thrilled for you.”

I snorted. “Thank you.”

He pulled back. “Also there are… um… more wolves.”

I blinked. “More?”

“A lot more,” Rowan said, waving dramatically. “Like the packhouse multiplied overnight. They just keep showing up. Word spread. Some defected from BloodFang. Some from neighboring territories. Some ran away from abusive alphas, and apparently the Shadow Luna is now the patron saint of people who have had enough of being treated like shit.”

My throat tightened. These wolves… came for me? For safety? For change?

Before I could answer, heavy footsteps thundered down the hall. The door slammed open.

Alpha Corvin stormed inside like a blizzard on two legs, eyes wild, breath sharp, fury emanating off him like heat.

His gaze darted around the room.

At my rumpled bed. At Fenric shirtless and glowing with post-mating smugness. At me wrapped in Fenric’s shirt.

His jaw locked.

“So this is how it is?” he spat.

His voice would’ve shaken me once. Made me shrink. Made me apologize for breathing. Not anymore.

I stepped forward with my chin held high, and my shoulders square.

“This is exactly how it is.”

Corvin recoiled.

“You have taken my wolves,” he snarled. “You undermine my authority. You flaunt, this, in front of the pack.”

“This,” I said calmly, “is my mate. My bond. My destiny. Not yours.”

Fenric moved to my side, silent and deadly, his eyes burning. A promise of violence in the shape of a man.

I continued.

“Your people no longer want a cruel alpha. They don’t trust you. They don’t feel safe with you. And frankly?”

I shrugged.

“You are no longer needed here, Corvin.”

His breath hitched like I’d stabbed him.

“You can stay,” I said, my voice soft and merciless. “Or you can leave. I don’t care. But I am the Luna now. The Shadow Luna. The goddess chose me. Not you. Not Lyrina. Me.”

Fenric leaned down, brushing a kiss to the side of my jaw just to enrage him further.

Corvin trembled with fury, but underneath it…I saw shame. Guilt. Regret.

He swallowed hard.

“I… understand.”

Then he fled the room.

Rowan peeked through the cracked door. “Did you just verbally eviscerate him?”

I exhaled shakily. “Yes?”

Rowan squealed. “I’m so proud.”

Fenric turned me toward him, tilting my chin gently until I met his eyes.

“My love,” he murmured, “I have witnessed queens and warlords and godlings in my lifetime… but never have I seen anything as powerful as the way you just stood for yourself.”

Heat bloomed in my chest.

“No one owns you,” he whispered. “No one defines you. You are your own storm. Your own moon. Your own rise.”

I melted into him.

“I’m proud of you,” he breathed. “So proud it hurts.”

I felt my heart expand, huge and soft and fierce inside me.

Maybe I could do this. Maybe Rowan and Fenric and I really could bring balance. Change the pack. Change the world. Together.

“Emara?” Rowan chirped. “Breakfast?”

Fenric growled. “Round four.”

“No!” I yelped.

“Yes,” he purred.

“Oh my goddess,” Rowan groaned. “My life is pain.”

I laughed, warm and bright.

And for the first time in my entire 19 years…I wasn’t afraid of the future anymore.

I was so fucking ready for it.