Chapter Ten

Bloodline

The forest clearing still smelled of blood and fear. The three hunters Derrick had sent lay broken on the ground, their groans echoing faintly through the trees. I hadn’t killed them—not yet—but I could feel the wolf inside me growling in protest, as though mercy itself was weakness.

Lucien circled me like a predator amused by its prey. His silver hair caught the moonlight, and his dark eyes glittered with a secret satisfaction. “So,” he said lightly, almost teasing. “The cast-off wolf isn’t so fragile after all.”

I wiped blood from my lip with the back of my hand, still shaking from what I had unleashed. “What did you do to me?”

“Nothing you didn’t allow,” he replied smoothly. “The shadows were always yours. I simply woke them.”

His words sank deep, stirring unease and excitement in equal measure. My body still hummed with the remnants of power, shadows whispering at the edges of my vision like old friends calling my name.

“You said I had a choice,” I reminded him, forcing my voice to steady. “Run back to Derrick and be his slave, or…” My words trailed off.

“Or become something more,” Lucien finished for me. He stopped circling, standing directly in front of me. “The Lunar Bloodline does not fade quietly. You are its last ember, Kimberly. And with the right training, you could burn this city to ash.”

The thought sent a shiver down my spine. To burn everything that had humiliated me. Everything that had broken me. Mona’s triumphant smirk. Derrick’s contempt. Catherine’s sneers. All of it reduced to nothing.

But training under Lucien? That was no small price. He wasn’t a savior. He was danger incarnate.

“What’s the cost?” I asked finally.

His smile was sharp as a knife. “Everything.”

I held his gaze. “Be specific.”

“You will give up who you were,” he said softly, stepping closer until the shadows clung to him like a cloak. “Kimberly Moonstone, the dutiful daughter, the rejected mate, the weak wolf—that girl must die. What remains will be forged from pain, discipline, and power. You will obey me, without question. Or you will break.”

The words struck like blows. But they didn’t frighten me as much as I thought they would. Because hadn’t I already lost everything? My name. My future. My family. What else was there to surrender but the ashes?

I clenched my fists. “And if I survive your training?”

Lucien’s grin widened. “Then you’ll be unstoppable.”

For a long moment, silence stretched between us. Only the wind moved, whispering through the trees like the voices of unseen witnesses. My wolf paced inside me, restless, urging me forward.

Do it, she whispered. We will never be weak again.

I drew in a shaky breath. “Then teach me.”

Lucien’s expression sharpened, the faintest glimmer of approval flickering across his face. “

Good,” he murmured. “Then we begin now.” and this time, we would have to see that this is done.