Chapter Sixteen: The Moon’s Warning

Silas’s POV

The fever was gone.

But something worse had taken its place.

He sat up in Ethan’s bed sweat-soaked sheets tangled around him staring at the mark that now curled just below his collarbone.

A black crescent, edged with flame-like scars.

Not ink. Not burn.

A prophecy mark.

It hadn’t been there before the bond fractured and reforged. And it wasn’t a Crescent Moon symbol.

It was older.

Deeper.

Like something the moon itself carved into him.

Ethan stepped out of the adjoining washroom, his shirt half-buttoned and eyes half-wild.

“You’re awake.”

Silas looked up. “Yeah. Barely.”

Ethan crossed to him, cupped the back of his neck, and leaned his forehead against Silas’s.

Their bond buzzed between them restored, but different. Wilder. Hungrier. Almost… feral.

“I thought I lost you,” Ethan whispered.

“You did,” Silas murmured. “But I found my way back.”

Then he pulled Ethan’s hand toward his chest.

“Look.”

Ethan’s fingers brushed the markand flinched.

He pulled back like he’d touched fire.

Silas met his eyes. “What is it?”

But before Ethan could answer, the door slammed open.

Arden’s POV

He didn’t wait for permission.

“Elder Lysara wants to see you both,” Arden said grimly. “Now.”

Ethan blinked. “Silas is still”

“She says it’s urgent. Something about the mark.”

Arden’s voice dropped lower.

“She called it a Luna brand. But she didn’t sound relieved.”

Council Hall – Lysara’s POV

They came in quietlySilas still pale, Ethan still protective, Arden silent at their back.

Lysara didn’t smile.

She pointed to the ceremonial stone and waited for Silas to sit.

Then she said one word

“Chosen.”

Silas frowned. “What?”

“That mark,” she said, voice cold, “is not Crescent. It’s not Red Moon. It’s not even from this era.”

She stepped closer.

“It belongs to the old world. Before the packs. Before peace. It’s a Moon-given prophecy. Rare. Dangerous.”

She looked at Ethan.

“You reforged a bond that should have died. That power comes with a cost.”

Ethan’s jaw tensed. “What cost?”

Lysara hesitated.

Then “If your mate's bond is ever broken again… it will destroy not just you both but the balance between packs.”

She faced Silas now.

“You are marked as Luna not just by title but by fate. If you’re ever cast out again, the Moon will punish all who betrayed you.”

Silas blinked. “That’s… dramatic.”

Lysara didn’t smile. “It’s a warning.”

Nina’s POV – Crescent Outskirts

She watched from the shadows as Elder Tiberius of Crescent Moon spoke to Marcus in hushed tones.

She didn’t need to hear it all to understand.

There were cracks in Marcus’s control and she could slip through them.

Later that night, she cornered Tiberius.

“You want Marcus out,” she said calmly. “And I want Silas gone.”

Tiberius narrowed his eyes. “What are you proposing?”

She handed him a small black pouch. The same kind she’d used before.

“Sabotage the next summit. Let them turn on each other. Blame Silas. Tear the packs apart from within.”

Tiberius hesitated.

Then pocketed the pouch.

And smiled.

Silas’s POV

He stood under the moonlight, bare-chested, fingers grazing the new mark on his skin.

It pulsed softly.

Not like pain.

Like a promise.

Ethan stepped beside him. Quiet.

Silas didn’t look at him. “Do you believe her? About the warning?”

Ethan didn’t answer at first.

Then “I don’t care what the Moon says. I’m never letting you go again.”

But in the shadows beyond the trees…

Someone was already watching.

Waiting.

Planning.

Because some marks protect you

And others are targets waiting to bleed.