All Chapters of THE COLD WOLF'S MATE : Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

Elara’s POVThe Red Moon rose like an omen.By the time its light spilled through the clouds, the entire mountain seemed to pulse with it—slow, heavy, alive. The air shimmered with energy that made the hair on my arms rise. Every breath burned a little hotter than the last, like the night itself was feeding something inside me.I stood on the balcony outside Kael’s chambers, my hands gripping the cold stone rail as the first streaks of crimson light crawled across the horizon. The moon wasn’t silver tonight—it was blood-red, vast and merciless. Its reflection painted my skin in shades of fire and shadow.Something deep in my chest stirred.A heartbeat.Not my own.I closed my eyes and tried to steady myself, but the power thrummed louder, coiling around my ribs, pressing against my throat. It felt ancient—wild and impatient—as if it had been waiting for this night.“Elara?”Kael’s voice came from behind me, rough and low. When I turned, he looked almost unreal in the moonlight. The cr

Storm’s POV The Red Moon still hung over the mountains like a wound that refused to close. Its light bled across the stones, painting everything in crimson. The air reeked of burnt magic, blood, something older than all of us combined.I moved through the courtyard, my boots crunching on shattered marble. The fires had gone out, but the heat still pulsed from the cracks beneath the ground. Elara lay unconscious in Kael’s arms, her skin pale against the fading gold of her mark.Kael looked nothing like the Alpha I’d followed into countless battles. His shoulders were bowed, his face streaked with soot and blood. He was murmuring her name like a prayer. “Elara… come back to me.”I knelt beside them, pressing my palm against the ground. The magic residue made my veins hum in protest, it was wild, ancient and unstable. “She’s not gone,” I said, though the words felt heavy. “But something’s wrong.”Kael lifted his head. His eyes glowed faintly, the wolf barely restrained beneath his grie

Elara’s POV The night refused to end.The moon—what was left of it—hung bruised and bleeding in the sky, its crimson light flickering like a dying flame. Below it, the battlefield burned. Wolves clashed in waves, fur and steel and blood blending into one endless, screaming blur. Every breath I took tasted of ash and magic. The air itself felt heavy, suffocating, alive with the pulse of too much power.Kael was a golden blur before me, tearing through Lycans that tried to reach me. Storm’s spells flared in the distance, weaving shields of blue fire through the ranks. Milo and Jones fought back to back, their snarls blending with the cries of dying enemies. The entire mountain was alive with chaos and at the center of it all stood Magnus.He was waiting.He stood on the ridge above the battlefield, his black cloak billowing in the wind, his army moving like shadows beneath him. His eyes, those burning crimson eyes never left me. He wasn’t fighting anymore. He was watching and trying to

Kael’s POVThe night after the Red Moon fell should have been silent. It should have been peace. But it wasn’t.It was too quiet—unnaturally so. The kind of quiet that comes before a storm you can’t see yet but feel deep in your bones.I knelt beside Elara’s body, her skin glowing faintly gold beneath the silver light of the reborn moon. Her breathing was shallow, but there—steady, rhythmic. Her mark, however, had turned black again, pulsing like a wound that refused to close.“Storm,” I said, my voice rough, broken. “Tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”Storm knelt beside me, her face pale beneath streaks of blood and ash. Her magic flickered at her fingertips, blue and restless. “Her flame didn’t die,” she whispered. “It changed.”“What do you mean changed?” I snarled, my claws slipping through the dirt. “She killed Magnus. I saw it.”Storm’s eyes lifted to mine. “You saw her destroy his body. Not his soul. He’s inside her now.”The world seemed to stop spinning. My breath caught

Elara’s PovThe words still echoed long after the council left the courtyard.“The goddess has chosen you to be the new rulers of the state of Astrid.”It didn’t sound real, not even when I repeated it in my head, not when the council’s carriage wheels disappeared into the distance, not even when Kael and I stood staring at each other in stunned silence while the rest of the pack broke into murmurs.Now, hours later, we were gathered in the old throne room of Midnight Fang. The circle was complete with Kael at my right, Storm beside him, Milo and Jones on the opposite end, and Jack leaning back in his chair with his usual cocky smirk that didn’t quite reach his eyes.Kael broke the silence first. “So.” He leaned back, voice clipped. “We’re apparently royalty now.”“Congratulations?” Milo offered weakly, scratching the back of his neck.Jones frowned. “I’m not sure that’s something we should be celebrating.”Storm’s gaze slid to me. “The Council’s announcement wasn’t just symbolic. If