All Chapters of FERAL MOON: CLAIMED BY THE LYCAN KING: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The moon did not rise that night.It hovered.Huge and pale above the Nightbane stronghold, as if the sky itself had paused, waiting.Lyra felt it before she opened her eyes.A pressure beneath her skin. Not pain. Not fear. A low hum, steady and insistent, like something ancient knocking from the inside of her chest.She lay still, listening.The room smelled like stone and fire and him.Ares.His arm was heavy around her waist, warm and solid, holding her like an instinct rather than a choice. She could feel his breathing against her neck, slow but alert, the kind of sleep that never fully surrendered.She shifted slightly.Instantly, his grip tightened.“Don’t,” he murmured, voice rough with sleep and warning. “You’re still drawing power.”Her heart skipped.“I am?”“Yes.” His hand slid up her side, palm flattening over her ribs. Not possessive. Anchoring. “It’s subtle. But I can feel it.”Lyra swallowed.The hum inside her grew stronger the moment he touched her.She turned slowly

Silence followed the kiss.Not the fragile kind.The dangerous kind… heavy, stunned, brimming with consequence.Lyra stood frozen on the glowing stone, her breath uneven, her lips still warm where Ares had kissed her. The bond hummed loud now, no longer subtle, no longer something she could ignore. It wrapped around her spine, her chest, her pulse, anchoring her to him with terrifying certainty.Ares remained close, one hand firm at her waist, his body angled slightly in front of hers as if daring the entire hall to challenge what had just been done.Slowly, the markings beneath Lyra’s feet dimmed.Not extinguished.Acknowledged.A murmur rolled through the chamber, rising into voices layered with shock, outrage, awe.“He claimed her…”“In front of the Moon Court…”“Without sanction…”One Alpha stepped forward, a tall man with iron-gray hair and a scar slicing through his left brow.“You defy ancient law, Nightbane,” he said coldly. “You bind yourself to an untested Moon-blood in fron

Morning came without mercy.Lyra woke before the sun fully rose, her body aching in places she didn’t remember straining before. Not pain exactly… more like the deep soreness that followed growth. As if something inside her had been stretched, reshaped, and left tender in its wake.She inhaled slowly.The air smelled different here. Stone and iron. Cold pine drifting through the open window. The castle was awake… not bustling, but alert. Always watching.She pushed herself upright, pausing when a familiar sensation coiled low in her chest.The bond.It stirred lazily, like a creature half-asleep, aware of her movement. Awareness brushed back at her… heavy, warm, unmistakably Ares.He wasn’t in the room.Yet she felt him.The realization made her stomach flip.Lyra pressed her palm over her ribs, grounding herself, just as the door opened.Ares stepped inside without announcement.He had shed his armor, wearing only a dark tunic fitted close to his body. His hair was loose, falling pas

Night pressed heavy against the castle.Not silent… never silent… but tense in the way predators grow quiet before they strike.Lyra stood at the arched window of Ares’s private wing, watching the torchlights along the outer walls move in slow, deliberate patterns. Guards rotated more frequently tonight. Wolves patrolled in pairs. Even the wind seemed to hesitate as it passed over the stone.Something was wrong.She felt it under her skin.Not fear… awareness.The bond hummed low in her chest, no longer a distant pulse but a living thing. It tightened and loosened in subtle rhythms, reacting to the world beyond the walls.Ares felt it too.She didn’t need to look to know he was awake.He stood near the hearth, arms crossed, shoulders tense beneath the thin fabric of his shirt. His crown lay abandoned on the table. Tonight, he was not the Alpha King presenting power.Tonight, he was a weapon listening for the sound of being drawn.“They’re not just passing through,” Lyra said quietly.

Night deepened over Nightbane Fortress.The pack had dispersed, but the air remained unsettled, like the echo of thunder after lightning strikes the ground. Wolves returned to their quarters in silence, thoughts heavy, instincts restless. Something fundamental had shifted, and every creature beneath the Moon could feel it.Lyra felt it too.She stood at the tall arched window of the west tower, her fingers resting against the cold stone as she watched the forest below. Moonlight spilled across the treetops, silver and heavy, pressing down on her chest until breathing felt like effort.Behind her, Ares closed the door.The sound was soft. Final.She did not turn immediately. She didn’t trust herself to.The courtyard confrontation replayed in her mind. The eyes on her. The weight of judgment. The moment Ares had turned to her and given her a choice that had terrified her more than any rogue wolf ever could.“You didn’t have to do that,” she said quietly.Ares stopped several paces behi