Semua Bab Mated to the Alpha of the Blackthorn Pack : Bab 21 - Bab 30

Moana’s POVThe clash of metal inside the high council chamber was deafening, the sound echoing off the vaulted timber ceilings like a localized thunderstorm.Sharon’s battleaxe caught the torchlight as it came down, a brutal, horizontal swing meant to cleave Eldrick in two. But Eldrick didn't parry. He ducked beneath the heavy iron head, his movements fluid and unnaturally fast, driven by the raw power of the renewed bond. He drove his short trench blade upward, slicing through the leather straps of Sharon’s shoulder guard, drawing a thick line of red across the warlord's chest."Guards! Into the chamber!" one of the lieutenants screamed, rushing toward the high bronze doors that led to the outer courtyard."Not today," Kaelen gritted through his teeth.The Beta intercepted the lieutenant halfway across the room. Despite the gaping wound in his chest and the blood soaking his shirt, Kaelen moved with the lethal precision of a warrior who had spent his entire life training for this ex

Moana’s POVThe pain of a cracking soul bond does not feel like a physical wound. It feels like an eclipse inside your mind, a sudden, freezing shadow that sweeps across every memory, every emotion, and every shared spark of intimacy, leaving behind nothing but cold, empty space.Through the golden thread that connected me to Eldrick, I felt the tether snap. The vibrant, chaotic warmth of his presence, the cedar, the ozone, the feral protective instinct, was suddenly pushed away, relegated to a distant, muffled whisper at the back of my consciousness."Moana! Stop!" Eldrick’s scream sounded like it was coming from the bottom of a deep well.He lunged forward to pull my hands away from Kaelen’s chest, but the moment his fingers touched my bare arm, a violent, blue-and-white spark of rejection exploded between us. The Reverse Claim had been compromised. The cosmic balance we had forced into existence hours ago was buckling under the weight of my sacrifice. The magic didn't recognize hi

Moana’s POVThe silence was the first thing that woke me. Not the absence of sound, because the distant, muffled thud of iron-shod boots, the screaming wind, and the crackle of burning pine still bled through the thick stone floors, but the terrifying, cavernous silence inside my own chest.For a few brief, blinding minutes in the burning kitchens, my soul had been plugged into a furnace. I had felt Eldrick’s every heartbeat, his raw guilt, his possessive terror, and a love so fierce it had felt like a physical weight pressing against my ribs. I had known the exact rhythm of his thoughts, the feral instinct of his wolf, and the desperate relief that came with the completion of our forced mate bond.Now, there was nothing.The space where that golden thread had been anchored was raw, weeping, and completely empty; a hollow crater that made every breath feel like inhaling shards of broken glass. The sudden severing of that psychic tether left me feeling unmoored, as if my consciousness

Moana’s POVThe iron handle of the avalanche lever was freezing, the metal biting into the raw skin of my open palm with an icy, agonizing sting, but I refused to pull back. The pain was nothing compared to the violent, beautiful sensation of my soul reattaching itself to the man standing before me."Stop fighting it, Eldrick," I whispered, my voice barely a murmur against the howling wind, yet I knew he could hear me through the spiritual frequency that was rapidly stabilizing between us.I closed my eyes, turning my focus completely inward, away from the approaching roar of Torin Bloodclaw’s vanguard and the freezing spray of the mountain storm. I didn't reach for the ancient, formal power of my father’s iron box, nor did I invoke the grand lineages of the founding packs. I reached purely for him, the boy who had watched his mother die on these stones, the alpha who had broken his own heart every day for ten years to keep my true identity a secret from a corrupt council. I accepte

Moana’s POVThe morning sun did not bring warmth to the Blackthorn Valley, but it brought clarity. The pale, winter light spilled over the high stone battlements, illuminating the sheer scale of the devastation. The air was dead silent, save for the rhythmic, metallic crunch of shovels breaking through frost-bitten earth and the low, collective murmur of a pack trying to piece itself back together.We had moved the primary operations from the grand council chamber down to the middle courtyard tier. The obsidian throne remained upstairs, empty and shadowed by scorched timber, a silent monument to a system that had finally consumed itself. Down here, among the people, the reality of our new existence was being hammered out on wooden crates and iron supply tables."We’ve cleared the entrance to the lower grain stores," Kaelen reported, stepping up to the wooden table where I sat. He looked weary, the dark purple shadows beneath his green eyes proving that even a fully healed Beta had lim