All Chapters of Forbidden Under the Blood Moon: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Point of view: Wren"If your father sees you crossing back into Thorne territory without his permission, Kade, he will call it exactly what he warned you against, and there will be no three days left to argue otherwise." Ronan's warning trailed us the entire ride toward my childhood home.The forest blurred past in shades of grey moonlight, hooves pounding hard against packed earth as our small group raced through the dark, Cody riding close beside me, Kade at my other side, Ronan and Briar guarding the rear in careful silence. Every shadow along the tree line felt like it might hold pale eyes watching, and I forced myself not to flinch at every rustling branch, not to let fear slow us down when Ivy's safety depended on speed. Kade had not hesitated when I said we needed to leave, had not weighed his father's ultimatum against my sister's danger for even a moment, and something about that steadiness kept me upright through hours of riding on almost no sleep."Let him call it whatever

Point of view: Wren"You made a promise too, and in eighteen years you never once thought I deserved to know it, even when it might have explained why I never belonged anywhere in this family?" My own voice startled me, sharp with a hurt I had swallowed for years without realizing how deep it had settled.My father's shoulders sagged under the weight of my question, years of careful composure finally cracking in front of everyone gathered in Ivy's small room. Kade's hand tightened around mine, silent support I clung to as I braced myself for whatever truth my father had carried alongside my mother's secret for nearly two decades."When your mother came to me pregnant and running from the Vane pack," he said slowly, "I did not just offer her shelter out of love, though I did love her, Wren, more than I have ever told any of you. The guardians came to me too, before you were born, and demanded a promise in exchange for leaving your mother in peace long enough to raise you safely."The r

Point of view: Wren"You have until dawn tomorrow, Wren, to either prove a bond strong enough to break an eighteen year promise, or lose yourself to guardians who have never once cared what you actually want." Ronan's blunt honesty was almost a relief after a night spent drowning in half truths.We gathered in my father's study once the guardians retreated back into the tree line, patient shadows willing to wait exactly one more day before collecting whatever debt they believed the world owed them. Kade paced the length of the room, restless energy barely contained beneath his usual composure, while I sat wrapped in a blanket Briar had draped over my shoulders, still trying to steady a heart that had not stopped racing since pale eyes first appeared at the edge of my window days ago."The blood moon ceremony is not something either of us can simply perform because we are desperate," Kade said, stopping his pacing to look at me directly, his eyes carrying a weight I had not seen there

POV: Wren"Eighteen years is a long time to wait for one conversation, Wren, but I promise you it will feel much shorter once you hear what I came here to say." His voice was calm, almost gentle, and that gentleness frightened me more than anger ever could have.Elias stood just beyond the garden gate, an older man with silver threading through dark hair and eyes that held a kind of grief I recognized instantly, the same grief I sometimes caught reflected in my own mirror. Kade positioned himself half a step in front of me without being asked, every line of his body braced for danger, but Elias made no move toward either of us. He simply waited, patient in a way that reminded me uncomfortably of the guardian at the tree line."You knew my mother," I said, my voice steadier than I felt."I knew her before she was ever called Thorne," Elias said quietly. "Before she buried her true name to protect the daughter she had not even given birth to yet. Your mother was Vane, Wren, but she was

POV: Wren"If this bond is not real, Wren, the moon itself will refuse to seal it, and there will be nowhere left for either of us to hide from what happens next." Kade's whispered warning stayed with me through every step toward the clearing where the ceremony would take place.The moon had already begun its slow climb above the tree line, pale and swelling toward the fullness that would soon turn it blood red, exactly as it had a hundred years ago when the first war began. Guards lined the edges of the clearing, torches casting long, restless shadows across faces I recognized and faces I did not, all of them witnesses to whatever was about to happen between Kade and me. Alpha Magnus stood near the front, arms crossed, expression unreadable, but he had not left, and somehow that felt like the smallest, strangest kind of hope."You do not have to do this," my father said quietly, appearing at my side as Briar finished fastening the ceremonial wrap around my shoulders, dark fabric embr