Alpha’s Claimed Mate.
But emotion ran high — in the glisten of Augustus’s eyes, in Julian’s quiet smile, in the way Marisol’s hands trembled as she passed them the ceremonial binding cord.
It was a strip of cloth, made from the combined threads of Ember’s old photography shawl and Asher’s childhood tunic — knotted three times by pack hands under the full moon.
Marisol wound it around their joined hands.
“With earth, with blood, with bone — we bind you,” she said. “With choice, with love, with fate — we bless you.”
The moment they were declared bonded, the howls came again — louder now, full-throated and fierce, echoing through the forest like a song that had been waiting generations to be sung again.