[ASTRO'S POV]
I stood in the Hall of Ancestors watching the High Priestess accuse Haven of defiling sacred blood by binding herself to me. Watching thousands of dead wolves demand judgment for the crime of loving a fallen god.
And through the red thread, I felt Haven's confusion. Her desperate attempt to understand why her bloodline mattered. Why the ancestors cared who she loved.
But I understood.
Because I'd seen this pattern before. Centuries ago. In different forms. With different wolves. But the same fundamental design.
Luna was testing me. Again.
The realization hit like a physical blow. Made my centuries-old heart skip. Made my cursed essence recoil.
Haven wasn't random. Wasn't just another scentless wolf who happened to remind me of Luna before corruption. She was engineered. Designed. Created specifically to test me one final time.
I looked at her luminous form. At the sacred bloodline markers the High Priestess had recognized. At the divine light she carried.
