The earth was vibrating. Thousands of wolves from across the territories had gathered at the foot of the Sacred Peaks. Their howls, a primal chorus of dominance and anticipation, echoed against the jagged stone walls of the amphitheater.
At the center of the clearing stood the Sacred Silver Stone. It was a massive monolith, pulsing with a faint, bioluminescent glow under the light of the titan moon. Legend said the stone was a tear shed by the Moon Goddess herself—a celestial lie detector that burned the impure and exonerated the faithful.
Ava stood in the shadow of the altar, her fingers dug so deep into the fabric of her velvet cloak that her knuckles were white. Beneath her ribs, she felt a faint, frantic flutter. Her child—the secret heir—was restless, as if sensing the divine judgment that awaited them.
"Scared?"
Silas's voice was a low vibration near her ear. He looked devastatingly regal in a black tunic embroidered with gold, his collar left open to reveal the faint, angry red glow of the Blood Tether pulsing at the base of his throat.
"If the stone turns to fire, will you run with me?" Ava whispered, her voice trembling.
Silas reached out, his fingers tracing the line of her jaw with a tenderness that contradicted the cold lethality in his eyes. "No, Ava. If the stone turns to fire, I'll walk into the flames and hold you. I signed the contract; if we're going to hell, we're going together."
The Blood Tether hummed in response to his vow—a psychic resonance that bound their heartbeats into a single, frantic rhythm.
"Silas Blackwood! Bring forth your Luna!"
The voice of the High Elder, ancient and rasping, sliced through the air. A heavy silence fell over the gathered thousands. Thousands of eyes, glowing yellow and green in the dark, fixed on the couple as they stepped into the moonlight.
In a cage at the edge of the clearing, Marcus—broken, bandaged, and muzzled—thrashed like a cornered rat. His eyes were wide with a manic, hateful hope. He was waiting for the combustion. He was waiting to see the woman who had betrayed him turned into a pile of ash.
Silas took Ava's hand. His palm was burning hot, his Alpha energy surging through the tether, wrapping around her like an invisible suit of armor. Together, they ascended the steps of the altar.
"Ava Laurent," the High Elder began, his eyes milky with age but sharp with suspicion. "You stand before the Goddess. You claim to be the rightful Luna of the Blackwood Pack. You claim to carry the blood of the Alpha. Do you accept the judgment of the Silver Stone?"
"I do," Ava said. Her voice didn't waver.
"Then touch the heart of the Goddess."
Ava stepped forward. The stone seemed to hum as she approached, the air around it smelling of ozone and ancient magic. She looked back at Silas.
Don't think about the past, Silas's voice roared in her mind through the link. Don't think about Marcus. Think of me. Think of my scent, my blood, the way you feel in my bed. Become a part of me, Ava. If you are me, the stone cannot touch you.
Ava reached out. Her fingertips brushed the cold, smooth surface of the Silver Stone.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then, the world exploded in white.
A scream tore from Ava's throat as a pillar of silver fire erupted from the stone, engulfing her arm. It wasn't just heat; it was an agonizing psychic probe, tearing through her memories, searching for the taint of the Crimson-Fang pack, searching for the lie.
Marcus let out a muffled shriek of joy in his cage. The Elders leaned forward, their faces grim.
But then, Silas moved.
He didn't pull her away. He stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, pressing his chest against her back. He placed his own hand directly over hers on the stone, his palm bleeding from a fresh cut he'd made moments before.
Their blood mingled on the sacred surface.
"I am the Alpha!" Silas's voice wasn't human; it was the roar of the Black Wolf, a sound so powerful it made the Elders recoil. "She is mine! Her blood is my blood! Her soul is my soul!"
The Silver Stone shuddered. The silver fire began to change.
The crowd gasped as the pale white flames flickered, swirling and deepening until they turned into a brilliant, blinding Molten Gold.
The fire didn't burn Ava anymore. It caressed her. It flowed over her skin like liquid sunshine, gathering at her midsection and forming a glowing, golden sigil over her womb.
"A miracle..." one of the Elders whispered, falling to his knees. "The Goddess has not only accepted her... she has blessed the heir!"
"The Golden Luna!" the wolves below began to chant, the sound rising like a tide. "The Golden Luna of Blackwood!"
It was a lie. The greatest lie ever told. Silas had used the forbidden Blood Tether to override the stone's frequency, feeding the monolith his own life force to mask Ava's true scent. He had tricked a Goddess.
As the light faded, Silas collapsed slightly, his weight leaning heavily on Ava. His face was deathly pale, a thin line of black blood trickling from his nose.
"Silas..." Ava whispered, her heart breaking for the man who had nearly died to save her.
"Smile, Ava," he hissed through gritted teeth, his eyes glassy but defiant. "You're a Queen now. Act like it."
Ava turned to the crowd, her hand still glowing with the residue of the golden fire. She pointed a finger at the cage holding Marcus.
"Marcus of the Crimson-Fang!" her voice rang out with a newfound authority. "You slandered your Luna. You attempted to murder the Blackwood heir. By the laws of the Moon, your soul is forfeit. Guards, take him to the pits. He will watch the sunrise for the last time."
The cheering was deafening as Marcus was dragged away, his muffled screams lost in the roar of the pack.
Later that night, on the high balcony of the Blackwood Manor, the world was finally quiet.
Silas was slumped in a stone chair, his shirt discarded. The Blood Tether on his chest was bruised and black, the cost of his defiance against the Stone.
Ava knelt between his knees, wiping the blood from his face with a warm cloth. "You're a fool," she whispered, her eyes wet with tears. "You could have died. Why go that far?"
Silas grabbed her wrist, his grip weak but his gaze as territorial as ever. He pulled her closer until their foreheads touched.
"I told you, Ava," he rasped, his breath smelling of copper and forest rain. "You are mine. I don't care about the Goddess's laws. I don't care about the Council. I would burn the world to the ground before I let them take you."
He moved his hand to her stomach, his palm trembling slightly. "The child... the stone blessed him. Even if he wasn't mine before, he is now. He carries my mark."
"We're safe now," Ava breathed, leaning into his touch.
"Safe?" Silas let out a dark, hollow chuckle. He looked out at the dark horizon, where the shadows of the forest seemed to be stretching toward the manor. "No, Ava. We just told the biggest lie in history. The Goddess won't forget. And the 'Deep'... the Deep is hungry for the debt I just rang up."
From the shadows of the woods below, a pair of pale, lidless eyes watched the lovers on the balcony. Not a wolf. Something older. Something that had been waiting for an Alpha to commit a sin this great.
"The tether is strong, Silas," a voice whispered into the wind, unheard by the couple. "But every tether is a leash. And I am the one who holds the end of it."