Chapter 3 Enemy of the moon

They didn't give me a trial.

They didn't ask for explanations.

The moment the Moon shattered through the council hall ceiling, my fate was sealed.

Stone rained down around us as silver light flooded the chamber. Wolves screamed, shifting uncontrollably as ancient power surged through the air. The elders dropped to their knees one by one, shielding their eyes-not from the destruction, but from me.

Because every instinct they had was telling them the same thing.

I was no longer just a problem.

I was a threat.

The girl-my rejected mate-lay unconscious at the center of the fractured floor, silver markings pulsing faintly across her skin like living runes. The bond between us throbbed violently, no longer broken, no longer whole-something twisted and dangerous in between.

I staggered toward her.

Chains slammed into the ground before my feet.

Moon-forged steel.

I looked up.

The Alpha Council had arrived.

Seven figures stepped through the collapsed ceiling as if gravity no longer applied to them. Their cloaks bore the sigils of every ruling pack-North, East, South, West-wolves who commanded territories larger than kingdoms.

At their center stood High Alpha Ragnor Blackvein.

The executioner of legends.

His gaze locked onto me, sharp and merciless.

"So," he said, his voice carrying effortlessly through the ruined hall, "the bastard finally awakens."

My wolf snarled.

Even now.

Even after everything.

That word followed me.

"Careful," I replied, forcing my pain down. "You're standing in my territory."

A few council members stiffened.

Ragnor smiled.

"Not anymore."

The Alpha who had denied me-my so-called father-dropped to one knee behind them, his head bowed so low his forehead touched the stone.

"I warned you," he said hoarsely. "I told you this day would come."

Ragnor didn't look at him.

His attention never left me.

"You hid him poorly," Ragnor said. "But not poorly enough."

The High Elder crawled forward, blood streaking his temple. "High Alpha," he begged, "this power-this awakening-was not intentional. The boy-"

"-is no boy," Ragnor cut in. "He is an heir."

The word echoed like a death sentence.

The council members raised their hands simultaneously.

The air locked.

Alpha suppression slammed into my chest-seven Alphas enforcing their will at once. The force bent the ground beneath my feet, cracking stone, pressing my spine downward.

I didn't kneel.

Shock flickered across their faces.

"Interesting," one councilwoman murmured. "He resists."

I bared my teeth. "You should be more concerned about what happens if I stop."

Ragnor chuckled.

"Arrogance," he said. "Just like his father."

My blood burned.

"You keep mentioning him," I growled. "Funny how no one dares to say his name."

The councilwoman stiffened. "Do not provoke him."

"Why?" I demanded. "Because the truth terrifies you?"

Ragnor finally moved.

One step.

The pressure doubled.

Wolves screamed as weaker members of the pack collapsed entirely. Blood trickled from my nose, but my vision stayed clear.

"Listen carefully, Kael of no house," Ragnor said. "Your existence violates the Pact of the Moon."

The High Elder gasped. "That pact was sealed centuries ago!"

"And for good reason," Ragnor snapped. "Your kind nearly destroyed us."

My kind.

The words settled into my bones.

"You fear what I might become," I said quietly.

Ragnor's eyes darkened.

"No," he replied. "We fear what you already are."

He turned to the council.

"By unanimous authority of the Alpha Council," he declared, "Kael is hereby designated a Primordial Threat."

The hall erupted.

Gasps. Cries. Howls of disbelief.

The designation was a death sentence.

No pack was allowed to shelter me.

No wolf was permitted to aid me.

Any who did would be wiped out-root and bloodline.

"You can't!" the High Elder shouted. "He hasn't committed a crime!"

Ragnor didn't blink.

"He breathed."

Silence fell.

The councilwoman stepped forward, eyes cold. "Effective immediately, all packs are ordered to hunt him. Alive if possible."

My chest tightened.

"And dead if necessary," she finished.

I laughed.

The sound was raw, edged with something that made several wolves flinch.

"So that's it," I said. "You erase me because you're afraid."

Ragnor leaned closer.

"We erase you," he whispered, "because your father didn't finish the job."

Something snapped inside me.

The power surged.

The suppression shattered.

A shockwave tore through the hall, hurling council members back several steps. Ragnor slid, claws tearing through stone to stop himself.

For the first time-

He looked startled.

I grabbed the chains at my feet, moon-forged steel screaming in protest as I crushed them in my hands.

"You buried the truth," I said, my voice layered with something ancient. "You hunted my bloodline."

Silver veins crawled up my arms.

"You killed my mother."

The Alpha who denied me screamed. "Kael-don't!"

Too late.

The memory wasn't mine-but it flooded me anyway.

Fire.

Screams.

A man standing alone against armies.

A crown of moonlight.

A throne shattered beneath his feet.

My knees buckled as the vision ended.

Ragnor recovered first.

"Enough!" he roared. "Bind him!"

The council moved together.

But before they could act-

She screamed.

The sound tore through the hall like glass.

I spun just as my mate's body lifted off the ground, silver markings blazing white-hot. The Moon responded, its light twisting violently, darkening at the edges.

"No..." Ragnor breathed.

The councilwoman stumbled back. "She's not just a mate."

The girl's eyes snapped open.

Silver-not human.

Not wolf.

Something else entirely.

Her gaze locked onto me.

And the bond completed itself.

Not through acceptance.

Through awakening.

Power exploded outward.

The council was thrown back violently this time, slammed into broken pillars and walls. The ceiling groaned, threatening total collapse.

Ragnor hit the ground hard.

I caught her instinctively as she fell into my arms, her body burning against mine.

The Moon above us cracked again.

A voice thundered across the sky, shaking the forest beyond the hall.

"THE HEIR IS CLAIMED."

Ragnor stared at us, horror etched across his face.

"No," he whispered. "That bond was forbidden."

I looked down at her-at the markings, at the light-and then back at the council.

"You declared me a threat," I said coldly.

My wolf rose fully for the first time.

"Now live with the consequences."

The forest howled.

Not in submission.

In warning.

Because the hunt had begun-

And I was no longer running alone.