Chapter 3 Blood Moon Ritual

📖 Moonblooded: The Alpha's Cursed Mate

Chapter 3: Blood Moon Ritual

The wind whispered warnings through the trees as Shivana followed the guards through the woods, her wrists bound in silver-threaded rope. Each step was a war between defiance and exhaustion. Her bare feet stung from the cold ground, but she kept her chin high, refusing to show weakness.

Alpha Kade walked beside her in silence. His presence alone sent heat crawling up her spine-an infuriating mix of power and danger. He hadn't looked at her since they left the mansion. Not even once.

The clearing appeared suddenly, hidden beneath the weeping branches of ancient trees. A stone altar stood at its center, glowing faintly under the light of the Blood Moon. Crimson clouds hovered low, casting long shadows that seemed to move on their own.

Shivana stopped in her tracks. "You're not seriously going to-"

"Yes," Kade said without emotion. "The ritual must be completed before midnight."

"You're tying me to a cursed altar under a blood moon and calling it a ritual?"

He finally turned to look at her. "If we don't complete the binding, your body won't survive another night."

Shivana bit back her retort. She didn't trust him-but she trusted the pain in her shoulder even less. The mark burned hotter with each passing hour, spreading tendrils of fire through her chest and spine.

The Elders stood around the altar in blood-red cloaks, murmuring in the ancient tongue of the moon priests. One stepped forward-Elder Malrik, with a face like a vulture and eyes like storm clouds.

"She's late," he hissed.

"She was unconscious," Kade replied. "And she's not a sacrificial lamb. She's a living being."

Shivana blinked in surprise. That almost sounded like... protection.

Malrik sneered. "The moon does not care about feelings. Only blood and bond."

Two female attendants approached her gently and removed the ropes. Shivana flinched, expecting pain-but their hands were soft, respectful. They helped her onto the altar where she lay flat, her heartbeat echoing in her ears.

Silver cuffs locked around her wrists and ankles, binding her to the stone. Not tight. Not cruel. But final.

The chanting grew louder.

Kade stood at her feet, watching. His face was unreadable, but his fingers twitched at his sides. Something was bothering him.

Malrik raised a dagger carved from white bone and dipped it into a bowl of dark crimson liquid. "The Alpha shall speak the oath."

Kade stepped forward.

His voice, cold and commanding, echoed through the clearing.

> "Under the light of the Blood Moon, I bind my soul to hers. I take her pain as mine, her blood as my legacy. Her mark as my burden. We are one, or we are ashes."

Shivana's eyes locked onto his.

The moon flared above them, blazing red.

Malrik dragged the blade across her palm, and the burn was instant. Her blood-silvery and glowing-flowed like liquid moonlight.

The same was done to Kade.

And then, he pressed his hand against hers.

Their blood mingled.

The earth groaned beneath the altar. The air snapped like lightning.

Suddenly, Shivana's mark burst into searing light. Pain shot through her like fire and thunder-memories not her own filling her mind.

She saw visions-Kade as a child, standing over a burning body. A white-haired woman whispering forbidden words. Her own face-older, wilder-howling beneath a black sky.

And then... stillness.

Her body stopped shaking.

The moon dimmed.

The cuffs released.

And Alpha Kade, breathing hard, caught her before she could fall from the altar.

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