Chapter 4 The Oracle

The snow was relentless.

By morning, the valley had turned to a white shroud. Trees bent beneath the weight, trails vanished, and the sky bled silver light. Kael and Aria rode in silence, their breath misting in the air, accompanied by two guards from the Nightfang elite.

Aria's horse was smaller than Kael's beast of a steed, but she rode well-despite the pain in her legs and the ever-present burn beneath her skin. The bond pulsed with every hoofbeat. The closer she was to him, the stronger it felt. She could almost sense his mood-controlled, but simmering with thought.

They hadn't spoken since the night before.

She wasn't sure if she was grateful or angry about that.

The Oracle's dwelling stood at the edge of the Ironridge Mountains, hidden within a glacier-cave laced with veins of quartz. The air around it buzzed with ancient magic. Aria shivered-not from cold, but from something older. Something watching.

Kael dismounted first and nodded to the guards. "Wait here. Only she and I go in."

One guard frowned. "Alpha, with respect-"

"Do you want to argue with the Oracle's rules?" Kael snapped. "Be my guest."

The guards fell silent.

Aria slid from her horse and followed Kael into the icy darkness.

---

The Oracle did not look how Aria expected.

She was not old or frail. She was beautiful-eerily so-with long silver hair that floated as if underwater and skin carved from moonlight. Her eyes, though... her eyes held centuries. They were blind, yet all-seeing.

"You brought her," the Oracle said as they stepped into the central chamber, her voice soft, echoing off crystal walls. "And the bond is already singing."

Aria flinched. "Then it's real."

"Oh yes, child," the Oracle whispered, approaching her. "It is older than your blood. Older than the mark."

Kael stepped forward, voice low. "What is it?"

The Oracle tilted her head, as if listening to something only she could hear. "There was once a time when Moonmarked were not feared. When the mark was not a curse-but a seal. A key."

Aria's heart pounded. "A key to what?"

"To the Blood Moon Prophecy," the Oracle said, her blind eyes drifting toward Kael. "And to him."

Kael stiffened. "What prophecy?"

"The mark appears only once every few generations," the Oracle continued. "On one who is fated to either destroy the Alpha bloodlines... or bind them into something new. Something stronger."

"Bind?" Aria echoed, voice thin.

"The bond you feel," the Oracle said softly, "is not random. It is chosen by the Moon herself. You and he are the beginning of something the others fear. A unity that defies pack law, blood law... and ancient fear."

Kael's voice was ice. "What does that mean for us?"

"It means," the Oracle said slowly, "that your bond can bring peace-or war."

The silence that followed was heavy.

Finally, Aria asked the question she feared most. "If I stay bonded to him... will he die?"

The Oracle's face darkened. "If the bond completes before the moon chooses, yes."

Kael looked at Aria sharply. "What does that mean?"

"It means you are not ready. Neither of you," the Oracle replied. "If you give in to the bond before it's time-if you accept it fully-it will burn one of you alive."

Aria stumbled back, breath caught in her throat. "Then we break it."

"You cannot." The Oracle's voice softened. "But you can delay it. Restrain it. Until the Moon calls."

"And if we don't?" Kael asked.

"Then the curse will feed on you both. And the world will call it fate."

---

They rode back in silence.

The snow had stopped, but Aria hardly noticed. The Oracle's words were etched into her mind, beating louder than her heart.

You and he are the beginning of something the others fear.

Peace... or war.

She didn't want to be anyone's prophecy.

Kael hadn't spoken a word the entire journey, his expression unreadable. Aria risked a glance at him as they neared the camp.

"You should hate me," she said quietly.

He didn't look at her. "I don't."

"I ruined your life."

He slowed his horse slightly, eyes fixed on the horizon. "You didn't choose the mark. I didn't choose the bond."

"But we're stuck."

"No," Kael said firmly. "We're chosen."

They arrived at the camp just before dusk. Whispers swirled through the ranks as wolves caught her scent again. Moonmarked. Tainted. But this time, she didn't lower her head.

She walked beside Kael.

She might still be afraid-but she was done hiding.

---

Later that night, Aria stood on the cliffs outside the Alpha's den, staring at the moon as it rose through the mist.

Her chest ached with everything unspoken.

A key.

A prophecy.

A bond that could kill him.

She heard him before he spoke.

"You won't sleep tonight."

She turned. "Would you?"

Kael walked to stand beside her. The wind pulled at his cloak and hers, blending them into the dark like twin shadows. "I don't care about the prophecy," he said quietly. "But I do care about one thing."

"What's that?"

He looked at her then, eyes unreadable.

"You."

Aria's breath hitched. The bond pulsed again-hotter now. Deeper. Like roots wrapping around her soul.

"I don't want to hurt you," she whispered.

"You won't," he said. "Not unless we let it win."

They stood in silence under the pale moonlight, two cursed souls wrapped in something that felt suspiciously like fate.

And neither of them ran.