Chapter 2: Primal Claim

POV: Luna

The Grand Hall of Aidion becomes a slaughterhouse in the making. I am still on my knees, the scrub brush forgotten, as my blood begins to burn beneath my skin like liquid starlight.

Four predators circle me, their beasts roaring so loud the marble pillars seem to hum with the vibration. The eclipse light turns the world a bruised, violet hue, and my scent fills the air like a weaponized aphrodisiac. Kai melts into the shadows between the pillars. He is gone in a heartbeat, with only the faint shimmer of his daggers marking where he stood moments before.

Orion steps forward instead. The stone answers his call. A crack races across the floor from the heel of his boot, splitting the ancient sigils of Aidion. He looks at Aiden and Jace as if they are children squabbling over a practice blade. "The stone rejects your squabble, wolves," his voice ejects, the sound vibrating through my chest.

"Step away from the Queen". Jace bares his teeth, his black wolf energy flaring so hot I can smell the scent of scorched cloth. "She isn't stepping anywhere near your paws, bear!"

I can't catch my breath. The bond isn't a gentle pull anymore; it feels like four ropes wrapped around my ribs, yanking me in four different directions. That hollow place where my wolf should be is suddenly, violently on fire. 

Aiden moves, but Jace is faster. Before Aiden can issue a single command, Jace lunges. He closes the distance in a blur, his arm locking firmly around my waist. The second his skin brushes mine, the world whites out. Heat slams into my core. A wave of molten light surges through my dormant blood, finally shattering the nineteen-year seal. My knees buckle under the sheer force of it.

Jace freezes. His eyes go completely black, and his breath stutters against my ear. "Hold your breath, little damsel," he whispers, his voice strained. "I'm getting you out of this slaughterhouse". 

That contact snaps the last of the crowd's restraint. "Kill the abomination!" Raven’s voice shrieks. I catch a glimpse of her silver blade flashing in the dim light. "She’s poisoning the bloodline!" Zara is right behind her, her eyes locked on me with pure, unadulterated venom. "I won't let you take her, Jace!"

They don't see Alphas anymore. They see a wolfless servant suddenly radiating the scent of four mates, and jealousy twists their faces into something lethal. 

They lunge.

Aiden’s elite guards collide with them mid-stride. Steel screams against silver. Black and grey fur flash in a chaotic blur as Jace's loyalists slam into Aiden’s enforcers. "Lock down the perimeter!" Aiden’s voice cuts through the carnage, terrifyingly calm. Jace doesn't wait for the order to be finished. He hauls me off the floor in a heartbeat.He smells of dark pine and smoke, and my face presses into the hollow of his throat as my body instinctively arches into his.

He runs. He kicks through the smoke and hits the side wall where the tapestries hang, tearing one down to reveal a narrow arch of old stone; the ancient escape routes of Aidion. The sounds of the battle dull behind us as we spiral down into the dark. Cold, damp air bites at my skin, and the staircase is tight, the steps slick with moss. Halfway down, my legs give out completely.

Jace catches me before I hit the stone, setting me against the wall while his chest heaves, his hands caging me in. The heat between us feels like a live wire.

"Jace, your eyes," my hands fist in his tunic, looking up at him. "They’re completely black. You need to shift back… you’re losing control". 

He grits his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead as his claws punch halfway out. 

"I can’t," he snarls. "The bond... it’s too loud. You have no idea what you smell like right now". 

I should be afraid. This is the exiled twin, the man they warn me about. But his trembling isn't born of rage; he is fighting to hold himself back from me. Past the hot-headed Alpha, I see the wounded man who has never been chosen.

"Tell me to stop," his voice breaks as he leans in, his forehead almost touching mine. "Tell me to walk away, or I swear to Lunyx I will ruin you right here against this stone". 

My hand moves on its own, reaching up to cup his jaw. The second I touch him, white light explodes under my skin. A shockwave of pure magic rips out from the point of contact, cracking down the length of the corridor. Somewhere deep in my chest, I feel something ancient fracture even wider. Jace makes a guttural sound and buries his face in the crook of my neck.

"Aiden doesn’t just exile me, Luna," he whispers fiercely against my pulse. "He cursed me. He bound my wolf to the shadows so I could never challenge him. But your blood... it’s burning the curse away.”

 I feel everything; his furnace heat against the cold stone, the way my own body is suddenly brimming with blinding power. I don't push him away. I pull him closer. The dam finally breaks. Jace lifts me in one smooth motion, my legs wrapping around his waist as he pins me flush against the wall. He claims my mouth, tasting of smoke and desperation. He kisses like a man starving, and I kiss him back like I’ve been holding my breath for nineteen years.

His hands slide under my dress, his claws staying careful as they barely graze my skin. He marks my scent with his cheek, letting out low, possessive growls that vibrate through my very bones.

 "My mate," he says, the words broken and reverent. "Say it. Say you’re mine".

 "Yours," the word leaves my lips like a confession, and the bond flares bright. He enters me in one claiming thrust, and the pleasure is blinding. I cry out, my nails digging into his shoulders. The bond screams between us, and every movement sends sparks of white magic cascading through my veins.

The slick friction, the scorching heat of his skin, and the overwhelming scent of our mingling arousal create a sensory obliteration. My wolfless void isn't empty anymore; it is filled with him.

 "Jace…" His name tears from my throat.

 "I’m for you," he whispers, his claws pressing deeper to anchor me. "Give it all… be free. Fly for me". 

The pressure builds, white-hot and inevitable. His pace becomes frantic. As he reaches his climax, his knot swells; locking us together; and he bites down hard on the juncture of my neck and shoulder.

The moment his teeth pierce my skin, a pulse of pure, blinding white light erupts from my chest. It floods the undercroft. For a heartbeat, his shadows writhe and then clear, looking like smoke burned away by sudden sunlight.

 "Lunyx..." he groans against my neck. "Your blood... it’s like liquid starlight". Slowly, he lowers my feet to the ground, both of us panting. His black eyes recede, bleeding back to their natural dark brown. He looks at me as if I am a prayer finally answered.

"I’ve waited a lifetime to feel whole," he says, his smile genuine for the first time. "I’m never letting you go, Luna. Even if I have to kill my brother to keep you". 

The tender moment shatters. A massive, deafening crash echoes down the stone corridor. The heavy oak door at the far end of the undercroft explodes inward, splintering into deadly shrapnel. Jace instantly shifts his weight, placing himself between me and the door as his claws extend. "Get behind me," he snarls.

Through the settling dust, a massive figure steps into the corridor. Aiden. His silver fur has receded, but his eyes are glowing with a blinding, lethal silver light. His perfect, strategic mask is gone. He looks at Jace, then his gaze drops to my neck; to the fresh mark blooming red against my skin, to my dress twisted around my legs, and to Jace's hands still locked on my waist. I feel it through the twin bond before he even speaks. Heartbreak and murder, tangled into one terrible thing.

"You took her." Aiden’s voice is devoid of its usual calm, layered with a demonic growl. Frost begins to crystallize on the stone walls. He raises his clawed hand. "You took my mate". 

Jace braces for impact, his beast roaring in answer. But it is the look of pure, vengeful betrayal in Aiden’s silver eyes that truly terrifies me. Because this isn't about politics anymore. This is personal. And Aiden is going to kill his brother.