Chapter Four

Chapter 4: Blood Under the Full Moon

The silence before a battle was always the loudest.

Even the wind seemed to stop.

The Moon Hunters stood motionless beyond the shattered palace doors, their silver cloaks billowing in the cold night air. Moonlight glinted off the runes carved into their spears, making the symbols shimmer like living flames.

The leader lowered his hood.

A scar stretched across his weathered face, running from his left temple to the corner of his mouth. One of his eyes was a pale, cloudy white.

The other burned with hatred.

“So,” he said, studying Kael with unsettling calm. “The great Alpha King chooses love over his kingdom.”

Kael didn’t answer.

His sword remained pointed toward the stone floor, but the power radiating from him filled the throne hall until the chandeliers trembled.

I stood just behind him.

For the first time in years…

I felt safe.

The thought frightened me.

This man was a stranger.

Yet every instinct my wolf possessed insisted he would die before allowing anyone to touch me.

The leader’s gaze shifted to me.

“There you are.”

His smile was almost gentle.

“You look just like your mother.”

My breath caught.

“My… mother?”

The words slipped from my lips before I could stop them.

Every memory I had of my childhood was blurry. My guardian had always told me my parents died protecting our pack from rogues.

She never spoke their names.

Never showed me a single keepsake.

The hunter chuckled.

“So they never told you.”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded.

Before he could answer, Kael’s voice cut through the air.

“Enough.”

The single word carried enough authority to make even the Moon Hunters pause.

“You will not speak another lie.”

The hunter’s expression darkened.

“Lies?”

He laughed bitterly.

“Tell me, Kael… does she know why every royal historian burned their records twenty-one years ago?”

A flicker crossed the King’s face.

So brief that no one else seemed to notice.

But I did.

He knew something.

My stomach twisted.

“What records?” I whispered.

Kael didn’t look back at me.

“Not tonight.”

The answer hurt more than I expected.

“You know who I am, don’t you?”

Silence.

“You know who my parents were.”

Still nothing.

My wolf whimpered inside me, confused by the storm of emotions pouring from our mate.

Fear.

Regret.

Guilt.

None of them seemed to belong to the fearless king standing before an army.

Prince Rowan stepped forward, his voice sharp.

“Father, stop protecting her with secrets.”

Kael’s eyes flashed.

“I’m protecting her from the truth.”

“The truth belongs to her.”

“So does the choice of when to hear it.”

For a heartbeat, father and son stared at each other.

Not as king and prince.

Not as Alpha and heir.

But as two men standing on opposite sides of an invisible line that had existed long before tonight.

The Moon Hunter leader sighed dramatically.

“Family arguments can wait.”

He lifted his spear.

“I’ll make this simple.”

He pointed directly at me.

“Hand over the Celestial Child.”

The words echoed through the hall.

A collective gasp rose from the nobles.

“The Celestial Child?”

“That legend…”

“It can’t be possible.”

My pulse hammered against my ribs.

“I don’t know what that means!”

“No,” the hunter replied softly.

“You don’t.”

His expression almost looked… sympathetic.

“But your blood does.”

Without warning, he sliced his own palm with the edge of his spear.

Crimson blood dripped onto the marble steps.

The instant it touched the floor…

The silver mark on my shoulder erupted in blinding light.

Agony tore through my body.

I screamed.

The pain wasn’t physical.

It felt as though something ancient was awakening beneath my skin.

The marble beneath my feet cracked.

Silver vines burst through the stone, twisting around the palace pillars like living roots.

Every torch reignited—not with fire, but with shimmering silver flames.

The entire throne hall glowed.

“What is happening?” someone shouted.

Commander Darius drew his sword.

“Protect the King!”

The hunter leader watched the scene with grim satisfaction.

“There she is.”

“The last daughter of the Moon.”

My vision blurred.

The room spun around me.

Then I saw something impossible.

Not the throne hall.

Not the frightened nobles.

A forest.

White trees stretched endlessly beneath an enormous silver moon.

A woman dressed in flowing robes stood among them.

Her long hair shimmered like starlight.

Though I had never seen her before…

I knew her.

She smiled sadly.

“You’ve grown so much, little moon.”

Tears filled my eyes.

“Who are you?”

She reached toward me, but an invisible wall separated us.

“I don’t have much time.”

“Listen carefully.”

The forest suddenly began to burn.

Black flames swallowed the trees.

A monstrous shadow emerged from the darkness.

Its eyes glowed crimson.

Its roar shook the heavens.

The woman’s smile disappeared.

“He has found you.”

“Don’t trust the prophecy…”

A deafening crack split the sky.

The vision shattered.

I gasped as I collapsed onto the marble floor.

Kael was beside me instantly, catching me before my head struck the stone.

His arms wrapped around me with surprising gentleness.

“Lyra.”

His voice sounded distant.

Concern filled his eyes.

Real concern.

Not for the kingdom.

Not for the prophecy.

For me.

Our eyes met.

The mate bond flared so intensely that the air between us shimmered.

A soft silver glow surrounded our joined hands.

The entire throne hall fell silent.

One by one, every elder dropped to a knee.

The High Elder’s voice trembled as he whispered the words no one had spoken for over a thousand years.

“The Bond…”

“It has awakened.”

The Moon Hunter leader slowly lowered his spear.

For the first time since entering the palace…

He looked afraid.

“No…”

His face drained of color.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen yet.”

Outside, the full moon suddenly turned the color of blood.

And from somewhere deep beneath Moonstone Palace…

Something ancient answered its call.