Chapter 12

Avelyn sat bolt upright, sweat clinging to her skin, her breath ragged and shallow. The nightmare still clung to her like cobwebs, visions of fire, blood, and Damien collapsing in her arms. The image of a silver crown melting in the flames burned behind her eyelids.

"Damien?" she whispered, turning toward the other side of the bed.

Empty.

The sheets were cold. He'd been gone a while.

Fear gripped her chest. Not the sharp panic of danger, but something colder. A quiet dread that seeped into her bones. She rose quickly, grabbing her cloak and slipping out into the hallway. The pack house was silent, save for the distant creak of old wood and the whistle of wind slipping through the stones.

She padded barefoot to the balcony overlooking the central training yard.

He wasn't there.

Her gaze swept the grounds, no movement, no sound. Then she felt it.

A pull. Faint but certain.

Not from outside.

From below.

…

Damien stood in the crypt beneath the Alpha Hall, torchlight flickering across his face. The ancient chamber had been built generations ago, lined with the bones of the original Bloodclaw warriors. It was sacred ground, a place no one entered without purpose. And tonight, Damien needed answers.

He knelt before the obsidian altar at the far end, the carved runes glowing faintly beneath the torchlight. His hands were cut and bleeding from the blood ritual he'd enacted moments earlier, drops of crimson smearing the stone.

"You won't win," he murmured. "I won't let fate take her from me."

A gust of wind blew through the chamber, though there were no windows, no doors open to the world above.

And then a voice, not spoken, but pressed into his thoughts like iron.

You fear loss… yet refuse surrender.

Damien clenched his jaw. "I refuse to let a curse dictate my choices."

The bond is not the curse, Alpha. The curse is the lie. The lie you've built around power.

He stood, fists at his sides. "Then show me the truth."

The torches extinguished, plunging the crypt into darkness.

Avelyn moved through the old hallways, guided only by instinct. The pull grew stronger as she approached the stairs leading down into the catacombs. A pack warrior guarding the entrance stepped forward, startled.

"My Luna, you shouldn't be"

"I'm going," she said, her voice firmer than she felt. "Move."

The warrior hesitated, then stepped aside.

As she descended, the air grew colder, thicker. Her magic stirred restlessly beneath her skin, as if it, too, sensed what lay below.

She found him in the central chamber, kneeling at the altar, drenched in shadows. His head bowed, blood on his hands, the torchlight flickering to life as she entered.

"Damien," she whispered.

He didn't move.

She walked toward him slowly, each step echoing louder than the last. "What are you doing here?"

He turned to her finally, and the look in his eyes stole her breath. There was pain there, yes, but also something deeper. A knowledge. A grief he had carried too long alone.

"This place is where the first Alpha bound the pack to the prophecy," he said. "It's written in blood and ash. Every generation since has paid the price."

Avelyn stepped closer, eyes narrowing. "You're not your ancestors."

He shook his head. "No. But their choices haunt my bloodline."

She reached for his hand. "Tell me what the vision showed you."

Damien hesitated, then looked down at their entwined fingers. "It wasn't a vision. It was a memory. Not mine. Yours."

Avelyn's blood ran cold. "What?"

"I saw a woman who looked like you… but older. Wiser. She stood in this very chamber. And she was the one who bound the curse to protect something. Someone."

She staggered back. "No. That can't be. I…I don't remember any of that."

"It wasn't just a bloodline you inherited, Avelyn. It was a legacy. And I think… I think the curse began with you."

Her breath caught. The memories. The visions. The connection to Selene. To the Moonborn.

"That woman… she wasn't just like me. She was me," Avelyn whispered. "A past life."

Damien nodded. "And the curse wasn't meant to destroy love. It was meant to protect it. But something went wrong."

They stared at each other, hearts thudding in unison, as the truth settled between them like smoke.

….

Above ground, the wind howled, snapping trees and tossing debris across the Bloodclaw borders. Kade stood at the watchtower, eyes narrowed against the gale. The storm wasn't natural.

And then, in the distance, a horn blew.

Once. Twice. Then a third time.

Enemies at the eastern border.

"Alpha!" a warrior shouted, rushing up the stairs. "They've breached the shadow pass. They're wearing Vaughn's crest."

Kade swore and signaled the alarm bell. "Wake everyone. This isn't a raid, it's war."

....

Avelyn and Damien burst into the great hall minutes later. The bell rang out over the hills, echoing through the trees.

Kade met them at the entrance, face grim. "They're here."

Damien's expression hardened. "How many?"

"At least two dozen. All armed. They came fast, like they knew exactly when to strike."

Avelyn glanced at the eastern wall maps. "Then this wasn't just a breach. It was a message."

Selene appeared behind them, cloaked in midnight blue. "It's worse than you think."

Damien turned to her. "Speak."

"Vaughn isn't after Bloodclaw land anymore. He's after her," Selene said, nodding toward Avelyn. "He wants the blood that started the curse. He thinks if he kills her, he'll control the magic once and for all."

Avelyn swallowed. "And if he's right?"

Selene's face darkened. "Then everything falls."

Damien turned to his warriors. "Seal the borders. Protect the pack. No one touches her."

"I'm not hiding," Avelyn said.

"You're not," he replied. "You're fighting. With me."

Their eyes met, burning with defiance and something deeper.

Bond. Love. Destiny.

"Together, then," she said.

He nodded. "To the end."

....

Night fell heavy and fast. The first wave hit the borders like lightning, rogue wolves snarling and crashing through the trees. Bloodclaw warriors met them head-on, steel flashing under the moonlight.

Avelyn fought beside Damien, her blade singing through the air, her magic lighting up the darkness like fallen stars. She felt every movement of his beside her, his roars, his rage, the way his body shielded hers even as he commanded the battlefield.

And she realized something in the heart of battle.

This wasn't the end of their story.

It was the beginning.

Of war.

Of truth.

Of a love strong enough to shake the world.