Chapter 38

Chapter 38: The Beast Between Us

(from where we stopped guys —Selene and Valerian trembling after resisting the bond, but something ancient has begun to stir…)

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The silence after almost claiming each other was unbearable.

Selene wrapped herself in the silk sheet, trembling—not from cold, but from the restraint it had taken to stop. Her omega instincts screamed in protest. Her body knew him as hers. But her soul feared what their union would unleash.

Valerian stood across the chamber, shirtless and distant, as if touching her again would destroy them both.

Neither of them spoke for a long time.

Then, from the deepest hollow of the Keep, a sound shattered the night—

A growl.

Low. Inhuman. Echoing up through stone and soul.

Selene snapped her head up. "That's not possible."

Valerian's eyes flared red. "The gate."

They ran.

Through winding halls that bled with shadow, down to the sealed vault beneath the Keep—once a sanctuary, now a prison. The last seal, chained by magic and sacrifice, was glowing with cracks of dark crimson light. The stone floor trembled.

Selene froze.

"Something's… calling me," she whispered. "From inside."

Valerian moved in front of her like a shield. "Don't listen."

But it was too late.

The Beast—the ancient cursed part of the prophecy—was awake. And it was whispering her name.

"Little flame… born of moonlight and blood… You were made for me."

Selene clutched her head. The voice echoed through her mind like broken glass and velvet. Her bond mark—still faint—burned like it had been branded.

Valerian lunged to her side, holding her as she gasped. "Selene! Stay with me!"

She blinked up at him, dazed. "It knows me… it knows us. It was never about one of us holding the curse. It was about us together. We are the key, Valerian."

His face was stone. "Then we change the lock."

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Later, in the war chamber, the others gathered—Lena, the seer; Garrick, the commander; Cassian, Valerian's closest brother-in-arms.

Cassian slammed a hand on the table. "If the final seal breaks, the Beast won't just rise. It will consume you both."

Valerian nodded. "Which is why we need to leave. We draw it away. Before it can possess her… before it can break through me."

Selene gritted her teeth. "We can't just run from fate."

"No," Lena said softly. "You rewrite it."

She unrolled a scroll—ancient, bloodstained.

The hidden part of the prophecy.

> "Only when love is chosen over destiny, when desire is denied in the fire of ruin, can the gate be sealed anew.

One heart must break.

One must fall."

Selene read it with tears in her eyes. "We have to die?"

Lena shook her head. "No. One of you does."

The chamber went silent.

Valerian reached for Selene's hand beneath the table and squeezed. "No."

She whispered, "We don't know who it means."

"I do," he said, voice like death.

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That night, Selene stood alone in the moonlit garden, the scent of dying roses thick in the air. She was no longer just a girl searching for answers. She was the omega fated to love a cursed king. And that love might kill them both.

Valerian found her there, his expression softer than she'd ever seen.

"If I fall, you must live," he said.

"No," she said, her voice cracking. "If you fall, I fall too."

He kissed her, slow and soul-deep, as if trying to memorize her into eternity.

"One heart must break. One must fall."

She had a feeling it wouldn't be fate that made that choice.

It would be them.

And the Beast was watching.

Waiting.

Wanting.

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