### **Chapter 1: The Blood Moon Bankruptcy**
**Adrian Blackwood's POV**
The scent of fear and greed thickened the air in the Blackwood Industries boardroom.
I sat at the head of the table, my silver cufflinks—engraved with the Silvermane Pack crest—digging into my wrists as I gripped the armrests. Across from me, Marcus Carter, my Beta and CFO of ten years, smirked as the shareholders voted unanimously to remove me as CEO. The projector screen behind him displayed a damning spreadsheet: **$2.3 billion in debt. Assets frozen. Hostile takeover imminent.**
*"It's over, Adrian."* Marcus leaned forward, his voice a velvet-coated blade. *"The board won't follow a leader who gambled their fortune on a doomed merger."*
My wolf surged against my ribs, demanding blood. *Liar.* The numbers were falsified. The "failed merger" with Lunar Pharma had been sabotaged—by him. I'd seen the encrypted emails between him and Dmitri Volkov, the vampire lord who'd wanted my territory for decades.
I stood, my chair screeching against the marble floor. Every human in the room flinched; they didn't know what I was, but their primal instincts sensed the predator in the room. *"You forget, Marcus,"* I said, my voice dropping to a growl, *"wolves don't die quietly."*
The *Wall Street Journal* alert on my phone burned in my pocket: **"LYCANTHROPE BILLIONAIRE ADRIAN BLACKWOOD OUSTED—PACK HOWLS FOR BLOOD."** The supernatural world loved irony.
Outside, the blood moon painted Manhattan in shades of rust. My penthouse, my cars, my empire—gone by dawn. But worse than the financial ruin was the notification from **PackLink**, the encrypted network for werewolf Alphas:
**[STATUS UPDATE: ALPHA CHALLENGE INITIATED. 48 HOURS TO PROVE DOMINANCE OR FACE EXILE.]**
I hurled my Rolex into the Hudson. The game had just begun.
---
### **Chapter 2: Exile**
The safehouse in the Bronx smelled of mildew and weak coffee.
I'd spent my last $10,000 in cash to buy silence from the human landlord, a sweaty man who kept crossing himself when he thought I wasn't looking. The loft was barren except for a moth-eaten couch and a broken fridge—a far cry from my penthouse's floor-to-ceiling windows.
My phone buzzed. A message from **Lena**, my former Gamma and head of security:
*[Pack's divided. Marcus claims you broke the Accords by revealing us to humans. The Elders are listening. You need proof of his betrayal.]*
I snarled. The **Accords**—the ancient treaty forbidding supernaturals from exposing each other—were sacred. Marcus knew that. By framing me, he'd made me an outcast in both worlds.
A knock at the door. I tensed, my claws unsheathing.
*"Mr. Blackwood?"* A woman's voice, crisp with authority. *"NYPD. We have questions about your company's offshore accounts."*
I inhaled. No gunpowder. No silver. Just human nerves and cheap perfume.
I opened the door—and froze.
The detective wasn't NYPD.
She wore a lab coat under her leather jacket, her ID badge reading **Dr. Elara Voss, Hematology Research**. Her dark eyes narrowed. *"You're harder to track than I expected. Even for a werewolf."*
---
### **Chapter 3: The Blood Scientist**
**Elara's POV**
I'd expected a monster.
The man in the doorway was all sharp angles and fury, his golden eyes glowing in the dim light. Adrian Blackwood looked nothing like the polished CEO from Forbes covers. Stubble shadowed his jaw, and his dress shirt was wrinkled, the sleeves rolled up to reveal scars that *moved* like living things.
*"Who sent you?"* His voice was gravel and venom.
I held up my tablet, displaying a graph of aberrant blood samples. *"No one sent me. I found you because of this. Your bloodwork—or rather, the 'lycanthropic metabolic cascade'—is unique. Until three days ago, your biomarkers matched every Alpha on record. Then they crashed."*
His pupils dilated. *"You're the scientist who published that paper on shifter DNA."*
*"And you're the billionaire who tried to sue me for 'defamation.'"* I crossed my arms. *"Turns out we both have problems. Your CFO hired men to torch my lab tonight. I think you know why."*
A low growl rumbled in his chest. *"Marcus is covering his tracks. He knows your research could expose his alliance with Volkov."*
The air between us crackled. I'd spent years studying werewolves from afar. Now one stood before me, his power flickering like a dying star.
I tossed him a flash drive. *"Everything I have on Marcus. Help me salvage my research, and I'll help you prove your innocence."*
His laugh was bitter. *"You'd trust a monster?"*
*"No,"* I said, turning to leave. *"But I'll use one to kill another."*
---
### **Chapter 4: The Lab Heist**
**Adrian's POV**
The abandoned Blackwood Research Facility smelled like antiseptic and betrayal.
Elara crouched beside me behind a delivery van, her gloved fingers typing furiously on a hacked security tablet. The glow of the screen painted sharp shadows across her face. *"Marcus moved the data servers to Sublevel 3,"* she whispered. *"But there's a catch—thermal scans show four heat signatures guarding it. Not human. Heart rates are too slow."*
I flexed my claws. *"Wolves."* My own pack, now loyal to Marcus. The thought made my stomach twist.
She shot me a sideways glance. *"Can you take them?"*
I bared my teeth. *"I'm still their Alpha."*
We slipped inside through a service entrance, the fluorescent lights flickering like a strobe. The first guard—*Jensen*, my former head of security—spun toward us, his eyes flashing amber.
*"Adrian?"* His voice was a mix of shock and guilt. *"You shouldn't be here."*
I stepped into the light, letting him see the full force of my glare. *"You swore an oath to me, Jensen. To the pack. Not to Marcus."*
For a second, he hesitated. Then the other guards emerged from the shadows, their growls vibrating the air.
Elara's hand brushed my arm. *"We don't have time for a pack squabble."* She tossed a smoke grenade—stolen from her lab—down the hall.
As the corridor filled with choking gray fog, I lunged.
---
### **Chapter 5: The Wound and the Witch**
**Elara's POV**
Adrian bled like a normal man.
That surprised me.
Back at the safehouse, I peeled his ruined shirt from the gash across his ribs. The wound pulsed sluggishly, the edges tinged black—*silver poisoning*. One of Marcus's wolves had fought dirty.
*"Hold still,"* I ordered, dabbing the cut with a saline-soaked cloth.
He hissed but didn't pull away. *"Since when do hematologists do field surgery?"*
*"Since my research became a target."* I threaded the needle. *"This'll hurt."*
He laughed darkly. *"I've had worse."*
As I stitched, my fingers brushed the older scars crisscrossing his torso—some jagged, some precise. Vampire claws. A particularly nasty mark curved around his left pectoral, right over his heart.
*"Volkov?"* I guessed.
His muscles tensed. *"His enforcers. I was sixteen."*
A rare moment of vulnerability. I filed it away. *"Why didn't it heal cleanly?"*
*"Wolfsbane-coated blades."* His voice was flat. *"My father died that night. Marcus was the one who pulled me out of the fire."*
The irony hung between us.
I tied off the suture. *"Well, now you owe me a life debt. Try not to bleed out before we destroy Marcus."*
His golden eyes locked onto mine. *"You're nothing like I expected, Dr. Voss."*
*"Good."*
---
### **Chapter 6: The Fight Club Revelation**
**Adrian's POV**
The Crimson Ring reeked of sweat, blood, and vampire pheromones.
Elara and I blended into the crowd of wealthy thrill-seekers, their faces hidden behind masquerade masks. On the steel cage below, a werewolf—*one of mine, dammit*—fought a vampire in a brutal, no-rules match. Bets flew fast.
*"This is where Marcus launders Volkov's money,"* I growled. *"He's selling our own people as gladiators."*
Elara's grip tightened on my arm. *"Look at the spectators. Their pupils are dilated—they're high on something."*
Then I saw it. Vendors circulated with crystal vials of a shimmering red liquid. *"Bloodshine,"* I muttered. *"Vampire-engineered narcotic. But it's not just for humans—it suppresses wolf instincts. Makes us docile."*
She paled. *"That's the bioweapon. Volkov isn't trying to kill werewolves. He's trying to *control* them."*
A roar erupted as the vampire ripped out the werewolf's throat. The crowd cheered. My vision went red.
Elara yanked me back. *"Not here. We need proof."*
We slipped into the back rooms, where crates of Bloodshine were labeled *"Blackwood Medical: Experimental Tranquilizers."*
Marcus's signature was on the manifest.
*"Got you,"* I whispered.
Then the lights went out.
---
### **Chapter 7: The Moon Council's Verdict**
**Elara's POV**
The Moon Council convened in a derelict cathedral, its stained glass windows shattered, the pews replaced by stone thrones.
Adrian stood in the center, his back straight, as the Elders—ancient werewolves with milky eyes and scarred faces—listened to Marcus's accusations.
*"Adrian broke the Accords,"* Marcus declared, projecting a video of me stitching Adrian's wounds. *"He consorts with a human who dissects our kind. He's unfit to lead."*
The pack murmured. My chest ached. I'd made things worse.
Then Adrian did something unexpected.
He laughed.
*"You're right,"* he said, spreading his arms. *"I brought a human into our world. But not to betray us—to save us."* He tossed the Bloodshine vial onto the stone floor. *"Marcus and Volkov are doping our people. Turning them into slaves. Ask yourselves: Who's the real traitor?"*
Silence.
Then Lena, Adrian's former Gamma, stepped forward. *"Prove it."*
I couldn't stay silent. *"I can."*
Every wolf turned to me, their nostrils flaring at my scent. *Witch-blood.*
I rolled up my sleeve and sliced my palm with a silver knife. The blood that welled up was *wrong*—streaked with iridescent blue.
*"My mother was a night-witch,"* I said. *"My blood neutralizes vampire toxins. Including this."* I dripped my blood into the vial. The red liquid hissed, turning clear.
The Elders stood.
Marcus snarled—and lunged at me.
Adrian intercepted him mid-air.
The fight was brutal, primal. Fur and fists. But when Adrian pinned Marcus, it wasn't his claws that won.
It was his words.
*"You took my company. My pack. But you forgot one thing."* He leaned down, his fangs at Marcus's throat. *"I don't need any of that to kill you."*
The Elders howled their verdict.
*"Exile."*
Marcus was dragged away screaming.
Adrian turned to me, bloodied but unbowed. *"Now we hunt Volkov."*
---
### **Chapter 8: The Feral Fever**
**Adrian's POV**
The fever hit like a sledgehammer.
We'd barely made it to the new safehouse—a crumbling brownstone in Brooklyn—before my knees gave out. The Bloodshine exposure, the silver poisoning, the severed pack bonds—it was too much.
*"Adrian!"* Elara caught me as I collapsed, her hands scorching against my skin.
My wolf was tearing me apart from the inside. *Not enough pack. Not enough territory. Weak. Weak. WEAK.*
I thrashed, my claws shredding the couch. *"Get out,"* I snarled. *"I can't—control it—"*
Elara didn't flee. She grabbed my face, her thumbs pressing into my temples. Then she *sang*.
The melody was ancient, guttural. A witch's lullaby.
My wolf stilled, confused.
*"Sleep,"* she commanded.
Against all instinct, I obeyed.
---
### **Chapter 9: The Blood Pact**
**Adrian's POV**
I woke to the scent of burning sage and Elara's voice humming that damned witch's lullaby.
My body ached like I'd been run over by a truck, but my wolf was… calm. That hadn't happened in years.
*"You're alive,"* Elara said, perched on the edge of the bed with a syringe of glowing blue liquid. *"Barely."*
I tried to sit up, but she shoved me back down with surprising strength. *"What the hell did you do to me?"*
*"Stabilized your lycanthropic cells with a modified version of my blood."* She held up the vial. *"Turns out night-witch plasma is a hell of a suppressant. Too bad it's also toxic to werewolves in high doses."*
I stared at her. *"You poisoned me?"*
*"I *saved* you,"* she corrected, tossing me a protein bar. *"Now eat. We have a vampire lord to kill."*
I caught her wrist before she could walk away. *"Why?"*
Her pulse jumped under my fingers. *"Because Volkov burned my lab. Because Marcus sold your people like cattle. Because I'm tired of monsters ruling this city."*
I smirked. *"You realize *I'm* a monster, right?"*
She leaned down until her lips brushed my ear. *"Then be *my* monster."*
---
### **Chapter 10: The Hacker Omega**
**Elara's POV**
The basement of a Chinatown arcade wasn't where I expected to find a werewolf hacker.
Jake—the "Omega" Adrian had mentioned—was a wiry twenty-something with neon-green dreadlocks and a smirk that screamed *trouble*. His lair was a nest of monitors, pizza boxes, and a framed photo of a wolf pack… with Adrian in the center, younger and less broken.
*"So you're the witch who tamed the Alpha,"* Jake said, spinning in his chair. *"Cute."*
Adrian growled. *"Focus. We need everything on Volkov's blood trade."*
Jake typed, and security footage of a gilded skyscraper appeared. *"Volkov Tower. Penthouse is a no-fly zone—literally. He's got silver-coated drones and a private army of half-turned vampires."*
I frowned at the screen. *"Half-turned?"*
*"Humans he's fed his blood to,"* Adrian said darkly. *"Stronger than humans, weaker than full vamps. Loyal as hell."*
Jake grinned. *"Good news? Their network's vulnerable. I can crash his systems for *exactly* 93 seconds. Bad news?"* He tossed Adrian a keycard. *"You'll need to get *inside* the tower to plant this."*
Adrian pocketed the card. *"Then we go tonight."*
Jake's smile faded. *"One more thing. The Bloodshine? It's not just for control. Volkov's stockpiling it. Like he's preparing for war."*
---
### **Chapter 11: The Tower Heist**
**Adrian's POV**
Volkov Tower's lobby was all marble and menace.
Elara, dressed in a stolen lab coat, adjusted her earpiece as we strode past security. *"Jake's looped the cameras. We have 15 minutes before shift change."*
The elevator required a retinal scan. I grabbed a passing guard by the throat and slammed his face into the scanner.
*"Or we could do that,"* Elara muttered.
The penthouse doors hissed open—revealing Dmitri Volkov lounging on a white leather couch, a glass of blood-red wine in hand.
*"Adrian Blackwood,"* he purred. *"I wondered when you'd crawl back."*
I lunged.
Volkov moved faster, his fist cracking my ribs. Elara ducked as a vase shattered above her head, pulling a vial of her blood from her pocket.
*"Jake, now!"* she yelled.
The lights went out.
---
### **Chapter 12: The Bite That Binds**
**Elara's POV**
Chaos.
Adrian and Volkov were blurs in the dark, claws and fangs glinting in the emergency lights. I smashed my vial onto the floor—the witch-blood sizzled, forcing Volkov back.
*"You *bitch*,"* he hissed, his skin smoking where the drops had hit.
Adrian tackled him through a floor-to-ceiling window. Glass rained down as they grappled on the balcony, 80 stories above Manhattan.
I ran to the server room, slamming Jake's device into the main port. *"Downloading now!"*
A hand yanked me backward—a half-turned vamp, her eyes black with hunger. *"The master wants your blood, witch."*
Then Adrian was there, his jaws closing around her throat.
The device beeped. *"Got it!"* Jake whooped in my ear.
We fled as Volkov's enforcers swarmed, but not before I saw the files on the screen:
**"Project Crimson Moon: Mass Deployment Pending."**
---
### **Chapter 13: The Safehouse Confession**
**Adrian's POV**
The safehouse shower ran pink with blood.
Elara bandaged the gash on my shoulder, her fingers trembling. *"Volkov's planning an attack. He's going to dose the city's water supply with Bloodshine."*
I caught her hand. *"We stop him. Together."*
She didn't pull away. *"Why do you trust me? I'm a stranger with witch blood."*
*"Because you didn't run when I went feral."* I traced the scar on her palm—the one from the Moon Council. *"And because your blood smells like *home*."*
Her breath hitched.
Then she kissed me.
It was fire and fury, teeth and desperation. I pinned her against the wall, my wolf howling *Mine. Mine. MINE.*
She broke away, her lips swollen. *"We can't. Not until Volkov's dead."*
I rested my forehead against hers. *"Then let's kill him faster."*
---
### **Chapter 14: The Pack's Return**
**Elara's POV**
Jake's intel led us to a warehouse by the docks.
Inside, cages held dozens of werewolves—Adrian's former pack, drugged and listless. Lena, his Gamma, lunged at the bars when she saw us.
*"Adrian?* You're alive—"*
*"Barely,"* he said, snapping the locks. *"We need you. *All* of you."*
One by one, the wolves staggered free. Adrian sliced his palm and pressed it to Lena's forehead—a blood oath. *"I failed you before. I won't again."*
Lena's eyes glowed. She howled.
The others joined in.
The sound shook the city.
---
### **Chapter 15: The Witch's Bargain**
**Adrian's POV**
The night-witch's hut stank of dried herbs and death.
Madame Zelda, Elara's "aunt," cackled as she stirred a cauldron. *"So the Alpha comes begging."*
*"I need a weapon,"* I said. *"Something to kill Volkov."*
She pointed a bony finger at Elara. *"Her blood can do it. But it'll cost *you*."*
*"Name it."*
*"A drop of *your* Alpha blood. A *vow* to protect her—forever."*
Elara stepped forward. *"No. There's another way—"*
I sliced my wrist and let the blood drip into the brew. *"Done."*
The potion ignited, burning blue.
Zelda grinned. *"The vampires won't see this coming."*
---
### **Chapter 16: The Blood Moon Battle**
**Elara's POV**
They attacked at midnight.
Volkov's half-turned vamps swarmed the docks, but we were ready. Adrian's pack moved like shadows, their fur streaked with Zelda's blue potion—*vampire kryptonite*.
I stood at the center, my blood vials strapped to my belt like grenades.
Volkov descended from a helicopter, his coat billowing. *"You *dare* challenge me?"*
Adrian shifted—but not into a normal wolf.
His form *rippled*, growing larger, his fur streaked with silver. A *Lunar Prime*.
The pack *kneeled*.
Volkov's eyes widened. *"Impossible—"*
Adrian tore out his throat.
---
### **Chapter 17: The Aftermath**
**Adrian's POV**
The city was ours again.
Blackwood Industries, the pack, the territory—all reclaimed. But as I stood on the penthouse balcony, only one thing mattered.
Elara, wrapped in my jacket, her hair tangled from battle.
*"What now?"* she asked.
I pulled her close. *"Now *you* decide."*
---
### **Chapter 18: The Bonding**
**Elara's POV**
The full moon ceremony was nothing like I'd imagined.
No cages. No pain. Just Adrian kneeling before me, his teeth glinting as the pack chanted.
*"Do you want this?"* he asked. *"The bite? The bond? *Me*?"*
I tilted my neck. *"Make me yours."*
His fangs sank in—and the world *exploded* in gold.
---
### **Chapter 19: The Coronation War**
**Adrian's POV**
The boardroom of Blackwood Industries smelled like fear again—but this time, it wasn't mine.
I stood at the head of the table, my claws digging into the polished wood as the remaining executives stared at the bloodstains on my cuffs. The screens behind me displayed live footage of Volkov's corpse being dragged through the streets by my pack.
*"Let's be clear,"* I said, my voice a controlled growl. *"This company is *mine* again. Anyone loyal to Marcus or Volkov can leave now—*if* you think you can outrun wolves."*
Silence. Then one by one, they bowed their heads.
Only the CFO, a weasel-faced man named Harris, dared to speak. *"The shareholders will never accept a *werewolf* as CEO after the scandal—"*
Elara stepped out of the shadows, her fingers trailing blue witchfire. *"Funny. The shareholders just voted unanimously to reinstate Adrian. Didn't they, Jake?"*
Jake's grin flashed on the conference call screen. *"Hacked every proxy vote. You're welcome, boss."*
I smiled. *"Meeting adjourned."*
---
### **Chapter 20: The Luna's Trial**
**Elara's POV**
The Moon Council's caverns were colder than I remembered.
This time, the Elders didn't sit in judgment of Adrian—they stared at *me*. The silver chains around my wrists burned; a test of purity for any human seeking to bond with an Alpha.
*"She carries night-witch blood,"* Elder Kieran hissed. *"Her kind slaughtered thousands of ours in the Purge."*
Adrian's snarl shook the torches. *"And *my* kind executed her mother. The cycle ends *now*."*
The eldest wolf, a blind female with scars like constellations, stood. *"Prove your loyalty, little witch."*
She tossed a dagger at my feet.
*"Cut your palm. Feed the Alpha your blood *willingly*."*
I didn't hesitate.
The moment Adrian's tongue touched my wound, the cavern *roared* with spectral howls—the ancestors acknowledging the bond.
The Elder bowed. *"Welcome, Luna."*
---
### **Chapter 21: The Vampire's Revenge**
**Adrian's POV**
Volkov's funeral was a trap.
We'd expected retaliation, but not this—a hundred half-turned vamps, their eyes black with Bloodshine overdose, storming the cemetery gates.
*"Fall back!"* I barked, shoving Elara behind a mausoleum as bullets *pinged* off the marble. Silver-tipped.
Lena radioed from the perimeter. *"They're not here for *us*—they're after *her*!"*
Of course. Volkov's last order: *Kill the witch.*
Elara's hands glowed blue as she smashed a vial onto the grass. The resulting explosion of witchfire incinerated the first wave—but more kept coming.
Then the ground *shook*.
A figure emerged from the smoke: *Dmitri Volkov*, his throat stitched with black magic, his smile a graveyard.
*"Did you *really* think it would be that easy?"*
---
### **Chapter 22: The Resurrection**
**Elara's POV**
Volkov shouldn't have been alive.
The gash Adrian had torn in his neck was *sewn shut with dark thread*, pulsing like a second heartbeat. His movements were jerky, unnatural—a marionette pulled by invisible strings.
*"Necromancy,"* I whispered.
Adrian's fur bristled. *"Who the hell raised him?"*
Volkov's laugh was a death rattle. *"You'll meet her soon. She's *very* interested in you, Dr. Voss."*
Then he lunged.
---
### **Chapter 23: The Witch Queen**
**Adrian's POV**
Her name was *Morgana*.
The self-proclaimed Witch Queen of Brooklyn sat on a throne of bones in an abandoned cathedral, Volkov kneeling at her feet like a pet.
*"Adrian Blackwood,"* she crooned. *"The *Prime* who doesn't know his own power."*
I shifted, my enhanced form dwarfing the others. *"What do you want?"*
Her gaze slid to Elara. *"The girl's blood. A *Lunar Prime*'s bond-mate is the key to immortality."*
Elara's nails dug into my fur. *"You bitch. You're the one who killed my mother."*
Morgana smiled. *"And now I'll kill *you*."*
---
### **Chapter 24: The Siege**
**Elara's POV**
They caged us in silver.
Morgana's magic was suffocating, a vise around my ribs. Adrian thrashed against the chains, his howls choked to whimpers.
*"Fight it,"* I begged, pressing my forehead to his. *"You're stronger than her."*
Volkov dragged me away. *"Say goodbye, witch."*
Then the stained-glass windows *shattered*.
Jake's voice crackled through my earpiece: *"Cavalry's here."*
The pack *stormed* in—led by Lena, her wolves armored in silver-plated Kevlar.
Morgana *screamed* her fury.
---
### **Chapter 25: The Prime's Ascension**
**Adrian's POV**
Power *detonated* in my veins.
Morgana's magic had *awakened* something deeper—the true *Lunar Prime* inheritance. My father's voice echoed in my skull: *"The Prime doesn't *control* the moon. He *is* the moon."*
I *ripped* free of the chains.
The silver melted off my fur like dew.
Morgana's eyes widened. *"Impossible—"*
I tore through her defenses like paper.
---
### **Chapter 26: The Final Gambit**
**Elara's POV**
Morgana wasn't dying without a fight.
She hurled a curse so vile the air *rotted*, her fingers clawing at my throat. *"Your blood is *mine*—"*
I jammed a syringe of Adrian's *Prime blood* into her chest.
The witch *exploded* into crows.
Volkov collapsed, finally dead.
Adrian caught me as my knees gave out. *"It's over."*
---
### **Chapter 27: The Empire Rebuilt**
**Adrian's POV**
One month later, Blackwood Tower gleamed under a full moon.
The penthouse was different now—less chrome, more books. Elara's influence.
Jake flopped onto the couch, crunching numbers. *"Quarterly profits are up 300%. Also, the pack wants to know if you're doing that *Alpha-Luna* bonding ceremony. Lena's already ordering confetti."*
Elara snorted. *"Tell her to buy *black* confetti. And *no* silver glitter."*
I pulled her onto my lap, nuzzling the bonding mark on her neck. *"You heard the Luna."*
---
### **Chapter 28: The Hybrid's Gift**
**Elara's POV**
The lab results glowed on the monitor.
*"Your cells are *evolving*,"* I told Adrian, tracing the DNA helix. *"The Prime gene is merging with my witch-blood. Our bond is… rewriting supernatural biology."*
He pinned me against the desk. *"Good."*
The kiss tasted like destiny.
---
### **Chapter 29: The Gala**
**Adrian's POV**
The supernatural elite came to kneel.
Vampires, witches, and wolves filled the ballroom—allies now, thanks to Elara's treaties.
Lena smirked as a vampire lord kissed her knuckles. *"Times have changed."*
Elara, in a midnight-blue gown that matched her witchfire, squeezed my hand. *"They're *your* people now."*
I lifted our joined hands. The room *roared*.
---
### **Chapter 30: The Eternal Bond**
**Elara's POV**
The ceremony took place at dawn.
Adrian and I stood atop the tower, barefoot, the city sprawled below. The Elders chanted as we sliced our palms—his blood silver, mine blue—and let them mingle in a chalice.
*"By moon and magic,"* Adrian vowed, *"I am yours."*
*"By blood and bone,"* I answered, *"I am yours."*
We drank.
The world *shifted*—our souls now threaded together, *forever*.
As the sun rose, Adrian kissed me, his lips warm against the winter wind.
*"Ready to rule the world, Luna?"*
I grinned. *"Just try to keep up, Alpha."*
---