Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Astra
Something is stirring inside me. Something that changes the very air in this chamber, something that makes every wolf here turn their eyes toward me—even the ones in human form.
I can see their wolves. All of them. Zari’s sleek black wolf peers at me from behind her human eyes, restless and aggressive. The enemy soldiers’ wolves pace anxiously within their human shells. And Aldric’s wolf is shadowy and twisted, corrupted by years of dark magic.
But it’s Lucian’s wolf that draws my attention. The connection between us pulses with desperate intensity.
Mate, something whispers in my mind. But it’s not my wolf’s voice—it’s something older, deeper. Something that has been sleeping inside me for twenty-four years.
Zari raises her dagger, her face contorted with murderous rage as she prepares to drive it into Lucian’s exposed flank. He’s holding off three guards at once and doesn’t see her coming.
“Stop.” The word slides out of my lips like a command from the depths of my soul.
And Zari freezes.
Her arm hangs suspended in midair, the knife trembling in her grip. Her eyes go wide with panic as she fights against the invisible force that is holding her.
“Wh–what’s happening?” she gasps, her voice breaking with fear. “I can’t move. My wolf…She won’t listen to me!”
The ancient thing inside me stretches, unfurling like wings that have been folded for too long. I feel it reaching out, touching the wolves in this chamber one by one. Testing them. Tasting their essence.
Knowledge floods through me with absolute certainty: I am Eclipse Born. And every wolf in this room is mine to command.
Power floods my veins even as I sit bound by these ropes. I can feel each wolf here as if they are extensions of my own body. I feel their heartbeats. Their fears. Their desperate need to submit to something greater than themselves.
Lucian stumbles forward. Too many wounds. Too much fighting. I can feel his strength ebbing through our incomplete bond, can sense his life force being pulled away.
The sight of him weakening breaks something loose inside me.
“Enough.” My voice carries authority I’ve never possessed before. The ancient power surges forward, no longer content to hide in the shadows of my soul.
One by one, I reach out to the enemies’ wolves. Not to their human minds—to their wolves. To the part of them that recognizes dominance, that understands pack hierarchy on a level deeper than conscious thought.
Zari’s wolf is the first to break under my command. I feel the moment her connection to her animal snaps like a severed cord. The dagger falls from her numb fingers, and she begins to scream.
“No! NO!” Her voice rises to a shriek that echoes throughout the chamber. “My wolf! Where is my wolf? I can’t feel her!”
The sound of her anguish should disturb me. But all I feel is savage satisfaction as the woman who would harm my mate pays the price for her betrayal.
The enemy soldiers are next. Their wolves wink out of existence under my will, leaving them hollow and broken. They collapse to their knees, clutching their chests as if trying to hold on to something that’s already gone forever.
Aldric tries to fight me. His ancient wolf snarls and snaps, resisting my command with centuries of accumulated power. But even he can’t endure against what I have become.
When his wolf dies, he doesn’t scream like the others. He just stares at me, awestruck.
“Magnificent,” he breathes. “Such raw, untrained power.”
I don’t respond to his words. There’s nothing to say to the man who orchestrated my torture and tried to steal my abilities.
Lucian shifts back to human form and stumbles over to me. His hands shake as he works at the ropes binding my wrists. His body is a map of cuts and bruises, blood still seeping from the worst wounds.
“Astra.” My name falls from his lips like a prayer. “How did you—”
His knees buckle, and he collapses against me, his weight nearly toppling my chair. I catch him as best I can with my newly freed hands, and I feel the fever burning through his skin.
“You’re dying,” I whisper, the realization hitting me instantly. Through our bond, I can feel his life slipping away like sand through my fingers. The incomplete connection has been slowly draining him for weeks, and this battle has pushed him past his breaking point.
“Doesn’t matter,” he murmurs against my neck. “You’re safe. That’s all—”
“It does matter,” I tell him softly. “You matter.”
More royal soldiers pour into the chamber, their voices raised in victory as they take control of the scene. But I barely notice them. All my focus is on the man in my arms, on the way his breathing is becoming increasingly labored.
I can fix this. The knowledge comes to me with absolute certainty, carried by the same ancient instinct that let me destroy our enemies’ wolves. The mate bond—if I complete it, it will stabilize. Instead of draining his life, it will strengthen us both.
Without giving myself time to think about it, I lower my mouth to his neck.
His skin is salty and metallic as my canines—longer and sharper than they’ve ever been—pierce his flesh with surprising ease. The taste of his blood on my tongue sends electricity racing through my entire body.
Then, the world explodes.
The incomplete bond that has been pulling at both of us snaps into perfect alignment.
I can feel everything he feels: his pain, his relief, his desperate love for me.
And I know he can feel me in return, can sense the ancient power flowing through my veins, can understand the Eclipse Born magic in me.
Mine, his wolf growls in my mind, no longer separated by the barrier of incomplete bonding. My mate. My queen.
Yours, the ancient thing inside me agrees. Always yours.
“Seth! Leon!” Lucian’s voice is stronger now, the completed bond already working to heal his worst injuries. “Stand down!”
I turn to see two men I don’t recognize approaching with weapons drawn. I feel like I should know them, but there is a haze clouding my mind. As they get closer, the ancient power inside me reacts with automatic defensiveness. Their wolves—I can feel them, can command them if I choose.
“Stop,” I whisper, and both men freeze mid-step.
Seth, red-haired and lean, fights against my command with impressive will. “What the hell—”
“Astra.” Lucian’s hand covers mine, his touch warm and grounding. “They’re friends. Let them go.”
Leon, blond and sharp-eyed, stares at me with fascination rather than fear. “She can control our wolves?”
“Release them,” Lucian says softly, his thumb stroking my knuckles. “Please, love. They’re here to help.”
The endearment breaks through my defensive haze. Love. He called me “love,” and I can feel through our bond that he means it. This man, who could have anyone, has chosen me.
I free their wolves, and both men stumble slightly as they regain control.
“Lucian needs medical attention,” Leon says to me, his voice carefully neutral as he approaches. “The healers are waiting outside.”
But the ancient power inside me isn’t ready to retreat. It wants more destruction, more dominance. It whispers suggestions about taking control of the entire palace, about making every wolf in the kingdom bow before me.
So much power, it croons. So many wolves to command. You could rule them all.
“Enough.” The word comes out firm, final. “I want to stop.”
The power rages against my decision, fighting to remain in control. But I’m stronger than it expects, and I have something it doesn’t understand: a reason to choose restraint over dominance.
I look down at Lucian, at the man who has become my anchor in a world that has turned completely upside down. His blue eyes are warm with pride and love, and through our bond, I can feel his absolute faith in my ability to control this terrifying gift.
“I choose to stop,” I tell the ancient thing definitively. “My mate is hurt. That’s what matters now.”
Reluctantly, gradually, the Eclipse Born power retreats back into the depths of my soul. The crushing weight of all those wolves’ minds disappears, leaving me feeling strangely empty and utterly exhausted.
I start to sway sideways, and Seth catches me before I can hit the stone floor.
“I’ve got you,” he says, his earlier wariness replaced by something that might be respect. “You did good, Your Highness.”
Your Highness. The title should feel wrong, should be too much, too fast. But as I look around at the destruction I’ve caused—the enemies I’ve defeated, the mate I’ve saved—I realize that maybe I’m stronger than I ever imagined.
Maybe I can learn to be what this kingdom needs.
And maybe, just maybe, I’m worthy of the fierce love burning in Lucian’s blue eyes.
Through our completed bond, I feel his agreement wrap around me like a warm embrace.
My queen, he whispers in my mind. My fierce, beautiful queen.
The aftermath is like a storm that refuses to pass.
I wake two days later to find Lucian’s side of the bed empty, though I can feel through our bond that he is somewhere in the palace, tense and frustrated. A day of unconsciousness healed his wounds, but mine—the emotional ones—feel raw and exposed in the morning light.
When he returns to our chambers, his jaw is tight with barely controlled anger.
“How was the Council meeting?” I ask, though I already know from his expression that it didn’t go well.
“Draven wants you dead.” His words are blunt, with no cushioning.
For the first time since I’ve known him, Lucian isn’t trying to shield me from political realities.
“He has convinced half the Council that you’re too dangerous to live.
Says an Eclipse Born who can kill wolves at will is a threat to the natural order. ”
I process this calmly, surprised by my own lack of fear. “And the other half?”