The Ancient Blood
The walk back to the fortress was entirely different from the way we had left.
I was no longer the terrified, shivering half-breed wrapped in the Alpha's oversized shirt. Walking beside Kade in my human form, my bare feet didn't even feel the bite of the ice. The raw, ancient magic of my awakened wolf hummed just beneath my skin, keeping me perfectly warm.
When the massive iron gates of the keep groaned open, the courtyard was packed with Winter Pack warriors.
They didn't just bow this time. As Kade and I walked through the snow, massive, battle-hardened wolves actually averted their eyes, baring their necks in the ultimate display of absolute, unquestioning reverence. They had felt the aura of the White Queen.
Kade's large, calloused hand rested firmly on the small of my back, his thumb drawing soothing circles against my spine. His feral pride was practically radiating off him.
We didn't go back to the penthouse. Kade guided me straight into the Great Hall.
The Pack Council was already waiting, standing nervously around the frozen obsidian table. Beta Torin looked like he had aged ten years in the span of an hour. He kept his head bowed strictly toward the floor.
"Call the Pack scribe," Kade's voice boomed through the hall, a dark, vibrating command that left no room for argument. "We perform the Claiming Ceremony tonight. Right now."
A collective gasp echoed through the room.
"Alpha," Torin spoke up, his voice trembling slightly, completely stripped of its former arrogance. "A Claiming Ceremony... to mark her in front of the Council... it seals her as the absolute ruler of the North. It cannot be undone."
"That is exactly the point, Torin," Kade growled smoothly, his icy blue eyes flashing with a dangerous golden ring.
He stepped closer to me, his massive frame acting as a physical shield.
"By sunrise, rumors of a white wolf will spread past our borders.
Every syndicate, every rogue, and every rival Alpha on this continent will come hunting for her power.
I want my scent permanently burned into her veins.
I want the world to know that to touch her, they have to go through me. "
"Alpha Kade! Wait!"
The heavy doors at the back of the hall burst open.
Chief Healer Elara rushed into the room, entirely out of breath. She was clutching a massive, ancient leather-bound tome to her chest, its pages crumbling and yellowed with age.
Kade's jaw locked. "Elara, I said the ceremony happens now."
"You don't understand, Alpha," Elara gasped, practically running to the obsidian table and slamming the heavy book down.
She looked at me, her silver eyes wide with a mixture of absolute awe and sheer terror.
"I had to be sure. I went down into the deepest archives to check the Old Texts. About the white wolves."
I stepped forward, my heart beating a little faster. "I thought they were just myths. Mutations."
"They are not mutations, my Queen," Elara whispered, reverently opening the heavy book to a page depicting a massive, ethereal white wolf howling at a blood-red moon. "They are royalty. The Original Royalty."
The Great Hall went completely, terrifyingly silent.
"Explain," Kade commanded, the temperature in the room plummeting.
"Thousands of years ago, before the packs divided, all werewolves were ruled by one bloodline," Elara pointed to the ancient text, her hands shaking.
"The Royal Lycans. They possessed magic the rest of us didn't. They were the direct conduit to the Moon Goddess.
And their defining trait... was iridescent white fur. "
Beta Torin staggered backward, gripping the edge of the table to keep from collapsing. "The Lycan Kings... they were wiped out by the vampire covens centuries ago. The bloodline is dead."
"Not all of them," Elara looked up, tears shining in her eyes as she looked directly at me.
"Someone survived. They hid their lineage, diluting their blood with humans to stay hidden from the monsters hunting them.
Her uncle didn't just use dark magic to keep her weak.
.. he used it to hide her scent from the world. "
The breath completely left my lungs.
I wasn't a half-breed. I wasn't a runt. I was the last living descendant of the ancient Lycan Kings.
"Alpha," Torin choked out, true panic seizing the battle-hardened warrior as he looked at Kade.
"If you mark her... if you claim the Last Lycan as your mate.
.. you aren't just making her the Queen of the North.
By pack law, you are claiming the throne of the entire continent.
The Southern Packs will declare war. The Syndicates will assassinate you.
It will be the bloodiest conflict in our history! "
I looked at Kade, my chest tightening with unbearable guilt. I had brought the apocalypse to his doorstep.
"Kade," I whispered, reaching out to touch his armored chest. "He's right. If you mark me, the whole world will come to kill you."
Kade didn't look at the ancient book. He didn't look at his terrified Council.
The Butcher of the North slowly turned to face me. The icy, ruthless warlord was completely gone, replaced by a man whose soul was entirely, irrevocably bound to mine.
He didn't hesitate for a single microsecond.
Kade reached out, his massive hands gently framing my face. He tilted my head to the side, completely exposing the soft, vulnerable pulse point of my neck to the entire Great Hall.
"Let them come," the Shadow King roared, his voice shaking the very ice of the fortress. "I will build a throne for you out of their bones, Nia."
Kade leaned down. His eyes burned like hellfire, entirely consumed by the feral gold of his wolf. I felt the sharp, terrifying prick of his elongated Alpha fangs against my skin.
And then, he bit down.
I cried out, my hands instinctively gripping his broad shoulders. The pain was a sharp, blinding flash, but it was instantly swallowed by an explosion of pure, searing heat. It felt like liquid fire was injected directly into my bloodstream.
The Mate Bond violently, permanently snapped into place.
Our souls fused. I felt his absolute, terrifying devotion, his homicidal protectiveness, and the sheer, unending depth of his love for me. It was an overwhelming, intoxicating rush that brought tears to my eyes.
But my ancient Lycan blood didn't just accept the mark; it answered it.
A massive, visible shockwave of silver and gold magic blasted out from our connected bodies. The ancient magic shattered the remaining ice on the high windows of the Great Hall, sending a beacon of pure, Royal Lycan power shooting straight up into the dark winter sky.
Kade slowly pulled back, his fangs slipping from my skin. A perfect, crescent-shaped mark rested on my collarbone, glowing with a faint, silvery-gold light.
He looked down at me, his chest heaving, wiping a stray tear from my cheek with his thumb.
The entire Winter Pack Council, including Beta Torin and Healer Elara, had been forced to the ground by the magical blast. They stayed there, pressing their foreheads to the stone.
"My Luna," Kade whispered, kissing the fresh, glowing mark on my neck. "My Queen."