Darius's POV
Fael's words did not echo as I had expected.
They sank deep into my skin, like a blade pushed slowly between ribs, meant to be felt.
Aurelian is dying.
Aurelian is dying?
The air around the gate thickened. Even the wind coming down from the mountains seemed to stall for a moment, as though it too was listening to what was being said.
I did not look at Seraphine at first.
I couldn't afford to.
I couldn't bring myself to.
My focus stayed on the man kneeling before us, my nephew, my blood, my enemy. His head bowed like he understood, at last, what it meant to actually kneel.
"You chose dramatic words Nephew," I said calmly. "But I suggest you choose your next ones carefully."
Fael lifted his head.
He looked... diminished. Not weak, not broken.
He looked hollowed, if that was the correct way to put it.
Six years ago, I would have mistaken that look for repentance.
But now I knew better.
"The Elders saw it," he said again, hoarsely this time. "A vision cast under the triple moons. Blood.. A child gasping and.. and a crown cracking in half."
I felt it then. The subtle shift in Seraphine's breathing beside me.
The way her hand curled-just slightly at her side and the way her heart made a tiny little thud that was hard to miss.
I moved without looking, placing myself half a step in front of her.
A shield.
Always.
"And they concluded," I said, "that the solution was to put on your big boy pants and crawl north so you could knock on my gates?"
Fael swallowed.
"They said lineage must be verified. That the heir of Grimfang must be identified before the next Blood Moon. It's the only way to anchor his life force."
Behind him, Liora stood rigid.
Her hand never left her stomach and her eyes never left Seraphine.
I noticed everything.
"That sounds," I said evenly, "like a Grimfang problem."
Fael's gaze flicked past me, searching.
For Aurelian.
I bared my teeth.
"You don't get to look at him."
"I'm his father," Fael snapped.
The mountain answered me before I could.
A low growl rolled out of my chest, deep enough to vibrate the ground beneath our feet.
Fael froze while the men behind him stiffened.
"Careful," I warned softly. "You forfeited the right to claim titles the night you threw a pregnant she-wolf into the rain left for dead."
Seraphine stepped forward then.
I felt her pass me not breaking my guard, but standing beside it.
Her voice, when she spoke, was steady.
"Explain this so called prophecy."
Fael turned to her like a man drowning in a stream of alligators who had just spotted shore.
"They saw the boy's bloodline tearing itself apart," he said quickly. "Conflicting imprints.. Competing claims.. Power that doesn't know where it belongs."
I clenched my jaw. "So this is about me."
Fael hesitated and that was answer enough.
"They said," he continued, "that only the true Alpha blood can stabilize him. That the heir must stand where he belongs before the Blood Moon rises again."
I laughed and I guess It surprised everyone because it was a sharp, humorless sound.
"You think blood alone makes an Alpha?" I asked. "Then Grimfang deserves its rot."
Liora shifted her attention from Seraphine to me.
"The council believes," she said carefully, "that Clawfrost's... influence may have altered the child's fate."
I turned my head slowly.
She flinched when my eyes met hers.
"You are a guest here," I said. "Speak again out of turn and you'll leave without your tongue and a few fingers."
Seraphine inhaled sharply.
I felt it.. her anger, her fear, her instinct to protect.
Fael scrambled to speak before I could say more.
"They're demanding a rite," he said. "A lineage verification. Under the sacred stone. Before witnesses."
"No," Seraphine coldly said.
Simple. Absolute.
Fael's face cracked. "If you refuse," he whispered, "they will declare the boy unbound. Unguided power attracts predators, Seraphine. You know what happens to children like that."
I saw it then.
Not fear.
Calculation.
The Elders hadn't sent him here as a messenger.
They'd sent him as a wedge.
I stepped closer until Fael had to crane his neck to look up at me.
"You came here," I said quietly, "because you need me."
Fael's lips parted.
"You need my claim," I continued. "My blood. My name. Without it, the council cannot force a merge, cannot force a crown."
Silence.
I turned to Seraphine then.
Her face was unreadable but her scent had changed.
Steel beneath jasmine.
"You don't have to answer now," I said, lowering my voice so only she could hear. "Whatever they demand, we decide together."
She looked up at me with her beautiful grey eyes and violet freckles.
The woman the world tried to break. My–
"Our son," she said softly but loud enough for everyone to hear, "is not a bargaining chip."
Fael bowed his head.
"I know I don't deserve forgiveness," he said. "But I am begging you, both of you don't let pride kill him."
Pride.
"Did you just say Pride?" Seraphine angrily replied.
I thought of blood on rain-soaked ground.
Of claws at her throat.
Of a bond shattered like glass.
"You don't get to speak that word," I said.
Fael flinched as if struck and as if on cue the gates behind us creaked open.
Kade stood there, Aurelian just behind his leg, peeking out with wide, curious eyes.
My heart stopped, ayy a stubborn boy just like his mother.
Seraphine moved instantly. "Aurelian," she said gently. "I thought we told you to stay inside."
He hesitated.
Then his gaze slid to Fael again.
And I saw it.. Recognition sparked.
Too fast.
Too sharp.
Something ancient stirred in the air.
The boy tilted his head towards Fael.
"You... I told you before.. you smell... loud, too loud," he said.
Fael's breath hitched.
Liora's face immediately drained of color.
I felt it then, the pull.
Subtle and dangerous.
Blood calling to blood.
I stepped forward and placed a firm hand on Aurelian's shoulder.
"That's enough," I said. "Inside. Now."
He obeyed.
Reluctantly.
The moment he was gone, I rounded on Fael.
"You will leave my pack," I said. "You will take your prophecy, your council, and your mistress with you."
Fael looked up, desperation raw in his eyes.
"And if we don't?"
I leaned down until my shadow swallowed him whole.
"Then I will show the Elders what happens when they threaten what is mine."
His eyes widened.
"Your time is up," I added. "Pray the Blood Moon is merciful."
They left shortly after.
When the gates closed, Seraphine sagged.
I caught her.
Held her, Felt her.
For just a breath longer than necessary.
"They want him," she whispered. "They want my baby."
"They won't take him," I said. "Not while I breathe."
She looked at me then-not as a Luna, not as a mother-
But as a woman standing on the edge of war.
"And if what they are saying is true? If the only way to save him," she asked quietly, "is to return to Grimfang?"
I did not answer immediately.
Because for the first time in six years...
I felt fear.
Not of Fael.
Not of the bloody council.
But of what I might become if the world tried to take her from me again.
"Then," I said at last, "Grimfang will remember why they once feared the north."
And deep in the mountain, my wolf stirred.
Awake and hungry.
