"Marrying each other through mating has consequences. One of you will die if two decades pass and you fail to break the sacred bond with your spouses," the babaylan had warned.
Being married to Devon while still bound to Daniel was no easy feat. That’s why we did it through mating instead of making it sacred. Every week, we had to visit the babaylan to perform the ritual. We couldn’t proceed without the oil that protected my heart from breaking, since I was still linked to my true husband.
For Devon, there was no risk. The danger lay solely with me.
"My son will start his training tomorrow," Devon informed me as I prepared the tools for mating.
I nodded quietly, keeping my focus on my task.
"My daughters are learning everything they need to know," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I knew I was leading them into a grim life of vengeance, but peace had long been a distant dream for us. Retribution remained the only path.
"How was your visit to them?" I asked, wiping sweat from my brow as he adjusted his sleeves.
“They’re preparing to appoint someone as alpha. They’ve made it seem as if their adopted son is their biological heir.”
I smirked. “The rogue boy? A full-blood alpha? That’s laughable.”
I stood and faced him, meeting the eyes of the man who had been my companion in suffering for years. We had grown accustomed to each other’s presence—partners in crime and sin, not love. What connected us was rage and a hunger for revenge, a bond of ruin that left no space for tenderness.
Still, it wasn’t hard to see why humans whispered behind our backs, calling us sorcerers who never aged.
Devon’s form remained as formidable as ever, his mature face chiselled with a dark aura that never faded.
To the world, he was my husband. But every time we performed the mating ritual, my blood screamed for Daniel.
Soon, I would end him. The time was close.
“It’s a long process,” Devon continued, his expression hard. “I’ve already planted the idea in the council that your brother never owned your wealth. It rightfully belongs to you.”
“But doesn’t everyone believe I’m dead?”
“Some of your father’s loyalists still remember. They know you bore a child and sent him to another pack. That inheritance could fall to him.”
I clenched my jaw. "We need to find that child before they do. If it’s about wealth, others might use the child to challenge the next alpha. We can’t afford any obstacles."
His eyes darkened as he nodded. For a moment, we stared into each other’s gazes, seeing nothing but the ghosts of the siblings who had betrayed us.
We were one year away from reclaiming what was ours. Retribution would be ours. Soon, we would walk freely in the lands that had been stolen.
“It’s time to go to the babaylan,” Devon murmured, gripping my arm.
It was midnight, and the world was asleep. The portal opened easily under the moon’s gaze as he shifted into his wolf form, carrying me as he raced through the woods. The scent of blood hung thickly in the air—fresh kills from sacrifices he had made.
We stopped before the gateway. Together, we raised our eyes to the moon, its light casting a cold, silver glow.
We spoke in unison, our voices weaving into the night.
“Luna, guide us to our world. We appease you with the blood of our sacrifices.”
The portal flared open. Devon moved swiftly into the vast land where a great chateau loomed—our ancestral home, now claimed by those who had betrayed us.
Their figures were visible even from here, standing on the balcony under the moon’s glow, performing the same ritual we were about to begin. The mating ritual.
Devon set me down before the babaylan. I kept my eyes fixed upward, watching Daniel with cold fury as he performed the ritual with my soulless sister.
That would have been my fate had Devon not found the last babaylan.
We began. His lips pressed against mine, his hands tracing my body with practiced intent. His mouth trailed down my skin, igniting each touch as our tongues entwined, our bodies merging in perfect rhythm.
Then I heard it—the howl of Daniel.
I turned my gaze in time to see him lift a dagger, its blade catching the moonlight. He drove it into my sister’s heart, the silver glinting as blood poured from her chest.
Karina would survive. The mating demanded death for the resurrection to take hold. That was its purpose.
For Daniel and Karina, mating meant death. But for Devon and me, survival came with a babaylan’s magic. We only had to match their ritual perfectly, performing in unison.
Their torment kept us alive.
“Moan my name, Karylle,” Devon commanded darkly. “Make them hear us both in their minds.”
When my voice mingled with his in the mind link, Daniel’s growl filled the night.
That was their consequence. They had to die for the bond they broke. We lived by cheating on them.
“In two months,” Devon whispered after the ritual, “you’ll return with a new name, a new face, and seduce him again.”
I smirked wickedly.
“I will. And you…” I traced his jaw with my fingertips.
“You will lure Karina to her death.”
His eyes darkened further.
“I will kill her this time."
