JESSICA

    b39 /b

    E 55 vouchers

    The stone is cold, biting even through the flesh of my bare foot, as though the earth itself demands a price for what I am about to surrender. My breath hitches, the veil stirs against my lips, and for a heartbeat I falter.

    But then–Grayson moves. His hand rises, sure and unyielding, palm open as though he has waited lifetimes to catch mine. I give it, trembling, defiant, undone.

    I stand before him now. The veil slips, the moonflowers in my hair tremble with the wind, and the Moon herself leans heavy above us, pale and merciless. In his grasp, I am no longer hidden. I am no longer the secret the Goddess tried to bury. I am found. I am imed. I am hers no longer. I am his.

    “I love you,” he whispers.

    The silence deepens, until even the fire seems to bow its crackling tongue. Then, from the edge of the circle, Kade steps forward. Cloaked in ck, his eyes like embers, he raises his hand toward the Moon, and his voice unfurls like thunder rolling through stone.

    “By the blood that binds us. By the fang that scars us. By the Moon who sees all and forgets nothing. We call

    upon

    the first vow.”

    The Alphas answer as one, their voices a low, shuddering growl, more beast than man: “The vow is heard.”

    Kade’s gaze falls upon us, sharp as a de drawn for judgment. “Step forth,” hemands, though I already stand at Grayson’s side, my hand caged in his. “Alpha Grayson. Omega Jess. The bond you im is not of your flesh alone, but of your blood, your wolves, your fates. Do you swear to bind as the Moon once bound the first wolves in fire, in pain, in sorrow, in love?”

    –

    Grayson’s grip tightens. He does not look away, not from me, not even for a heartbeat. “I swear,” he answers, voice steady as iron, low as the growl of his wolf beneath his skin. “In fire, in pain, in sorrow, in love.”

    The ritual sears through me, and I feel the eyes of every Alpha upon my trembling lips. The cold devours me, the howls surge like waves crashing against the circle, and still–I force breath into words. “I swear,” I whisper, though the vow feels like a scream in my blood. “In fire, in pain, in sorrow, in love.”

    —

    The mes spit white, the wolves cry until the air itself splits and still, Kade does not release us. His gaze falls to me, cold, merciless, ancient. “Omega,” he intones, his voice heavy as iron. “The vow is sworn, yet the bond is not sealed. To receive the mark, you must kneel. For the Moon bows to none, but the Alphamands.”

    The words tear through me.

    Kneel. Yield. Submit.

    My wolf rages, thrashing like a storm in my blood, her snarl vibrating in my chest. She will not bend. She was not born for chains. She was carved from sorrow and fire, meant to devour, never to bow.

    The voices around us whisper–low, sharp, certain: she will not bow. She cannot bow. She is Omega, yet untamed. Trouble. Always trouble. My wolf ws at my throat, screaming defiance, her cry raw and endless.

    :

    But love is a chain as cruel as fate. And 1-1 am already bound.

    b39 /b

    E55 vouchers

    Slowly, with the world’s eyes upon me, I let my knees bend. The earth strikes hard against bone, cold and

    merciless.

    The circle holds its breath. The fires roar white, the howls w the heavens, the Alphas lean forward as though to taste my shame. I kneel. I kneel, and they believe me broken. But then–Grayson moves.

    Slow as the tide, inevitable as dawn, he lowers himself before me. An Alpha, bending. Stone shudders. The crowd stiffens, struck dumb, for this is no ce for bowing. Yet still hees down to me, until his knees press the earth, until his eyes are level with mine. His hand finds my cheek, calloused and burning, and his voice is a vow no rite couldmand of him.

    “If you kneel, Jess, then I kneel also. For I am not above you. I am yours.”

    The words unravel me. My wolf, once defiant, once raging, now keens in silence, her fury drowned by ia /isurrender more dangerous than any chain. For here, before the Moon, before the blood of our kind, he bows – not as Alpha, not as master, but as man. As mine.

    The crowd murmurs, restless, uncertain. The ritual is bent, twisted into something older than theirws. Kade’s voice trembles the air, deep and unyielding: “Then let it be sealed. By fire. By blood. By sorrow. By love.”

    Grayson does not wait for permission. His breath scorches against my throat, his lips brushing the hollow where my pulse rages. The world tilts fire leaping higher, the howls breaking into frenzy, the Moon ring white in judgment. My heart hammers once, twice, before his fangs sink deep into my flesh.

    When his mouth closed upon my neck, I thought the world ended. Fire burst beneath my skin, a river of ice tearing through my veins, and my cry shattered into the night. It was agony, yes, but not only agony–it was revtion.

    Every scar I had hidden, every prayer I had buried, every breath I had swallowed for fear of being known- they were dragged into the open, bleeding into him. And in his fangs, I was both devoured and made eternal.

    Mine, the bond whispered.

    Mine, my wolf answered.

    Mine, my blood sang, even as it drowned me.

    When he pulled back, his mouth stained with me, his gaze met mine–and the bond snapped taut, alive, a silver chain burning through marrow and spirit alike. My wolf howled in triumph, his wolf answered, and for the first time, I knew what it was to be whole. Marked. Bound. Chosen. His, as he was mine, forever beneath the tyranny of the Moon.

    15:48 Tueb, /bSep 16

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