The Sun Marked Luna

The silence in the Great Hall was so thick you could hear the flicker of the torchfire.

Alpha Vance's face contorted with fury, his knuckles turning white around the hilt of his sword. "You cross into my territory on a truce, Malakar, and you dare claim a scrub servant? She has no wolf. She has no pack rank. She is *nothing*."

"She is mine," Malakar repeated. His voice wasn't a roar; it was a deadly, quiet promise that made every wolf in the room shiver. "And that makes her more valuable than your entire lineage."

Before Vance could take a step, Malakar moved.

He didn't draw a blade. He didn't shift into his wolf. He simply blurred across the floor with terrifying Alpha speed. A sickening *crack* echoed through the hall as Malakar's hand clamped around Vance's wrist, shattering the bone instantly. Vance gasped, dropping his sword to the stone floor.

The Silver Shadow guards drew their weapons, but Malakar's six Enforcers immediately bared their claws, releasing an oppressive aura that pinned the guards to the spot.

I couldn't move. My heart hammered against my ribs like a caged bird. The golden warmth in my chest-the bond-was pulling me toward Malakar, demanding that I touch him, that I seek shelter in his shadow. But panic held me frozen.

Malakar turned back to me, ignoring Vance groaning on the floor. He stepped closer, his fierce amber eyes searching my face. The sheer dominance radiating off him should have made me cower, but when he extended his hand, his touch was impossibly gentle.

"What is your name, little fire?" he asked softly.

"N-Nora," I whispered, my voice trembling.

"Nora," he murmured, testing the sound on his lips. "Get up."

I hesitated, glancing at Lady Caelia, who was pale as salt, and at the council elders trembling in the back. "I... I am not allowed to leave. I belong to Silver Shadow."

Malakar leaned down, his lips brushing the shell of my ear, sending an intoxicating shiver straight down my spine. The scent of rain and pine filled my senses, making my head spin.

"You belong to no one, Nora," he growled low. "Until tonight. Now, you come with me, or I slaughter every wolf in this room who ever made you bleed."

He reached out, offering his hand.

I looked at the pack that had beaten me, used me, and treated me like trash for eighteen years. Then I looked at the terrifying Alpha who had just brought them to their knees to claim me.

I placed my hand in his.

The moment our skin touched, a jolt of raw energy surged through my veins. Deep inside my dormant soul, something long asleep violently snapped awake. A wild, ancient roar echoed inside my mind-a wolf's howl, powerful and dark.

My eyes widened in shock. *I have a wolf?*

Malakar's grip tightened around my hand, a predatory smirk touching his lips as if he felt it too. He pulled me against his broad chest, wrapping a heavy dark cloak around my shivering shoulders.

"Bloodfang!" Malakar ordered, his voice booming as he carried me toward the heavy oak doors. "We leave!"

"Stop them!" Vance choked out from the floor, clutching his broken wrist. "She carries the blood of the-"

A thrown dagger from one of Malakar's Enforcers thudded into the floor an inch from Vance's face, cutting him off mid-sentence.

As the heavy doors slammed shut behind us, plunging the Great Hall into chaos, Malakar swept me into his arms and leaped into the dark, moonlit forest.

My heart pounded. I was leaving the only hell I'd ever known, bound to a ruthless monster who held my heart in his hands. But as his dark scent wrapped around me, one thought terrified me most of all:

Vance was about to say what I truly was... and Malakar already knew.