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The air shimmered with old magic, thick with dust and forgotten oaths.

Every breath I took felt like it belonged to another time.

The stones hummed under my boots, whispering secrets in a language I didn't yet understand.

My father used to say these stones drank blood and memory. I never believed him—until now.

Serena ran her fingers along the carved stone, the runes glowing faintly under her touch. I leaned in, trying to concentrate, forcing myself to see beyond the immediate danger. Old wolf runes covered the walls in spirals, broken by fae symbols I never learned to read. But I knew someone who had.

“Here,” Serena said, pointing to a section near the floor. Her voice was breathless. “This part—it's like the texts my father kept hidden.”

Alaric Sterling. That bastard. I should’ve known he was playing a bigger game than I realized.

I crouched beside her, translating aloud. My voice was low, the words raw and hard. “Celestial stones…bound to wolves…meant to be…temporary.” I paused, struggling to make sense of it.

“This one,” she whispered, tracing the symbol of a wolf devouring its own tail, “it means… cycle or curse?”

“Both,” I answered, voice low. “Look here—‘Where the moon is fractured, the bond shall test. Love forged in shadow, peace bought with power lost.’”

A hush fell between us as realization sank in. We were the wolf now—teeth poised, tail just out of reach. But maybe, this time, we could let go.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or punch something. The connection had always been there, right under my nose. This place, the ruins, the carvings—they all tied back to us. And I was a blind fucking fool not to see it sooner.

“So if we break the curse…” Serena said slowly, “Stormvale loses its strength.”

“Not all of it,” I replied. “But the mountain, the connection my wolves have to it—it’ll fade. We’ve drawn on that magic for generations. In war. In ritual. It’s why we survive winters others don’t. Why our wolves are larger, faster.”

Serena stepped back, hand trembling. “You’d lose that. Because of me.”

It all made sense, more than I wanted it to. We were part of a story that began long before either of us was born. The way we were drawn to each other, the pain that came with it, the packs’ endless conflict. It was written in stone, spelled out by forces older than I dared imagine.

The full impact of it hit me like a storm, drowning out everything else. Breaking the curse meant severing my pack’s bond with the mountain. The very thing that made us who we were.

I staggered back, the room spinning.

“Tristan?” Serena’s voice was distant, like I was hearing it through water. “What is it?”

Everything. Everything was at stake. My head pounded with the realization, each thought more unbearable than the last. My duty was to protect them, the wolves I led and bled with.

How could I choose to weaken them, to doom them for her?

Even if we’re both driven mad by this curse, how can I choose us over the pack?

“I need air,” I choked out, the words barely making it past the tightness in my throat.

I pushed away, retreating into the corridor where the walls didn’t press in so closely. Where I could breathe without feeling like I was suffocating on my own fucking failure. My hands trembled, and I clenched them into fists as my wolf bristled beneath the surface, desperate to stay in control.

The decision felt impossible. No matter what choice I made, I’d lose a part of myself. The part that had lived and fought for the pack, the part that found its soul in Serena’s touch. How did it come to this?

I paced, running a hand through my hair, gripping the back of my neck, feeling the coarse material of my flannel shirt.

I wanted to smash through the walls, to howl and rage against everything I couldn’t change.

My palm brushed my birthmark, and I stopped, the action stabbing into me with sharp clarity.

She was behind me, her presence so real I felt it before she spoke. “This is why you ran, isn’t it?”

I turned, my eyes meeting hers. There was no judgment in them, no anger at what this all meant. Just a deep, raw understanding that gutted me more than anything else could.

“Tell me,” she said, stepping closer. “I need to hear you say it, Tristan.”

The distance between us felt wider than ever.

I’d already given up everything to be with her.

Everything but this final, most brutal choice.

I swallowed hard, each word like glass in my throat.

“My duty has always been to protect my pack. I don’t know how I can…

” My voice cracked, and I closed the space between us, almost desperate.

“How can I choose to weaken them? To put you first when it means…”

She caught my hand, the one that was still hovering over my birthmark. “You’ve always been stronger than you think,” she said, her grip fierce and unrelenting. “This isn’t just your burden to carry.”

It was like a jolt to my senses, a moment of clarity that sliced through my confusion. She was right. Maybe we didn’t have to make this choice alone. Maybe the past wasn’t as unforgiving as the stones wanted us to believe.

“Look,” Serena said, glancing back at the chamber we’d just left. “There’s more. We’ve only scratched the surface.”

Her determination was contagious. Her presence, her faith, her stubborn refusal to let me give up—it pulled me out of the dark spiral I was in.

I followed her gaze, knowing we didn’t have long before everything caught up with us.

But for the first time, I felt like maybe we weren’t out of options.

Maybe this time, we’d find a way to win.

After studying the ancient runes and carvings for hours, night slipped into the ruins like a ghost, chilling the walls and silencing even the bravest insects.

It was the kind of quiet that wrapped itself around you, that heightened every breath, every glance, every shared and secret thought.

We hadn’t meant to stay this long, but we needed answers, and this was the one place we finally found them.

We moved into the farthest chamber, alone in the dark, our hearts pounding with the fear of discovery and the heavy pull of unsaid things.

Shadows pooled like ink at the edges, leaving only the center aglow with pale, otherworldly light.

It cast strange patterns on Serena’s skin, making her look as beautiful and unattainable as ever.

Like the curse itself, only this time, I had the insane hope we might actually break it.

She stayed near, never out of reach, always a magnet for my body and my mind.

She let me see what it was doing to her, holding my gaze with eyes that sparked when I couldn’t stand the silence.

“You’ve carried this burden alone for too long,” she said, touching my face like I was something fragile. I closed the distance between us and watched the dark curl of her mouth just before I claimed it.

The kiss was hesitant at first, tentative like we didn’t quite believe this was real.

I felt her breath hitch against my lips, the warmth of it slipping into me and fanning out until I couldn’t hold back anymore.

She opened up, pressing against me, and the kiss grew hungry, then desperate, then consuming.

It was everything I hadn’t let myself feel until now, everything I thought I could sacrifice to protect her and the pack.

But she was here, soft and unrelenting, breaking through every wall I built around myself.

The first sounds she made were quiet, catching at the back of her throat as I tangled my hands in her hair.

My coat slipped from her shoulders, falling to the ground and leaving her bare but for the thin white t-shirt that clung to her.

She didn’t wait for me to help, pulling it over her head and moving back in with a fierce need that undid me.

Her skin was smooth and pale in the half-light, a contrast to the chaos inside me, the tangle of muscle and emotion I could hardly contain.

I lifted her up, feeling the warmth of her legs wrap around me, feeling like I finally had everything I couldn’t admit I wanted.

We crashed against the wall, each impact sweet and desperate, each touch more electrifying than the last. My mouth moved to her neck, to her shoulder, to the hollow of her throat.

She gasped, pulling at my shirt until I felt the heat of her against every inch of me. We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to.

Every movement was instinct, every sound she made driving me closer to a loss of control that was terrifying and perfect all at once I laid her down, our bodies slipping together like we’d done this in another life.

Like every wound, every betrayal had led us here—to this one chance to get it right.

She pulled me down to her, wrapped around me like she’d never let go.

Like she never had to. I kissed her again, fierce and unrestrained, the taste of her, the feel of her, the knowing that she was mine and I was hers sparking something deep and primal.

Trailing kisses from her jaw to her throat, I made my way down her body.

Serena’s breath hitched as my lips left a wake of fire across her skin.

Each touch, each caress, was a promise of raw need and searing desire.

She arched against me, the heat between us building with a fervor that matched the intensity of our escape.

Serena's hands found my hair, fingers threading through the strands as if anchoring herself to the moment.

The air was alive with an unspoken truth between us - a raw, undeniable connection that transcended words.