“I’ll end it myself!” she yelled, rushing the altar, fierce and untamed, ready to take it all.

“Serena!” I cried out, desperate and useless. But she was already gone, charging toward the heart of the ritual. Toward the only thing left that could stop us.

Her pain burned through me, searing and blinding. Serena was on the altar, light flooding her body until she was nothing but agony and fire. Her scream ripped through my soul. I didn’t think. Didn’t stop until I made my way to her.

“You are my life now, Serena. My mate. My fire. Your enemies are mine, your pain is mine, your future is mine to protect. I love you—endlessly, irrevocably, beyond time itself. I choose you in this life and every life after.”

My mind was a blank rush of terror and desperation as I lunged for her, instantly shifting my form to pull her from the light and take her place. The energy was pure fire, a force of nature, too strong and too wild. I didn’t care if it killed me.

And then it hit.

The power slammed into me, a living, breathing force.

It didn’t wait, didn’t pause. It swallowed me whole.

I fell onto the altar, the energy coursing through my veins like a tidal wave, ripping through muscle and bone.

Every cell of my being exploded with light and heat and pain, until I was sure I would come apart at the seams.

The roar of it drowned everything else, and I gave myself over to it, the sheer magnitude of it too much to fight.

I was on the edge of everything, teetering between life and oblivion, and I didn’t care.

Didn’t care because I knew Serena was safe.

I could feel her presence even in the darkness, a beacon that held me steady while the storm ripped me to pieces.

This was the truth of it. Not power stolen, but power shared. Not domination—but sacrifice. That was the bond. That was the cure.

The power pushed me to the brink, then beyond it.

My body arched against the assault, and I was sure it would never end.

But slowly, slowly, the intensity waned.

I felt it loosening, a release of breath, a shudder of finality.

It left me hollow and full at once, the shock of it vibrating through every part of me.

The chamber pulsed with volatile magic. Cracks spiderwebbed through the stone, as if the mountain itself could no longer hold this power.

The celestial stones vibrated with energy, a violent and chaotic hum.

Then they cracked, a thousand fractures blooming across their surfaces, before shattering completely.

A flood of divine light burst out, an ethereal supernova that blazed through the chamber and sent everything flying.

In one deafening thud, bodies hit the ground.

Hard. The world reeled and tilted around us, the dust rising like smoke.

And then, there was nothing.

The light faded, leaving us in a haze of ash and silence. I blinked against it, stunned and dazed, until the world came rushing back. My body ached, my mind was a jumble, but I was alive.

Serena was there, pulling me close, her touch urgent and warm.

Her eyes, wide with fear and relief, met mine.

I could see the glow of the birthmark on her wrist, no longer a crescent moon but a full and shining moon with a star, and felt the pulse of its twin on my own skin.

The symbols matched, vibrant and alive, beating in time with each other like a shared heartbeat.

We were changed.

My chest tightened as I realized Serena never meant to survive it. The curse shattered not because I saved her—but because she chose to burn for all of us. That’s what ended it. Her choice. Her fucking courage.

The mountain trembled beneath us, a slow and rumbling protest, as if aware of its power slipping away.

I could feel it, the severing of a bond that had lasted generations, giving way to something new.

We were free, the entire Stormvale pack unshackled from the land, and I didn’t know what that meant. But I knew it was ours.

Serena clung to me, her strength returning, her presence as real and fierce as I’d ever known it. We held onto each other in the dust and the debris, the raw edges of the world shifting around us, knowing we had risked everything. And knowing we had won.

Ewan crawled from the rubble, eyes wide with disbelief and terror.

The transformation gutted him, ripped away everything he’d clung to.

The mountain’s power. His faith in the old ways.

The idea that I was weak. I felt the shift in the room, the pack’s eyes on me with a new and reverent fear.

Ewan’s world had come undone, but I wouldn’t leave him behind.

“It doesn't have to end this way,” I said.

He couldn’t speak. His mouth opened and closed like a fish on dry land, his disbelief strangling him.

I’d never seen him like this. So shaken, so hollow.

As if the very ground he stood on was crumbling beneath him.

And maybe it was. Maybe everything he thought he knew, everything he’d fought for, had turned to ash.

“It doesn’t have to end this way,” I said again, my voice carrying through the debris and the dust. A raw and open offer, even now.

He found his words, but they came out choked and ragged. “You...you were supposed to die.” There was no rage in it, only the empty echo of a man who’d lost his god.

“But I didn’t.” Serena’s voice, strong and defiant, joined mine. She stood by my side, a pillar of force and determination. Together, we were everything he’d feared. And more. “None of us did.”

Ewan’s eyes flickered, confusion bleeding into something else. Anger. Desperation. I could see the moment he refused to accept it. Refused to accept us. The mountain continued to shake, as if it too was denying the shift in power. But it wouldn’t last. None of it would.

I took a step toward him, knowing I might regret it. Knowing I might not.

“Stand down, Ewan. I’m giving you the chance.” The words were heavy with everything I still felt. Everything that hadn’t died between us.

But he wouldn’t take it. Wouldn’t take anything but his own failure. “No!” His voice cracked with rage and horror, and I saw the wildness take hold. “Never!”

He lunged at me, a desperate last attack. The force of it almost sent us both sprawling, but I caught his arms and swung him around, using his momentum against him. His fury blinded him, but I saw every move. Felt every blow. He was strong, but I was stronger. He was angry, but I was resolved.

Our bodies collided in a furious rhythm, a dance of strength and will.

Ewan gave it everything he had, but he’d already lost. Already lost when he thought I couldn’t take it.

He thought wrong. My eyes locked with Serena’s as she watched us, her presence lending me every ounce of power I needed.

Ewan could never know that kind of bond.

Never feel that kind of strength. Not like this.

I caught him off guard, pinned him to the floor with all my weight.

“You were my brother once,” I said, my voice low and raw with regret.

I could feel his heart racing, his breath ragged under my grip.

“I won’t be the one to end you.” I saw him for what he was—broken by power, driven by fear.

The wolf I once called brother died the day he chose control over truth. I wouldn’t follow him into that grave.

I let him up, slowly, knowing it was over. Knowing I’d given him more than he ever deserved.

Ewan staggered back, his face contorted with rage and humiliation. He looked at me like I was a ghost, a vision that should have vanished. His lips curled in a snarl, but I could see the defeat in his eyes. The surrender. The bitter taste of losing everything.

He backed away, shoulders hunched with hatred, before disappearing into the shadows. The mountain continued to tremble, shaking loose the old and the broken, as I watched him go. As I watched it all unravel around him.

Then I felt them. The eyes of the pack. Not just on me, but on us. Serena and I, standing amidst the chaos, our birthmarks blazing and our hands intertwined. The world had changed, and so had we.

“Anyone else who stands with Ewan or Alaric has one chance to leave. Now. Or you choose to stand united with us,” I announced, reclaiming my status as Alpha.

A beat of silence passed like a pulse. Then the first wolf stepped forward. Then another. Heads bowed. Eyes wide. The old order shattered with every step they took toward us, and a new one began.

From the far side of the chamber, Alaric stumbled out of the debris, his regal composure broken and his eyes hollow. He looked at Serena—really looked at her—as if seeing her for the first time and still not understanding what he’d lost.

Serena stepped forward, her chin lifted, fire in her gaze. Her voice cut through the silence like a blade.

“I’m not your curse,” she said, loud enough for every wolf to hear. “I’m your reckoning.”

Alaric didn’t speak. He didn’t argue. He just stared at her, pale and stunned, before turning and walking away into the shadows—his legacy crumbling behind him.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. My mate. My equal. Serena hadn’t just survived him—she had outgrown him. Chosen her own path, her own power, and claimed it with fire and defiance. And I loved her more in that moment than I ever had.

The pack gathered, a slow and hesitant shift, but they were drawn to us.

Drawn to what we’d become. I saw Alaric, his eyes wide and hollow, as he stumbled out of the debris.

But it was my own wolves I focused on. Stormvale wolves.

Ewan’s wolves. Serena’s. They all sensed the new bond, the new power coursing through us, like a break from the past. It scared them, but it was real.

More real than the mountain had ever been.

Serena leaned into me, her body warm and strong against my side. Her presence surged through me like blood, like life, like victory. Together, we were everything I’d ever wanted. And more.

“It’s ours now,” I said, a promise and a truth, as the pack closed in around us. Acknowledging us. Revering us. Fearing us. They were our wolves, and we were their leaders. And the world they’d known—one of stones and altars and binding power—had transformed into something entirely new.

We stood together, triumphant and alive, as the dust settled and the mountain shuddered one final time.