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The war was over.

Not with a final battle.

Not with fire or blood.

But with truth.

The kind that couldn't be denied.

Jace was gone. Driven back by his pride and my refusal to kneel. Ashmoon wouldn't try again. Not after the stories spread. Not after they saw what I could become without them.

What I had become.

Not just Kael's mate.

Not just a warrior.

Not just an omega.

But Luna Rayne of Crescent Fang-

Healer. Fighter. Chosen.

**

The blessing ceremony took place three days after the retreat.

It was held under the full moon, in the stone circle beneath the ancient trees where generations of Crescent leaders had stood before.

I wore white.

Not because I was pure.

But because I had survived the dirt and blood and come out whole.

Kael stood with me at the center of the ring. His hand gripped mine, strong and steady, but it was my name the pack chanted.

Not his.

Mine.

Elder Niri stepped forward, her voice like wind through the leaves.

"Luna Rayne," she said. "You came to us as a stranger. You stayed as a survivor. And you rose as something none of us expected."

I held my head high.

"You are the proof that rank is not strength. That rejection is not weakness. That the Moon blesses those who rise, even when no one tells them they can."

She stepped closer and held a silver chalice to my lips-one only used in ancient rites.

"Tonight, we name you not by your title... but by your truth."

She poured the liquid across my mark. It shimmered gold, then glowed.

Not painfully.

Radiantly.

"You are Moonborn."

The circle erupted in howls.

Not for an Alpha.

Not for a hero.

But for a girl who had once been cast aside...

...and came back divine.

**

That night, as Kael and I stood beneath the trees, he kissed my temple and whispered, "You've always been the strongest wolf I've ever known."

I smiled.

"Not because I fight," I said. "But because I chose to stay standing."

He pulled me close. "And now?"

"Now," I whispered, looking up at the stars, "I choose to live."

And for the first time in my life, the Moon didn't just feel like a force above me.

It felt like it was inside me.