Chapter 7
1246words
Tonight's moon was rounder and brighter than any Ella had ever seen. It hung like a cold, silver giant eye above Shadow Fortress, casting a ghastly white light over the snow-covered peaks.
Tonight was the "Moon Goddess Festival."
This was the most important holiday for werewolves, when they would pay their respects to the Moon Goddess under the full moon, praying for her to bestow strength and fertility.
This year, the celebration included an additional agenda item—the Alpha would formally introduce his Luna to the pack.
Ella's room was crowded with servants. They no longer dared to show her contempt, replaced instead by a stiff obedience tinged with fear.
They dressed her in the ceremonial attire—a deep blue velvet gown embroidered with silver threads depicting lunar phases. The cold fabric pressed against her skin, making her shiver involuntarily.
"Alpha is waiting for you," the servant bowed his head.
Ella took a deep breath and walked out of the room.
Karen Wolcoff was standing at the end of the hallway.
He wore black ceremonial attire bearing the wolf clan emblem, which accentuated his broad shoulders and long legs, making him appear godlike. Moonlight poured in from the floor-to-ceiling window behind him, casting a dangerous silver outline around his tall figure.
He seemed to have been waiting there for a while.
The full moon had an enormous influence on Alphas. Ella could feel the power almost boiling within him; his inner wolf was frantically clawing beneath his skin, desperate for release.
When he saw Ella, those golden eyes instantly darkened.
His gaze was like tangible flames, burning from her hair all the way down to her ankles. This wasn't admiration, it was pure, undisguised possession.
"Let's go." He didn't compliment her, just extended his arm and grabbed her elbow with unquestionable force.
His palm was scorching hot, like a branding iron.
"Tonight, don't speak," he whispered in her ear, his voice particularly hoarse from restraint. "Just stand beside me and keep your head down."
Ella was half-dragged, half-pulled by him to the altar outside the fortress.
The altar was situated on a clearing at the top of the mountain, directly facing the moon. The entire wolf pack of Shadow Fortress—nearly a thousand people—had already gathered there. They stood in strict hierarchical order, Alphas and Betas in front, Omegas at the back.
When Karen led Ella onto the high platform of the altar, a suppressed commotion spread through the crowd.
They were all looking at her.
Looking at this lowly Omega who had replaced Seraphina and "bewitched" their Alpha. Those gazes were like sharp blades, ready to flay her alive.
Ella's legs weakened. She instinctively tried to break free from Karen's grip, wanting to hide behind him.
"Stand straight." Karen didn't look at her, but the strength in his arm suddenly tightened, almost crushing her bones. He forced her to stand beside him, facing all the clan members.
The elder of the wolf pack stepped forward, chanting prayers to the Moon Goddess in ancient wolf language.
Ella couldn't hear anything. All her senses were occupied by the man beside her.
She could smell his increasingly intense scent, a mixture of blizzard and desire. She could feel his tense muscles trembling slightly—he was using his iron will to fight against the full moon and the wild wolf within him.
"...Finally," the Elder announced loudly, "may Alpha and his Luna receive the Moon Goddess's blessing and complete the 'Mate's Oath'!"
Karen's body suddenly stiffened.
The Elder held out an ancient stone chalice filled with some silvery liquid.
"Alpha Karen," the Elder's voice was solemn, "do you accept Ella before you as your Luna, your heart, your balance, from this night until eternity?"
Ella nervously held her breath.
Karen stared fixedly at the cup.
His pride and his rationality as an Alpha were screaming at him to refuse this absurd ceremony. How could he make such a vow to an Omega whom he despised and used?
But the wild wolf within him, stimulated by the moonlight, let out a deafening roar.
"—Accept! Accept her! She is ours!"
"Alpha?" the Elder urged when he remained silent.
Karen kept his eyes tightly shut. His Adam's apple moved violently, and sweat seeped from his temples.
He had lost.
Under the double assault of the full moon and his destined mate, his rational defenses had completely collapsed.
"I..." he tried to speak, but what emerged from his throat was no longer human language, but a suppressed growl full of pain and desire.
"Karen?" Ella sensed his loss of control and raised her head in terror.
That single glance completely ignited the fuse.
Her gray eyes, reflecting moonlight and moist; her lips, slightly parted in fear and tinged with blood; the deadly scent of wild roses and rainwater emanating from her neck...
"—Mine!"
The wild wolf seized control.
Karen's golden eyes were instantly consumed by primitive desire.
He didn't reach for the glass of wine.
"Bang!"
He swept away the stone cup from the elder's hand, and amid everyone's gasps, he suddenly grabbed Ella.
"No...Karen!" Ella realized what he was about to do, but it was too late.
He wasn't embracing her, he was "hunting."
He roughly turned her around, locking her waist with one arm like an iron vise, forcing her back against himself. His other hand gripped the back of her head, forcing her to tilt it back, completely exposing her slender, fragile neck to the cold moonlight.
"No! Wait!" Ella struggled frantically.
"Don't move." He growled with his "Alpha voice."
That voice carried magic, and Ella's body instantly froze, unable to move.
She could only feel his hot breath on the side of her neck. He lowered his head, greedily and almost reverently nuzzling the skin between her shoulder and neck—the only place where werewolves "mark" their mates.
"You belong to me," he declared hoarsely, speaking less to Ella than proclaiming it to the moon, to the wolf pack, and to himself.
Then, he opened his mouth.
Sharp canine teeth violently pierced her skin.
"Ah—!"
Ella let out a scream that mixed intense pain with a strange pleasure.
It wasn't simply a "bite."
A scorching energy, like liquid lightning, injected from his fangs into her body, instantly sweeping through every inch of her being.
Ella's vision went blank, all sounds disappeared, and she could only feel that powerful Alpha force belonging to Karen rushing through her blood, burning her, reshaping her.
Just when she thought she would be torn apart by this force, the dormant bloodline power from the "Progenitor Omega" in her chest suddenly awakened.
That warm, pale golden light burst forth from inside her body, no longer confined to her palms.
If anyone could see clearly, they would notice that Ella's blood was glowing. Her power was no longer a "passive" healing ability, but was actively intertwining and merging with Karen's power.
She was responding to him.
Karen sensed this change. He abruptly released his bite and looked at Ella in his arms with an almost shocked expression.
She was no longer trembling.
She slowly turned around, in those gray eyes, the fear had faded away, replaced by a dignified calmness that she herself had not yet noticed.
Her mark emitted a golden glow under the moonlight, healing rapidly, leaving behind an eternal symbol of belonging.
The power within her had fully awakened.
She was no longer that humble, bullied Omega.
She was marked, awakened, the true Luna.
