Chapter 5 – The Blade

Luca POV

Her blood was hot on my cheek.

It ran down the scar carved into my jaw, a thin red line that glimmered in the torchlight before it splattered onto the stone. She’d spat on me—on her Alpha—right in front of the pack.

The silence that fell afterward was like a chain dragged across the floor.

Every wolf in the hall stopped. Claws stilled in midair, jaws half open, lungs frozen. Even the torches bent toward me, flames stilling as though they couldn’t decide whether to burn her or not.

Tirra’s smile fractured. Her lips parted, her eyes wide. The wolves in the first few rows twitched on their haunches, uneasy, caught between horror and awe.

And Serena, blood still wet on her mouth, held her chin higher.

Defiance.

The brand at her collarbone shone raw, fresh and bloody, smoke faint against pale skin. She should have been broken. Instead, she looked like a weapon the fire had just sharpened. The chain on her wrist clinked as she straightened, as though she were daring me to tighten it.

The pack’s unspoken question thrummed against the walls: Will he kill her?

I didn’t wipe the blood off. Let them see. Let them remember.

“She bleeds,” I said, my voice loud and steady. “She defies. She swears.”

The hall murmured. A ripple of sound, broken and raw. Some wolves snarled, hungry for her throat. Others whispered words that sliced like knives through the silence.

Valente. Prophecy. Queen.

Her name alone was enough to make shivers ripple through the pack.

Tirra found her voice then, her words dripping venom. “She curses the oath. Spit her blood back into her mouth before she curses us all!”

Gasps met her words. Whispers twisted louder. A few wolves growled in agreement. Others snarled back with snarls of their own. The pack split before my eyes like ice cracking.

I raised the blade.

The steel flared firelight, bright red. There were no ornaments or jewels or pretense. It was simple, sharp, and old—older than most of the wolves in this hall. This blade had carved palms for generations, bound blood to blood, Alpha to mate. The oath was law, carved into deeper flesh than ours.

The runes beneath our feet glowed faintly as I held it aloft, as if they recognized the purpose of the steel.

Serena met my gaze. Tremors ran through her, her chains rattling, but her eyes did not waver.

Fear, yes. But something wilder, too. Her wolf clawed at her eyes, molten gold flickering faintly in their depths.

The pack saw it. The gasps that ripped through the front row.

Rafe stepped forward then. My Beta. My second.

He stepped out of the shadows to stand beside me, taller and broader, dark hair spilling across his forehead. He was perfect: alert, loyal, poised and ready to spring at my word. But his eyes…they told a different story. They lingered on her. Not her chains. Not her wound. On her defiance. On the wildness in her eyes.

I saw it and so did a few wolves that were watching. A fracture in his composure. A spark of hunger he hadn’t meant to show.

Later.

I grabbed her hand. Her palm was smaller than mine, hard from fighting, trembling with the tension she couldn’t quite control. Her pulse hammered under my fingers.

The blade lowered, cold as moonlight.

Steel kissed skin. Blood burst instantly, bright and hot, tracing a vivid red line down her lifeline.

She hissed, but her eyes never left mine.

Her blood splattered the stone. The runes carved deep into the floor started to soak it in, glowing brighter with each drop. The grooves hummed faintly, like veins stirring after centuries of slumber.

The air thickened, heat building until the entire chamber pulsed with it.

“By blood,” I said, my voice steady like law.

Her blood dropped again, and the runes flared brighter.

“By fire.”

The air thrummed, vibrating like a struck drum. Wolves shifted uneasily, claws scratching at the stone.

“By oath.”

The hall trembled faintly, and dust ruffled from the rafters.

“You are bound.”

The words were iron hammered into flesh. The runes flared, golden fire spiking through their carved veins until the entire hall glowed.

Serena screamed.

Not from the cut. Not from pain.

Something deeper. Older.

Her back arched, her body bowing against chains as though lightning had struck her spine. Her head snapped back, her mouth open in a sound that was not human. Her eyes flared gold, brighter than any torch, brighter than the runes themselves.

Gasps wrenched through the pack. Some wolves stumbled back, claws raised defensively. Others fell to their knees, heads bowed, as though the sight alone were enough to humble them.

Her wolf had awakened.

The howl that ripped from her throat cracked the stones. It was not the howl of a girl or even of a wolf. It was something older, a sound older than the pack, older than this fortress. It reverberated down the corridors, and in the air until every wolf in earshot would hear it.

The runes flared brighter in response, golden fire licking across the floor. The air became scorching, thick with prophecy.

The pack split.

Some cried prayers, their voices quivering. Others screamed curses. Wolves lunged at each other, snarling and shoving and snapping teeth as factions formed before my eyes. Half the pack believed they were witnessing the queen prophecy that was promised. The other half believed she was a curse meant to destroy us all.

Tirra shrieked above the noise, her voice shrill with rage. “She’ll destroy us! She’ll destroy you!”

Her words fanned the madness, wolves snapping at one another in frenzy.

But I didn’t move. I clung to Serena’s bleeding hand, my blood mixing with hers, the oath burning in scarlet heat. Her golden eyes burned into mine, her scream still ringing through my bones.

For the first time, I felt doubt. Not of her strength, but of what I’d chained myself to.

The hall cracked with prophecy and rage.

And I knew; the blood oath had bound me to something greater than Alpha. Something that could burn the pack to ash—or crown it in fire.