​🌑 Chapter Six: The Claiming and the Prophecy
​　We spent the rest of the night traversing the rough terrain, Kael moving with an almost silent, terrifying efficiency, Lyra keeping pace, and me struggling to reconcile the monster I feared with the wolf who had just admitted his entire claim was a pragmatic act of survival.
​　As the first sliver of the moon began to climb toward its zenith, we reached a hidden hunting lodge—a fortified, small cabin that belonged to Kael's territory but was rarely used.
​　Inside, Lyra immediately began treating Kael's minor cuts and bruises, while I huddled by the sparse fire, turning the journal's pages.
​　"The Claiming Bite has to be public," I finally said, looking up at Kael, who was methodically cleaning his knife. "Who are the witnesses?"
​　"My Gamma and my Head Warrior are arriving by dawn," Kael explained, his voice low and devoid of emotion. "They will serve as the official record. I will also summon the Shadow Creek Beta—Elias. He needs to see the transfer of authority, and he needs to know you're 'safe' from Gareth."
​　The mention of Elias gave me a cold comfort. He would understand the silent signals.
​　"Tell me about the prophecy," I demanded, clutching the journal. "All of it. What is the Silver Shard, and what is the 'pure, cold light' needed for the Claiming?"
​　Kael set his knife down, his silver eyes fixed on the fire. He looked tired, the façade of the ruthless Alpha momentarily lowered.
​　"The Silver Moon Pack was founded by an Alpha who mated a rare, silver-coated wolf, but she was a powerful elemental witch. She foresaw a magical plague that would wipe out the entire Northern Wolf territory. She couldn't stop the plague itself, but she created an artifact—a magical ward, powered by her bloodline's unique, unshifted essence. That ward is the Silver Shard."
​　He paused, taking a deep breath. "The prophecy states that the Shard must always be housed in the unformed vessel—a female of her direct lineage who fails to shift. A female who, ironically, is protected by her own apparent weakness."
​　"And my mother found me, a non-shifter, and used me as a magical incubator," I realized, the horror of my reality solidifying.
​　"Exactly. For generations, the Shard was passed down through a ritual. But two hundred years ago, your ancestors—the Thorne line—stole the Shard, thinking they could weaponize its power. They couldn't. They just hid it until your mother figured out how to implant it in you."
​　"And the 'pure, cold light'?"
​　Kael walked over to me, kneeling down so that we were eye-level. He smelled strongly of the forest and the recent fight.
​　"The Shard's defense mechanism activates only when claimed by the true, current Silver Alpha. The Claiming Bite has to be administered under the light of the First Alpha's Moon—a specific astronomical alignment that only occurs every twenty years. It happened tonight. It is why I was in such a rush."
​　He reached out and gently touched the faint, circular mark on my back—the symbol Elias had seen glowing.
​　"When the Claiming is done under this specific light, it won't be a normal mate mark. It will be a magical activation. The prophecy states: The true Alpha's bite shall be the spark, and the unformed vessel shall become the Silver Wolf's Shield."
​　"A shield?"
​　"A living, moving magical ward, fueled by the Shard, capable of repelling the darkest magic that threatens our existence." Kael's silver eyes were intense. "If I don't Claim you tonight, under this moon, the magical energy will dissipate, the Shard will become unstable, and a second, more powerful group—the Shadow Cult—will find you and rip the Shard out. That is what kills you, Ember."
​　The full truth, brutal and cold, settled over me. I wasn't his love, or his pet, or even his mate in the traditional sense. I was his pack's only hope, a living shield that needed to be activated.
​　"If I agree to this," I said, my voice shaking but steadying, "do you promise that Elias will be safe? And that you will help me find out why my mother chose to sacrifice me?"
​　"He will be safe, and he will be under my protection," Kael vowed, his hand gripping mine. "And I will give you every resource to understand your mother's actions. I don't want a mate who resents me, Ember. I need a Shield I can trust."
​　Just as the sky began to lighten, the reinforcements arrived: the Gamma, a stern woman named Tala, and the scarred, serious Head Warrior, Roric. Shortly after, Elias arrived, escorted by a Silver Moon guard, his face a mixture of relief and raw anger.
​　Kael explained the situation quickly, omitting the most sensitive details about the Shard's true nature, simply stating that Ember was his mate, and the Claiming needed to be done immediately under the auspices of the First Alpha's Moon to "seal the bond and ensure her safety from rival factions."
​　Elias looked at me. I gave him a minute nod—a sign that I understood the new, terrible circumstances.
​　We walked outside, the air crisp and cold, the First Alpha's Moon—a startlingly huge, pale disc—still visible.
​　Kael stood me in front of the witnesses. He didn't waste time on platitudes. He simply looked at me, his eyes full of a strange, possessive reverence.
​　"Ember Thorne," he said, his voice ringing with pure Alpha command. "By the power of the Moon Goddess, I, Alpha Kael Blackwood, claim you as my true mate, my Shield, and my property."
​　He moved swiftly, efficiently. He lowered his head and bit down, not on my neck, but on the small, pulsing spot between my shoulder blades—right over the faint, circular mark.
​　The pain was immense, sharper and more immediate than any of Gareth's beatings. But it wasn't just physical.
​　As his canines broke my skin, a surge of energy—pure, cold light—slammed through me, starting at the bite site and exploding through my veins. It felt like liquid ice and white-hot fire simultaneously. I cried out, my knees buckling.
​　I felt an ancient, impossible power, vast and crystalline, rush through my body. The faint, glowing mark on my back flared into a visible, complex, multi-pointed rune of dazzling silver light. It was breathtaking, inhuman.
​　Kael pulled back, his eyes wide, startled by the intensity of the reaction.
​　I looked at Elias, who was staring at the glowing symbol on my back with abject terror.
​　A second later, the power peaked. It was too much. The light was blinding, and the raw energy overloaded every one of my senses. I could feel the earth breathing, the trees singing, and the distinct, magnetic pull of every single wolf in the Northern Territory.
​　Then, the world shattered into a thousand pieces of bright, cold light.
​　My last sensation before the complete blackout was the overwhelming, impossible feeling of shifting—not into a wolf, but into something infinitely stronger, colder, and purely magical.