We fled the cabin as more soldiers approached, following Selene's whistle. Kael, though heavily injured, scooped me into his arms, holding me high against his chest. He moved with the quiet, determined speed of a man who had left everything behind and was running toward his only remaining treasure.
"You need a healer, Kael," I murmured, pressing my hand against the jagged cuts on his side. "You're losing too much blood."
"It will heal, I promise," he replied, his voice rough. "We are alive, and our baby is safe. We have made our choice. That is all that matters now."
He held me fiercely as we ran, the mate bond pulsing with a desperate, healing warmth. His sacrifice—his kingdom, his legacy, his title—felt heavy in the space between us, but his determination felt heavier still, a powerful anchor in the chaos.
We finally stopped at a high ridge overlooking the Eastern Mountains, the dawn beginning to break on the horizon, illuminating the vast, wild territories that lay beyond the Dominion. The storm had passed, and the world was washed clean in the cool, clear light.
Kael set me down gently, his eyes filled with a weary relief. He cupped my face with hands that were now both stained with his blood and marked by the residual power of my defensive magic.
"Aria, look at me," he commanded, his silver eyes locking onto mine, seeking confirmation. "I have lost the crown, the council, and the capital. I am an exile. I don't care. I care about you. Only you. Always you. You are my home now."
His hand slid down, resting protectively and proprietarily over my stomach. "And this child. Our child. Our pack. Our future."
Emotion overwhelmed me, spilling over my cheeks. I reached up and tangled my fingers in his hair, pulling his head down. "Kael… I love you. I choose this life with you."
He leaned in, crushing his lips to mine. It wasn't a tentative kiss; it was a claiming, a covenant sealed under blood and dawn. His tongue met mine, tasting of salt, rain, and the fierce, sweet promise of forever. The kiss said: I choose this. I choose you. We are one.
When he finally pulled back, breathless, he pressed his forehead to mine, his heart hammering against his ribs, finally beating in perfect sync with my own.
"I am taking you somewhere safe," he whispered, the promise solid and real. "A place Selene can't reach. Where no council can judge our bond or our child."
"Where?" I asked, hope blossoming for the first time, warming the terrible cold of the last months.
He smiled faintly, a tired, beautiful expression that spoke of absolute freedom.
"The Rogue Free Lands. Beyond the Eastern Mountains. An untamed territory governed by no Dominion, ruled by no crowned queen. There are no laws there but the ones we make. We will create our own pack, Aria. Our own home, built on truth, not treaties."
A new world. A world where our half-wolf child could be born without fear, recognized not as a bastard, but as the son of the true Alpha.
"Will you go with me? Will you be my Luna in the wild?" he asked, the question laced with profound hope and a vulnerability only I could see.
I didn't hesitate. "Yes, Kael. Anywhere. With you."
He lifted me once more, holding me high against his chest, his resolve renewed. He turned away from the fading chaos of the Dominion and toward the rising sun cresting the jagged peaks.
"Then let's go," he said, his voice filled with unbreakable purpose. "Let's build a life worth fighting for."
And under the bright, clean light of the new dawn, the exiled Alpha carried his mate and their unborn heir toward a future of freedom, leaving the kingdom and its cruel politics behind forever. They ran, not from fear, but toward the destiny the Red Moon had promised.