Chapter 13: Blood Moon Rising
The howls from below grew louder, closer. Kael's pack wasn't just searching anymore—they were hunting.
He shoved Ronan off him, both of them still slick with sweat, cum, and drying blood. Ronan landed on his feet like a goddamn predator, jeans hanging open, cock still half-hard and glistening. His eyes glowed feral gold under the rising moon.
"They're coming for you," Kael growled, yanking his own clothes back on. "My pack thinks you're a threat. Rogues have been raiding the borders for weeks. If they scent you on me like this—"
"Then let them come." Ronan's voice was pure gravel. He stepped in close, claws tracing the fresh bite mark on Kael's shoulder. "Or are you finally going to admit you can't kill me? That every time you try, your wolf just wants to fuck me instead?"
Kael slammed him back against the tree, forearm across his throat. "This bond is poison. Two alphas can't coexist. The elders have stories—old ones. One always breaks. One always kneels. If it's not you, it'll be me… and I'll burn this whole territory down before I let that happen."
Ronan grinned through the pressure, blood trickling from his lip. "Then break me, Voss. Right here. Make me submit before your precious pack watches."
Their mouths crashed together again—angry, starving. Kael spun him around, shoved him face-down over a fallen log, and drove back inside that tight, cum-slick heat in one brutal thrust. Ronan snarled and pushed back just as hard, meeting every savage stroke. It wasn't lovemaking. It was war. Skin slapping, claws raking, growls turning into moans as Kael pounded him mercilessly, hand fisted in Ronan's hair.
But this time something felt different. The moon was blood-red overhead, and the bond flared hotter. Every thrust sent sparks of power through them both—Kael could feel Ronan's strength feeding his own, their wolves circling each other in his mind, neither backing down.
Ronan came first with a roar that echoed through the ridge, painting the log beneath him. Kael followed seconds later, burying himself deep and flooding him again, marking him from the inside while the pack's howls grew deafening.
They barely separated before the first wolves burst into the clearing.
Marcus led them, shifted halfway back to human form, eyes wide with shock and betrayal. Behind him, three elders and a dozen enforcers. And at the back—someone Kael never expected to see on his own land.
Liora Voss. His own sister. Supposed to be negotiating with the Shadowfang pack two territories over. Her eyes flicked between Kael and Ronan, nostrils flaring at the obscene scent of sex and alpha dominance thick in the air.
"Brother," she said coldly, "you've been busy. While you were up here getting fucked by a rogue, Shadowfang declared open war. They claim the bond between two alphas is an abomination that weakens all packs. They're marching at dawn… and they have allies. A witch who says she can sever mate bonds. For a price."
Kael's blood ran cold. Ronan stiffened beside him, still leaking Kael's cum down his thigh but standing like he owned the entire mountain.
Marcus stepped forward hesitantly. "Alpha… the elders want him dead. Tonight. They say if you won't do it, they will. And if you protect him…"
The threat hung unsaid. Challenge. Mutiny.
Ronan laughed low and dangerous. "Looks like your pack's about to tear itself apart, Voss. All because you can't stop bending over for me."
Kael's claws extended. He wanted to rip Ronan's throat out. He wanted to fuck him again right in front of all of them. The conflict tore at his chest like a living thing.
Then Liora dropped the final bomb.
"The witch also said something else. In the old prophecies… when two true alphas bond under a blood moon, one doesn't submit. They both ascend. Or they both die in agony when the moon sets on the third night." She looked straight at Kael. "This is night two, brother."
The bond pulsed violently between them, stronger than ever. Kael felt Ronan's heartbeat in his own chest. Felt his lust. Felt his rage. Felt the terrifying pull to protect him.
Ronan's eyes met his—raw, hungry, and for the first time… something almost like fear.
The pack closed in.
Kael stepped forward, placing himself between Ronan and the wolves.
"Anyone who touches him dies by my hand."
Growls erupted. Claws scraped stone.
And high above, the blood moon pulsed like a dying heart, counting down.