Updated Dec 21, 2025 • ~7 min read
The ritual circle was drawn in silver ash under the new moon—no light except torches and the faint glow of magic.
Elder Edith stood at the north point, three other pack elders at the remaining compass points. Lyla and I knelt in the center, facing each other across a line of salt.
“This is your last chance to stop,” Elder Edith warned. “Once the ritual begins, there’s no going back. The twin bond will be severed completely. You may reform a new one over time, but the parasitic connection will be destroyed forever.”
“I’m ready,” I said.
Lyla nodded, her face pale but determined. “Me too.”
“Then we begin.” Elder Edith raised her hands, and the other elders mirrored her. Ancient words in the Old Tongue filled the clearing—prayers to the Moon Mother, requests for mercy, acknowledgment of the bond being broken.
I felt it immediately—a pulling sensation in my chest, like invisible hooks catching on the twin bond and yanking. Lyla gasped, pressing her hand to her heart.
“Focus,” Elder Edith commanded. “Both of you. Picture the bond between you. See it in your mind.”
I closed my eyes and there it was—a cord of silver light connecting my chest to Lyla’s. But unlike a normal twin bond, which should be equal and balanced, this one was twisted. Barbed. With hooks buried deep in my power, draining it into her.
“Lira, you must reject the bond,” Elder Edith said. “Push it away. Reclaim what she’s stolen.”
I pictured myself grabbing the cord, pulling it free from my chest. The pain was immediate and excruciating—like ripping out my own veins. I screamed, but didn’t let go.
“Lyla, you must release the bond,” another elder said. “Let go of your sister’s power. Find your own.”
Through the pain, I felt Lyla’s terror. Her wolf was panicking, clinging to the connection that had sustained her for years. Letting go meant trusting her own strength—something she’d never really done.
“I can’t,” she sobbed. “I can’t, I’m not strong enough—”
“You are.” My voice came out strained. “Lyla, you shifted three times this week. You held your wolf for an hour. That’s all you—no stolen power. You can do this.”
“But what if—”
“No what-ifs. Choose to be strong or choose to die. Those are your options.”
Harsh, but necessary. And it worked. I felt Lyla’s resolve harden, felt her grab the barbed cord and start pulling from her end.
The pain doubled. Tripled. Felt like we were both being ripped apart from the inside.
“Good,” Elder Edith encouraged. “Keep going. Both of you. Pull until the bond breaks.”
We pulled. Lyla screaming, me grinding my teeth to keep from passing out. The cord stretched, thinned, began to fray at the edges.
And then Kaian was there.
I felt him through our mate bond, felt his strength pouring into me even though he stood outside the ritual circle. He couldn’t interfere directly, but he could support me. Remind me I wasn’t alone.
With his power backing mine, I yanked harder.
The twin bond snapped.
The backlash was catastrophic. Power exploded outward from both of us, shattering the salt line and making the elders stumble. I flew backward, hitting the ground hard enough to knock the air from my lungs.
For a moment, everything went black.
When I came to, Kaian was cradling me, his face tight with worry. “Lira. Lira, can you hear me?”
“Did it work?” My voice rasped.
“Look for yourself.”
I reached for the twin bond—and found nothing. No connection. No drain. No Lyla’s emotions bleeding into mine. Just blessed, complete emptiness.
“It’s gone,” I breathed. “It’s really gone.”
“How do you feel?”
I took inventory. My chest ached where the bond had torn free, and every muscle hurt. But underneath the pain, I felt something else.
Power. Pure, undiluted power, no longer being siphoned away.
My wolf surged forward with enough force to glow silver through my skin. She was huge, magnificent, completely unleashed for the first time in my life.
“I feel—” I struggled to describe it. “Whole. Like I was operating at half-capacity my entire life and suddenly someone turned on all the lights.”
Kaian’s smile was fierce and proud. “There’s my Moon Wolf.”
Across the clearing, Lyla was being helped up by Elder Edith. She looked awful—pale and shaking, barely conscious. But alive. And when her eyes met mine, they glowed steady gold.
Her wolf had survived.
“It’s done,” Elder Edith announced. “The parasitic bond is severed. Both wolves remain intact.” She fixed Lyla with a stern look. “You’ll be weak for several weeks while your wolf fully stabilizes. But child—you’re free now. Free to build your own strength instead of stealing someone else’s.”
Lyla nodded, tears streaming down her face. “Thank you. All of you. I don’t deserve—”
“You don’t,” I interrupted, letting Kaian help me stand. “But you’re getting a second chance anyway. Don’t waste it.”
“I won’t. I swear, Lira, I won’t.”
I believed her. Or maybe I just wanted to. Either way, it didn’t matter anymore. Lyla’s choices were her own now. I had no obligation to manage them, worry about them, or save her from them.
I was free.
Drake appeared at the edge of the clearing, his expression complicated as he looked between me and Lyla. “Elder Edith. When—”
“Tomorrow night,” the elder said. “We’ll break your bond with Lyla then. She needs tonight to recover.”
Drake nodded, his eyes finding mine. There was question there, hope maybe. One last desperate wish that I’d change my mind.
I held Kaian’s hand tighter and looked away.
That door was closed. Locked. I’d already walked through a different one and had no intention of going back.
“Come,” Kaian murmured, guiding me away from the ritual circle. “You need rest.”
“I need you.” The words came out before I could think better of them. “Kaian, I’m ready. To complete our bond. Tonight.”
He stopped walking, his crimson eyes searching mine. “Are you sure? You’ve just been through a traumatic ritual—”
“Which proved I’m strong enough to handle this. Strong enough to choose you deliberately, not because I’m desperate or broken or scared.” I cupped his face, feeling my wolf sing approval. “I’m whole now. Completely whole. And I choose you. I choose us. I choose the bond.”
“Lira—”
“Don’t make me wait another day. Not after three hundred years. Not when I’m finally ready.”
Something shifted in his expression—from careful control to barely leashed desire. “You’re absolutely certain?”
“More certain than I’ve ever been about anything.”
His kiss was consuming, possessive, three hundred years of longing finally allowed free rein. I kissed him back with equal fervor, feeling the mate bond flare between us like wildfire.
“Tonight then,” he said against my lips. “I’ll complete our bond tonight. And Lira—” His eyes blazed. “Once it’s done, you’re mine. For eternity. No take-backs. No second thoughts.”
“Good.” I smiled against his mouth. “Because I’m not planning on either.”
As he swept me into his arms and carried me toward the guest quarters—moving fast enough that pack members had to leap out of the way—I felt my old life fall away completely.
Tomorrow, Drake and Lyla would break their false bond.
Tomorrow, I’d say goodbye to the pack one final time.
But tonight?
Tonight I’d bind myself to a vampire who’d waited three hundred years.
Tonight I’d become whole in every possible way.
And I couldn’t wait.
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