Katrina’s POV
Cassandra spun on her heel, her voice pitched high with disbelief. “Father, are you serious?”
But the Alpha didn’t look at her. His gaze remained on Adolphus, cold and calculating.
“Our five strongest warriors will fight him,” he said flatly. “If he defeats them, he walks away with the girl.”
My stomach lurched. My breath caught.
Adolphus didn’t flinch. He smirked instead, calm, controlled, lethal. “Sounds fair.”
Five men stepped forward from the crowd. Warriors I recognized. Broad-shouldered, stone-faced, each one built like a weapon. They didn’t hesitate as they formed a semi-circle around him. One cracked his knuckles, the sound loud in the stillness.
Another unsheathed a curved blade that caught the moonlight along its edge. They looked like they were preparing to tear him apart.
My mouth went dry. “Adolphus…” I whispered, the word barely escaping my lips. My pulse pounded against my skull. I could feel my heart trying to break free from my ribs.
He didn’t look at me, but he heard. His body stilled for just a moment, then he rolled his neck, shook out his arms, and stepped forward like a man walking into war. Like he wasn’t afraid of the outcome. Like he already knew.
The Alpha raised a hand high above his head.
“Begin.”
The command cracked across the courtyard like a whip.
The first warrior didn’t wait. He lunged with the blade, a growl tearing from his throat. Adolphus moved low and fast, ducking beneath the swing. His hand shot out, catching the attacker’s wrist. He twisted sharply.
A loud, sickening snap echoed through the courtyard. The warrior dropped, screaming, his shoulder dislocated, his weapon clattering across the stone.
Before he could fall completely, the second man came in from behind. I shouted, but it was too late. Adolphus turned just in time, ramming an elbow into the man’s ribs with brutal precision.
The warrior staggered, and Adolphus followed through with a pivoting kick to the knee. Another crack. Another body down.
But the third was faster.
A fist connected with Adolphus’s side, hard. The force of it knocked him off balance. He stumbled a step back, blood splattering from the corner of his lip. He didn’t stay down.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, lifted his chin.
“That all you’ve got?” he muttered, voice low and ragged, eyes sparking with challenge.
The remaining three charged together.
What followed was chaos, flesh on flesh, bone hitting bone. The courtyard filled with the sounds of snarls, heavy breaths, fists connecting with flesh and boots scraping against stone. Adolphus fought with savage grace, each movement fluid and exact. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t falter.
I strained against the ropes that held me, heart thundering as I watched him take hit after hit, deliver blow after blow.
One of them dropped.
Then another.
And finally, the last one Adolphus struck him with a brutal knee to the stomach and a final punch to the jaw. The man crumpled.
And just like that, it was over.
Adolphus stood alone, chest heaving, bruises darkening his face, blood smeared across his knuckles. But he was standing. He had won.
The crowd was silent. No one moved. No one cheered.
The Alpha stood slowly, his gaze unreadable. Then his voice rang out, deep and decisive.
“Cassandra. Retrieve the Heir Ring.”
I turned to look at her. Her mouth was slightly open, her hands still clenched at her sides. Her eyes were locked on Adolphus, wide with something close to fear. But she moved.
She turned toward the pedestal in the center of the courtyard where the ring rested beneath the light of the moon. Its silver surface pulsed faintly, as if alive.
Cassandra reached for it.
The moment her fingers hovered over the ring, a pulse of energy sparked from it, subtle but undeniable. She hesitated, brow furrowing. She tried again, this time more aggressively, but the ring didn’t move. It wouldn’t let her touch it.
Confused murmurs spread through the crowd.
The Alpha’s expression darkened. He motioned to one of the guards. “Pick it up.”
The guard stepped forward, lifted the ring without hesitation, and tossed it toward Cassandra.
She reached to catch it but her fingers missed. Whether it was panic or fury, she fumbled and the ring flew, struck my thigh, and landed on my hand.
My fingers closed around it instinctively.
The ring slid onto my finger like it had been waiting.
A collective gasp surged through the crowd, a ripple of disbelief that hit harder than any punch. The air thickened, the moon above flaring brighter.
Then it happened.
The ancient statue behind us, the one said to be tied to the old prophecy, exploded with light. My body convulsed. Heat burst through every vein. I cried out, but it wasn’t pain, it was power.
Unfiltered. Blinding.
And then I shifted.
Bones cracked. My body bent, transformed. Fur erupted across my skin, silver and glowing. My scream morphed into a guttural growl.
When it ended, I stood tall on all fours. Not Katrina, not the prisoner.
A silver wolf, radiant, celestial and the exact kind sung about in whispers and old stories.
Silence fell again.
Cassandra looked like she’d seen a ghost. The Alpha stumbled back, one hand gripping the edge of the dais, and Adolphus smiled.
A slow, proud smile, like he had known all along.
In that moment, I knew it too. I was the bearer of the Eclipse Moon. I was the true heir to the Lunar Flame..