[POV: Dayana]
I found him by the pond—just as I knew I would.
Cole sat at the edge of the water, knees drawn up, shoulders hunched. The light filtering through the trees painted silver across his back, but there was no softness in him. No calm.
Just tension. Rage. The scent of it curled in the air like smoke.
Good.
I stepped lightly, careful not to break the quiet with anything but my presence. He didn’t turn to look at me—didn’t need to. He knew it was me before I spoke.
“Funny,” I said, voice smooth as silk, “how still water can hide such dangerous things underneath.”
No answer.
I moved closer, stepping just beside him, letting my gaze drift out across the pond. “You’re angry,” I murmured.
His jaw ticked, but still he didn’t speak.
“I understand,” I continued, crouching beside him. “She humiliated you.”
Cole’s fists tightened.
“After everything you did. All the loyalty. All the silent little sacrifices. And in the end, she crawled into another man’s bed and let him mark her.”
“Don’t,” he snapped, voice rough.
I smiled, satisfied. There it was.
“She used you, Cole. Just like she always used me. And now? She’ll get to play the tragic little Luna, whispering lies about how she survived us while Hayden parades her around like a prize.”
“She made her choice,” he said tightly.
I leaned in, letting my voice dip. “But what if it wasn’t hers to make? What if the Moon Goddess never intended for her to have both power and peace?”
He glanced at me, finally—eyes shadowed with something dark and barely held in check.
I saw Rau behind them.
“I know you feel it,” I whispered. “The shift. The wrongness. You think this is about heartbreak, Cole? This is betrayal. Aria chose them. Over us. Over you.”
“She was never mine,” he muttered.
I laughed softly. “Not yet.”
He turned fully then. “What are you talking about?”
I met his gaze, let him see every drop of truth I wanted him to believe. “They’re a threat now. The Crimson Fang. Hayden. Her. They stand between us and the future we were meant to have. You feel it, don’t you? That hunger? That need to take back control? That isn’t weakness, Cole—it’s your strength waking up.”
“You want me to hurt her.”
“I want you to survive her,” I snapped, eyes blazing. “The Aria you knew is gone. She’s part of them now. She’ll bear his mark, his heirs, she’ll lead his warriors into battle. And when she turns on us? On you? You’ll wish you had ended her when you had the chance.”
His breathing was ragged. “I don’t want her dead.”
“You want her gone,” I said gently. “And you want him gone more. Don’t you?”
A long silence passed.
Then Cole’s nod came—slow. Reluctant. I could taste the war inside him, and knew it was time to end it.
“There’s a way,” I whispered, voice like a secret wrapped in silk. “A bond. Not like the Moon’s. Darker. Stronger. A ritual, old as the blood in our veins.”
His brow furrowed, but he didn’t back away.
“With it, we’d be bound. You and I. Allies. Partners in war and vengeance. Our strength would multiply. Your wolf—Rau—he would rise, powerful and unchained. And I—” I smiled, “—would finally become what I was always meant to be.”
“A Luna,” he said flatly.
“The Queen,” I corrected.
He stared at me, searching for lies. But I gave him none. Only what he already wanted to hear.
“What do I have to do?”
I reached into the folds of my cloak, retrieving a small silver dagger. It shimmered with something older than steel.
“We bleed together,” I said, voice hushed. “We speak the vow. We bind ourselves in purpose and fury. And then—we take back what was stolen.”
He took the blade.
We stood at the water’s edge, moonlight above, silence around.
I raised my palm. “Blood for blood,” I began.
Cole mirrored me, slicing a shallow line across his hand.
“Fire for fire,” I said, watching our blood mix.
“Bone for bone,” he echoed, voice dark and steady.
“May vengeance be our bond,” I whispered, as I pressed our palms together, sealing the ritual.
The air shifted instantly. The forest shuddered.
Magic coiled around us like a storm pulled from the earth. I felt it thrum through my veins, violent and intoxicating.
Cole’s head snapped back, his mouth open in a silent roar as Rau surged through him.
When his eyes opened, they were glowing gold.
And finally, finally, he looked at me not with doubt—but with hunger.