Marcus opened the folder and scanned the first page.
“What… is this?”
“It’s the blood pact, a contract between Brianna and me,”
Elder Saska said softly.
“After Kaela’s death in the rogue ambush, I was desperate to find someone I could trust to raise Lucas. He’s the last heir of the Nightshade bloodline. The only person I could think of… was Brianna. She was Kaela’s sister. I saved her life. I sponsored her through the Lunar Academy for five years. She was about to leave the territory for Alpha training abroad. But I… out of selfishness, I asked her to stay.”
Marcus stared at her, stunned.
“So… you convinced her to mate with me?”
“I made her an offer,”
Elder Saska said, her voice was low.
“If she agreed to bind with you and help raise Lucas as Luna for five years, then her debt to the pack would be considered paid in full. She could walk away as a free wolf. No mark. No ties. Nothing owed.”
Marcus stared at the folder in his hands, unable to speak.
‘I always hoped…”
Saska continued.
‘That maybe something real would grow between you two. That maybe you’d imprint. That maybe she’d want to stay. But the moment those five years ended, she came to me and said she was done. She didn’t even look back.”
Her voice cracked.
‘Whatever bond she forged with you and Lucas, trust me, I saw it.
She may have been honoring a pact, but she carried herself like a true Luna. Fierce. Devoted. Protective.”
Marcus stood there, completely still, as if the earth beneath the pack house had vanished.
Brianna, gentle, fierce, always shielding them, had been living a lie?
All those stolen moments… the full moon hunts, the healing touches, the way she sang to Lucas
when he was sick…
Were they all just part of the deal?
His knees hit the ground.
‘This is my fault,”
His voice was raw.
‘Five years, and I still couldn’t make her stay. I couldn’t give her a reason to love me. But now Lucas’s spirit is fading. The doctors say… only she might be able to call him back.”
Shapter 19
5:01 pm G
He swallowed hard, eyes glowing faintly with pain.
“I tried to reach her. She won’t return. But maybe she’ll listen to you.”
The elder’s gaze softened, but her aura remained heavy with regret.
“Brianna owes us nothing now, Marcus. And the fire in her eyes the day she left… I don’t think she ever planned to return.”
She turned to the window, her eyes distant.
Then she sighed, lifting a cell phone from her pocket.
“But Lucas is dear to me. Our heir. So yes. I’ll try to reach her.”
Brianna’s POV:
The bus rumbled to a halt just as my phone pulsed with an incoming call.
I grabbed my satchel, stepped down onto the mossy path, and checked my phone.
Elder Saska.
I already knew. Marcus must’ve failed, and now he’d sent her.
Even from a distance, I could never truly sever the bond I once had with the woman who pulled me from ruin and gave me a place in the pack. No pact could erase that kind of history.
I accepted the call.
“Is everything alright, Elder Saska?”
Her voice cracked.
“Brianna. Marcus told me everything. I… I want to apologize. We agreed that after five years, you’d be free. And you are. But Lucas…. he’s slipping. The doctors say… only your voice, your presence might reach him in the dream plane.”
She paused, her voice thick with emotion.
“I hate asking you to return to the pack you walked away from. But this is not for me, or even Alpha Marcus. This is for the boy you raised like your own. For Kaela’s son.”
I could feel the tremble in her soul through the phone.
She wasn’t demanding.
She was pleading.
And despite all the wounds, all the betrayal… I couldn’t say no.
“Alright…”
I whispered.
“I’ll come after this trip ends.”
It was just a short trip.
I returned that same night and, by dawn, boarded a sky shuttle back to the pack’s territory.
When I entered the Shadow Walker stronghold, everything looked the same, except for the man waiting in the shadows.
Alpha Marcus Nightshade.
His aura was fractured.
Chanter 20
5:01 pm GB
His scent dulled. His wolf, once radiant and proud, was buried deep
It had only been two weeks. But he looked like he’d aged a decade.
And when our eyes met, I could see it-
Marcus opened the folder and scanned the first page
“What… is this?”
“It’s the blood pact, a contract between Brianna and me,”
Elder Saska said softly.
“After Kaela’s death in the rogue ambush, I was desperate to find someone I could trust to raise Lucas He’s the last heir of the Nightshade bloodline. The only person I could think of was Brianna. She was Kaela’s sister. I saved her life. I sponsored her through the Lunar Academy for five years. She was about to leave the territory for Alpha training abroad. But I… out of selfishness, I asked her to stay”
Marcus stared at her, stunned.
“So you convinced her to mate with me?”
“I made her an offer,”
Elder Saska said, her voice was low.
“If she agreed to bind with you and help raise Lucas as Luna for five years, then her debt to the pack would be considered paid in full. She could walk away as a free wolf. No mark. No ties. Nothing owed”
Marcus stared at the folder in his hands, unable to speak.
“I always hoped.”
Saska continued.
“That maybe something real would grow between you two. That maybe you’d imprint. That maybe she’d want to stay. But the moment those five years ended, she came to me and said she was done. She didn’t even look back.”
Her voice cracked.
‘Whatever bond she forged with you and Lucas, trust me, I saw it.
She may have been honoring a pact, but she carried herself like a true Luna. Fierce. Devoted. Protective.”
Marcus stood there, completely still, as if the earth beneath the pack house had vanished.
Brianna, gentle, fierce, always shielding them, had been living a lie?
All those stolen moments… the full moon hunts, the healing touches, the way she sang to Lucas when he was sick…
Were they all just part of the deal?
His knees hit the ground.
‘This is my fault.”
His voice was raw.
‘Five years, and I still couldn’t make her stay. I couldn’t give her a reason to love me. But now
5:02 pm G D
Lucas’s spirit is fading. The doctors say… only she might be able to call him back.”
He swallowed hard, eyes glowing faintly with pain.
“I tried to reach her. She won’t return. But maybe she’ll listen to you.”
The elder’s gaze softened, but her aura remained heavy with regret.
“Brianna owes us nothing now, Marcus. And the fire in her eyes the day she left… I don’t think she ever planned to return.”
She turned to the window, her eyes distant.
Then she sighed, lifting a cell phone from her pocket.
“But Lucas is dear to me. Our heir. So yes. I’ll try to reach her.”
Brianna’s POV:
The bus rumbled to a halt just as my phone pulsed with an incoming call.
I grabbed my satchel, stepped down onto the mossy path, and checked my phone.
Elder Saska.
I already knew. Marcus must’ve failed, and now he’d sent her.
Even from a distance, I could never truly sever the bond I once had with the woman who pulled me from ruin and gave me a place in the pack. No pact could erase that kind of history.
I accepted the call.
“Is everything alright, Elder Saska?”
Her voice cracked.
“Brianna. Marcus told me everything. I… I want to apologize. We agreed that after five years, you’d be free. And you are. But Lucas… he’s slipping. The doctors say… only your voice, your presence might reach him in the dream plane.”
She paused, her voice thick with emotion.
“I hate asking you to return to the pack you walked away from. But this is not for me, or even Alpha Marcus. This is for the boy you raised like your own. For Kaela’s son.”
I could feel the tremble in her soul through the phone.
She wasn’t demanding.
She was pleading.
And despite all the wounds, all the betrayal… I couldn’t say no.
“Alright…”
I whispered.
“I’ll come after this trip ends.”
It was just a short trip.
I returned that same night and, by dawn, boarded a sky shuttle back to the pack’s territory.
When I entered the Shadow Walker stronghold, everything looked the same, except for the man waiting in the shadows.
Alpha Marcus Nightshade.
5:02 pm G
His aura was fractured.
His scent dulled. His wolf, once radiant and proud, was buried deep.
It had only been two weeks. But he looked like he’d aged a decade.
And when our eyes met, I could see it-
He looked like a different man. He was worn down, pale, and haggard.
He was nothing like the confident, proud man I’d left behind.
5:02 pm
Chapter 21
