I Jumped Off the Bridge — and Woke Up as His Luna

The war horns still echoed in my ears as Kael and I rushed from the hot springs toward the castle's main gates. My wet clothes clung to my skin, and the Tether marks burned with an intensity that made each step feel like fire racing through my veins. But nothing compared to the cold dread settling in my stomach.

Kael's transformation was terrifying to witness. With each stride, his human form seemed to blur at the edges—silver fur rippling beneath his skin, his spine elongating, muscles expanding until he stood nearly seven feet tall. His eyes had gone completely silver, pupils dilated to predatory slits.

"Stay behind me," he growled, his voice barely human now.

But when we reached the gates, I understood why the scout had looked so terrified.

Damon Voss stood at the border of Bloodmoon territory with fifty armed warriors behind him, and he looked nothing like what I'd expected from an Alpha. Where Kael was all raw power and barely contained wildness, Damon appeared refined—golden hair perfectly styled, brilliant blue eyes that seemed to catch and hold the sunlight, wearing a tailored black coat that probably cost more than most people's cars.

He looked like he'd stepped out of a boardroom, not a battlefield.

But there was something in his smile that made every instinct I had scream danger. It was too perfect, too controlled, like a mask hiding something predatory underneath.

"Kael Thornvane," Damon called out, his voice carrying easily across the distance between them. "Still hiding behind stone walls, I see."

Kael's answering snarl made the ground beneath my feet vibrate. "You have thirty seconds to state your business before I tear your throat out, Voss."

Damon's laugh was light, almost musical. "Always so dramatic." His gaze shifted past Kael and landed on me, and I felt something cold crawl up my spine. "But I'm not here for you, old friend. I'm here for what's mine."

He raised his left hand, and my world tilted.

There, spiraling up from his wrist in intricate patterns, was a mark identical to mine. Except where mine glowed silver, his blazed with golden light.

"She carries my bloodline's mark, Thornvane," Damon said, his voice dropping to something soft and deadly. "You stole what was mine before she was even born."

The Tether on my wrist exploded with pain so intense I doubled over, gasping. But when I looked down, the silver patterns had shifted, taking on a golden hue that pulsed in rhythm with Damon's mark.

Kael's roar of rage shook the very stones of the castle walls. His transformation completed in an instant—seven feet of silver-furred predator with claws that could shred steel and teeth designed for tearing throats. He launched himself toward the border, but I found myself moving without conscious thought, stepping directly between them.

"Stop!" The word tore from my throat with a force that surprised me.

Both Alphas froze, their attention snapping to me. The golden glow from my Tether marks seemed to pulse brighter, and I realized with growing horror that my body was responding to Damon the same way it responded to Kael.

"I want to see the records," I said, my voice shaking but determined. "If this mark means what you say it means, there has to be documentation. Proof."

Damon's smile widened, showing teeth that were just a little too sharp. "Of course. I wouldn't expect you to take my word for it."

Within minutes, Elder Maren had been summoned. Her weathered face went pale when she examined Damon's mark, her fingers hovering over the golden patterns without quite touching.

"Twin Tether," she whispered, and the words hit me like a physical blow.

"What does that mean?" I demanded.

Maren's eyes met mine, and I saw something there that made my blood run cold. Fear. And pity.

"The Twin Tether is mentioned in our oldest texts," she said slowly. "It appears when a Luna's soul is bound not to one Alpha, but to two. According to ancient law, she must choose between them before the next full moon, or—"

"Or the Tether tears all three souls apart," Damon finished, his voice carrying satisfaction that made my skin crawl.

Kael's silver eyes blazed with fury. "That's impossible. The bond between Harper and me—"

"Is real," Maren interrupted. "But so is this." She gestured to Damon's mark. "The Twin Tether doesn't mean two mates, Kael. It means one true mate and one Severer—one whose purpose is to test the Luna's loyalty. If she chooses the Severer instead of her true mate, all three die."

The silence that followed was deafening. My heart hammered against my ribs as the implications sank in.

"How do we know which is which?" I asked, though I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer.

Maren's expression grew even more grave. "The ancient texts don't say. The Luna must choose based on her heart, her instincts. But—" She looked between Kael and Damon, her face troubled. "Your Tether responds to both of them. That's never happened before."

As if to prove her point, the marks on my wrist shifted again, cycling between silver and gold like a heartbeat made of light.

The standoff was resolved through tense negotiation. Damon would be allowed to stay in Bloodmoon territory with three guards until the full moon—seven days away—under the supervision of the Pack Council. It was the only solution that didn't end in immediate bloodshed.

But as the sun set and I finally escaped to my room, exhaustion weighing down my limbs, I discovered that my problems were far from over.

The Tether had spread again.

I stared at my reflection in the copper mirror, horror rising in my throat. The intricate patterns now covered my entire left arm and had begun creeping across my chest, spiraling toward my heart in designs that seemed to pulse with their own inner light.

But it was the symbol forming directly over my heart that made my blood turn to ice.

I didn't recognize it, but I'd seen it before. Somewhere in the castle's library, on the cover of one of the ancient texts.

I ran through the corridors, my bare feet silent on the stone floors, and burst into the library. It took me twenty minutes of frantic searching before I found the right book—a leather-bound tome so old the pages crumbled at my touch.

There, on the frontispiece, was the symbol now burning over my heart.

I couldn't read the ancient wolf script beneath it, but someone had written a translation in the margin in careful English handwriting.

My hands shook as I read the words.

"The Destroyer."

Not Luna. Not mate. Not savior.

Destroyer.

A soft sound made me look up. In the shadows between the bookshelves, a pair of golden eyes watched me with predatory satisfaction.

Damon Voss stepped into the lamplight, his perfect smile never wavering.

"Now you know," he said softly. "You're not their salvation, Harper. You're my weapon."