Kael’s rejection echoed through the gathering as he demoted me to Selene’s slave. When he snatched my obsidian seal, I caught the forbidden scent of Witherbone weed on his skin—the exact poison that stopped the old chief’s heart last night. My mate was a murderous usurper. Watching Selene torture the old herbalist to death on the Blood Moon altar, I make my choice. I thrust my bleeding hands onto the altar’s core array. Shattering this barrier to signal the outside world means watching my only family die and condemning my cherished herb garden to ashes. The buried royal seal violently resonates with my pure blood, cracking the stone. As Kael raises his blade to silence me forever, a deafening horn pierces the night.