The moon hung low, casting a soft silver glow over the king's private garden.
Lara stepped into the quiet space, barefoot on the warm stone path. "There you are," she whispered, spotting him by the fountain. "What are you doing out here alone?"
Thornak turned slowly. The lamplight caught the lines of his face, strong, carved, but softened by the way he looked at her. "Thinking. Missing you."
She didn't answer, just stepped into his space and wrapped her arms around him from behind, pressing her cheek to his broad back. His hand came up to cover hers, fingers warm and rough.
"I take it you enjoyed time with your brother?" he asked, his voice low, vibrating against her chest.
She nodded. "And my parents too." She paused, then added with a sly smile, "I heard you were in council. Was it about me?"
He turned in her arms, not answering. Not with words.
Instead, he cupped her face, tilting her chin gently upward. "Don't concern yourself with that," he murmured. "You're here now." And then he kissed her.
The kind of kiss that unfurled heat low in her belly. The kind that stole her breath. He didn't rush, it was slow, deliberate, as if memorizing her taste, like a man savoring his mate after too many days of restraint.
Her fingers tightened in the fabric of his shirt.
"Thorn..." she whispered, dazed. "What is happening to me."
His gaze burned, molten gold, fierce and hungry. "You feel it too?" he asked, pressing her back into the ivy-covered wall behind them. "The pull between us... it's stronger tonight."
She nodded. Her heart thundered beneath her ribs. Her body felt fevered, as though the garden itself had come alive around them, leaves stirring in a wind she didn't feel, stars blinking as if watching.
He kissed her again, deeper this time. Her fingers threaded into his hair, and he growled softly, a sound of need barely held in check. Her lips parted, and she gasped as his mouth claimed hers with more hunger, more heat.
"You're in heat," he said roughly, scenting her throat. "You burn for me."
"Really?" she asked, trembling beneath his gaze. "How would I not know that?"
He inhaled deeply, his voice dropping low as he leaned closer, eyes flickering with hunger and certainty.
"I believe it's because of your powers just waking up," he said, scenting the space between her throat and shoulder. "That ancient magic in your blood, it will suppress your heat, shielding you and muting the instincts your body should be screaming with."
Her breath caught. "So this heat... I didn't feel it before because...?"
"Because the Moonguard weren't meant to be ruled by their instincts," he murmured. "They were created to command them. But your body can't hide your feelings from me. Not from the bond. Not with me this close."
She swallowed hard, heart pounding. "I thought I was just reacting to you..."
"You are," he growled, brushing his lips against her jaw. "Even in heat, the Moonguard kept control. But you've bonded to a Lycan now little one. Your wolf wants to meet mine."
A soft, keening sound escaped her throat, almost a whimper. She didn't mean to make it. She stepped into him instead, pressing her chest to his, breathing him in like she couldn't get enough. He snarled low, grabbing her by the hips.
"You're burning," he rasped. "And I can't hold back much longer."
"Then don't," she whispered, voice rough with need.
"If I take you now," he warned, voice raw, "I won't be gentle. Not here. Not with the bond so close to the surface."
She shivered, feeling the fierce pulse of her wolf breaking free, the heat roaring through her veins like wildfire. "I don't want you to."
That was all it took. Thornak surged forward, capturing her lips in a brutal kiss. His body pressed her back against a tree, heat pouring off him in waves. He tasted her like he was starving, and she met him with a hunger of her own, wild, reckless, ancient. Without thinking, she bit him.
Her teeth sank into the flesh of his shoulder, just below his neck. Not hard enough to break skin, but deep enough to mark. She froze, wide-eyed, confused by her own reaction.
He let out a hoarse, savage sound of satisfaction, eyes gleaming with pride and something darker.
"It's ok, you just marked me," he said hoarsely, voice wrecked with need.
Her breath stuttered as his hands mapped her, gripping like he feared she'd disappear. The hunger between them burned hotter, more urgent, and without thought, she lowered her mouth to his chest.
She bit him again. A sharp, claiming bite, just over his heart.
Thornak growled, deep, guttural, possessive. His muscles tensed beneath her lips, and his hands clutched her tighter.
"I...I'm sorry," she whispered, stiffening in his hold. "I can't control myself..."
He looked down at her, eyes glowing with heat and reverence.
"Good," he rasped. "Don't."
She stood, eyes dark with need, and without a word, she turned and bent over,hands braced, back arched. As if she could sense exactly what he needed. As if her body had been waiting for this moment just as hungrily.
"I can't wait anymore," she whispered, breath hitching, voice trembling with want.
He stepped behind her, his breath shallow, his body thrumming with need. One hand gripped her hip while the other slid along her spine, grounding her as he entered her in one deep stroke. She gasped, loud, unfiltered and he groaned, the heat of her overwhelming, consuming.
Her body welcomed him greedily, tightening around him like she was made for this. For him.
He began to move, slow at first, savoring the feel of her, then faster, driven by the rising urgency between them. She cried out with every thrust, her voice ragged and desperate. The sound only spurred him on. She let the hunger consume her. Her hands tangled in his hair; her body pressed tight against his, every nerve alive and aching.
Thornak responded in kind, his strength grounding her, his growl vibrating through her bones. Their movements became one, raw, urgent, perfect. No words, only the language of bodies igniting, of two ancient forces colliding and merging.
Then he pulled back, spun her around, and lifted her onto the low stone ledge by the fountain. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in close, her legs circling his waist as he pressed into her again, deeper this time. Their lips met, not softly but hungrily, fiercely.
Their bodies moved in perfect rhythm, a chaotic blend of passion and emotion, sweat and breath. She whispered his name and clung to him as if she could draw him deeper with sheer will.
Lara's nails raked down his back as she matched him stroke for stroke, chasing the rising tide of pleasure that built higher and higher. Her head fell back, and a feral sound escaped her lips.
He kissed her throat, her collarbone, her shoulder, and she felt the mark she'd given him pulse like a brand beneath her teeth.
The world spun. She could feel her wolf, her blood, everything, crashing toward him.
Her body tensed, arched, and shattered around him, stars bursting behind her eyes as she came, her cries torn from her throat in broken ecstasy. Her walls clenched him tightly, her magic surging in a brilliant, unseen flare.
The goddess stirred in her bones, and her magic knew his name.
Her power recognized him.
He growled her name, barely human, and followed her over the edge, spilling deep inside her as she trembled and held him, utterly undone.
They collapsed together, panting, skin slick with sweat, lips brushing in soft dazed kisses. The world had narrowed to just the two of them, and the silence between heartbeats was filled with everything unsaid, but deeply felt.
They lay tangled on the moss-soft earth, the fountain murmuring nearby and moonlight catching in her golden hair.
"I want to try the ritual," Lara said quietly. "For Eira."
Thornak's arm tightened around her. "Are you're sure?"
She nodded against his chest, heartbeat steady.
"I will be with you," He said gently.
He then turned to her again, stirring the heat in her body once more.
He pulled her close, and without a word, they came together again, the same wild energy pulsing between them. Beneath the silver gaze of the moon, they made love once more
Somewhere in the darkness beyond the garden's edge, where moonlight could not reach, an ancient magic stirred, slow and knowing, as if roused from centuries of sleep by the joining of fated souls.
Deep within the crumbled bones of the old Moonguard temple, beneath layers of ivy and ash, beneath stone etched in a language long swallowed by time, a faint thrum began to echo through the ruins, a pulse steady as a heartbeat, deliberate as the turning of stars. The air thickened, the earth held its breath, and in that forgotten place, something long dormant began to wake.
A carving on the sealed vault door glowed faintly, just a flicker at first. Then brighter. Silver. Then moonfire.
The Guardian of starlight and shadow, long dormant behind the sealed gate, opened a single eye, neither beast nor man, neither god nor ghost. Its gaze swept the dark chamber, sensing something it had not felt in centuries: the bond of a true Moonguard heir, woven in love and power.
The air grew heavier. Vines recoiled. Dust rose from untouched floors. Somewhere, a chain of forgotten wards cracked.