🌘Kate's POV
The arena's air was thick with tension, the silence charged like a storm about to break. My boots crunched over the sand as I walked toward the center. I'd worn something simple — black leggings, a fitted top, hair braided loosely. I didn't need to look intimidating. My strength would speak for itself.
Aria was already waiting, her lips curled into a smug smile. She radiated arrogance, her chin tilted up as if she'd already won.
"Enjoy your last walk as anything more than an embarrassment, omega," she sneered.
Lila was on the front line of the crowd, her arms folded, eyes narrowing at Aria. She hadn't forgotten the last time she stood up for me — and I could see the silent promise there: if this turned ugly, she'd move.
I ignored Aria's bait. "We'll see," I said calmly, letting the words hang in the air like a quiet challenge.
Ryker stood at the far side, his presence grounding me. He wasn't shouting, wasn't pacing — just watching me with that intense focus that made it feel like nothing else existed.
The announcer's voice rang out, calling the duel to begin.
Aria shifted instantly into her wolf — a sleek, dark brown predator with eyes full of malice. She lunged without hesitation, claws slashing through the air. I dodged, barely missing her snapping teeth.
I stayed in human form, letting my body move on instinct, weaving and sidestepping. My pulse raced, but there was something holding me back. Lysandra — or the part of me that should have been her — didn't feel quite… there.
You're stronger than this, Kate.
The voice wasn't quite Lysandra's. It was deeper, older, edged with something primal.
Aria came at me again, faster this time, and I barely ducked out of the way. But the gap between us was shrinking — she was forcing me into a corner.
She slammed into me, knocking me to the sand. The air rushed from my lungs. Her weight pressed me down, her teeth inches from my throat.
"This is the end," she growled.
And then — something inside me broke.
Heat exploded through my body, my bones shifting, lengthening — but it wasn't like the smooth, practiced shift of a wolf. This was violent, ancient, unstoppable. My vision blurred, my muscles burned, and my heartbeat thundered like a war drum.
Gasps rippled through the crowd as my body rose from the sand — not as a wolf.
A Lycan.
I stared down at my clawed hands, my towering, fur-covered form, my sharper-than-wolf muzzle. My senses roared to life. I was taller, stronger, every movement heavier with power. Even the air seemed to bow to me.
The crowd went dead silent. Lycans weren't just rare — they were supposed to be extinct.
I could feel every heartbeat in the arena, hear every rustle of cloth, smell the sharp tang of shock and fear.
Ryker's eyes were locked on me, wide for the first time since I'd met him.
Aria stumbled back, her wolf trembling, tail tucked — but she lunged anyway, desperation in her movements.
We clashed, her speed against my raw strength. Her claws raked my side, but the pain only sharpened my focus. I caught her by the scruff, slammed her into the sand, but she twisted free and slashed at me again.
The heat inside me built — not just from adrenaline, but from something older, deeper.
And then it happened.
Flames erupted along my arms and shoulders, dancing over my fur without burning me. The crowd gasped as the heat shimmered through the air, turning the arena into a furnace. Aria yelped, leaping back as the sand hissed beneath my feet.
I moved forward, the fire fueling my strikes. She tried to circle me, but every attack was met with burning claws, forcing her back until she had nowhere left to go.
With one final surge, I slammed her to the ground, my burning claws digging into the sand beside her head. My growl rolled like thunder.
She whimpered — surrender.
Silence fell. Then… it happened.
The pack bowed. Wolves and humans alike lowered themselves without a word, the instinct too strong to fight. Not just to a Luna. To a Lycan.
I stepped back, breathing hard, and shifted down to human form. Someone approached — Lila — carrying a midnight blue cloak lined with silver. She draped it over my shoulders, her eyes alight.
"You earned this," she said quietly.
Before Ryker could speak, I turned to Aria, who stood trembling.
"You wanted strength," I told her, my voice steady. "Now you've seen it. Remember this before you ever come for me again."
Ryker's lips curved slightly — not quite a smile, but close.
🌘Ryker's POV
I thought I'd seen every possible outcome. I was wrong.
When Kate shifted into that towering Lycan form, even Draven — my Alpha wolf — went still, stunned. Her pheromones didn't just match mine… they rivaled them. The crowd's reaction was instinctual, primal. She wasn't just my Luna now. She was something more.
When the flames erupted mid-fight, I could feel her power radiating through the arena, an undeniable claim that this was her place. She didn't just defeat Aria. She ended her challenge.
But as I watched her, cloaked in Luna colors, victorious and burning with untamed power, a cold truth sank in.
This wasn't going to stay inside Eclipse territory. Someone, somewhere, would feel this.
And they would come for her.