Rhiannon's POV
The vial felt like fire against my skin where I'd hidden it in my boot.
I sat rigid in the transport wagon, surrounded by guards—four from Silverfang, four from Blackthorn. None of them spoke. They didn't have to. The hatred rolling off both sides was thick enough to choke on.
Every bump in the road jostled us closer together, and each time a Blackthorn warrior's shoulder brushed mine, I had to fight the urge to flinch. These were the people who'd killed my packmates. Who'd burned our settlements. Who'd followed Caspian's orders without question, even when those orders meant slaughtering the innocent.
And now I was supposed to become one of them.
"Don't even think about running." The Blackthorn guard across from me—a scarred man with dead eyes—hadn't looked away from me since we'd left at dawn. "We've got orders to bring you in alive. Doesn't mean we have to bring you in unbroken."
"Touch her and start a war before the treaty's even signed," growled Marcus, one of my pack's warriors. His hand rested on his weapon. "The Elders won't be pleased."
"The Elders aren't here."
The tension spiked. I could feel both sides ready to explode into violence. Over me. Because I was a treaty prize now, not a person. Just a thing to be delivered.
"Stop," I said quietly. "Both of you."
They ignored me.
"I said stop." Power—my healer's magic—flared in my voice. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make them both pause. "I'm not worth fighting over. I'm not worth anything, remember? That's why I was chosen."
The Blackthorn guard's lip curled. "At least you know your place."
I met his eyes and didn't look away. Let him see that I wasn't afraid. Let him see that I might be their prisoner, but I wasn't broken.
Not yet.
The wagon rolled on through the wasteland between our territories—the Neutral Ground. Nothing grew here anymore. Decades of war had burned the earth black, leaving only ash and the bones of those who'd fallen. Every mile we traveled was a graveyard.
I watched the dead landscape pass and thought about the vial in my boot.
One drop.
That's all it would take. The mysterious woman's words echoed in my mind. Caspian would die, and this nightmare would end before it truly began.
But then what? The treaty would fail. The war would rage on. More soldiers would die in my arms in blood-soaked hospital tents. More mothers would lose their sons.
More brothers would be sacrificed.
I closed my eyes and saw Kieran's face—not as he'd looked on the execution platform, but as he'd been the night before. He'd come to my cell, bribed the guards to give us a few minutes alone.
"You can't do this," I'd begged him, my hands gripping the bars between us. "Please, Ki. Please don't."
"You saved twelve children, Rhi." His smile had been sad but certain. "Twelve lives because you were brave enough to do what was right. That's who you are—the one who saves people, even when it costs everything."
"But it's costing you!"
"I know." He'd reached through the bars to touch my face. "But if I let you die, I lose the best part of our pack. The part that still remembers we're supposed to be better than this war. Someone has to survive to end it, Rhi. And that someone is you."
"I can't—"
"You can. You will." His eyes had held mine. "Promise me. Promise you'll survive. Promise you'll find a way to stop this madness."
I'd promised. Through tears and desperate pleas, I'd promised.
And then I'd watched him die.
The wagon jerked to a stop, snapping me back to the present.
"We're here," the Blackthorn guard announced.
My heart started racing. I looked out and saw it—the ancient temple rising from the wasteland like a ghost. It was the only structure left standing in the Neutral Ground, protected by magic older than both our packs combined.
This was where the bonding would happen. Where I'd be tied forever to Caspian Blackthorn.
Where I might poison him instead.
The guards pulled me from the wagon. My legs had gone numb from sitting, and I stumbled. No one helped me catch my balance.
"Move," the scarred guard ordered.
We walked toward the temple entrance. Each step felt heavier than the last. The vial seemed to burn hotter against my ankle.
What are you going to do? The question screamed through my mind. Avenge Kieran, or honor his sacrifice? Choose revenge, or choose peace?
I didn't know. I didn't—
A familiar scent hit me like a physical blow. Pine and winter frost and something darker, something that made my wolf want to bare her teeth and run at the same time.
Alpha dominance.
My head snapped up, and I saw him.
Caspian Blackthorn stood at the temple entrance, flanked by his own guards. He was taller than I remembered, broader, carved from stone and ice and cruelty. Scars I didn't recognize crossed his face and hands—new wounds from three years of war.
But his eyes... those cold, silver eyes that had watched my brother die without a flicker of emotion... those were exactly the same.
Our gazes locked.
The world seemed to stop spinning. Every sound faded except for my thundering heartbeat. The air between us crackled with something I didn't want to name—recognition, hatred, and something else that made my skin crawl.
He looked at me like I was a problem to be solved. A duty to be endured.
I looked at him and saw my brother's killer.
"Rhiannon Silverfang." His voice was deep and cold as winter. "You're late."
"I didn't realize you were eager," I shot back before I could stop myself.
Something flickered in those silver eyes—surprise, maybe, that I'd dared speak to him like that. His jaw tightened.
"The Elders are waiting. We begin immediately."
"How wonderful. I was worried we might have time to reconsider this terrible idea."
"Enough." An ancient voice cut through our standoff. An old woman appeared in the temple doorway—Elder Moira, one of the three who governed all packs. Her eyes were white with age but somehow saw everything. "The ceremony begins now. Both of you, come."
Caspian turned and walked into the temple without another glance at me.
The guards pushed me forward. I had no choice but to follow.
Inside, the temple was darker, lit only by ceremonial fires. Symbols covered every surface—ancient pack magic that I barely understood. In the center stood a stone altar, and beside it, Elder Moira waited with a ceremonial blade.
"This is your last chance," she said quietly, looking between us. "Once the bond is sealed, it cannot be broken. You will be tied together for life—your emotions, your magic, your very souls connected. Are you both willing?"
"Yes," Caspian said immediately, his voice flat.
Everyone turned to me.
The vial burned against my ankle. One drop. That's all it would take.
But if I said no now, the war continued. People died. Kieran's sacrifice meant nothing.
If I said yes... I became bound to this monster forever.
"Rhiannon Silverfang," Elder Moira prompted. "Do you consent to this bond?"
My mouth went dry. My hands shook. Every instinct screamed at me to run, to fight, to do anything but agree to this nightmare.
But Kieran's voice whispered in my memory: Promise you'll find a way to stop this madness.
"I..." The word stuck in my throat.
Caspian's eyes bored into me, cold and merciless. Waiting.
I took a breath that felt like swallowing glass.
"Yes."
"Then let us begin." Elder Moira raised the blade. "Give me your hands."
I stepped toward the altar. Caspian was already there, his hand extended palm-up. I placed mine beside his, careful not to let our skin touch.
Not yet. Not until I had to.
Elder Moira began chanting in the old language. The blade flashed. She cut Caspian's palm first—a deep slice that made blood well up instantly. He didn't even flinch.
Then she turned to me.
"Once your blood mixes with his, the bond begins," she said softly, for my ears only. "There is no going back."
The blade kissed my palm. Pain flared, sharp and bright.
My blood dripped onto the altar, red and damning.
"Join hands," Elder Moira commanded.
This was it. The moment everything changed.
I looked at Caspian one more time. His face revealed nothing—no emotion, no hesitation, no regret for everything he'd done.
I'll never
forgive you, I thought. Never.
Our palms pressed together.
And the world exploded.