MARTIN

The dreams came back that night with a vengeance.

I was running through the silver forest again, but this time Ramon ran beside me. Both of us in wolf form, though I'd never shifted in my life. His presence felt right, like two halves of the same soul finally moving in sync.

Then the scene changed. Fire. Blood. Wolves tearing at each other while the moon screamed overhead. I saw Ramon fall, his throat torn open, silver eyes going dark.

I woke up screaming.

"Hey. Hey, I'm here." Ramon's arms around me, solid and real. "Just a dream."

"No." I couldn't stop shaking. "It was more than that. A vision maybe. I saw you die."

His grip tightened. "I'm not that easy to kill."

"You don't understand. These dreams, they've always been true. Since I was a child. I dream things and then they happen."

He pulled back enough to look at me. "You're prophetic?"

"I don't know what I am. But the dreams don't lie."

"What did you see? Exactly."

I told him. The fire, the battle, his death. By the time I finished, dawn light was creeping through the windows.

Ramon was quiet for a long time. Then, "Prophecies can be changed. Visions aren't absolute."

"How do you know?"

"Because I refuse to accept that fate is set in stone. We make our own choices."

I wanted to believe him. But the image of his lifeless eyes haunted me.

"The moon tonight," I said. "It's going to be full."

"I know."

"What if that's when it happens? When everything falls apart?"

He cupped my face, forcing me to meet his gaze. "Then we face it together. Whatever comes."

A knock interrupted us. Tessa's voice, urgent. "Ramon. You need to see this."

We dressed quickly and followed her to the council chamber where Elder Sorn waited with a ancient scroll spread across the table.

"I've been researching," the old wolf said without preamble. "Looking into male omega bonds. There's not much, but I found this."

Ramon moved to the table. "What is it?"

"A prophecy. Written three hundred years ago by the last Moonborn seer." Sorn's gnarled finger traced the faded text. "It speaks of an Alpha and male omega bond that would either unite the wolf clans or destroy them entirely."

My blood went cold. "The Moonborn. That's what the scrolls called them. Omegas touched by the goddess's power."

"You know about this?" Sorn looked at me sharply.

"Elder Senna mentioned it once. She said my bloodline was special. That I had more power than normal omegas. But she died before she could explain."

Ramon's expression had gone carefully blank. "What else does the prophecy say?"

Sorn hesitated. "That the bond must be completed under the full moon. And that the completion will awaken power in the Moonborn omega. Power that could reshape our world."

"Or destroy it," I whispered.

"The text is unclear about which outcome occurs. It depends on the strength of the bond. The trust between mates." Sorn rolled the scroll carefully. "There's one more thing. The prophecy mentions a sacrifice. That one of the bonds must offer their life to anchor the power."

The room went silent.

Ramon's hand found mine under the table, gripping tight.

"So our choices are," Tessa said slowly, "don't complete the bond and probably die anyway. Or complete it and definitely one of you dies. Great options."

"There has to be another way," Ramon said.

"If there is, it's not in these texts." Sorn looked older than I'd ever seen him. "I'm sorry, Alpha. But prophecy is rarely kind."

After the meeting, Ramon and I returned to his chambers. Neither of us spoke. What was there to say?

The sun climbed higher, indifferent to our crisis. Afternoon came and went. Through the windows, I watched the sky turn from blue to pink to deep purple.

And then the moon rose.

Full. Massive. Beautiful and terrible.

The bond ignited like fire in my chest. I gasped, dropping to my knees. Through the connection, I felt Ramon's wolf surge forward, barely contained.

"Martin." His voice had gone rough, inhuman. "You need to run."

"What?"

"RUN." His eyes flashed silver. "I can't control it much longer. The bond is demanding completion. And my wolf won't take no for an answer."

I should have been terrified. Should have listened. But instead, I moved closer.

"Then don't control it."

"You don't know what you're saying."

"Yes, I do." I reached for him, my hand trembling. "I'm tired of running. Tired of hiding. If this bond is going to kill us anyway, at least let's face it on our terms."

"Martin.."

"I trust you. Do you trust me?"

His control shattered. I saw it happen, saw the moment his wolf took over completely. He moved fast, grabbing me and pulling me close. His mouth found mine, desperate and demanding.

The bond exploded between us.

Power surged through my veins, moon-bright and overwhelming. I felt Ramon's wolf merge with mine, our spirits intertwining until I couldn't tell where he ended and I began.

My back arched as magic flooded through me. Old magic. Divine magic. The kind that shaped worlds and broke curses.

Through the bond, I felt Ramon anchoring me. His strength holding me together as power threatened to tear me apart.

Images flashed through my mind. The future. The past. All possible timelines playing out at once.

In one, we died together, consumed by the power we'd unleashed.

In another, Ramon sacrificed himself to save me, his light fading as mine grew bright.

In a third, I watched myself become something other. Something powerful and terrible that reshaped the wolf clans through force rather than love.

But in one timeline, buried beneath all the others, I saw us. Alive. Together. Building something new from the ashes of the old world.

That was the timeline I chose.

I grabbed onto it with everything I had, pulling it forward, making it real. The magic fought me, demanding sacrifice. Demanding blood.

I gave it something else instead.

I gave it love.

The bond, fully completed now, pulsed with golden light. It wrapped around both of us, protective and strong. And the magic, finally satisfied, settled into my bones like coming home.

When I opened my eyes, Ramon was staring at me with wonder.

"What did you do?"

"I chose us," I whispered. "Both of us. Together."

"The sacrifice…"

"Was already given. Every moment we chose each other over safety. Every time we stood together instead of running. That was the sacrifice the prophecy demanded. Not death, but dedication."

His laugh was shaky with relief. "You changed fate."

"We changed it. Together."

Outside, howls rose into the night. Not alarm calls. Celebration. The pack could feel it too, the shift in power. The completion of something ancient and right.

Ramon pulled me close, burying his face in my neck. "My mate. My Luna."

"Yours," I agreed. "Always."

But even as we held each other, I knew this wasn't over.

Malric would come. The Council would fight.

And we'd face them all.

Together.