Moonfire Bride: The One they all betrayed...till she awakened

The second memory tore itself open.

The air was colder here. Stone walls rose around her, carved with ancient runes that pulsed beneath rivers of Moonfire.

The chanting had become deafening now, echoing from every direction until it felt as though the chamber itself was alive.

Della’s chest tightened, and she looked around and saw someone.

Malachi.

He still looked younger, but the light in his eyes from the first memory had been snuffed out completely. He now looked a little more like the man he was today

His wrists and ankles were shackled to an altar of black metal. Silver chains wrapped around his body, glowing brighter every time Gideon snarled inside him.

Malachi’s face twisted in pain as Gideon kept hurling himself against whatever invisible force was pulling at him.

Across the altar stood a woman.

She had amber eyes, and her long, white hair drifted behind her as though an unseen wind carried it. Her hands were stained with blood as she continued drawing symbols over the stone.

She smiled down at Malachi, not a single shred of sadness or remorse. She smiled with complete certainty.

”My love,” She cooed, her voice curling with dark intent, ”I need your wolf.” She sounded almost loving. ”With Gideon... no one will ever stand above me. You, of all people, ought to understand that, right?”

Malachi glared at her with all the cold that had taken over his soul.

She placed both palms upon his chest, and the runes ignited.

Gideon roared in pain, louder than before, and Della collapsed to one knee as the agony slammed through the bond. It felt as though something inside Malachi was being torn apart while he remained fully awake to experience every second of it.

Blue light burst beneath his skin, and his veins glowed while his eyes turned completely silver.

”No...” Malachi growled through clenched teeth, all his muscles straining hard, ”Gideon.”

Another roar answered.

The wolf was fighting too. Della could feel him fighting with every ounce of his existence.

The chamber shook again, and the Moonfire spiralled higher.

Katherine began chanting faster, and blood began dripping from Malachi’s chest onto the altar.

Gideon and Malachi both let out a gnarling roar that was enough to explode everything around them, and Della watched in horror as something dark and animalistic started ripping out of Malachi’s chest.

”Gideon!” She tried to scream, but she couldn’t move. Her feet weren’t responding to her.

Then, something moved again.

Not beside Katherine.

Not near the altar.

In the far corner of the chamber, hidden behind one of the ancient stone pillars, someone was watching.

A young woman.

Black hair.

Terrified eyes.

She pressed both trembling hands over her own mouth to stop herself from making a sound.

Della froze.

”...Selene?”

She looked much younger too. Her hair was shorter than present, and she was shaking like a leaf.

She wasn’t helping.

She wasn’t speaking.

She was simply... watching nas shaking.

Watching Katherine perform the ritual.

Watching Malachi scream.

Watching Gideon fight for his life.

Before she could understand why, the ritual suddenly shattered. A crack split across the altar, and the blue flames exploded upward.

Katherine’s confident expression vanished, ”No!”

The Moonfire was refusing to obey, like it had suddenly gained a mind of its own and decided to be greedier. Instead of Gideon going into Katherine, Gideon’s spirit rushed towards the Moonfire.

”No!” Katherine cried.

The flames swallowed everything, and Gideon’s howl ripped through the chamber as it collided with the Moonfire itself.

Blue flames wrapped around his body until wolf and fire became impossible to separate. Gideon shrieked, howled, and growled, doing everything possible, but the Moonfire, strengthened by the ritual, eventually won.

”Oh God,” Della trembled on her feet.

The memory fractured immediately.

Stone.

Metal

Fire.

Blood.

Selene’s horrified face—

Everything shattered into blinding white, and Della gasped violently as she was thrown backwards.

The bedroom slammed back into existence, and she hit the floor hard, sucking in desperate breaths while cold sweat drenched her body, ”Gideon...”

Silence. No purr came. No warmth answered through the bond.

Only exhaustion lingered.

”Gideon,” She tried again, ”Tell me you’re fine. Please...say something.”

He finally...grunted.

A sigh of relief hit her.

Della looked up from where she sat, her body coming down from the weight of what she’d just seen... but everything stopped when she saw a body standing in front of her.

The bed was empty.

Della’s heart stopped.

The room fell into a suffocating silence.

Malachi stood over her, barefoot, his broad shoulders rising and falling with slow, measured breaths. His blue eyes weren’t merely cold. They were furious.

His gaze remained fixed on her, then slowly drifted to the hand still pressed against her chest before returning to her face, ”What,” he asked quietly, ”did. you. just. do?”

”I...” Della swallowed. Her voice refused to work.

How was she supposed to explain this?

That she’d just watched pieces of his past?

That she’d seen Katherine.

That she’d seen Gideon being ripped out of him.

That she’d seen—

Selene.

That Selene knew about his predicament. That she knew that he was wolfless!

”I didn’t—”

”You called his name.”

She froze, ”You heard that?”

”I heard you calling Gideon.” He took one slow step closer. ”Again.”

The mate bond remained eerily silent.

Della pushed herself upright, still trembling, ”I don’t know what happened.”

”Liar.”

Of course he would think she was a liar, ”I was sitting here and then... Gideon...” Her breathing hitched again. ”He reached out to me.”

Malachi’s expression didn’t change, ”He can’t.”

”He did.”

”He can’t.”

”I know what I heard!” The words burst out before she could stop them, and silence crashed between them.

Malachi stared at her for several long seconds.

”What did you see?” He finally asked.

”What?” She blinked, caught off guard.

”What.” His voice deepened. ”Did. You. See.”

Her lips parted, and she shook her head weakly, ”I... I don’t understand it.”

”What did Gideon show you?”

She hesitated.

If she told him...

Would he believe her?

Or would he think she’d somehow fabricated everything? No, what Gideon had shown her was the truth.

Her eyes slowly lifted to his, ”I saw...” Her voice cracked. ”Your daughter.”

His breathing stopped.

”I saw you holding her.”

His fingers curled slowly into fists.

”You were smiling.”

His eyes never left hers.

”And then...” Della’s voice grew quieter, ”I saw Katherine.”

The room became deathly still.

”I saw the ritual.”

A pulse flickered beneath his jaw.

”I saw what she tried to do to Gideon.”

His face lost what little colour remained.

She opened her mouth to tell him she had seen Selene, or that Selene knew everything, but she was scared to. Because Malachi didn’t know that. And he trusted Selene more than her.

”I’m sorry,” She added quietly.

”No, you’re not,” He whispered, the memories right in front of his face again, ”You’re...no different,”