The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 99

POV: Cora

I moved through the moonlit forest, a ghost among the trees. The Moonpetal, a flower that shimmered with an ethereal silver light, was clutched tightly in my hand. Its magic was potent, but fleeting. I had to get back.

From the moment I had met them, I knew they were two halves of a powerful, fractured soul. I had seen the way he looked at her, the way she cared for him. The mate bond between them was a tangible thing, a cord of destiny that not even five years of pain and separation could sever.

I am a healer, but I am also a pragmatist. I knew what the full moon would do to an Alpha in his rut, especially one corrupted by Shadowthorn poison.

I knew the marking was a dangerous, near-unavoidable possibility.

A part of me, the healer, was terrified for them. A marking under the influence of such dark magic was unprecedented. It could shatter them both, corrupting the bond into a chain of madness.

But I did not tell her the full extent of the danger.

What would have been the point?

I saw the look in her eyes when she vowed to stay with him. It was the look of a mate who would walk into the heart of a volcano for her other half. Telling her the risks would not have made her leave. It would have only added the burden of fear to her already heavy heart.

This was their destiny to face, not mine. It was her choice.

As I raced back toward the cave, I felt the air shift.

A massive, explosive wave of pure, chaotic energy erupted from the direction of the sanctuary, so powerful it made the leaves on the trees tremble.

It was a psychic boom, a raw, untamed torrent of power.

I froze, my witch’s senses reeling.

I felt her power, the Silvermoon aura, surge with an incredible, unexpected force. It was no longer a passive calm; it was an active, healing wave, pouring into his chaotic energy, soothing the fire, banking the flames of the poison.

And then, just as suddenly, I felt her consciousness wink out.

A psychic silence where a bright light had just been.

Her system had overloaded.

She had anchored his soul, but sacrificed her own consciousness to do it.

"Foolish, brave girl," I whispered to the silent trees.

I broke into a run, the Moonpetal clutched in my hand, racing toward the mouth of the cave and the unknown aftermath that awaited me inside.