<h4>Chapter 43: Chapter 43: The Mark Grows</h4>


    "Father?" ra’s voice cracked as she looked at the man standing on the temple pir. The silver lighting from him matched her own perfectly. "Hello, my silver wolf," he said, leaping down with inhuman ease. "My name is Aldric Moon, and yes—I’m very much alive." Marcus’s face went white. "Impossible. I killed you myself eighteen years ago." Aldric smiled coldly. "You killed a fake. A good one, I’ll admit." As her father stepped closer, something strange started happening to ra’s skin.


    The mate marks on her wrists—the ones linking her to the triplets—started glowing brighter than ever before. "Ah," Aldric noted. "The ancient bonds are awakening." ra looked down in shock. The simple crescent moon marks were changing, growing, spreading up her arms like live silver tattoos. Intricate patterns emerged—wolves running beneath a full moon, stars joining in impossible constetions, and symbols she’d never seen before. "What’s happening to me?" she gasped. But she wasn’t the only one changing. On the altar, Kael’s chains started smoking where they touched his skin. His own mate mark was expanding, forming a pattern that exactly matched part of ra’s design. Ronan grabbed his shoulder, screaming in pain as his mark burned and spread across his chest. "It feels like fire!" Even Darian, bleeding on the temple floor, had silver light running across his skin. His mark grew down his arm, forming symbols that seemed to dance in the moonlight. Elder Morven, the pack’s oldest member, stumbled forward. His old eyes were wide with recognition. "Blessed moon goddess," he whispered. "It’s the Mark of the Chosen Four." "The what?" several pack members asked at once. "A legend from the old times," Morven exined, his voice shaking. "When four souls are bound by fate to save or destroy everything. It hasn’t emerged for over a thousand years." Marcus snarled, raising his ritual knife higher. "Legends won’t save you!" But as he brought the de down toward Kael, something incredible happened. The growing marks on all four of them red with blinding light. Marcus’s dagger hit an invisible barrier and shattered into pieces. "The marks are protecting them," Luna Evelyn breathed. Celeste shrieked with rage. "This isn’t possible! I should be Luna!" She lunged at ra again, but this time the silver patterns on ra’s skin responded. Vines of pure light emerged from the ground, wrapping around Celeste and pinning her in ce. "Let me go!" Celeste screamed, fighting against the magical bonds. Aldric stepped forward, his face grim. "The marks are just the beginning, daughter. You need to understand what you truly are." "I’m a silver wolf," ra said. "I know that much." "No." Her father’s eyes glowed brighter. "You’re the Silver Wolf. The one from the vision. Thest of the royal family." Gasps echoed through the crowd. Even Marcus looked shocked. "Royal bloodline?" Kael croaked from the altar, his chains finally breaking apart as his mark finished its pattern. "The Moon Crown Pack," Aldric exined. "We ruled all werewolves ages ago, until a great war scattered us. ra is thest heir to the throne." "Lies!" Marcus roared. "I am the biggest Alpha! I rule here!" "Strength without honor is nothing," Aldric answered calmly. "And your reign ends tonight."


    The marks on the four young wolves suddenly pulsed in unison. Where their light touched the controlled pack members, the red glow in their eyes vanished totally. They copsed, gasping as their free will returned. "Thank you," Jake Morrison whispered, tears running down his face. "I couldn’t control my behavior. I’m sorry, Luna ra." Others echoed his words. The pack members who had been forced to fight against ra now knelt before her, recognizing her true power. But Tobias was looking at the symbols covering their skin. "There’s something else," he said. "The pattern isn’tplete." Everyone looked closer. He was right. The intricate designs flowing across all four of them had gaps—empty ces where more symbols should be. "What’s missing?" Ronan asked, helping Darian sit up. His brother was pale but breathing steady. Elder Morven studied the marks carefully. "The Binding," he said finally. "The marks show a link, but notpletion. You’re linked, but not fully joined." "How do weplete it?" ra asked. "The same way royal bonds have always been sealed," Aldric said quietly. "Through the Crown Ceremony." Marcusughed harshly. "There is no crown! I destroyed it years ago!" "Did you?" Aldric pulled something from beneath his coat. It was a circlet made of pure silver, embedded with moonstones that glowed like captured stars. The moment it appeared, the marks on ra’s skin started singing—actually singing, like distant music. "The Moon Crown," Luna Evelyn gasped. "It’s beautiful." "And it chooses its own bearer," Aldric said, holding it toward ra. "Daughter, this was always meant for you." But as ra reached for the crown, Darian grabbed her wrist. "Wait," he said quickly. "If you take that crown, what happens to us? To our bonds?" The question hung in the air like a dare. ra looked at each of the triplets—Kael with his fierce loyalty, Ronan with his wild dedication, and Darian with his quiet sacrifice. "I don’t know," she revealed. "The crown will make you a true queen," Aldric stated. "But queens rule alone.


    The mate ties... they might not survive the transformation." ra’s heart broke. Choose between her destined role as queen or her love for the three boys who had be her world? "There has to be another way," she said desperately. Elder Morven was studying an ancient book, his weathered fingers drawing symbols. "Actually," he said slowly, "there might be. But it’s never been tried." "What?" everyone asked. "The Quadruple Bond," Morven whispered. "Instead of one queen ruling alone, four rulers sharing power evenly. A queen and her three kings." Marcus howled with anger. "Impossible! There can be only one Alpha!" "Not if the bonds are true," Morven continued. "If their connection is strong enough, the crown might ept all four." ra looked at the triplets. "What do you think?" "I’m willing to try," Kael said firmly. "Always," Ronan agreed. Darian nodded slightly. "Together or not at all." But before they could try the ritual, a newmotion erupted at the temple entrance. Wolves poured in—not pack members, but strangers with bright red eyes. "My backup n," Marcus grinned wickedly. "If I can’t have power through ritual, I’ll take it through war." The enemy dogs surrounded them, at least fifty strong. Their eyes burned with the same blood magic Marcus had used on their own pack. "Rogues," Gideon spat. "Enhanced with dark magic." The situation looked bleak. They were outnumbered, Darian was hurt, and Kael was still weak from his time chained to the altar. That’s when Celeste broke free from her silver bonds. "If I can’t be Luna," she growled, "then I’ll make sure no one can!" She pulled a small bottle from her dress—one filled with ck liquid that seemed to absorb light. "Void poison," Luna Evelyn gasped.


    "One drop can kill a silver wolf!" Celeste raised the vial above ra’s head. "Goodbye, omega." But as the poison began to fall, the unfinished marks on all four young wolves suddenly zed with desperate light. Time seemed to slow as the dark liquid descended. In that frozen moment, ra heard a voice in her mind—not her father’s, not the triplets’, but something older and more powerful. Choose quickly, little wolf. Crown or love. Power or ties. You cannot have both... or can you? The poison was inches from her skin when ra made her choice. She grabbed the Moon Crown with one hand and reached for all three triplets with the other. "Together," she whispered. The crown touched her head just as the void poison touched her skin. Light and darkness collided in an explosion that shook the old temple to its foundations.