Seraphina’s POV

“Mortimer, I did some digging. We can actually hike the Glacier Forest. And…”

I looked up at him, burying half my face in my thick wool scarf, my eyes locked onto Alpha Mortimer. “The rangers say if we take this trail, we’ll get a front-row seat to the Blood Moon. It only happens once every twenty years.”

I’m a healer back at the center, and I’d pulled a string of brutal night shifts just so I could clear my schedule for this trip.

Mortimer managed to carve out two weeks to join me here in Alaska.

Honestly? I was hoping this would be the spark our dying relationship needed.

“Let’s try the trail tomorrow, okay?” As I spoke, my breath puffed out in a thick white cloud, and tiny ice crystals clung to my lashes.

Since our “political alliance” of a mating started three years ago, I’d always played the part of the perfect, poised Luna. I’d never let him see this side of me—the side that actually gets excited about things.

He reached out, tucking a stray hair behind my ear, and his usual icy vibe finally thawed. A small smile tugged at his lips. “Okay.”

His golden eyes glowed with an intensity that almost felt… real.

“Seraphina,” he murmured, leaning down until his warm breath grazed my neck, sending a literal shiver down my spine. “Our wedding three years ago was so rushed. It was just a cold ceremony. I never gave you a real promise, a mate’s promise. It wasn’t fair to you.”

I looked into his eyes, seeing what looked like genuine regret, and my heart skipped a beat.

He took my hand, pressing his lips to my knuckles. His voice was low and husky. “Tonight, when the moon turns red, I’m going to make it up to you. I’m giving you the ceremony you deserve.”

Legend said that if an Alpha marks his mate under a Blood Moon, the mating bond becomes unbreakable. Permanently blessed.

“I want you to be my Luna for real, Seraphina.”

At the heat of his touch, my wolf, Lily, let out a long, happy howl in the back of my mind. “Mate… our mate wants us…”

In that moment, I felt the thin, fragile link between us flare to life, wrapping around my heart like a vine.

The sudden sense of destiny was so overwhelming I almost drowned in the tenderness he was weaving around me.

“Okay,” I whispered. “Alpha Mortimer.”

The next day, a total blizzard hit. The Alaskan wind was so sharp it felt like cold steel against my skin.

I held onto Mortimer’s muscular arm, unable to hide my grin. “Look at this place,” I breathed. “It’s like a cathedral made of ice. Who knows when we’ll get to be here together again?”

Mortimer stopped and looked at me, his golden pupils bright against the swirling snow.

Suddenly, he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me close.

“Whenever you want, Seraphina,” he said, his voice dropping into that deep, masculine rumble. “We’ll come back every year if that’s what makes you happy.”

As he spoke, he let his Alpha pheromones leak out—heavy, hot, and smelling of pine and wild earth.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify