The Luna Trials

Chapter 52

Savannah tried to resist as they cuffed her wrists, not wishing to make things easy for the bears.

“Feisty!” One of the warriors chuckled as he managed to wrap the chains around her waist too. Silver usually did not have much effect on her, but today… today was a different day. And it seemed like there was no end to it.

She tried to break the chains just like back then, with Kai… but found it impossible now. One of the warriors pushed her, and she almost fell to the ground, but Bjorn caught her at the last moment, growling at his men.

“Careful! I need her in one piece!”

She gave him a withering glare. A promise that the second she regained her strength, she would end his life just like she had her mate’s. However, he only chuckled at that, confident as ever. His mood was getting better and better after he slaughtered everyone she cared about.

Brigit stood not far away from them with her hands crossed over her chest, watching the show and frowning. She wasn’t pleased with it, but she wasn’t exactly doing anything to help the Princess either.

Bjorn turned to give her a stern glance, “Make sure she looks presentable when we arrive. And take care of the twins. The cameras must be working at all times.”

Savannah looked around and found Chloe and Claude not far from them. The siblings were paler than usual, with their clothes and hair dishevelled. That sparkle they always had about themselves was gone entirely as they were cornered into submission. Their cameraman was right next to them, and the trio were surrounded by a group of fierce-looking warriors, ready to end them after one wrong move. Only Petra was still nowhere to be seen. Her crying couldn’t be heard now either.

Savvy’s train of thought was broken when someone pulled her chains back, much gentler this time. She didn’t mind, as it meant Bjorn’s hands were no longer on her.. He still had no clothes on and was about to shift when their eyes locked.

“Isn’t this exciting?” He purred.

“It will be when I get to kill you!” She hissed. The warriors around them cheered her on with excitement, enjoying their King and Queen’s banter. There was something wrong with those bears.

Just like the last time she saw him do it, Bjorn shifted into a huge snow-white beast in seconds. He was both magnificent and menacing, but she hated his guts with all her heart and soul, regardless.

His men led her to him, making her get onto his back while she tried to fight them

off.

The white bears’ leader roared, warning her. At the same moment, Brigit appeared at

her side.

“Listen,” she whispered, “he will find a way to make you do this either way. Why do you think they bothered to bring Petra? Disobey, and she will be paying the price!”

“I don’t care about Petra!” Savannah thundered, secretly hoping that this would help them both.

“Too late for that! You saved her in the Maze!” Brigit reminded her.

“It was a deal! Nothing more, nothing less!” The Princess lied through her teeth. She had a soft spot for Petra, but admitting it now would be a mistake. “The joke is on you! You shouldn’t have killed Riannon! I would have done anything for her and the baby! But Petra is no one to me!”

“Don’t say that!” Brigit grew grim. “They will test your words! And as I said, Petra will be the one to bear the consequences!”

“Why not you?” Savvy chuckled darkly. “We have known each other longer! I like you so much! Why don’t they test my stubbornness on you?!”

The she-bear lowered her gaze. “I will not apologise,” she breathed out.

“Even if you do, Aspen nor I would ever forgive you!” Savannah found herself to be this cruel for the first time in her life. Brigit flinched at her words, and her fingers trembled. She barely managed to hide them so that no one else could see her weakness.

One of the warriors yanked the chains on the other side, forcing Savannah to climb on Bjorn’s back; the other pushed her feet up from the ground. She hated them touching her. When she was up and where they wanted her, they surrounded her again, adjusting her shackles and ensuring she stayed exactly where they needed her.

They had everything planned to perfection. She was wearing a blue dress, the bridal colour of the North, and now Bjorn was going to take her to his castle on his back while cameras were filming it. She was a true bride today. Only that the groom was a monster.

When they were done, Brigit undid her hair and adjusted her cape so that it was covering her restraints and saving her some dignity.

The white bear leader let out an approving growl and started to move. Slowly, everyone else followed them in a victorious procession. This was what it was.

Savannah couldn’t take it anymore. The last bits of strength left her, and she wished all of this was a dream, not reality.

Yet here she was. Deep in the North, chained to her enemy who claimed her as his and with everyone she loved gone. What a cruel fate!

Their procession entered a mountain chain that looked vacant at first. Savvy wondered if it was really necessary to try and show her off when no one was even around to see. However, she soon realised how wrong she was.

One by one, she noticed other white bears in their beast forms lurking out on top of the hills. They were watching them, not taking their eyes off their King and the girl on top of his back.

Dozens of them. Hundreds!

The cameraman was working, filming her and everything around them, while Claude and Chloe commented on what was going on in the microphones adjusted to their laces.

“The bears meet their King and future Queen!” Claude stated dryly. Not a hint of his usual entertaining sell.

“Savannah looks beautiful and strong even as her hands are tied,” Chloe chimed in right next to him, getting quiet as one of the warriors next to her shot her a warning glance.

Their voices became simply a buzz as Savvy observed the area around her. Now there were bears and people watching her from above. They probably had their houses nearby.

This was where their kind resided.

Bjorn walked with pride. It was his victory march, and he was enjoying it.

Savvy felt worse and worse. Her nausea was getting worse, the stress of the day finally catching up with her. In the rays of the setting Sun, she only wished for all of this to end faster.

Soon, she started seeing small cosy houses peppered on the tops of the white hills. An ice city.

They walked for some time, Savannah wishing to simply switch off at this point, her body not listening to her anymore. She had trouble telling how long it all lasted and barely managed not to fall down.

Bjorn stopped when they were on top of a hill, and she saw something she didn’t expect. Below them was a castle built into a mountain. A work of a rough master, it was a fortress in its own right. She instantly knew this was where they were heading. He told her he had a castle of his own before. She just never thought she’d actually see it.

The cold Northern sea was raging under the castle, its waves sharp and deadly. Savannah didn’t even realise they got this far, but it made sense because the white bears were excellent swimmers.

It took them quite some time to get to the castle. The gates opened as soon as they reached them. People inside clearly awaited their king’s return.

By this point, Savannah was so exhausted she couldn’t keep her back straight. Her nausea was getting stronger, the pain of her broken bond still rippling through her body, even though it had gotten slightly duller. But her soul was aching more. She wasn’t mourning yet. She still couldn’t believe what had happened to her. Things like that were hard to process.

People were greeting them inside the castle, and she didn’t know how to take this any longer. She had had enough.

“Welcome, my King!” A massive man with silver hair bowed before them as Bjorn stood in the inner courtyard, still in his bear form. “And my future Queen.”

He looked at Savannah as if he expected her to say something, and she looked him straight in the eye… right before she emptied her stomach, parts of it getting all over Bjorn’s

feet.

He tried to remove the spear, but the damn lycan grabbed it with both his hands. The Northern King knew what would happen once the divine weapon was removed. He could sense that this was the only thing holding him here in this world.

“No!” Kai’s voice rasped through his chest. “Please!”

“Your battle is over, King,” the stranger told him, his voice void of any emotions. He had seen this way too many times before to feel something now. “Time to move on to a better place. You are going to love it there.”

“No!” the wolf persisted, clenching his fingers tighter around the spear. “I can’t… He… He took her… I… have to-” Words were hard to form because his throat was full of blood.

“What has to happen will happen. This is why the human world is so awful. The next one will be better, I swear.”

“Not without her!” Kai gritted his teeth, and the stranger felt something he hadn’t felt in a while. This brought back some memories. He once begged for a chance with a woman he loved too. He grovelled… only to be denied their chance.

However, this was different. The King wasn’t him, and the woman he loved wasn’t-he still couldn’t pronounce her name. He prohibited himself from even thinking about it. This was how he survived all these years.

“I don’t see your mate bond. She must be already dead and waiting for you on the other side,” he said, sighing and hoping that this information would help the wolf to accept his death faster. It wasn’t like he was in any kind of a rush, but for some reason, he wanted to be done here faster, to be away from all the emotions that tried to get out from the little black box he locked them in centuries ago.

“She is not my mate!” Kai said and coughed blood. “But she is everything. She needs me, and I- I can’t leave her. Not yet. Not… ever. She is mine!”

“It’s not for you to decide.” Last time. He would try to reason with him one last time before pulling the plug.

“I know. It is for you to decide… Fenrir!” The Lycan king furrowed his brows, watching how the light of the flames around them drew his God’s flawless face.

“I don’t assign mates!” For the first time, the wolf God turned away. He hated that mate thing! Binding people together without them getting to know each other, giving them chances to hurt one another if they wanted to, making it next to impossible to break the bond- what could be more cruel?

“I don’t care if she is my mate or not! This doesn’t matter! It never did! All I want is to be with her, save her-make her happy!”

“You have no idea what you are up against! You are going to lose that war!” Fenrir cut him off, revealing the sad truth. They had no chance. Not when his brother was guiding the enemy.

“Then help me!” Kai begged. He begged for the first time ever. “I served you my whole life the best I could! The whole North worships you over everyone else! Help us! You are our deity!”

“I am done with all that-” Fenrir admitted, feeling guilt rising inside of him. Something he didn’t feel in a while. He hated that emotion the most, along with regret.

“Then be done.” Kai snorted through pain, his lips twitching. “But at least give us a chance to fight! Give us something, and then leave! Do whatever the hell you want. It’s not like you’ve been here for us anyway.”

“Choose your words wisely, boy!” Anger rose from the pit of his stomach. He should have pulled that thing out now and forgotten any of this ever happened, but something was

stopping him from doing just that.

She wouldn’t have approved …

It didn’t matter, though, because she was long gone. He would never see her again.

“Choose your side!” Kai growled, furious. He had the right to be mad, looking at the one who abandoned him when he needed him the most!

Fenrir paused. He had already stayed here for too long. He had to send him to the next world, the better place. Where she would take care of him.

Only that his words ignited something inside. Lycans were his children. The product of his creation. And the Northern royal bloodline were his descendants.

“Even if I help you, you can still lose,” he warned the stubborn King. “I will not!” Kai snarled, and Fenrir appreciated his spirit. “There will be a price!” the God informed him. “Anything!” He didn’t even think twice.

“Are you so sure?” Fenrir chuckled. Such persistence reminded him of his youth. “What if I ask for your firstborn?”

“Done!” Kai said without hesitation, and the God swore under his breath. This wasn’t where he was going with it at all! He wanted to ask for a new shrine for the priestesses. They deserved it for all their hard work, but the damn Lycan was in a rush and promised him his child without realising that his doing so while touching the divine weapon was binding. It was done, and now if Fenrir helped him, he would have the rights to that child…

He had no use for children… It was a stupid joke! Although it was probably his fault for joking in a moment of someone’s desperation. He forgot how humans were, and Lycans had their human side ruling over their minds.

He should have let that spear rot here. Or better burn to ashes.

This was officially a mess now, and the best course of action would be to grab his spear and let the King die as he was supposed to die today.

He couldn’t go through with this, though.

“F*ck!” He growled, and the space around them went dark. “Fine! Be my new weapon then!”

The fire around them started gathering as if it was alive, llames flickering in excitement, ready to devour what was offered to them.

“It’s going to hurt,” Fenrir gave him the last warning. “A lot.”

“Bring it!” Kai snarled, clenching his teeth. Whatever it was, he was going to take it. He was going to survive, and he was going to save Savvy whatever it took. Yes, they were not mates, but he could feel she was alive.

He wasn’t sure about the others, but not seeing too many bodies around gave him hope that at least some of them survived.

Fire surrounded him, merciless and glorious. First, licking his skin, probing, then taking a leap, devouring him whole.

Kai tried to hold himself back and be strong but soon found it impossible. An earth-shattering piercing scream left his chest as fire absorbed him whole, destroying him to the bone.

He didn’t know if it was minutes that passed or hours. Or maybe days. It seemed like it took forever, but when he already thought he was in the pit of hell, betrayed by the God he trusted once more, something snapped inside of him. Something new. Something that wasn’t there before.

The flames died down, submitting to something more powerful. Bit by bit, cell by cell, he was rebuilt, reborn into something new, and Asgard growled when Fenrir finally got the spear out of their flesh, finishing the process with another jolt of intolerable pain.

It was done.

He was changed irrevocably, and he still wasn’t sure what he was now. Some strange power surged through him, but he wasn’t sure if he could control it yet.

Sadly, there was no strength left to test it. Every muscle, every bone ached as if it was broken, crushed. Kai didn’t notice how he shifted into his wolf, he didn’t care, but he was amazed at how everything felt different now.

Fenrir stood nearby, watching him, regret and concern written all over his perfect face. The Alpha God still wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Guilt washed over him. Was he sending another one of his own to death right now? At least he died more or less painlessly the first time. Now it could be so much worse.

He shouldn’t have done it. He shouldn’t have cared… Evil always won. Nothing changed. He just gave hope to someone who would hardly be able to win, and his suffering would be on him. Again.

“Th-thank you,” kai mind linked his creator and looked him in the eye. He could sense that something was off, that Fenrir… was not what he had imagined all those years, and he wanted to know what had happened to break once powerful God, but he was afraid to push his luck. He already bargained for too much today.

Fenrir looked at his new creation recovering on the ground. The transformation was completed, and he could leave now. Yet something stopped him once again.

The creature was panting on the floor, trying to stand up on its feet, and he felt like he owed him one for some crazy reason. Even though he had just saved his life and given him

power, he wanted to do something else for him.

He took a bead off the necklace and crushed it between his fingers, letting the rare ancient magic from the gods’ realm land on the wolf’s renewed fur.

“I was keeping that one for someone else.” A sad smile reached his lips at the memories of his past. “But that wasn’t meant to be. Consider this my gift of goodwill and faith. And now rise, Amarok!”

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