(Kieran POV)
The ancient words felt strange on my tongue despite decades of witnessing these ceremonies, weighted with significance that personal experience couldn't fully prepare anyone to understand. But I spoke them clearly, letting my voice carry across clearing where my pack waited to witness bond that would reshape our collective future.
"Catherine Montgomery," I said, using her full name because ceremony demanded formal acknowledgment of who she had been before choosing transformation. "I offer you my protection, my strength, my life itself in service of bond that will tie our souls together beyond death, beyond time, beyond any force that might seek to part what we join here tonight."
The words echoed off ancient stones, absorbed by earth that had heard similar vows spoken by ge
