The wind pressed through the window of Liora's room, brushing against her cheek like a memory trying to remind her of a different life. She sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the floor, unmoving for what felt like hours. The moonlight cast pale streaks across the walls, stretching long shadows like silent watchers.
Her heart felt like it had split in two — one half still beating for the pack that raised her, and the other spiraling somewhere toward the boy with storm-gray eyes and pain that mirrored her own.
Kael.
She swallowed hard, forcing herself to breathe.
It would be easier if Garran wasn't such… such a monster. She could've accepted her fate if the Alpha she was meant to serve had an ounce of compassion, of grace, of vision. But all she saw in his eyes was pride, hunger, and a need to own.
And in that darkness, Kael's name rose like a lighthouse.
She curled her fingers into the sheets. She didn't understand it fully — this pull between them. It was magnetic. Physical. But it was also something more… ancient. Like their blood remembered each other even if their minds couldn't make sense of it.
The way he looked at her made her forget the years of being told who she was supposed to become.
With Kael, she felt like herself — stripped of expectation, stripped of duty. Just Liora.
But can I really abandon everything?
She closed her eyes. Images flashed: Garran's glare. Storm's unease. The weight of her father's name.
Then Kael's face — bruised by silence, but unbowed. His voice low and defiant. "I feel it every second you're near."
Her breath hitched.
And just like that, she knew.
---
Kael sat on the edge of his dorm bed, elbows on his knees, hands folded so tight his knuckles ached. His chest was bare, sweat glistening against skin still warm from the gym. The air felt heavier tonight, like the walls were closing in.
He couldn't sit still.
He hadn't heard from Liora. Not since earlier that day, when their eyes had met across the field like something unspoken had passed between them. He'd felt it — in his blood, in his bones. The tension between them wasn't just lust. It was more.
It's something primal, his wolf whispered. Something written in stars and scars.
He reached for his phone and stared at the blank screen. No message. No reply.
With a deep breath, he typed:
"Can we talk?"
Then he sat and waited.
Ten seconds.
Thirty.
A minute.
Nothing.
He stood abruptly. He couldn't stay here. Not tonight. The silence was eating him alive.
As he reached for the door, it opened before his fingers touched the handle.
Storm stood there — tall, cold, unreadable.
"The Alpha wants to see you."
His tone left no room for delay.
Kael didn't ask why. He already knew.
---
The Alpha's den was darker than before. The fire that usually gave the space a warm glow now burned low, throwing only faint light on Garran's broad frame as he stood by the window. Outside, wolves were beginning to gather near the training field for pre-ceremony drills, unaware of the conversation unraveling inside.
Kael stood silently as Storm closed the door behind him. The tension thickened like smoke.
"I'll be direct," Garran said without turning. "Liora is mine."
Kael said nothing.
"She is the legacy of this pack — the final piece that will secure our strength. Her blood carries weight you could never understand. And you? You are no one."
Kael's jaw flexed, but he kept his voice even. "Then why are you threatened?"
Garran turned.
His eyes gleamed with something predatory. "Because I've seen the way she looks at you. And I know the danger of fantasy in a wolf's heart."
Kael took a breath. "What if it's not fantasy? What if she doesn't want this?"
"She doesn't have to want it," Garran snapped. "She has to do it. For the pack. For every wolf that still breathes under our name."
Kael's eyes flickered gold. The tension behind his restraint pulled tighter.
"And if she doesn't?" Kael asked.
Garran's lips curved into a grim smile. "Then she'll be reminded why packs are built on obedience."
He stepped forward. "And if you so much as breathe wrong, Kael… I'll end more than your pathetic place in this pack. I'll start with that little human friend of yours — Jason, isn't it? He looks like easy prey."
That did it.
Kael's fangs pushed beneath his gums, claws tingling at his fingertips.
But he didn't lunge. Not yet.
He just stared, silent and furious, as Garran's threat settled in his blood like poison.
---
The river didn't speak, but it listened.
Kael sat at its edge, head down, breathing hard. He hadn't shifted, but his wolf was close. Too close. The anger coiled inside him like barbed wire, each breath tighter than the last.
He'd never felt this helpless.
Why don't I know who I am? he thought bitterly. Why does everyone else get answers, and I get whispers and warnings?
He slammed his fist into the earth beside him, soil giving way under the blow.
Footsteps behind him made him spin — claws half drawn.
But then he saw her.
Liora.
She approached slowly, hoodie drawn tight around her, moonlight bathing her hair in silver.
"You're not easy to find," she said softly.
"I wasn't trying to be found."
"I know." She hesitated. "But I came anyway."
He looked away, staring at the rippling water. "He threatened you. Threatened Jason. Said you'd go through with the Luna ceremony whether you wanted to or not."
She nodded, expression unreadable.
"I can't stop him," Kael said. "I thought I could, but… I don't even know what's in my blood. And he's willing to hurt people just to keep control."
"You think I don't know that?"
Kael blinked at the sharpness in her tone.
"I've known who Garran was for a long time," she said, voice tight. "But I kept waiting for someone else to challenge him. Someone stronger. Someone better. But no one ever came."
She stepped closer.
"And then I met you."
Kael swallowed, hard.
"You think you're nothing," she continued. "But you've already made me want to choose for myself. For the first time. You've made me want freedom."
He stared at her, unsure how to respond.
"I don't care what your bloodline is," she said. "Whatever it is… it called to mine. And that's enough."
A tear slipped down her cheek — not out of weakness, but out of the unbearable pressure she'd held in too long.
Kael moved before he realized it — his hands cupping her face, his forehead pressed to hers.
"I can't lose you," he whispered.
"Then let's run."
He pulled back.
"What?"
She was breathing fast now, her voice trembling but firm. "Tomorrow. We leave. During the basketball match — everyone will be distracted. We'll slip away. Catch a bus. Disappear."
He stared at her.
"And after that?"
"We figure it out," she said. "Together."
Kael's pulse roared.
His wolf stilled — not with fear, but with clarity.
He nodded once, fiercely. "Okay."
Their fingers laced.
And from the shadows of the woods behind them, a shape shifted.
Storm stood still, breath shallow, eyes burning.
He turned away without a sound.
And the moon kept rising.