Kael stood alone beneath the stars, the weight of the night pressing down on his shoulders like a mantle he never asked for but had worn since he was old enough to shift. The forest around him was quiet but not peaceful. It was the kind of silence that signaled something brewing beneath the surface. Something to watch. Something waiting.
His wolf stirred inside him, restless.
The moment Aria had left his quarters, slamming the door behind her, he'd known he had made a mistake letting her go. Not because he feared for her safety though he did but because every fiber of his being was screaming that something was about to shift. And when an Alpha's instincts flared, it was never without cause.
The air smelled different tonight. Tainted.
He stepped forward, drawing a long breath in through his nose. Pine. Moss. Smoke.
And blood.
Fresh.
His eyes narrowed, and the shift came upon him like lightning across a dark sky. Bones cracked, muscles tore and reformed, and in seconds, Kael was on four legs, a massive black wolf with glowing amber eyes. He tore through the underbrush, his paws pounding the earth with relentless speed, following the scent trail that led deeper into the shadows.
It wasn't long before he found the body.
One of his scouts was young, barely twenty. His throat was torn open, but not by claws. It was too clean, too precise. This was surgical. Planned.
Kael's hackles rose. This was a message.
He shifted back to his human form in a flash, uncaring of the cold or his nakedness. He crouched beside the body, touching the cooling skin of the fallen scout.
The boy had died quickly.
He growled low in his throat, the sound vibrating through the ground. Whoever did this wasn't just trespassing. They were making a statement.
And it was written in blood.
Aria had returned to the edge of the woods, wrapping herself in silence. Her thoughts were a riot. She hated the way Kael had looked at her as though he saw through her armor, right to the vulnerable core she kept hidden from the world. She hated even more the way her body betrayed her around him. One brush of his skin and she felt like her world tipped sideways.
But even worse was the tether.
The mate bond was tightening.
She could feel his rage. His grief. The sharp edge of loss that cut across his thoughts like a knife. It wasn't her own pain but it echoed in her chest just the same.
Her wolf whimpered in protest, ears twitching.
Something had happened.
Her instincts screamed at her to run toward him, to help him, to heal him.
She resisted.
Then a second wave crashed over her raw, boiling fury.
Not hers. His.
Kael.
She cursed aloud, shoved aside her hesitation, and ran.
Back at the clearing, Kael stood with his Beta, Joran, and two of their enforcers. The scout's body had been taken away. Now, they combed the scene for clues.
"They've started marking territory," Joran said grimly. "This isn't a random act."
Kael's eyes blazed. "They want war."
"Or worse," said one of the enforcers. "They want her."
Kael turned sharply. "What?"
The enforcer nodded. "The rogues, those branded ones. They've been heard speaking in code. Whispering about a 'silver flame.' A female. Dangerous. Powerful."
Kael's blood ran cold.
Silver flame.
He remembered Aria's eyes silver like a storm, burning with untamed fury. Fire trapped in flesh.
"She's their target," Kael said quietly. "Not me. Not us. Her."
A branch snapped behind them.
They turned, ready to strike.
But it was Aria.
She stepped into the firelight, breathless, eyes wild.
"You felt it too," she said, locking eyes with Kael.
He nodded. "They're hunting you."
"I know."
Joran watched the exchange with growing concern. "Why? What the hell do they want with you, Aria?"
She looked away, lips tightening. "Because I'm not just a rogue."
Kael stepped forward. "Then what are you?"
Silence stretched between them. The crackling fire filled the void.
Aria's voice was barely a whisper when she answered.
"I was born under a blood moon."
Kael froze. The others stiffened.
Blood-moon wolves were rare. Legends. Said to possess powers beyond the natural. Most were hunted at birth or hidden from the world. Too dangerous. Too unpredictable.
Too valuable.
Kael's gaze darkened. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because the last Alpha who found out tried to chain me."
"And the rogues?"
"They don't want to chain me," she said bitterly. "They want to use me. For their war. For my power."
Kael stepped closer, lowering his voice. "And the bond? What does it mean to a blood-moon wolf?"
She looked up at him, her silver eyes glowing with something unreadable.
"It means you're the only one who can break me... or save me."
Kael's throat tightened.
"I won't let them take you," he said.
"You might not have a choice."
Their eyes locked.
And then, from the shadows beyond the fire, came a howl.
Low.
Menacing.
Followed by another.
And another.
Not the cry of lone wolves.
But the chorus of a pack.
Surrounding them.
Can Kael protect his mate from a threat closing in on all sides or will Aria's secret past tear the pack apart before the bond has a chance to truly form?