Grayson
The woods had never felt more alive—or more dangerous.
Each step I took through the underbrush felt like a battle between instinct and restraint. My wolf, Kael, paced beneath my skin, barely leashed. The bond had ignited like a wildfire when our eyes met—uninvited, unexpected, undeniable. I could still feel her essence curling around my senses: sweet and stormy, wildflowers twisted with something raw and broken.
Amara Locke.
She thought she belonged to my brother.
But she had always been mine.
The very air around me trembled with the force of what had just occurred. Fate didn't make mistakes, but this—this felt like a cruel misdirection. I hadn't set foot near Crescent Hollow in years, not since my exile. And yet, the moment I crossed the border again, drawn by a tug I couldn't name, there she was.
Falling apart.
And he just let her.
I clenched my fists, the image of her—crumpled and gasping in the dirt—burned behind my eyelids. That was not how a Luna should look. Not a warrior like her. I'd heard whispers of her from afar—Cassian's supposed mate. But nothing, nothing, could have prepared me for the way the bond came alive in me the moment our eyes met.
Her spirit hit me like a blade through the ribs.
Kael growled low in my head, his voice as rough as gravel and twice as bitter.
Ours. Claimed. Hurt. Fix her.
"I know," I muttered aloud, scrubbing a hand through my hair. "I know."
He touched what was never his. He lied to her. Lied to fate.
The air thickened with Kael's fury, his energy vibrating against my bones.
She's ours. She was always ours. But she didn't know. She thought it was him.
The thought made me still.
Could it be true?
Could Amara have mistaken the signs—the stirrings of fate, the early whispers of the bond—as belonging to Cassian, simply
because he was near? Because the Crescent Elders insisted it should be him?
It explained everything. The way the bond hadn't truly sparked until tonight. The way she looked at Cassian—more hopeful than
sure.
Kael rumbled, pleased.
Her wolf knew. Sera was confused. Conflicted. But now she knows. She howled for me. She burned for us.
I followed Amara's scent, that maddening blend of jasmine and steel. Every inhale of it made my throat tighten, my skin itch. I ached to touch her, to breathe her in. But not yet. Not until she was ready.
I found her near the riverbend—knees drawn to her chest, body trembling, eyes staring into the current.
I didn't move closer. Not yet.
She needed space. Dignity. Time.
"Amara," I said, my voice a rumble softened by restraint.
She flinched, spine taut. Her eyes met mine, wide and filled with a hurricane of feelings—grief, fury, disbelief.
Hope.
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice hoarse.
"To make sure you're not alone."
She scoffed. "That's rich. Coming from the ghost of Crescent Hollow."
I gave a half-smile. "Glad to know I'm still infamous."
She looked away, arms wrapping tighter around herself.
"I didn't ask for this," she whispered.
"Neither did I."
Silence stretched between us. The wind stirred the leaves overhead, and somewhere, an owl called.
I could feel Sera—her wolf—pressing at the edges of my awareness. Wild and disoriented but not afraid. No, she was pulsing with anticipation.
Kael practically vibrated beneath my skin.
She's calling. Don't you feel it? Her soul wants ours. Her wolf is screaming for me.
And I felt it. Goddess help me, I felt it in my blood, my bones, my fucking soul.
Still, I held back.
"I felt the bond," she said. "It snapped with him. And it roared to life with you."
My voice was rough. "Yeah. Me too."
She stared at me. "Why? Why didn't it feel like this with him before?"
I stepped forward, slowly. "Because he was never your mate."
She blinked.
"You only thought he was. You wanted it. He wanted it. Everyone expected it. And sometimes, that's enough to confuse the signs."
Amara was silent for a long time.
"I believed he was mine. I trained beside him. I trusted him." Her voice cracked. "And now... I feel like I've been living someone else's life."
I dropped to one knee in front of her, not touching, just near.
"You haven't. You're just finally finding your own."
She looked up, and in her eyes, I saw something shift. Resolve. A sliver of clarity.
Kael was howling now, but I pushed him down.
"I'm not asking for anything," I said. "I just want you to know I'm here. And I'm not going anywhere."
Her throat worked as she swallowed, then nodded. Once.
We walked together through the woods. Quiet. Close.
At the cave, she paused at the entrance. "You live here?"
"For now. Kael found it. It's safe."
She stepped inside. "Smells like pine smoke and rain."
"Not the worst place to break the world open and start over."
She settled near the pallet. I lit the fire. We didn't speak.
She didn't need words. And neither did I.
Kael whispered again, softer this time.
Soon. She'll see. She was always meant for us.
Amara
I sat with my back to the rough cave wall, knees pulled to my chest, the firelight flickering shadows across the stone. Everything felt
surreal. Raw.
The bond had snapped with Cassian like a torn thread pulled too tight.
But the new bond? The one now thrumming inside me like a second heartbeat—it was violent. Magnetic. Alive.
Sera purred inside me, pacing wildly, practically vibrating with need.
He's here. He's close. He's ours.
"I don't even know him," I whispered.
But your soul does.
Grayson.
Just thinking his name sent heat rushing through my chest. His scent—woodsmoke, leather, and a sharp, masculine spice—was
driving me insane. Every inhale was a temptation. Every movement he made, even the small ones, lit up nerve endings I didn't know
I had.
How could this feel more real in minutes than the years I spent with Cassian?
I pressed my forehead to my knees. Guilt twisted low in my gut.
I had loved Cassian. Or thought I had. Trained beside him, bled for his approval, waited for the day fate would tie us together.
But fate had other plans.
Grayson moved in the cave, and I couldn't stop myself from glancing at him. He was firelight and shadow, broad shoulders tense,
jaw clenched, eyes unreadable. Power rolled off him in waves, but it was his restraint that made my pulse race.
He didn't touch me. Didn't force the bond. But I could feel him holding himself back.
Touch him. Let him mark us, Sera begged.
"No," I whispered. "We don't even understand what this is yet."
But Goddess, I wanted to.
My fingers tingled with the memory of his skin from the brief moment I'd touched him. My body ached in a way that was entirely
unfamiliar—like it was waking up for the first time.
I turned my face toward the fire and closed my eyes.
I didn't know what would happen tomorrow. Or the day after.
But tonight, under the flicker of fire and the eyes of the Moon,
I was no longer sure I had ever belonged to anyone but him.