The pack house had been alive with noise—until Kael realized she was gone.
Empty bed. Tossed blanket. Open window.
The air thickened, sharp and lethal.
"She's gone," he said, cold, precise.
For a heartbeat, silence. Then chaos erupted.
Rian bolted upright, hands tangling in his hair. "No. No, she wouldn't—" His voice cracked, raw and dangerous. "She's ours."
Thorne's massive frame tensed, fists clenching, muscles coiled like springs. "She ran," he growled, teeth flashing. "She thought she could run from all of us?"
Only Loran stayed seated, calm but lethal, jaw tight enough to break. When he finally spoke, it cut through the hall like steel.
"Find her. Before anyone else does."
The four of them tore through the pack house corridors, fury spilling down every hall, their presence like storms in human form. Even the pack members froze—not because they feared for her, but because the brothers were something else entirely.
To them, she had always been invisible. A shadow. Rankless. Mocked, dismissed. Her father, the Beta, had never truly protected her. And the Alpha? He barely noticed. But to the Crescent Moon brothers—she was the prize.
The forest awaited, alive with scent. Amber, wild honey, rain-damp earth. Untamed.
Kael's wolf snarled low, cage rattling, throat vibrating with need. "She's close," he muttered. Silver eyes narrowed, sharp and predatory. Every instinct screamed her location.
Rian stalked beside him, lithe and restless, smirk curved tight. "I can feel her," he breathed, muscles taut. "She left a trail. Thinks she can run..."
Thorne's fists flexed, each movement coiled with raw power. "She ran... but she didn't know she'd run straight into what she belongs to."
The scent thickened as they moved deeper, pulling them like a leash. It wasn't just her. Something else lingered. Something darker.
Their Alpha's bond—the stories they'd whispered, the myth they'd never seen—was here.
Kael's breath hitched. "Stop." He froze mid-step. Every hair on his body rose. His wolf roared, desperate, sensing the shift.
The clearing ahead pulsed with heat. Her heat. And something else. Bond. Fire. Claim.
They slowed, senses stretching, every nerve strung tight.
And then they saw her.
Pinned. Back against the tree bark, trembling. Lips swollen, flushed from the desire that still burned. Hair wild around her face.
And in front of her—
The shadow.
The myth.
The eldest. Deacon.
Amber eyes blazed in the moonlight. Hand still on her wrist, body pressing her like she already belonged to him. Heat radiated off him in waves that made the four brothers tense, teeth grinding.
"Deacon," Kael breathed, voice ice, body rigid.
Rian stepped forward, eyes flashing silver. "You took her first."
Deacon didn't flinch. Didn't move. Voice low, reverent, dark. "She came to me. She's mine."
Kael's jaw tightened. "No. She belongs to all of us."
Sena's back pressed harder against the bark. Chest heaving. Heat trailing down her spine, body trembling in ways her mind could never anticipate.
Four brothers.
One myth.
Five Alphas.
And her—trapped in the center.
They stepped closer, cautious, wild, each a predator in their own right. Every sense sharpened, every muscle taut. The air thickened.
Loran's green eyes locked on hers. Possessive. Dominant. Claiming.
He didn't flinch. He didn't hesitate. He was fire. She was fire. And the bond—the invisible threads weaving her to all five of them—pulled tight, staking claim, binding her in ways she hadn't yet understood.
Kael's voice cut through the tension. "We don't touch her unless she chooses us. Not like this."
Rian's growl rolled low. "But she's ours too. Every part of her. We've hunted her—felt her. Sensed her."
Thorne stepped forward, hulking shadow moving like liquid steel. "The bond doesn't lie. She belongs to all of us. And yet..." His gaze flicked to Deacon. "...he already has."
The air was heavy. Hot. Electric.
Sena's pulse thundered. Fear and want twisted inside her. Her body still burned from his kiss, from his heat, from the bond pulling tight. Her instincts screamed—her wolf stirring faintly, whispering that this wasn't just desire. This was belonging.
The brothers saw it too. Every shiver. Every pulse. Every defiant flicker of need she couldn't hide.
A howl split the night—distant, searching. Pack members. The forest responded, scent swirling.
Kael, Rian, Thorne, Loran stiffened, senses snapping to full alert.
Kael's voice cut, low and final. "She's ours. You can fight it, deny it, run if you want. But she will never escape us again."
Sena's chest heaved. Every eye on her. Every heartbeat shouted a warning. Every nerve screamed in anticipation.
She wasn't running anymore.
She was being hunted.
And hunted meant claimed.