The forest was quiet, but my heart was not.
I could still hear the pack celebrating in the village behind me—laughter, drums, the wild sound of wolves howling to the moon. Tonight was the Moon Festival, the night when our Goddess was said to bless new bonds, reveal mates, and strengthen the pack. To most, it was a night of joy. To me, it was just another reminder of how much I didn't belong.
I wasn't meant to be out here. I was supposed to stay on the edges, unseen, as I had my whole life. But something inside me had pulled me away from the lights and music, tugging me into the trees as if I didn't have control of my own legs.
My feet were bare, the cold earth sharp beneath them, but I didn't care. The deeper I ran into the woods, the stronger the feeling grew—an ache in my chest, a fire in my blood.
My father's shadow followed me everywhere, even now. The traitor. That was the only word they spoke with his name. He had betrayed the pack before I was born, and when they cast him out, they cast me out too. I had grown up as a ghost in my own home. Forgotten. Unwanted.
I had convinced myself long ago that the Moon Goddess would never bless me with a mate. Why would She? Who would She tie me to? What wolf would accept the daughter of a traitor?
I had repeated those words so many times they became a shield. But tonight… tonight, the shield cracked.
The full moon climbed higher, silver and sharp in the sky. Its light spilled over the trees and fell across my skin, and I felt it—a sudden, dizzying heat. My lungs squeezed tight, my pulse racing so fast it hurt. My hand flew to my chest, as if I could calm the wild thundering of my heart.
Then I heard it.
A growl.
Low. Deep. Dangerous.
The sound froze me in place. Every muscle in my body went still, though my wolf inside me stirred with restless energy. Slowly, I lifted my head.
And there he was.
He stepped out of the shadows as if he had been born from the night itself. Broad shoulders. Muscles taut beneath a black shirt that clung to his body like a second skin. Dark hair framed a face too sharp, too beautiful, to be human. But it wasn't his face that held me captive.
It was his eyes.
Red. Burning. Piercing straight into me.
The force of his presence slammed into me like a storm. My lungs emptied in a rush, my knees trembling so hard I thought I might collapse. My wolf inside me didn't hide—she howled, stretching toward him with desperate need.
The bond snapped into place in that instant, fierce and undeniable.
My heart screamed one word.
Mate.
The Alpha's lips curved slightly, though it was not a smile. It was darker than that—possessive, hungry.
"Mate," he said aloud, his voice low and rough, vibrating through the night.
The word sent shivers down my spine. I wanted to step back, to run, to scream—but I couldn't move. Every part of me was pinned beneath the weight of him.
No. This couldn't be happening. The Moon Goddess wouldn't choose him for me.
I had seen him before, at a distance. I knew who he was. Alpha Kael. Ruthless. Feared. The kind of Alpha who didn't ask, he simply took. They said he ruled his pack with fire and blood. And now he stood before me, claiming me as his.
His hand lifted, slow and deliberate, as if reaching for me. I couldn't stop my body from reacting—I swayed toward him, drawn like a moth to flame.
But before his fingers could touch mine, another sound ripped through the air.
A growl.
Louder. Sharper. Full of fury.
I spun around, my heart pounding so hard it hurt.
And I saw him.
Another Alpha.
He emerged from the trees like light breaking through shadow. His hair was lighter, his face strong and proud, his body tall and solid like a wall between me and the world. His eyes… oh, his eyes. Not fire like Kael's, but ice. Clear, sharp, and just as dangerous.
The bond struck me again, as fierce and undeniable as the first. My knees nearly buckled, my chest tightening until I couldn't breathe. My wolf cried out, confused, torn, desperate.
No. No, this wasn't possible. This couldn't happen.
Yet when his gaze locked on mine, he spoke the same word. Steady. Certain.
"Mate."
The ground tilted beneath me.
I shook my head, stumbling back a step, my hands trembling. "No," I whispered, though my voice barely carried. "That's… that's not possible."
But the truth was written in every inch of me. The bond didn't lie. I could feel it in my blood, my bones, my very soul. Two pulls. Two Alphas. Both mine.
The forest held its breath as the two men faced each other, their power crackling in the air. I could feel it—like lightning ready to strike, like fire and ice colliding.
Alpha Kael's lips curled into a snarl. "She's mine."
The other Alpha, Darius—I recognized him now, Alpha of the neighboring pack—stepped forward, his voice like steel. "The bond says otherwise. She belongs to me."
Belongs. The word burned.
I wanted to scream that I wasn't a thing to be claimed, but my throat was too tight, my thoughts too tangled. My body trembled with the weight of two bonds pulling me apart.
This wasn't a blessing. It was a curse.
The Moon Goddess had given me two mates.
And as the Alphas' growls echoed through the night, their eyes locked in a deadly challenge, I realized something terrifying.
They would never let me go. Not willingly.
And I… I might not survive being chosen.