There's something enchantingly deceptive about the way peace settles before a storm.
Cassandra...Cassie to the few she still trusted...is curled on a velvet couch worn smooth by time and memories. The cottage, nestled deep in Moonshade Glen, smells of lavender oil, old tomes, and honeyed tea. Faint sunlight trickles through the lace curtains, and for a moment, the world is quiet. Still.
Safe.
She's lost in the folds of an old book...Legends of the Bloodbonded, a dusty volume about soul-linked pairs who shaped kingdoms and cast curses in the name of love. A fantasy, really. Or so she's always told herself.
Cassie tucks a lock of chestnut-brown hair behind her ear, her fingers toying absently with the frayed page. She's small-boned and gently curved, her features delicately sculpted, eyes the warm hazel of autumn leaves. Despite her serene surroundings, there's something restless in the way her toes curl into the couch cushion, as if her instincts already sense what her heart does not.
And then the door slams open.
"Cassie!" Abby's voice pierces the stillness like a blade.
Cassie jerks upright with a yelp, her book thudding to the wooden floor. "Abby?! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
The older woman storms in, breathless, windblown, and fierce, like some guardian spirit born of grey curls and sensible boots. There's power in her, old and subtle, woven into her bones like threads of starlight. She once served as handmaid to Luna Vivienne, Cassie's mother and now acts as nanny, protector, and matron of the cottage all in one.
"Get up. You need to leave. Now," Abby barks, already yanking open drawers and yanking scarves from hooks.
Cassie blinks. "Leave? Where...what? Why?!"
Abby turns, clutching her shoulders. Her palms are warm, but her eyes, goddess, her eyes are filled with sorrow and urgency. "He's ordered it. The Alpha. He's commanded Andrew to claim you. The soul bond must be fulfilled."
Cassie stares, stunned. "No. No, that bond is broken. He rejected me. The magic severed it, I felt it go!"
Abby nods grimly. "The bond frayed. But it didn't die. And now, the Alpha believes you're the key to preserving his bloodline. The High Moon Pack is waning. Their magic is thinning, and he believes only a true, blood-forged soul bond can restore it."
Cassie sinks down, the words crashing over her like cold water. "That's, that's old magic. Obsolete. Forbidden."
"So are plenty of things the Alpha still dabbles in."
Cassie wraps her arms around herself, trying to process the impossible. Soul bonds are ancient, sacred, and volatile, gifts of the Moon Goddess Herself. When rejected, the magic scars the bearer. Some never recover. But to forcibly revive one?
That was arcane heresy.
"The Council won't allow this," she says, though even her voice trembles with doubt.
"The Council is five territories away, and half of them owe the Alpha favours from before the Silver War. He doesn't fear them. He doesn't fear anything anymore." Abby kneels beside her, her voice softening. "He's unravelling, Cassie. Since Luna Celeste's death, the darkness in him has grown...ravenous. He's ruled by desperation and superstition."
Cassie presses a fist to her mouth, breathing hard. "Why now? After all this time?"
"Because the prophecy resurfaced," Abby says darkly. "The Seers saw a flame-born child bringing balance...or ruin...to the future of the packs. And your name lit up like a beacon in their scrying fire."
Cassie groans. "Prophecies. As if rejection trauma and cursed mating politics weren't enough."
"The Alpha is gambling on you to fix what his lineage broke. He believes if his son binds you, if you bear his heir, you'll channel the Moon's favour back to the pack."
Cassie's lip curls. "Andrew? The same Andrew who used to hex my shoes together and claim it was flirting? The same spoiled brat who cried when I beat him in spell craft exams? The same Andrew who rejected me and marked another?"
"That Andrew," Abby sighs. "The one with the emotional depths of a teaspoon."
Cassie snorts, despite herself. "So what's the plan? Flee into the woods like a heroine in a tragic ballad?"
"No," Abby says, voice low and calm now. "You go north. Beyond the river Vale. Past the Borderlands."
Cassie blinks. "Into rogue territory?"
Abby smiles faintly. "Not quite. There's a haven, Crescent Moon Pack. Hidden in the shadow of the Crystal Fang Mountains. There is a woman your mother once trusted with her life, friends and allies. Her people are free...mages, wolves, fae-bloods, and even some who serve the Goddess directly. She'll protect you."
Cassie exhales, eyes wide. "Why would she help me?"
"Because she remembers your mother. Because she remembers you. And because she's not one to let a mad Alpha rewrite fate."
Cassie's voice drops to a whisper. "Will you come with me?"
Abby's smile falters. "If I could, I'd carry you there myself. But the Alpha will watch us. If we all vanish, he'll hunt you faster. But if it's just you... we can stall him. John is already preparing the boundary wards. You leave at moonrise."
Cassie closes her eyes, tears slipping free. "He'll hurt you. He'll kill you."
Abby leans forward and presses a kiss to her forehead. "He might try. But I'd rather face his wrath than live knowing we let you be caged. This...you...are worth more than our lives."
Cassie rises slowly, the weight of legacy, love, and fear pressing into her spine. "What about this woman...at Crescent Moon Pack? Is she expecting me?"
Abby gives her a small, knowing smile. "She is. And... she's sending someone to escort you. One of her own trusted pack members."
Cassie raises an eyebrow. "Trusted, huh? Let me guess...tall, mysterious, annoyingly stoic?"
"Pretty eyes, too," Abby adds, grinning through her tears.
Cassie rolls her eyes. "Fantastic. I'm running for my life and walking straight into a fantasy novel cliché."
"Perhaps. But this time, it's your story, Cassie. And you're not just the runaway girl. You're the one fate is hunting... and fate doesn't chase anyone without reason."
Outside, the wind howls. The sun bleeds into the horizon. A raven cries overhead.
And Cassie knows her time is up.
She clutches Abby's hands once more, committing the lines of her face to memory, whispering a prayer to the Goddess under her breath, not for herself, but for the two people who raised her, loved her, and now must risk everything to set her free.
The Alpha made his move.
But he's not the only one willing to gamble everything.