MICHAEL'S POV
Her skin under my hands. The sound of her breath catching. The way her voice shook when she said she loved me, a confession I never earned.
And then my own words, cruel as a blade.
I reject you, Selene of Bloodfang.
Her eyes went wide, first shock, then pain so deep it made her stumble. She ran, half-dressed, tears streaming. I let her go. Told myself it was the right thing.
But that night, I felt the bond tear. I felt the hole she left behind.
Even now, years later, I woke finding a lump in my throat.
When I woke up, sweat dropping down my skin, my hands shook. The moonlight seeping through the crack by the window reminded me of the hurt I had caused her.
"Enough," I muttered to no one in particular.
"It was supposed to fade." I continued in the empty room.
But it never did.
I dressed up fast and left my chambers, boots echoing through the stone halls. The guards bowed as I walked passed, but no one dared to look me in the eyes. They knew better. I was the Alpha King, and I ruled enough wolves to make other Alphas nervous.
The healer's chamber sat at the end of the hall, always smelling of herbs and smoke. Old Hiram hunched over his table, grinding something in a bowl.
He didn't turn. "You've seen her again."
His voice was too calm. It pissed me off.
I stopped short. "How..."
He finally looked up, those white eyes catching the candlelight. "You smell of old bonds, my lord. They get louder with every moon."
"So tell me what it means. Why do I keep seeing her? Reliving that night?" I requested, clenching my jaw.
Hiram's smile was thin, not warm, just knowing. "Dreams are the moon's way of balancing out the lies we tell ourselves. You turned away what was yours. The bond remembers what your pride threw away."
"No more riddles. Just tell me." I yelled, slamming my hands on the table.
He didn't even blink. He pinched some crushed herbs, dropped them into water, and muttered something low. The surface shimmered, then flickered... trees, fog, a flash of pale hair.
"She walks the forest still," Hiram whispered. "She's not alone. There's a child with her, five winters old, maybe more. The boy has royal blood. The blood of kings."
My stomach twisted up. "What are you saying?"
The healer fixed her gaze on me, sharp, even though her eyes looked clouded over. "The moon never forgets what it owes. You turned your back on your mate, but destiny's grip doesn't just let go. The woman haunting your dreams is alive, and the bloodline you tried to erase isn't gone."
Her words hit hard, heavy as stones.
A child.
A child.
No. It couldn't be.
"Selene couldn't have..." I cut myself off. I'd walked away before the bond really took hold. Still, what if the moon had its own plans?
My mind flashed back to her tears, the way her hand shook as she stared at me with her tear-filled face. I thought she was in pain. Maybe it was something else.
"What exactly did you see?" My voice came out rough.
Hiram's eyes grew distant again. "A woman moving through the mist, wild and burning with fever. A boy clutching her hand. His scent blazes brighter than sunlight. He carries the strength of two Alphas, fused in one soul. The forest hides them, but not forever."
I stood there, stuck in place. Rain battered the windows, filling up the silence.
After a while, I managed, "If she's alive... I have to know."
"Is it her you're looking for," the healer said quietly, "or are you just trying to forgive yourself?"
I didn't answer.
I just turned and walked out, heart beating with fear. And something much worse.
Longing.
Out in the courtyard, my Beta waited, stern-faced, tense the second he saw me.
"Ronan," I said, my voice low. "Send a patrol. North of Bloodfang. Leave nothing unchecked, every clearing, every old den, every ruin. Find a woman and a child."
He hesitated. "A woman, my lord?"
"Yes." I met his eyes. My voice left no room. "If she's alive, I want her found."
"And if she isn't?"
I looked up. The moon was staring down, cold and merciless above the clouds.
"Then bring me proof."
Ronan bowed and hurried off. I stayed rooted in the spot. I stared at the huge castle wall and wondered about the forest that lay there. How has she survived all these years in the forest?
The moon reflected on my hands, and I stared at it, my heart beating loudly so that I could hear it. And I heard another heartbeat.
Her heartbeat.
Selene was out there, breathing somewhere under that same sky. And if she had a child... my child, royal blood and all, then everything I'd tried to bury was about to claw its way back to the surface.
The days just flew past me, each day coming with a wave of disappointment.
A whole week had crawled by since I had sent my men into the forest. Seven nights since the healer's words had sunk deep on a woman out there, carrying a child with royal blood. I pictured it too clearly. Sometimes I even caught myself listening for her laugh, like it might echo out of nowhere. But every patrol came back empty.
By the sixth day, even Ronan started looking at me differently, that pitying look that makes you want to punch a wall or just disappear.
"My lord," he told me that morning, "there's nothing past the northern ridges. We've checked the ruins, the caves, every riverbank. If she was ever there, the forest swallowed her up."
I just nodded. What was left to say? That I still felt her heartbeat haunting my dreams? That every time I closed my eyes, I saw flashes of her plain dress, torn and snagged on branches, her eyes wide with terror?
No. I couldn't say any of that.