Kiera's POV
I ran.
That intoxicating scent wrapped around me like invisible chains, pulling me deeper into the Lunar Grounds even as my mind screamed to hide. Pine and rain and something wild that made my wolf howl with desperate recognition.
No. I wouldn't do this again. Wouldn't let another bond destroy me.
I'd spent the entire day hiding in a small cave near the forest edge, waiting for moonrise when the Hunt officially began. My plan was simple: stay hidden, avoid everyone, survive three nights, accept exile.
But the moment that blood-red moon rose over the treetops and bathed the forest in crimson light, everything changed.
That scent found me.
Now dozens of masked wolves prowled through the ancient trees, searching for their mates. I could hear them calling to each other, howls echoing through the darkness. Some sounded excited. Others desperate. A few carried an edge of danger that made my skin prickle.
I pressed myself against a massive oak tree, trying to control my breathing. The scent-masking herbs Lyra gave me should have hidden me. Should have made me invisible to everyone except my true mate.
Except my true mate was exactly who I was running from.
The pine-and-rain scent grew stronger, closer. Whoever he was, he was tracking me with terrifying precision.
My wolf clawed at my insides, begging me to stop running. To turn around and face him. To accept what the Moon Goddess offered.
But my wolf was an idiot who'd already led me into three disastrous bonds.
I shifted into wolf form, letting my silver-gray fur blend with the shadows. In this shape, I was faster, harder to catch. I could run all night if I had to.
A branch snapped somewhere behind me.
I bolted.
Trees blurred past as I raced through the forest, my paws barely touching the ground. The Lunar Grounds felt alive tonight, magic thrumming through every leaf and stone. The blood moon's light turned everything red and strange.
Behind me, something massive crashed through the undergrowth.
I risked a glance backward and my heart nearly stopped.
A wolf pursued me. But not just any wolf—the largest I'd ever seen. His fur was midnight black, so dark he seemed to absorb the moonlight itself. Even from this distance, I could see the scars crisscrossing his massive body, telling stories of battles survived.
And his eyes. Moon Goddess, his eyes glowed silver in the darkness, locked onto me with absolute focus.
Terror and something dangerously close to excitement flooded through me.
I ran faster.
He matched my pace effortlessly, his powerful legs eating up the distance between us. He was hunting me, and he was very, very good at it.
My Oracle visions suddenly slammed into me without warning.
Winter-storm eyes staring into mine. Scarred hands, gentle despite their roughness. A bond that burned hotter than anything I'd ever felt, consuming and terrifying and absolutely real.
Pain lanced through my skull as the vision released me. I stumbled, my wolf form flickering.
No, not now. I couldn't lose control now.
I pushed myself harder, weaving between trees, leaping over fallen logs, desperately trying to lose him. But that intoxicating scent followed me everywhere, growing stronger with each passing second.
He was getting closer.
My lungs burned. My legs screamed. I'd been running for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes.
A howl split the night, so close it made my fur stand on end. Not just any howl—a claiming call. Ancient and primal and absolutely certain.
Mine, it said. You're mine.
My wolf wanted to howl back. Wanted to stop running and let him catch us.
I forced myself to keep going.
The forest opened into a moonlit clearing, and I made a critical mistake. I glanced backward again to see how close he was.
My front paw caught on a hidden root.
I tumbled forward, my wolf form dissolving as I hit the ground hard. Pain exploded through my shoulder as I rolled across the grass, coming to a stop on my back, gasping for air.
Before I could move, a massive shadow loomed over me.
The black wolf stood there, even more terrifying up close. His silver eyes pinned me in place, intelligent and fierce and somehow knowing. Scars marked his muzzle and shoulders, white lines against dark fur.
He was magnificent and deadly, and I couldn't look away.
Then he shifted.
The transformation was fluid and powerful, fur melting into skin, four legs becoming two. Within seconds, a man stood over me instead of a wolf.
And Moon Goddess help me, he was beautiful in the most dangerous way possible.
Tall and powerfully built, with shaggy dark hair that fell past his shoulders. Scars covered his bare chest and arms, some old and faded, others newer. A particularly vicious one cut through his left eyebrow, giving him a permanent dangerous look.
But it was his eyes that held me captive. Winter-storm gray, gleaming with intelligence and something that looked like triumph.
And on his shoulder, barely visible in the moonlight, were exile brands. The marks burned into wolves who'd been cast out from their pack.
My heart thundered against my ribs. Who was this male?
He crouched down, moving with predatory grace, his eyes never leaving mine. A slight smile played at his lips, more satisfied than kind.
"Found you, mate," he said, his voice a deep rumble that vibrated through my bones.
I scrambled backward, my silver mask askew, my breathing ragged. "Stay away from me."
"Can't do that." He tilted his head, studying me like I was a puzzle he intended to solve. "I've been searching for you for five years. Now that I've found you, I'm not letting you go."
"You don't even know who I am!"
"I know your scent. I know the bond." His eyes flashed silver-gold—the mark of a true mate bond snapping into place. "I know you're mine."
"I'm not yours. I'm not anyone's!" My voice cracked with desperation and old pain. "I've been claimed and thrown away three times. I'm done with bonds and mates and Alphas who—"
I stopped abruptly as realization crashed over me.
Those exile brands on his shoulder. That massive size. Those scars that told of brutal battles. The way even his human form radiated barely controlled power.
"You're an Alpha," I whispered, horror flooding through me.
His expression darkened. "Was an Alpha. They stripped that from me years ago."
"Who are you?"
He reached up slowly, giving me time to see the movement, and removed his own mask. The blood moon painted his scarred face in shades of red and shadow, making him look like something from a nightmare.
Or a dark fairy tale.
"Thorne Ravenclaw," he said quietly. "The mad exile. The dangerous one. The wolf even other Alphas fear." His winter-storm eyes bored into mine. "And whether you like it or not, little Oracle, I'm your fated mate."
My blood turned to ice.
Thorne Ravenclaw. The firstborn son who should have been Alpha of Silvercrest. The one they said went feral and had to be cast out for the pack's safety. The one parents warned their children about in scary stories.
The most dangerous wolf in the entire territory.
And the Moon Goddess had made him my mate.
I opened my mouth to scream, to run, to do something.
But three more howls suddenly tore through the night, converging on our location from different directions. I knew those voices. Had heard them whisper love and promises before destroying me.
Thorne's expression turned murderous as he scented the air.
"Your former Alphas," he growled, moving to stand between me and the approaching wolves. "They're hunting you."
Before I could respond, three massive wolves burst into the clearing.
Damon, with his golden-brown fur and Alpha presence.
Cade, slightly smaller but still deadly, his eyes wild with obsession.
And Ryker, dark gray and calculating, his gaze locked onto me like I was prey.
All three shifted to human form, standing naked and unashamed around the clearing's edge.
"Step away from her, Ravenclaw," Damon commanded, his voice carrying Alpha authority. "She's mine."
"She was mine first," Cade snarled.
"She belongs with me," Ryker said coldly. "The Nightshade pack can protect her."
Thorne's laugh was sharp and cruel. "You rejected her. All three of you. Can't reclaim what you threw away."
The three Alphas moved closer, circling like predators.
And I was trapped in the middle, with four dangerous males fighting over me like I was a prize to be won.
My worst nightmare was coming true.