Episode 1: fourth mate

The moon hung low and heavy in the sky, glowing a deep, angry red—like a wound that refused to heal. The forest beneath it was thick, wild, and full of secrets. Everything was silent except for the faint rustling of leaves in the cold night air. It was the kind of silence that made the skin crawl, that made even the trees seem to hold their breath.

May pressed her back against the rough bark of an ancient oak, the chill of the night seeping through her clothes. She could feel the damp earth beneath her fingers, smell the sharp scent of pine and moss, and hear her own heartbeat pounding like a drum in her chest. But she wasn’t scared. No. Not really.

She had learned long ago how to survive fear.

For years, the Bloodfang Pack had lived under a dark shadow. A curse so cruel and bitter that it haunted the souls of every Alpha and Luna who dared to claim the ancient mate bond. It was whispered in trembling voices around flickering campfires. It was written in the scars of the pack’s history. The curse had taken every Luna who had ever belonged to an Alpha Bloodfang—each one dying before the blood moon completed its cycle. Every single time.

And now, May was about to face it.

She wasn’t supposed to be here. Not after what her own tribe had done to her. Not after the way they looked at her like she was poison. But she had no choice. She was the fourth mate. The one everyone said would never survive.

May’s amber eyes flicked through the shadows, sharp and watchful. The forest around her was alive with secrets. She could feel the pull of the land, the ancient magic that hummed beneath the ground like a heartbeat. She had been drawn here, marked by the Moon Goddess herself during a rare blood eclipse. The same mark that had cursed her family for generations.

Her wolf stirred inside her, a fierce presence that answered the call of the moon. It whispered of power and pain, of love and death. It was wild and untamed—just like her.

Suddenly, a faint sound cut through the silence: footsteps. Slow. Heavy. Deliberate.

May’s breath caught in her throat.

Alpha Bran was coming.

The man who ruled the Bloodfang Pack. The Alpha who bore the weight of the curse on his broad shoulders. The one who had lost three Lunas before her.

No Luna had ever survived more than one moon with Bran.

She could smell him before she saw him—a raw, powerful scent that mixed musk, earth, and something darker. He stepped out from the shadows like a force of nature, tall and fierce. His wolf-shifted form shimmered under the blood moon, muscles rippling beneath thick black fur. His eyes were ice blue—cold, hard, and full of battle scars that told stories of pain and loss.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Bran said, his voice low and rough like gravel scraping stone. “No Luna survives Bloodfang. Especially not one who comes looking for me.”

May stood slowly, her gaze never wavering. She felt the bond stir between them, ancient and wild, pulling tight like a chain made of fire and ice.

“I’m not like the others,” she said, her voice steady and strong despite the storm raging inside her. “I won’t die.”

Bran’s face twisted with a mixture of disbelief and anger. “They all said that,” he growled, “and they all failed. The curse will consume you, just like it did them.”

May’s lips curled into a defiant smile. “The curse has power,” she said quietly, “but so do I. This ends with me.”

The tension between them was electric, thick enough to cut with a blade. The Alpha’s wolf growled, muscles coiling as he took a step closer, his breath cold on May’s cheek.

“You think you can change fate?” Bran asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I know I can,” May replied. “Because I don’t just want to survive. I want to break your curse.”

For a moment, something like hope—or maybe fear—flashed in Bran’s eyes. The bond pulsed between them, fierce and wild.

May’s wolf howled deep inside her soul, answering the call of the Moon Goddess. This was no ordinary mate bond. This was the key to life and death itself.

And as the blood-red moon cast its eerie glow, two fated souls stood on the edge of a war that could decide the fate of the Bloodfang Pack—and maybe the entire world.

Because sometimes, to save a cursed Alpha, the Luna must become his anger

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