MOONSCAR

The night the bond found me

The forest shouldn’t have been that quiet.

It wasn’t the gentle kind of silence that settles after rain or the sleepy hush before dawn. No—this silence felt wrong. It felt alert, like the trees were holding their breath and the shadows were waiting for something to move, something to break, something to bleed.

I should have turned back the moment I sensed it.

But fate has a sick sense of humor, and I’ve never been particularly good at listening to warnings—especially the kind whispered by the wind.

I had just finished my final patrol of the night, boots muddy and muscles sore, when the air shifted. It wasn’t a sound. It wasn’t a scent. It was something deeper, like pressure inside my bones. A pull—sharp, sudden, merciless.

My wolf jolted awake so violently my breath punched out of me.

Mate.

The word slammed into my skull, not spoken, not thought—known.

I froze. The moon overhead seemed to pulse, its light thickening, tilting the world on its axis. My lungs felt too tight, like I’d swallowed ice. My heart hammered against my ribs as if trying to break free.

“No,” I whispered to the empty trees. “Not now. Not like this.”

Because if the stories were true—

If fate was cruel enough to bind me to who I suspected—

my life wasn’t going to end quietly.

The silence deepened. Something moved beyond the treeline. Not a deer. Not a wolf on patrol. The energy was different—dense, heavy, ancient. My skin prickled as footsteps approached, slow and deliberate, crushing leaves that suddenly sounded too loud.

My wolf’s ears perked.

Her heartbeat matched mine.

She whispered it again:

Mate…

I took a step back.

Then he stepped out of the shadows.

Kael Draven.

And the world cracked.

He was taller than I remembered—broad shoulders wrapped in black tactical gear, dark hair tousled as if the wind was afraid to touch him. His face looked carved from cold stone, all sharp angles and shadows. But his eyes… gods, his eyes.

Silver.

Unnatural.

Burning like lightning trapped in a storm.

The cursed Alpha.

The monster of the northern exile.

My mate.

My mouth went dry. Every instinct screamed to run, but my legs refused. I felt the bond snap between us—a tether of raw pain and electricity, threading from my ribs to his.

Kael inhaled sharply.

He knew.

He felt it too.

I expected him to roar, or grab me, or lose control like the rumors said he always did.

But he didn’t.

He just stood there, breathing hard, staring at me like he’d waited centuries for this moment and had no idea what to do now that it was here.

“Say something,” I whispered. My voice sounded too fragile, like it wasn’t mine.

His lips parted, but for a long, agonizing second no sound came out. His jaw clenched. His hands curled into fists.

Then, in a voice roughened by darkness and things unspoken, he breathed:

“Mine.”

The word hit me like a physical strike. My knees nearly buckled. My wolf howled so loud inside me it hurt.

I shook my head desperately. “No. No, this can’t—this isn’t—”

Kael took a single step forward.

I stumbled back.

“Don’t,” I warned. “Don’t come closer.”

His eyes flickered with something dangerous, something almost broken. “You feel it,” he said quietly. “Stop pretending you don’t.”

I did feel it. It was ripping me apart.

The stories of Kael Draven weren’t bedtime tales—they were nightmares. The exile. The bodies. The curse that supposedly infected his bloodline. The darkness he brought back with him that made even the Elders flinch.

He was the last wolf on earth I could be mated to.

“I don’t want this,” I whispered.

He flinched as if I’d struck him.

For a moment, he looked… human. Hurt. But the expression was gone before I could be sure I really saw it.

“You don’t have a choice,” Kael said, voice low. “Neither do I.”

A cold gust swept through the clearing. The moon shifted behind a cloud. Kael dragged a hand through his hair, breathing hard like he was fighting an invisible force.

“Go,” he rasped. “Before I lose the little control I have left.”

That terrified me more than anything.

I turned and ran.

Branches snapped under my feet. The forest blurred. My lungs burned, but I didn’t stop until the cabins came into view. I slammed my door shut and pressed my back against it, shaking.

My wolf whimpered. Mate… go back… mate…

“Shut up,” I whispered harshly. “You don’t know what he is.”

But the truth was, I did.

Kael Draven wasn’t just an Alpha.

He was the cursed heir of a dying bloodline.

He was fate’s cruelty wrapped in flesh.

He was everything the Moon Goddess should have protected me from.

So why did she bind my soul to his?

Why did my heart ache like it recognized him?

Why did my body still tremble where his gaze had touched it?

I slid down the door until I hit the floor, burying my face in my hands.

Because deep down, beneath my fear—