SELENE FLEE'S

Selene couldn’t stop shaking.

It had been days since she’d seen the broken ruin, but the memory felt fresh and raw.

Every night, she dreamed of those golden eyes.

Every morning, she woke in Mira’s spare bed, gasping, heart thudding like a drum.

The worst part wasn’t the fear.

It was the pull.

A steady, subtle ache low in her ribs.

As if someone had tied an invisible thread to her heart and tugged gently, insistently.

---

Mira noticed, of course.

The old healer was too sharp not to.

She watched Selene over her teacup every morning, eyes narrow as a hawk’s.

“You’re slipping,” she’d said this time, voice rough.

Selene hunched her shoulders. “I’m fine.”

Mira snorted. “Liar.”

Selene didn’t argue. She didn’t have the strength.

The village felt wrong now.

Too small. Too close.

Every glance from a passing wolf felt like a threat.

They could smell it on her.

They didn’t know the details, but they could tell something had changed.

She wasn’t one of them—but she wasn’t just human anymore either.

She was claimed.

---

Rowan, the acting Alpha, tried to hide it better than the others.

He visited Mira’s cottage one morning under the guise of checking on her stores.

He watched Selene carefully the whole time.

When Mira stepped outside to fetch water, he lowered his voice.

“She’s out there,” he warned.

Selene swallowed hard. “I know.”

His jaw tightened. “She wants you.”

“I know.”

Rowan’s eyes flashed wolfish for an instant. “We can’t protect you forever.”

Selene flinched.

He sighed.

“I don’t want blood in my village. Don’t make us choose sides.”

---

That night, Selene lay awake long after Mira slept.

The wind rattled the shutters.

A storm threatened again, distant thunder low and heavy.

She watched the embers die in the hearth and tried not to think of eyes in the dark.

Of Mate.

Of the way her chest tightened at the memory.

She pressed a hand to her ribs and felt her own heartbeat, ragged and uncertain.

She didn’t want this.

Did she?

She didn’t ask for this.

But part of her...

She closed her eyes tight, refusing the thought.

---

At dawn, she rose before Mira.

She packed quickly—just a small satchel with bread, cheese, and dried herbs.

She scrawled a note with shaking hands.

I’m sorry.

Then she slipped out the door.

The forest was cool and wet with dew.

Birdsong cut the silence in careful, measured trills.

Selene walked quickly at first, then faster.

She didn’t know where she was going.

Anywhere but here.

She wanted to outrun the bond.

Outrun the fear.

Outrun herself.

---

But the forest was ancient.

And it knew her now.

Paths twisted unexpectedly.

Old stones marked places she didn’t remember seeing.

Fog drifted in pale ribbons.

She stumbled more than once, catching herself on roots, breath ragged in the cold air.

Still, she didn’t stop.

Just keep going.

But after hours of walking, she realized she was lost.

Truly lost.

She sank to her knees on damp moss.

Hot tears stung her eyes.

She pressed her face to her hands.

“Please,” she whispered. “Just let me go.”

But the bond didn’t listen.

---

Somewhere behind her, a twig snapped.

She froze.

Very slowly, she lifted her head.

The forest was silent now.

Even the birds had gone quiet.

Selene wiped her tears with shaking fingers.

“Hello?”

No answer.

But she felt it.

Eyes on her.

Watching.

Waiting.

---

She scrambled up and ran.

Branches whipped at her arms and snagged her hair.

Her satchel bounced wildly at her side.

She didn’t care.

She just ran until her lungs burned and her vision blurred.

When she finally collapsed against a tree, gasping, she could feel it even more clearly.

That warm, heavy presence pressing at the edge of her mind.

Not words exactly.

But intention.

Stop running.

Selene shook her head violently.

“No!”

Her voice cracked.

She pushed away from the tree and forced herself onward, staggering more than running now.

Her boots squelched in mud.

She tripped again and fell hard, her palms sinking into cold, wet earth.

She sobbed, breath hitching.

Please.

---

Then, the forest seemed to fall utterly silent.

No wind.

No birds.

Nothing but her own rasping breaths.

Slowly, she lifted her head.

And saw her.

Luna stood twenty paces away.

Massive. Black-furred.

Golden eyes glow in the half-light like twin candles.

She didn’t growl.

Didn’t advance.

She just watched.

Head lowered. Ears angled forward.

Waiting.

---

Selene’s heart nearly stopped.

She pushed herself back against the tree trunk, shaking her head.

“Don’t. Don’t come any closer.”

Luna cocked her head slightly, as if curious.

Her tail flicked once, slow and deliberate.

She inhaled deeply, and Selene felt it.

A wave of warmth flooded her chest.

The bond tightened.

MINE.

Selene whimpered, “No.”

She scrambled to her feet and turned to run again.

But she knew even as she did it; it was useless.

---

She heard nothing behind her.

No crashing. No pursuit.

But she felt her.

Pacing her from the shadows.

Always there, always close.

When she finally collapsed near dusk, too exhausted to move, she lay curled on her side in wet leaves.

Her entire body trembled.

She could hear soft breathing nearby.

Low. Calm.

Watching her.

---

She didn’t have the strength to lift her head anymore.

She just whispered, voice cracking:

“Why me?”

The forest didn’t answer.

But inside her mind, warm and dark and certain, the bond did.

Mate.

She sobbed once.

And she gave up trying to flee.