Blood Moon Oath

Lena woke slowly, like she was swimming up through heavy water.Warmth surrounded her. Not the sticky, suffocating kind — a steady, even heat that made her muscles loosen one by one as awareness crept back in.The first thing she noticed was the quiet.No traffic. No humming fridge. No neighbors arguing through thin apartment walls.Just wind through trees… and a faint crackling sound.Fire.Her eyes opened.Wooden beams crossed the ceiling above her. Sunlight filtered through tall windows, landing in golden stripes across a wide room built from stone and logs. A fire burned low in a massive hearth across from where she lay on a couch covered in thick blankets.For a moment, she just stared.Then memory crashed in.Red moon. Wolves. Teeth. Eyes.The man.She bolted upright.Pain didn’t stab — it bloomed. A deep, full-body soreness like she’d run a marathon she didn’t remember starting. Her senses felt… loud. The fire snapped too sharply. The air carried layers of scent she couldn’t na

The pack house was quieter that evening.Most of the wolves were out on patrol, leaving the large common room bathed in low firelight and the golden glow of sunset through the tall windows. Lena sat cross-legged on the wide rug near the hearth, a mug of something herbal and unfamiliar warming her hands.She could hear Kael moving in the kitchen behind her — steady, unhurried sounds. A knife against a cutting board. A cabinet closing. The domestic normalcy of it clashed so hard with alpha werewolf that it almost made her smile.“You cook?” she called.“I can,” he replied. “Leadership doesn’t exempt me from basic survival.”She glanced over her shoulder. “You say that like you’ve had to prove it.”A pause. Then, “Alphas who think they’re above their pack don’t stay alphas long.”There was history in that sentence. Heavy, old history.He brought over a bowl and sat across from her instead of beside her — leaving space. Always giving her space.She noticed.“What happens now?” she asked q

The warning howl tore through the trees just after sunset.Not a training call. Not a patrol signal.Alarm.Lena felt it before she understood it — her body snapping alert, heart slamming hard enough to hurt. Conversations in the pack house died mid-word. Chairs scraped. Boots pounded against wood floors.Kael was already moving.“Inside. Now,” he ordered, voice carrying command that brooked no argument.“I’m not hiding,” Lena shot back, adrenaline buzzing through her veins like live wire.His eyes flashed — not anger. Fear. “You’re not ready.”A second howl cut through the air, closer this time. Answered by another.Ronan came down the stairs fast. “North ridge. At least five.”Kael swore under his breath. “They’re testing us.”“They’re hunting,” Ronan corrected grimly.Lena stepped forward. “Tell me what to do.”Both men turned to her.“Stay with me,” Kael said immediately.“Stay where you can see everything,” Ronan said at the same time.They glared at each other.Lena threw her ha