The Luna In The Wild

The moon sat high and full, watching her like an ancient guardian. Its silver glow bathed the strange land beneath her paws, and every step Diva took away from the territory she’d once called home pulled something from deep within her—a layer of pain, of confusion, of everything she couldn’t speak aloud in front of pack eyes.

Her wolf form moved quietly through the thick forest, muscles flexing beneath her white pelt. Each breath she drew into her lungs was different from the one before. The air here was sharper. Wilder. Unclaimed in ways that thrilled her bones. Gone were the suffocating walls of the Alpha’s mansion. Gone was Derek’s scent that clung to her skin no matter how far she ran. Here, it was just her and Aeris—together, raw, and finally free.

“We’re getting closer to something,” Aeris murmured inside her, voice low and certain.

Diva didn’t respond. She just listened—to the ground beneath her, to the wind weaving through the branches, and to the pulse inside her chest that no longer beat for anyone else but herself.

She slowed as a sharp scent struck her nose—wolf, but not pack. Not one she recognized. It was faint, old, unprotected. Territory, maybe. But barely.

Her paws stilled at the edge of the border.

She dipped her head, tail lowered just enough to show respect to the scent markers, but not submission. Diva wasn’t here to challenge. She wasn’t here to claim. She just needed space to breathe, to shift without judgment, to remember who the hell she was before everything went to ashes.

As she padded through a small break in the trees, her nose twitched. Blood. And fear.

Diva’s ears shot up, her entire body going still.

She crept forward, steps silent.

The clearing opened like a wound in the forest—and what she saw turned her stomach.

Three young wolves—cocky, lean, their scents reeking of arrogance—had cornered a pup. A tiny thing, barely out of weaning, his russet fur clumped with mud and smeared with blood. One of them shoved him with a paw, another chuckled low in his throat.

“Should’ve been left in the den,” one sneered. “He’s too weak to run with us.”

Before they could touch him again, a snarl tore from Diva’s throat like a lightning strike.

She charged, her massive form exploding from the shadows, fur bristling like snow-capped fire. The air itself trembled as her fangs bared and she stood between the bullies and the pup like a storm incarnate.

The three wolves froze.

She didn’t need words. Her presence screamed Alpha. Not of title, but of essence.

The gray one with the scar squared his shoulders. Fool.

“This isn’t your business, she-wolf,” he snapped, though his tail dipped unconsciously.

Diva took one step closer and let the growl rise again, deeper this time—ancient and furious.

The three backed off, paws scrambling over roots and leaves as they fled into the woods, whimpers echoing behind them.

Silence fell again.

The pup lay where he’d been struck down, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

Diva shifted.

Bones cracked, fur retreated, and in a breath, she stood over him in her human skin, bare but unbothered, the night wrapping around her like a cloak. She knelt beside him, eyes soft now, hands steady.

“You’re safe, little one.”

The pup whimpered again, trying to push himself up, but his leg bent wrong beneath him.

“Shh,” she whispered, pressing a hand to his flank. “Lie still.”

The injury wasn’t deep, but it was angry. She scanned the edge of the clearing, nose catching familiar herbs tucked between weeds.

She worked quickly—gathering feverleaf and moonroot, crushing them between her palms, mixing them with water from her pouch. The scent of healing filled the clearing as she rubbed the salve gently over his leg.

He winced but didn’t cry out.

“You’re brave,” she said, voice low and proud. “That’s more than they’ll ever be.”

He blinked up at her with wide, watery eyes. “Who are you?”

“Diva,” she answered simply, brushing his ears back. “Just a rogue passing through.”

“I’m Arin,” he mumbled. “They said I was useless.”

Her jaw clenched. “Then they’ve never seen a wolf survive on his own. You’re not useless, Arin. You’re a survivor. That makes you dangerous—and powerful.”

He stared at her like she was made of moonlight.

“Will you stay?”

Diva hesitated. The woods behind her still called. Her path wasn’t done. But the way he curled closer to her, trust already blooming between them, tugged at something deep inside her chest.

“I’ll stay tonight,” she murmured. “Just tonight.”

She shifted again, lying beside him in wolf form. Her thick fur wrapped around him like a shield. He tucked into her side, his breathing slowing.

As he drifted off, Diva stayed awake—ears twitching, eyes fixed on the trees.

She didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. She didn’t know where her true mate was, or if Derek’s bond would ever loosen its grip on her heart.

But tonight, beneath the moon and the stars, with a pup pressed to her side and her instincts burning bright again, she wasn’t lost.

She was becoming herself.

And somewhere out there, fate was circling closer.

Closer than she knew.