Bound By The Moon's Curse

For generations, two packs ruled the wilds of Silvercrest; Moonfang in the frozen north, Ironclaw in the lowlands.They shared the same blood, the same goddess, the same moon that marked their kind.But the one thing they never shared was peace.No one remembers how the first war began. Some say it started with a stolen mate. Others swear it was land, or pride, or the madness that comes when wolves forget mercy. Whatever the reason, the fighting lasted centuries. Whole villages vanished under the smoke of it.The Moonfang wolves were hunters; stealthed, skilled and patient, born for the shadows. They fought like the wind, unseen until it was too late. The Ironclaw wolves were soldiers; trained, disciplined, and brutal. Their claws carried the scent of steel. When their armies clashed, the forest shook.The Blood Moon War, they called it.Every full moon painted the snow red.The goddess who created them watched in silence, her power fading as her children tore each other apart. The ba

ADRIAN'S POVThe peace summit was supposed to last an hour. It didn’t even make it past ten minutes.By the time I left that clearing, my hands were still shaking. I told myself it was rage. It wasn’t.The bond crawled under my skin, steady and unwanted, like a heartbeat that didn’t belong to me. Every few seconds, something foreign pushed through the link, her scent, her pulse, the feeling of her breath. It was driving me mad.“Alpha,” Kai called from behind me as we rode through the forest. “Do you want me to—”“Don’t,” I said. My voice came out rough. “Not now.”He fell silent. He knew when to stop.We reached the Ironclaw border by sundown. The others peeled away toward the fortress, but I stayed back for a moment. From where I sat, the mountains stretched for miles, dark and endless. The valley below was quiet. That silence had a history.Three years ago, my father stood right here, swearing peace under the same moon that had watched us spill blood for centuries. He’d gone to m

ADRIAN POVThe first explosion hit just after midnight.It rolled through the valley like thunder, deep and long, shaking the stone walls of the fortress. For a heartbeat, no one moved. Then chaos followed.“Alpha!” Kai burst through the door, breathless. “West wall’s been hit!”I was already grabbing my armour. “How bad?”“Smoke, fire and we can’t see the source. Scouts say it’s rogues.”“Rogues don’t use explosives.” I was halfway down the corridor before he could answer.The fortress was alive; alarms ringing, boots slamming against stone, wolves shouting orders over the noise. My heart was already in battle rhythm, cold and steady.“Get the outer patrols in,” I said. “No one fights alone.”“Yes, Alpha.” Kai jogged beside me, keeping pace. “Elder Silas wants you in the war room.”“Tell Silas he can wait.”We reached the main gate. Smoke was already seeping in through the cracks. The guards were pulling open the heavy doors, and the moment I stepped outside, the night air hit me,

ADRIAN POVThe world went white.One second there was fire and screaming; the next, nothing. And then light… it was so bright it burned through my eyes. Then, silence.When it faded, half the fortress was gone. Smoke rose in thin columns. The ground was littered with ash instead of bodies. Wolves that had been dead seconds ago dissolved into dust and vanished into the air.No one spoke and no one moved.Kai stood beside me, heaving heavily. “What the hell was that?”I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. Every instinct in me was screaming, but not about the fortress.The bond.It pulsed once, it was faint but steady. Then again, this time weaker.My heart clenched hard enough to hurt. “Lena.”Kai turned toward me. “What?”“She’s in trouble.”He shook his head, still dazed. “Adrian, we’ve got wounded wolves, half the walls are gone—”“She’s dying.”He froze. “You can’t and you know that.”“I can.”The bond wasn’t quiet anymore. It was fading away, slipping, like water through my hands. The stead

ELIAS CARTER POV“He what?!”The roar ripped out of me before I could stop it. Every head in the war room dropped.Rowan, my Beta, flinched but didn’t back down. “He took her, Alpha. Adrian Holt crossed the border himself. Our scouts saw him carrying her toward Ironclaw territory.”I stared at him. The words barely made sense. “And you’re sure?”“Yes.”The room filled with the smell of fear and smoke. The torches burned low, throwing light across the cracked map table. Outside, the courtyard still reeked of blood and ash from the battle.“My daughter,” I said slowly, “Was taken by him?”No one answered.Rowan tried again. “She was found on the eastern field after the explosion. By the time the soldiers reached her, Holt was already gone.”My hands curled into fists. “You let him walk into my land, take her, and leave?”“Alpha—”“Spare me the excuses!” My voice slammed against the walls. The echo sounded like thunder.One of the elders cleared his throat, trembling. “Perhaps he meant