CHAPTER ONE: THE BLOOD MOON WAR

LENA'S POV

The forest was too quiet that morning. No wind, no birds, just the crunch of frozen leaves under my boots and the sound of my own heartbeat. Peace summits always start like this…too calm, and staged, like the world was holding its breath for another disaster.

I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to see them…the Ironclaw wolves. My father’s enemies. My brother’s killers.

But here I was, wrapped in my worn leather jacket, walking behind my father and the rest of Moonfang’s warriors toward the open clearing where the meeting would happen. The sun was weak, barely breaking through the mist. Every breath left a puff of white smoke in the cold air.

“Keep your head down and your mouth shut,” my father muttered beside me. His tone was calm, but the warning underneath it was clear. “No sudden moves. No opinions.”

I bit back the words that wanted to jump out of my mouth. You dragged me here, remember? But I said nothing. Not because I agreed, but because I was tired of fighting him before the fight even began.

I glanced around at the clearing ahead. It looked harmless enough, a flat stretch of land with a big stone in the middle, carved with the old marks of our kind. But the tension was heavy, thicker than the fog itself. 

And on the opposite side of the clearing, I saw them. Ironclaw.

They stood in formation; dark clothes, silver armbands, tall, broad-shouldered men with eyes like predators. Every single one of them screamed control and danger.

Then I saw him.

Adrian Holt. Alpha of Ironclaw.

I had heard stories about him all my life. The ruthless Alpha who burned villages, who killed without blinking. The man who wore his father’s death like armor. I expected him to look cruel, but not like this. He wasn’t shouting or posturing. He just stood there, still as stone, his gray eyes scanning the crowd. The kind of stillness that wasn’t calm, it was coiled and waiting.

Our gazes didn’t meet then. Not yet. But I felt something strange twist in my stomach.

“Welcome,” the Elder from the neutral lands announced, raising his hand. “Today, we gather under the moon’s promise of peace.”

I almost laughed. 

Peace. 

The word sounded like a joke. The last time someone tried peace, my brother came home in pieces.

Father stepped forward to speak. His voice carried, proud and clipped. “Moonfang honors the council’s wish for truce, though we do not forget the blood that was spilled.”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Adrian moved next, his voice low and steady, cutting through the noise. 

“Ironclaw doesn’t forget either. But we move forward, not back.”

I didn’t mean to look at him. I really didn’t. But something in that voice made me turn.

And then it happened.

Our eyes met.

It was like the ground dropped out from under me. Well not literally but within. My chest seized, heat flared through my body so sudden I gasped. The air itself changed, it became thick, electric, and somewhat alive. My vision blurred at the edges. Somewhere, I heard someone shout, but the sound came from far away.

Every instinct inside me screamed his name, even though I had never spoken it before. 

Mate.

Hell no!

My knees almost buckled. I forced myself to stand still, my fists clenching at my sides. His eyes widened, just slightly, but the shock there mirrored my own. I saw the same pain flicker across his face…the same disbelief.

Of all the people in this life, it has to be him. This couldn’t be happening.

This must be a nightmare.

The crowd stirred. My father’s scent spiked, his anger thick enough to choke on. “Lena,” he hissed under his breath. “Look away.”

But I couldn’t.

Adrian took one slow step forward. It wasn’t a threat, but it felt like one. Like a promise. The bond pulsed between us, invisible but real, tugging me toward him.

“Stop,” I whispered, though I didn’t know if I was talking to him or myself.

He stopped a few feet away, his expression was unreadable, but his voice carried clearly through the clearing. “You feel it too.”

That single sentence broke the fragile quiet.

Growls erupted on both sides. Warriors drew closer. Someone shouted that it was a trap. The Moonfang guards surrounded me before I could even move.

“Step back!” Father’s voice thundered, loud and full of Alpha command.

Adrian’s men tensed, their eyes glowing silver. I could feel the pressure of his power even from across the space between us. Every heartbeat hurt. The bond was too strong, and too sudden.

“This meeting is over,” the Elder tried to say, but no one was listening anymore.

I tried to breathe. The scent of pine, metal, and smoke filled my lungs. My heart pounded so loud it drowned out everything else.

I could still feel him. The warmth of his power. The sound of his heartbeat, somehow syncing with mine.

“Get her out of here,” Father snapped. Two warriors grabbed my arms, but I shrugged them off, glaring at him. “Don’t touch me!”

“Lena—”

“I didn’t choose this!” My voice broke, louder than I meant it to be. “I didn’t ask for this thing!”

But the bond didn’t care. It burned brighter, wild and defiant, as if mocking me for fighting it. I could still see Adrian standing there, watching silently. The whole world could have ended right then, and it would have felt the same…quiet and terrifying and absolute.

For one insane second, I thought he might fight for me. That he might cross the clearing and claim what the bond had tied between us. But then his jaw tightened, and he turned away.

The pull between us snapped back hard enough to make me stumble. My heart ached in a way that wasn’t physical.

Father was already shouting orders, rallying our men to retreat. I didn’t move. I just stood there, staring at Adrian’s back as he walked away, pretending like nothing had happened, like the bond wasn’t burning both of us alive.

When I finally turned to follow my pack, the world around me felt heavier. I could still feel him, somewhere in the back of my mind, like an uninvited visitor.

As the fog closed in around us, I looked back one last time. He was gone, swallowed by the mist and the noise of his people.

But I knew what I felt. I knew what had happened. And no matter how hard I tried to deny it, one truth stayed with me…that bond had been chosen for me.

And it chose wrong.