Mag-log inFor several seconds, neither Alexander nor I moved.The footprints remained on the stone floor.Three muddy impressions.Then another.Then another.They stopped directly behind me.I could feel Alexander's hand close around mine.“Don't turn around quickly,” he whispered.My heart hammered.“Why?”“Because if someone wants you frightened, they may be waiting for exactly that.”I swallowed.The room suddenly felt too small.I slowly turned.Nothing.Only the empty corridor beyond the doorway.The candle beside the bed flickered.“There's no one there,” I whispered.Alexander stepped past me.His eyes moved across every shadow.“Lucien!”His voice echoed through the corridor.Footsteps answered from the far end.Lucien appeared moments later with two guards behind him.“What happened?”Alexander pointed toward the floor.Lucien stared.His expression changed.“I saw those.”“Where?”“Outside the northern wall.”My stomach tightened.“The same footprints?”Lucien nodded.“But they stopp
The next morning, I woke with a name in my mouth.I did not know whose name it was.I only knew that when I whispered it, Alexander woke.“Amelia?”I sat upright.The room was still dark.My heart was beating too quickly.“What did you say?”I looked at him.“I don't know.”“You said a name.”“What name?”He studied me.“Elias.”The word meant nothing to me.Yet the moment he said it, my bracelet became warm.Not burning.Recognizing.I looked down.The black crescent had faded slightly.That frightened me more than its darkness had.“Do you know an Elias?”Alexander shook his head.“No.”“Are you sure?”“Yes.”I searched his face.There was no hesitation.For once, there was no hidden answer behind his eyes.Just confusion.A soft knock interrupted us.Sera entered.She stopped when she saw my bracelet.“It changed.”I nodded.“It happened when Alexander said a name.”“What name?”“Elias.”Sera went completely still.I noticed.“You know him.”She looked toward the doorway.“Not him.
The door disappeared, but the feeling it left behind did not.For the rest of the morning, I could feel that ancient heartbeat beneath Moonfang.Slow.Patient.Waiting.I tried to ignore it.I failed.By midday, Alexander found me sitting alone on the balcony outside the old library.I was staring at the mountains.“You've been here for an hour,” he said.I didn't turn around.“How do you know?”“I've been looking for you for forty minutes.”I smiled faintly.“So you were counting?”“I was worried.”I finally looked at him.He was standing in the doorway with two cups in his hands.“You brought tea.”“Peace offering.”“For what?”“For disappearing earlier.”I accepted the cup.“You apologized yesterday.”“I know.”“And today?”“Today I'm practicing.”I laughed softly.He sat beside me.For a while, neither of us spoke.The wind moved through my hair.Alexander reached over and gently tucked a strand behind my ear.“You're thinking about the door.”“Yes.”“About the voice?”“Yes.”“Abo
Morning came quietly to Moonfang.Too quietly.I woke before sunrise with the strange feeling that someone had been standing beside my bed.I opened my eyes.There was no one there.Only pale moonlight slipping through the curtains and Alexander asleep in the chair near the window.He had refused to leave my room after the bracelet burned the night before.Apparently, he had decided that sitting upright in a wooden chair for hours was an acceptable form of protection.I smiled despite myself.“You're terrible at sleeping,” I whispered.His eyes opened immediately.“I wasn't sleeping.”“You were.”“I was resting my eyes.”“While snoring?”His expression became offended.“I do not snore.”“You absolutely do.”He stared at me for a moment.Then a slow smile appeared.“You've been awake for thirty seconds, and you're already insulting me.”“I missed you.”His smile softened.“I was right here.”“I know.”I sat up.For a few peaceful seconds, neither of us mentioned the letter.The silence
I did not follow Alexander immediately.For several seconds, I stood beneath Moonfang's cold moonlight, watching his silhouette disappear beyond the stone archway.The letter was still in his hand.And somehow, that small piece of paper felt heavier than everything I had carried into this place.My fingers tightened around the bracelet on my wrist.The black crescent beneath the silver surface seemed darker than before.He is hiding something.I hated the whisper.Not because it frightened me.Because some part of me was afraid it might be telling the truth.I found Alexander in the old courtyard behind the eastern tower.He was standing beside a dry fountain, his back toward me.For a moment, I simply watched him.His shoulders were tense.His injured side was still slightly stiff from the attack in the forest, though he tried to hide it whenever I looked.That was Alexander.He could stand in front of an army without blinking.But when he was afraid for me, he became quieter.I step
We rode through the night.Nobody complained.Nobody asked to stop.Even the horses seemed to understand we couldn't afford to slow down.Alexander rode beside me, one hand pressed against the wound across his chest.Every few minutes, I looked at him.Every few minutes, he caught me looking."I'm fine," he said."You keep saying that.""Because it's true.""Then stop bleeding."He smiled."I'll see what I can do."I tried to smile back.I couldn't.Something had changed since the forest.The black mark on my bracelet remained.Small.Almost invisible.But I could feel it.Every heartbeat.Every breath.It reminded me that the first Alpha was still somewhere out there.Watching.Waiting.Near dawn, we stopped beside an abandoned stone house.Lucien inspected the area."Nothing."Alexander dismounted.His knees almost gave way.I caught him."You are not fine."He sighed."I suppose that's settled."I helped him inside.My mother followed."We need to clean that wound.""I can do it."







