HOWLING HEARTS

The morning broke quietly, the sun stretching golden fingers across the treetops outside the Hale cabin. Inside, it was a flurry of movement.

Jon Hale buckled the last strap on his chest armor, the leather creaking as he adjusted the fit. His black cloak lay folded on the table, and his weapons were freshly sharpened. Though it was just a patrol mission to the neighboring border near Stonefang Ridge, he treated every assignment with the seriousness of war. That's how their father raised him—prepared, alert, unshakable.

Veyra stood near the doorway, watching him with tight lips and folded arms. She hated when he left. The world outside their secluded haven felt sharper, more dangerous, without Jon's calming presence. He always made her feel like no harm could touch her.

"You'll only be gone two days?" she asked.

"Two and a half, max. We're just checking trade routes, reinforcing some pack-to-pack borders. Nothing serious," Jon replied, though his tone was clipped. "Still, I want you to stay out of the lower market roads while I'm gone. You hear me?"

Veyra rolled her eyes. "You sound like Father."

"Good. Maybe you'll actually listen."

She punched him lightly in the arm. "I always listen. I just don't always agree."

Jon smiled, a rare moment of boyishness breaking through his hardened face. "Still as stubborn as the day you tried to ride that wild elk down the slope."

"Don't remind me," she groaned.

His smile faded as he turned serious again. "I mean it, Vey. Stay close to home. Don't shift. Don't linger. And if anything feels... wrong, you run. Straight home. Got it?"

She nodded, her chest tightening. "I've got it."

Jon hugged her hard, one hand cradling the back of her head. "You're everything, little wolf. Don't forget that."

And then he was gone, his boots crunching across the frost-hardened grass as he disappeared into the woods, shadowed by two other warriors from their pack.

Veyra stood there for a while, silence pressing around her like a too-heavy cloak.

Later that afternoon, she sat with Maelin in the sunroom of the cabin, sunlight spilling across the old woven rug, scattering over piles of herbs and open spellbooks. The room smelled of sage, lavender, and something deeper—magic older than time.

Maelin was braiding dried wildrose stems, her fingers deft and practiced. Veyra watched her, then spoke quietly.

"Jon thinks the world is ready to burn down the second I step past the trees."

"He's not wrong," Maelin said without looking up.

Veyra frowned. "Thanks for the encouragement."

Maelin smiled gently and set the braid aside. "You don't see it now, Veyra, but you're on the edge of something. You've felt the restlessness. The dreams. The ache in your bones that has nothing to do with muscle. The change is coming."

"I'm not sure I want it."

"You don't get to choose when your soul wakes up," Maelin said, touching her daughter's hand. "And when you start bonding... it's not just about falling in love, child. The bonds don't just call to the heart—they awaken the soul. They burn through fear. Through control. Through fate."

Veyra's breath caught. "Is that what happened to you and Father?"

Maelin's eyes softened. "Something like that. But your path will be harder. More tangled."

"Because I'm the white wolf."

Maelin nodded once. "Because you were never meant to be small."

The words echoed in Veyra's mind hours later when she walked along the winding path that led to the trade stalls near the border. Jon had told her to stay away—but their family was running low on dried meat and smoked roots. She promised herself it would be quick. In and out. No talking. No lingering.

The marketplace wasn't overly busy—just a few merchant carts, some exchanging between packs. Veyra kept her head low, hood up. She knew how to blend in. She'd mastered invisibility years ago.

But the air shifted.

Laughter turned to yelling. Shouts rose in alarm. Veyra's head snapped up as two wolves—both men in human form—shoved each other near the edge of a cart. One had a scar down his neck and a bristling fury in his eyes. The other... gods, he was tall. Muscled. His skin sun-kissed, with dark brown hair that curled at the ends. His knuckles were already bloodied, and his chest rose and fell like a storm barely restrained.

Veyra moved to the side, trying to walk past, but the two men crashed into each other again—right into her.

She stumbled backward with a gasp, arms flailing as she hit the dirt. The tall man who had been fighting—Kael, though she didn't know his name yet—turned toward her instinctively, his eyes sharp with battle.

And then they locked eyes.

Time stopped.

Kael's breath caught in his throat as his wolf surged to the surface, clawing inside his chest. Heat flooded him, something ancient snapping taut in his blood.

Veyra's lips parted in shock. A tug—not physical, but soul-deep—gripped her ribcage and yanked. Her skin prickled, her wolf howled inside her, not in fear, but in fierce, blazing recognition.

He reached toward her.

She flinched.

Their hands brushed.

White fire exploded in her veins.

Veyra gasped, a cry tearing from her throat as a flood of sensations rushed through her—heat, pressure, light, wind, longing. It was too much, too fast. She saw flashes she didn't understand. A wolf standing beneath a red moon. A battlefield soaked in silver light. A name not yet spoken.

Kael froze, stunned. "What...?"

But Veyra was already scrambling to her feet, her heart a war drum in her ears. She turned and ran, blind through the winding paths, the trees, the shadows. She didn't stop until she burst through the cabin door, fell to her knees, and curled over the pounding in her chest.

Maelin found her moments later, breathless, terrified.

"What happened?" her mother asked, kneeling beside her.

"I—I touched him," Veyra whispered. "And I think he's one of them. One of my mates."

Far off, in the fading light of the trade border, Kael stood alone, still staring at the spot where she had been.

He didn't know her name.

But his soul already did.

______

Omggggg.... I'm excited.

We finally get to meet our first mate Kael.

What do you guys think Kael will do?

Will he look for her? Or not care about the bond.

I'm curious to find out myself😭

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Don't forget to vote and recommend to your friends and family.

Until next time,

xoxo