MasukEdricThey let us stay on the ground in the clearing for a long time.No one dared approach too closely while Leon still had his arms locked around me. His body remained overheated and heavy, the last traces of the partial shift only slowly receding. Every few minutes a residual tremor ran through him, and each time the bond flared with a confused mixture of rage, relief, and the raw terror of nearly losing me. I kept one hand moving slowly up and down his back and let the warm energy that had awakened during the dance continue to flow. It felt natural now, like breathing.Around us the perimeter of wolves watched in near silence. I could feel their eyes on me, on the way Leon, who had been completely lost to the curse only minutes earlier, now clung to me like I was the only solid thing left in the world. A few of the betas who had been closest when I danced still looked visibly calmer than they should have been after facing their fully berserk Alpha. One of them kept flexing his han
EdricI felt the moment the car turned back toward Blackthorne territory.The bond, which had been stretched thin and muffled for hours, suddenly pulled taut again. Leon’s presence slammed into me through the connection, no longer distant and frayed, but enormous, chaotic, and burning with a rage so complete it stole my breath. I doubled over in the back seat of the vehicle, gasping. The two wolves escorting me glanced back with something close to fear.“He’s getting worse,” one of them muttered. “Drive faster.”I did not need the warning. Through the bond I could feel Leon tearing at the edges of his own control, the curse fully unleashed and feeding on our separation. Every mile that closed between us only seemed to intensify it. By the time the pack gates came into view, my hands were shaking and a thin thread of blood had started from my nose from the sheer pressure of his emotions.They did not take me to the main house.The vehicle stopped in a wide clearing near the training gr
LeonThe first clear pulse of terror through the bond nearly drove me to my knees.I was still on the northern boundary when it hit, sharp, white, and full of panic that did not belong to me. Edric. The connection, which had been only mildly muted all morning, suddenly screamed. Fear. Confusion. A desperate attempt to push images toward me that arrived broken and frantic: unfamiliar hands, a sweet chemical smell, the interior of a moving vehicle, trees that were not ours.Then distance.I felt him being carried farther away with every second. The bond stretched like something alive being pulled apart.The curse, which had been relatively quiet for weeks, tore open inside my chest like a living thing with claws. Rage followed so fast and so complete that rational thought burned away in an instant. Heat flooded my veins. My vision narrowed. I turned from the beta who had been speaking to me about border markers and began running. Trees blurred past. My body was already shifting partiall
EdricThe morning felt ordinary at first.Leon left early for the northern boundary inspection, pressing a lingering kiss to the bond mark on my neck before he went. Through the connection I felt his residual unease from the night before, but it had softened into something more like caution than alarm. He told me to stay close to the east wing with Aria and that he would be back by early afternoon.I believed him.Aria and I spent the first hours in her sitting room. She was stronger again, color better, and she had started asking more practical questions about pack life; what the different ranks meant, why certain wolves avoided us, whether the full moon would change anything visible in the house. I answered what I could. The mark on my neck throbbed quietly the entire time, a warm reminder of Leon’s presence even at a distance.Around mid-morning we decided on a short walk in the private garden directly behind the east wing. It was enclosed, patrolled, and close enough to the house
Third PersonThe private meeting took place well after midnight in a windowless chamber beneath the main council hall, an old stone room that had been used for sensitive decisions long before any of the current elders had been born. The walls were thick enough to swallow sound, and the single iron door had been locked from the inside with two heavy bolts. Only seven people were present: Elder Elara, two of the more hardline elders, Seraphina Vale, her father Commander Marcus Vale, and two trusted enforcers who had already proven their willingness to act outside official channels.A single oil lamp burned on the long table, its flame steady in the still air. The light carved deep shadows into the faces around the table and left the corners of the room in near darkness. The air smelled of cold stone, old paper, and the faint metallic trace of anxiety that even disciplined wolves could not entirely suppress.Elder Elara stood at the head of the table, hands resting flat on the surface. H
EdricWord traveled faster than I expected.By the next morning the entire pack house seemed to know. Conversations stopped when Leon and I entered the dining hall. Eyes fixed first on my face, then dropped unerringly to the side of my neck where the bond mark sat above the collar of my shirt. Some looks held reluctant respect. Most held open disbelief or thinly veiled disgust. A few of the older wolves stared as if I had grown a second head.Aria felt the shift too. She stayed closer to me than usual at breakfast, her earlier cautious curiosity replaced by quiet protectiveness.The summons arrived before midday.A formal notice, sealed with the council’s mark, requested the Alpha and his… bonded companion… to appear in the council chamber at once. The deliberate pause before “bonded companion” was impossible to miss.Leon read it once, jaw tightening, then looked at me. Through the bond I felt a flare of cold anger mixed with steely resolve.“We go together,” he said. “Stay beside me
EdricWhen I stepped into Luna Noir as an official dancer for the first time, the club swallowed me whole.The air hit me first. It was warm, thick and was humming with something alive. The low pulsing lights washed the walls in dark violets and midnight blues, shadows twisting like they had a puls
EdricI don’t go back to Luna Noir.I tell myself that like it’s a promise, like if I repeat it often enough it will turn into something solid… something I can stand on when my knees threaten to give out.The sun is barely up when I leave the apartment, the city still yawning awake. Queens feels di
LeonThe first time I saw him move, I forgot how to breathe.Humans audition at Luna Noir all the time. They come desperate, hungry, chasing quick money or trying to impress supernatural clientele they can’t begin to comprehend. They shake their hips, roll their bodies, and hope I find them useful
EdricThe red paper on the door hit me like a punch to the gut.EVICTION NOTICE. Final warning! Seven days!I stared at it until the words blurred. Then I ripped it off, crumpled it in my fist, and pushed the door open. The hallway reeked of stale cigarettes and damp concrete, but all I could feel







