At first, I thought I was imagining it. The way my limbs would suddenly feel… weightless, like I could carry a boulder or sprint faster than the wind. It started the day Kaidon kissed me, and since then, every time he touched me, even if it was just his hand brushing against mine, I felt something inside me shift, like a flame catching fire in a dark room… like strength I never had before.“Kaidon,” I had asked him one evening as we sat under the moonlit sky, his arms wrapped around me from behind, “why do I feel... stronger whenever I’m around you?”He chuckled and kissed the top of my head. “Love,” he said. “Love makes people brave. Love makes people stronger.”I remember wanting to believe him. I did. But it wasn’t just strength. It was something else… something darker.It started as a whisper in my head…Hurt him.I’d flinch every time it came, like someone had poured ice water down my spine. The first time it happened, I was in the kitchen, preparing his favorite tea. I was hummi
The council hall was thick with the scent of incense and authority. Every elder, every warrior leader, every man who swore loyalty to the Moonstone Pack, sat in the curved circle of chairs. I stood at the center of it all.This was going to be a meeting like no other!I was going to tell them!“Gentlemen,” I began, letting my voice echo across the room like the wind before a storm. “Thank you for coming.”“Alpha,” Elder Marcus said, giving a short nod. “Is it something urgent?”I folded my arms. “A few things, actually. We need to talk about security. Patrol shifts, border strength… and something else.”“Border strength?” Elder Joseph leaned forward. “We haven’t had a rogue breach in a long time. Our borders are secure.”“I know,” I replied. “But there’s been too much internal drama lately. People turning against one another. Lies, sabotage, even attempted murder. It weakens us. Once our enemies find out that we're not united, they will strike. We can't wait for them to do that before
Something had come up earlier that day.Something I wasn’t proud of.Another nightmare… the same one that haunted my sleep for months now. The same faceless wolf chasing me across a field of fire and ash, until I fell… and she stared down at me with those hollow, haunting eyes, then turned and vanished into the mist. Every time I woke up, gasping for breath, soaked in sweat, like death had brushed past me. But this time... it felt stronger. Realer. Like the wolf was trying to show me something. Warn me.So I canceled dinner with Lila.I told her it was a meeting with the council. She didn’t question it, even though I saw the flash of disappointment in her eyes before she masked it with a soft smile and nodded.“Okay, Alpha,” she had said quietly. “Maybe another time.”I wanted to reach out, to tell her the truth. But how could I? How do you tell the woman who smiles when you walk into a room, who holds your hand like it's worth something… that you’re cursed to die at her hands?No. Th
I didn’t expect Loraine to squeal the way she did.“Dinner? Wait, what?” She grabbed my arm so fast I nearly spilled the bowl of herbs I was mixing. “You said dinner? As in, with Alpha Kaidon? Alone?”I nodded slowly, trying not to sound too flustered. “He asked me yesterday. After we spoke in his study.”Loraine’s jaw dropped. “And? What did you say?”“I told him I needed time to think about it.”“Time?” she echoed, like I’d just uttered the most ridiculous word in the world. Her voice actually cracked, and I swear the birds outside paused too, like they were waiting for the explanation I’d give her.“Yes. Time.”She blinked. “Girl, what are you? Do you even realize what you’re saying right now?” She leaned back dramatically against the table, like she was personally offended by my response. “You told Alpha Kaidon, the most feared and desired man in this entire region, that you needed time to think about going on a dinner date with him?”“I did.”Loraine threw her hands in the air. “
I tried. I swear, I did. I turned from one end of my bed to the other, again and again, flipping my pillow, kicking off my covers, pulling them back on, gritting my teeth, and muttering to myself like a madman. But sleep? It avoided me like a cursed ghost.And her name was Lila.The full moon was almost here. I could feel it in my bones… gnawing, burning, pushing to the surface like something alive. The time was near. The pressure was heavy on me… I was required to announce my mate during the full moon festival. That was tradition; that was law. That was what the people expected from their Alpha.But I had no name to give. No face, no certainty. Except… Lila.Every time she walked into a room, it was like something shifted in me. Every single time.The way my wolf stirred when she was near, the way my hands clenched, like they needed to touch her, the way my breath shortened when she looked at me with those damn green eyes… it was chaos. It wasn’t just attraction; it wasn’t mere fondn
Despite everything we’d been through… the accusations, the secrets, the nightmares, the pain… Alpha Kaidon had started treating me even more differently. I noticed it in the little things first. He wasn’t as cold anymore. His voice didn’t carry the same bite when he addressed me. And when he looked at me, it was like he was seeing something… more.At first, I thought I was imagining things. But then he brought me a shawl.It had been raining all day. The cold air bit through my skin like tiny teeth, and my fingers had started to turn red as I cleaned the courtyard. I didn’t even notice him standing there until I felt something warm drape over my shoulders.“Wear that,” he said.I turned around slowly. “Alpha?”His eyes were unreadable. “It’s cold. You shouldn’t be out here like this.”I blinked, clutching the soft fabric around me. It smelled like sandalwood and smoke… like him. I opened my mouth to thank him, but he had already turned and walked away.The next week, I found a pair of