Chapter 4–Friend or enemy.

Aria felt it—the bond, a deep ancient recognition of one’s fated mate.Her heartbeat and his in the same rhythm, like two halves locked in the same body.

She stumbled back.“No…not him”

The look on Dax’s face changed, switching from shock to anger.“Impossible, no it can’t be.”

Elias looked at both of them confused.“What is going on?”

Dax staggered to his feet, breathing heavily.The energy around her still shimmered.

He could feel her— her fear, her strength and her pain.

“Stay away from me," she said, crawling away from him.

He clenched his fist, jaw tightened.“You dare use moonfire against me?”

“I warned you.”

“How are you able to do that when the council stripped your mark?”

“I don’t care what the council did.I did not kill Kael!”

Something in her voice cracked, and in a heartbeat, Dax Riven hesitated.The pain in her eyes said it all.

She was not a murderer like the council said.

He shook the thought off.

“Tell your lies to the council, not me.”

He lunged at her.

She dodged swiftly, but he caught her wrist.The touch burned both of them, a spark flaring between their palms.

The bond was clear now.

Aria gasped.“What are you?”

He stared at her equally puzzled.“I could ask you the same.”

Elias rushed forward and tackled Dax to the ground while he was unaware.The two men rolled in the mud, punches flying.Dax quickly overpowered him, pressing a blade to his throat.

“Enough!” Aria screamed.Her voice thundered with something scary.The trees trembled, the forest went silent and the two men froze.

Dax looked up at her, breathing heavily, he realized something about her.Her power wasn’t ordinary Luna power, it was something else— something ancient.

Dax stepped up, putting his weapon back in place.

“You can run Luna, but you can never hide.And I will find you every time.”

“Then be ready because I won’t run forever,”Aria replied firmly.

He turned away and vanished into the forest.

Elias staggered back to his feet, bleeding from the nose and lip.

“Aria, are you crazy?That is Dax Riven—he will not stop until his target is dead.

She stood staring at the trees where Dax had Vanished, her heart pounding with that undeniable pull.

“He is not just a hunter Elias.”

“Then what is he.” Elias frowned.

“He is my mate.” She whispered to herself.

Dax ran faster than he ever had in his entire life.

He stopped at the ridge, bracing his hand against a tree and panting restlessly.

His wolf went wild beneath his skin.

My mate.

He had spent his entire life believing that fate was a lie and that the goddess had forsaken him after  his whole bloodline was cursed.But here he was with a mark burning faintly in his chest and his fated mate in the same forest with him.

Who would have thought that the council’s prisoner—the killer Luna whom he was sent to execute—was his fated mate.

He tightened his fist and clenched his jaw, forcing down the anger burning in him.

“This is impossible,” he grunted.

But even as these words left his mouth, he could still feel her delicate heartbeat echoing faintly through his.

Miles away, Elias and Aria reached a narrow cave at the foot of  the mountains by dawn.There, they lit no fire.

Elias guarded the entrance while Aria sat in a corner of the cave pressing  her hand to her chest.She felt that strange rhythm that wasn’t hers alone.

She could still feel him there although distant, but he was there.

For the first time after the death of Kael, she felt something aside fear.

Something far dangerous.