The moon was fat and heavy, spilling silver light over the clearing like it was trying to make everything look holy. The air smelled of pine needles crushed under boots, smoky firewood, and the nervous sweat of too many wolves standing too close. Everyone was dressed up—blacks and golds, ceremonial nonsense—like they were part of something ancient and sacred.
Moon Choosing night. The night alphas played king, and omegas lined up, hoping to be chosen. Ezra lingered at the edge of it all, half-hidden in the shadows, leaning against a gnarled tree like he didn’t care. He didn’t. At least, that’s what he told himself. He tugged his hoodie lower, the fabric rough against the back of his neck—bare skin, unmarked. No bond. No claim. Just him—packless, statusless, and mostly forgotten. A mouthy omega with a reputation sharp enough to keep people away and a past he didn’t talk about. He wasn’t even supposed to be here. No one had invited him. Omegas like Ezra didn’t get picked. They got passed over. Pitied. Sometimes used. Never wanted. He preferred it out here, anyway. Past the torchlight. Beyond the judging eyes. Invisible. Ezra watched another omega step into the fire circle—perfect posture, perfect smile—tilting his neck just so for the alpha beside him. The crowd howled, the sound thick with approval. Another bond made. Another golden couple sealed by tradition. Ezra let out a quiet snort. “Yeah. Real sweet,” he muttered, barely moving his lips. Fated mates. The whole choosing thing. It was a show—painted in old symbols and fake smiles. Alphas strutted around like they were doing omegas a favor. And omegas? Most of them played along, hoping someone would see them. Choose them. Maybe even love them. Ezra had stopped hoping a long time ago. Suddenly, the air shifted. The energy in the clearing dipped, like something ancient had walked in wearing a human face. All the noise died at once. The silence was sharp, almost expectant. Ezra looked up. A figure entered the circle—tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed in black that somehow looked more like battle armor than ceremony. The moonlight caught on his face just enough to make the tension in Ezra’s chest pull tighter. The whispers started almost instantly. “Who’s that?” “Not from this pack…” “Is that—Kael Blackthorn?” Ezra’s breath stilled in his throat. Kael. Of course he’d heard of him. Everyone had. The cursed heir of the Blackthorn pack. The one with the unstable wolf. The one with a bloodline the elders whispered about when they thought no one was listening. They said he carried a mark no alpha should have. That he shouldn’t have survived his first shift. Ezra had never seen him—until now. Kael walked like someone barely holding something back, each step slow and deliberate. The sharpness of his suit did nothing to hide the wild tension in his frame—or the fire in his eyes. He didn’t glance at the lined-up omegas like the others had. Didn’t even slow down to pretend. He was looking for something. Or someone. Ezra’s skin prickled. He should leave. Now. Fade into the trees, slip out before anyone noticed him at all. But Kael stopped walking. And looked straight at him. Their eyes locked across the firelight, and Ezra’s breath caught before he even realized it. His heart punched against his ribs. No. No, this couldn’t be happening. Kael’s head tilted slightly, like he was listening to something no one else could hear. He didn’t look away. Didn’t blink. Ezra’s wolf stirred inside him—alert, confused, anxious. The kind of feeling that came right before a storm. He swallowed hard and pushed off the tree, ready to disappear. Then— “You.” Kael’s voice wasn’t loud, but it cut through the clearing like it had been waiting centuries to be said. Ezra froze. All around him, the crowd fell silent. Kael stepped forward, eyes locked on Ezra. “You. Step into the circle.” Ezra turned slowly, blinking like he was trying to wake up from a dream. Or a nightmare. Someone laughed awkwardly. “Is he serious?” another voice whispered behind him. Kael didn’t waver. “It’s not a mistake.” Ezra’s heart was a mess of noise now—loud, panicked, disbelieving. He wasn’t supposed to be seen. He wasn’t supposed to be chosen. But Kael’s voice came again, low and certain, like it came from the earth itself. “I choose you.”The silence around Blackthorn wasn’t peaceful.It was hollow.Like something had scooped out the heart of the world and left the shell behind.Ezra stood alone at the eastern watchtower, staring out at the fog-draped hills beyond the forest edge. The mist wasn’t moving. The trees weren’t swaying. No birds called. No wind stirred. It wasn’t quiet—it was watching. And his skin prickled with the weight of it.His mark hummed steadily beneath his sleeve. Not burning. Not flaring. Just waiting.He could feel it—not the wolf.Something older.Colder.Lurking in the stillness just beyond sight.And the longer he stood there, the more certain he became.The Fold wasn’t hiding anymore.---The estate was unraveling. Patrols doubled. No one lingered outside at night. The scouts whispered about strange lights floating high above the northern woods—too fast for torches, too wrong for stars. One came back shaking, claiming they’d seen figures made of smoke, gliding between the trees without ever t
The forest wasn’t silent when they left the ruins. It was listening.Ezra felt it the moment his boots touched the mossy path. The trees didn’t sway—they stood still, rigid, like soldiers at attention. The air didn’t move; it hovered. Every snapped twig echoed louder than it should’ve. Every breath he took felt like a trespass.He didn’t speak on the way back to Blackthorn. Not because he didn’t have the words—he had too many. But he didn’t trust what might come out if he opened his mouth. Rage? Grief? Power?Maybe all three.His body felt full. Not bloated, not aching—just… dense, like his skin was stretched over something ancient and alive. Like sealing that tomb hadn’t closed a door, but cracked open something inside him. The god-wolf wasn’t snarling anymore. It wasn’t pacing. It was waiting. And worse—it was listening back.Sometimes, when Ezra inhaled too deeply, it felt like he wasn’t the only one breathing.Kael stayed close. Not clingy, not smothering—just present. His shoulde
The light from Ezra’s mark faded slow—like breath leaving a body. Smoke curling off a fire that had burned too long. He stood in the heart of the ruin, chest heaving, knees shaking, but still upright. The air smelled like dust and blood. His mark—gold and black—glowed steady now. Not a flare. Not a warning. Just... present. Like it had finally decided it belonged to him.Raen crouched near a broken pillar, blood on his mouth, but his eyes were locked on Ezra—not with hate. With awe. Elen was on the ground behind him, clutching her ribs like her own bones betrayed her, her face pale and twisted with something that looked a lot like fear.“You don’t get it,” Raen said, voice rough but even. “You don’t know what you’ve woken.”Ezra stepped forward, boots crunching on broken stone, his voice sharp and exhausted. “Then stop circling it. Say what you mean.”Raen rose to his feet, slow, brushing the blood from his lip with the back of his hand. That same damn smirk curved his mouth, but the
Dawn broke over Blackthorn like a bruise—bleeding gold and gray across the sky, raw and unkind. No warmth, just light peeling back the dark, showing everything for what it was: cracked, tired, and on edge.Ezra stood in the courtyard with both boots buried in mud, steam curling around his ankles as if the ground itself couldn’t sit still. His cloak snapped in the wind. The estate behind him felt quiet—not peaceful, but tight. Wound-up. Waiting.His mark burned in his skin like a second pulse—not screaming, not raging anymore. Just there. Present. Like it had finally stopped seeing him as a vessel and started recognizing him as something more.The pack formed a loose ring around him. Not close. Not far. Watching. Mira stood near the gates, her hand resting near the hilt of her sword, eyes flicking between the horizon and Ezra’s face. Two scouts—Jorrin and Lysa—hovered to her right, tension bristling off their shoulders. Kael leaned against the stone steps with his arms crossed, face un
The nightmares didn’t creep in anymore. They crashed into Ezra like a wave he couldn’t fight—violent, immediate, like they’d been waiting behind his eyes all day.Woods twisted into bone. Trees licked with fire. A cracked moon bleeding silver overhead. The air choked with howls—thousands of them—layered into one roar of hunger and fury. Ezra ran, breathless, helpless, and every time he turned a corner, he saw himself.Only it wasn’t him.It was taller. Wilder. Crowned in flame, eyes like hollow stars. His mark, glowing like it had been carved by something ancient. And behind it—behind him—stood the wolf. Towering. Chained. Smiling like it knew exactly how this ended.Ezra bolted awake, gasping, the sheets soaked through. The cold air bit at his skin, but steam still rose from him like heat was leaking from his bones. His mark pulsed under his shirt, angry and hot, as if it had been fighting in the dream too.He pressed his palm to it, trying to steady his breath. It felt like it was t
The storm hit just after midnight—no thunder, no warning. Just a sharp, roaring wind and rain that tore into Blackthorn like the sky was trying to wash it clean. Ezra stood on the ridge overlooking the courtyard, drenched, the cold cutting through his clothes like knives. He didn’t flinch. Didn’t move. Couldn’t.The fire in his chest burned hotter than the storm.His mark pulsed, steady and loud, thudding like a second heartbeat under his skin. Louder than the rain. Louder than the whispers.He felt them—every glance, every breath held when he walked past. The younger wolves recoiled like he was made of glass and gunpowder. The elders suddenly had meetings they’d never mentioned before. Even Mira, bold and unfiltered, kept her words clipped and her distance longer.Ezra didn’t blame them. Not anymore.A week ago, he was just another omega trying to find his footing. Now?He was something else. A gate. A key. A question none of them wanted to answer.“Thought I’d find you up here,” Kae