ВойтиMorning arrived slowly over the Blackthorn valley.I woke to the faint glow of sunlight slipping through the small window beside my bed. For a moment I forgot where I was. The unfamiliar scent of pine and mountain air filled the room, and the distant sounds of wolves moving outside drifted through the quiet.Then everything from the night before rushed back.Kael.The rogues.Cassian’s words.“She’s hiding something much stronger.”I sat up slowly, my chest tightening as the memory replayed itself. The strange warmth that had appeared inside me the night before had faded, but the echo of it still lingered beneath my ribs like a secret waiting to wake again.For eighteen years I had believed I was broken.Wolfless.Cursed.Now suddenly everyone seemed convinced that something powerful was hidden inside me.I didn’t know whether that idea frightened me more… or gave me hope.After a few minutes I forced myself to stand and step outside.The valley looked different in daylight.Where the
The silence that followed those words was suffocating.“She’s hiding something much stronger.”The sentence echoed in my mind long after the gray-eyed man finished speaking.Every wolf in the valley stared at me now not with curiosity anymore, but with something sharper.Fear.Suspicion.Even hatred.My chest tightened.I had lived my entire life as the weakest person in Moonfall, the girl no one wanted near them. Now suddenly these powerful wolves were looking at me as if I were something dangerous.I didn’t understand any of it.“What exactly are you implying, Cassian?” Kael asked calmly.So that was the gray-eyed man’s name.Cassian.He exhaled slowly, still studying me like a problem he couldn’t solve.“I’m implying,” he said carefully, “that I can feel power in her scent.”Murmurs rippled through the crowd again.“But she smells almost human,” another warrior argued.“That’s because it’s suppressed,” Cassian replied.The word made my stomach twist.“Suppressed.”Kael had said the
Every wolf in the valley was staring at me.The question still hung in the air like a storm cloud.“Why does the wolfless girl from Moonfall smell like a Blackthorn wolf?”I wished I had an answer.But all I could do was stand there beside Kael, my heart pounding loudly in my chest as dozens of unfamiliar eyes studied me.Some were curious.Some were suspicious.Others were openly hostile.The tall man standing before us the one who had asked the question took a slow step forward. His gray eyes were sharp, calculating. There was authority in the way the other wolves subtly shifted around him.He was important here.“Alpha,” he said again, his gaze flicking between Kael and me. “Explain.”Kael didn’t respond immediately.He stepped slightly in front of me instead.The movement was subtle, but the message was clear.A protective wall.The murmurs around us grew louder.“I found her beyond Moonfall’s border,” Kael said calmly.The gray-eyed man raised an eyebrow.“And you brought her her
Rowan’s smile stayed with me long after we left the clearing.It wasn’t the kind of smile someone gave when they lost an argument.It was the kind of smile someone wore when a trap had already been set.The thought made my stomach twist as Kael led me deeper into the forest.Neither of us spoke at first. The silence between us felt heavy but not uncomfortable. The night air carried the scent of pine and damp earth, mixing faintly with the metallic smell of blood from the fight.Behind us, Moonfall warriors were still moving through the trees. Their voices faded slowly as distance grew between us and the clearing.With every step, the truth settled deeper inside my chest.I wasn’t going back.Moonfall, the only home I had ever known, was behind me now.And strangely… I didn’t feel the grief I thought I would.Maybe because Moonfall had never truly been my home.Kael walked ahead of me, his pace steady despite the wound along his side. The torn fabric of his shirt revealed dried blood a
The horns continued echoing through the forest. Moonfall warriors were moving fast. I could hear them now boots against leaves, distant voices calling orders across the trees. My stomach twisted painfully. “They’re going to think I attacked you,” I said weakly. Kael didn’t seem concerned. If anything, he looked almost bored. “They already believed the worst about you,” he said. The truth in those words hurt more than I expected. I struggled to stand, the strange burning sensation in my chest slowly fading. “What did you mean?” I asked quietly. “About my wolf.” Kael studied me carefully. “You really don’t know.” It wasn’t a question. I shook my head. “Everyone says I never had one.” Kael’s gaze darkened. “They lied.” The word echoed through my mind. Lied. Before I could ask anything else, several warriors burst through the trees. Moonfall warriors. Their weapons were drawn, their eyes immediately locking onto the bodies of the dead rogues scatt
The rogue wolf sprinted toward me.My body froze.Every instinct screamed at me to run, but my legs refused to move. The creature’s yellow eyes burned with madness as it lunged, jaws wide enough to tear through bone.I braced for the impact.But it never came.A massive black shape slammed into the rogue mid-air.Kael.His wolf was even larger up close.Power rippled beneath his thick midnight fur as he tackled the rogue to the ground, his jaws snapping shut around its throat with brutal precision. The sound that followed was sharp and final.The rogue went still almost instantly.My breath shook as I stared at the lifeless body lying only a few feet away.Kael lifted his head slowly, his silver eyes finding mine through the darkness.For a moment neither of us moved.Then the final rogue howled in panic and fled into the trees.Kael didn’t chase it.Instead he turned back toward me.His massive wolf form padded across the clearing until he stood only a few steps away. Even in the moo







