All Chapters of Born of Fire and Moonlight: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Nova QuinnThe dream always starts the same.I’m standing in a field of ash. The ground is scorched black, trees burned down to skeletal stumps. Everything smells like smoke and lightning. Above me, the sky churns in slow motion — red and gold bleeding through bruised clouds — and a moon hangs too close, too heavy, like it’s watching me.Then I see the fire.It slithers up from the cracks in the ground, licking around my bare feet like it’s been waiting. It doesn’t burn. It welcomes. And when I open my mouth to scream, the flames pour out like a second voice — loud, ancient, hungry.I always wake up sweating.And today was no different.I bolted upright, sheets twisted around my legs, tank top stuck to my skin. My hair was a frizzy, tangled halo, and my skin felt like it had been lit from the inside out. A bead of sweat rolled down the curve of my throat, and my hands shook as I pushed them through my curls.“Great,” I muttered, dragging myself out of bed. “We love a good hellfire nig

Nova QuinnThe fire was gone by morning, but the scorch marks stayed.So did the whispers.The news spread faster than I could stop it — the wolfless girl burst a car into flames with her hands. There were a few different versions floating around, of course. In one I was possessed. In another, I was some kind of elemental witch. My favourite? That I’d gone “heat-crazy” after being rejected by an Alpha and combusted from heartbreak.Please.If heartbreak could kill me, it would’ve done it years ago.Kael Draven might’ve rejected me, but he didn’t get to erase me. Not when I was finally starting to feel real.But none of that mattered the next morning — not when they came back.I was halfway through repairing the damn engine I’d set on fire when the rumble of motorcycles cut through the air. Low, deep. Not the usual local drunks or weekend riders. These were pack bikes. Military style. Matte black.Blackridge Pack.My spine stiffened.I wiped my hands slowly, heart thudding harder with

Nova QuinnI didn’t sleep that night.Not after what happened.Not after what didn’t.I lay on top of the covers, arms crossed over my chest, heart doing laps behind my ribs, still trying to make sense of what had just unfolded.The mate bond had snapped tight between us — undeniable. Raw. Cosmic. And Kael had kissed me like the world was ending. Like he needed me to breathe. Like he’d burn for me if I asked him to.And then he’d stopped.Walked away.Like it meant nothing.By morning, I’d rewritten the kiss in my head five times.In one version, he let it happen because he lost control. In another, he regretted it before it started. And in the one that hurt most — he felt nothing at all.I hated how much I cared.I hated that I kept replaying the way he looked at me — like I was the solution to a problem he didn’t want solved.I dragged myself into the bathroom, splashed cold water on my face, and tied my curls into a messy braid. My eyes were a little swollen, but not red.No one wo

Nova QuinnThe fever started that night.At first, I thought it was just the aftermath. The comedown. The kind of heat that lingers after being wrecked by someone who pretends it meant nothing.But this was different.Deeper.The bond had fully snapped. And now, it was turning on me.I lay curled on top of the sheets, sweat soaking my skin, my body vibrating with power I couldn’t contain. My heart thundered. Every nerve felt flayed raw. The room’s air became dense and stifling. I could barely breathe.My mind became overwhelmed with visions of Kael’s lips against mine and the sensation of him inside me while his growling voice resonated against my neck. Each flash made my temperature spike.This wasn’t arousal. This was need. Bone-deep. Primal.My hands trembled. My skin glowed faintly in the dark.If this was what it meant to be unclaimed after the bond, it was torture.I barely registered the door swinging open.Kael.He didn’t speak. Just crossed the room in three strides and dropp

Nova QuinnThe cuff wasn’t metal.It looked like it was—sleek, black, and cold against my wrist—but it wasn’t iron or steel. It pulsed softly with something older. Something that didn’t belong in this world. Magic.I felt it the second they snapped it shut.My fire recoiled, like a wave pulling back from the shore. The heat in my chest, the rhythm of my veins—it all dulled at once. My body still burned, but under glass. Muffled. Leashed.“You’re serious,” I said, voice flat.Liora didn’t blink. “It’s for everyone’s safety. Including yours.”I looked down at the cuff again. A thin silver rune shimmered on its surface, faintly glowing.“And if I take it off?”“You can try,” Mara muttered behind me. “But I’d wait until you’re ready to regrow your wrist.”Kael stood to the side, arms crossed, expression unreadable.“You agreed to this?” I asked him.He didn’t answer. Didn’t flinch. Just stared at me like he always did—like I was a problem he couldn’t solve.“Right,” I said, stepping away