All Chapters of WOLVES OF WINTER MOON: Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

The forest was alive with silver.Moonlight dripped through the bare branches like liquid frost, pooling on the ground in pale, shimmering sheets. The Winter Moon—the brightest, coldest full moon of the year—hung heavy above the Winterwood, casting everything in a ghostlike glow.Lyra Whitlock paused at the treeline, breath fogging in the crisp air. Her heartbeat thudded unevenly beneath her cloak. This was her last moment alone before the festival. Before the ceremony. Before the pact that would bind her life to a man she’d never met.And for what?For peace. For her pack. For survival.The Frostfang Pack had demanded she come. A political binding to strengthen alliances. To keep the smaller packs safe from the growing threat of northern rogues.She understood duty. She respected sacrifice.But being handed over like a pawn?That still burned like salt in her throat.“Just one night,” she whispered into the cold. “One night, then everything changes.”She stepped deeper into the fores

Snow fell like silent ash as they led Lyra down to the frozen gates.The moon hung low and heavy, casting a ghostly glow across the courtyard. Guards rushed back and forth, shouting orders, tracking scents, scanning shadows for the assassin. But Lyra barely heard any of it.Her heartbeat was a drum of dread.Rylan walked beside her, keeping pace with every shaky step. He didn’t touch her—but she felt him as if he did. The Moonbound mark pulsed faintly, responding to his presence, syncing with his breath.Kade followed behind them, expression carved from cold marble, every step rigid with control.Queen Isolde moved like an apparition, her ice-silver cloak dragging across the snow, leaving a long trail.Lyra forced herself to inhale.The scent hit her like a punch—smoke, blood, grief.Her knees nearly gave out.Rylan saw. With a low growl, he stepped closer.“You don’t have to see this.”Lyra tore her gaze from the ground. Her voice cracked.“I do.”He swallowed but didn’t argue.They

The howl shook the castle to its foundations.Lyra’s breath froze in her lungs as the echo coiled through the stone corridors—ancient, hungry, and far too familiar. Rylan dragged her behind him, one arm braced protectively across her front, as torches guttered and guards shouted down the hall.“South wing breach!”“Shields—NOW!”“Something just tore through the ward lines!”Another thunderous snarl rattled the doors.Lyra clutched Rylan’s cloak.“I know that sound,” she whispered. “I heard it when I was a child.”Rylan’s head snapped toward her, muscles coiled, eyes burning molten gold.“You remember more?”“It hunted my mother,” Lyra breathed. “It—”She stopped.Because suddenly she felt it.A tug in her blood.A call beneath her heartbeat.A pull that wasn’t the Moonbound bond—But older. Darker.Something that recognized her.Rylan grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze.“Lyra—whatever you feel, fight it. Do you hear me? Don’t answer it.”“I’m not trying to,” she whispered.

For several heartbeats, Lyra couldn’t breathe.The room faded, the ruined stone, the shattered door, the flickering torches—all dissolving into a ringing silence as the queen’s words echoed through her skull.Your father is the Shadow King.No sound.No breath.Just cold.Rylan caught her before she collapsed, his arms wrapping around her as if he could shield her from a bloodline she’d never asked for.“Lyra,” he whispered, voice raw. “Stay with me.”Her fingers dug into his shirt, anchoring herself in the heat of him, the solidity.But her heart beat like a trapped bird.“My mother… she never told me…” Lyra breathed, struggling to find air. “She made me believe I was just… normal. Just wolf.”Rylan’s grip tightened.“You were never just wolf,” he whispered.“But you were never meant to face this alone.”A harsh scoff cut through her panic.Kade.He stood across the room, wiping blood from his jaw, eyes burning—not with fear.But with something hotter.Sharper.Darker.Envy.“Of cour