All Chapters of Moon Touched : Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

The man in the corner hadn't touched his ale in three hours.Selene noticed him the moment he walked in. Impossible not to. He moved in a way that made other men make space without realizing: shoulders too broad, presence too heavy, eyes the color of winter sky just before snow. The kind of eyes that had seen things. The kind of hands that had done things.Now he sat in shadow, watching.Not her specifically. The room. The doors. The windows. Every few minutes, his gaze swept the tavern like he expected something to burst through and needed to be ready.Selene wiped down the bar and tried to ignore the way her skin prickled when her back was to him."You're staring again."Marta's voice made her jump. The older woman raised an eyebrow, gray-streaked hair escaping her bun as she hauled a tray of glasses. At fifty-two, Marta had run the Blackthorn Tavern for thirty years. She'd seen everything. Feared nothing. Except, apparently, Selene's poor life choices."I'm not staring. I'm observi

Selene didn't sleep.She lay in her narrow bed above the bakery, staring at the ceiling, listening to the wind scrape branches against her window. Every creak of the old building made her flinch. Every shadow moving across her wall made her hold her breath.The word was still burned behind her eyes.RUN.She'd checked the window a dozen times before coming upstairs. Nothing. Just clean glass and her own reflection looking back at her: pale, shaken, eyes too wide.But the claw marks had been real. She'd felt them under her fingertips. Five faint lines etched into the frost, gone now, but real.And the howl.That sound. Low and mournful and somehow familiar, like a voice she'd known in a dream. It had crawled inside her chest and wrapped around her ribs and stayed.Selene pressed her hand to her heart. It was still racing. Had been racing since the moment his eyes turned gold.His eyes.She sat up in bed, pulling the thin blanket tighter. Who was he? What was he? Men didn't have gold ey

They left at dawn.The sky was pale gray, heavy with clouds that promised more snow. Selene stood at the tree line with a single bag over her shoulder, a change of clothes, the pouch Marta had given her, and nothing else. Six months of life in Blackthorn reduced to what she could carry.Dian waited beside her, his wounds bandaged beneath a dark coat. He'd healed overnight faster than any human should. Selene had watched him sleep, counted the gashes on his chest knitting closed, and decided not to ask questions she wasn't ready to hear answers to.Marta stood in the tavern doorway, arms crossed, face unreadable."You take care of her," she called. Not a request. A command.Dian inclined his head. "With my life.""See that you do." Marta's eyes met Selene's. "You come back, girl. You hear me?"Selene nodded, throat tight. "I will."She didn't know if it was true.Then they walked into the forest, and Blackthorn vanished behind them.The trees swallowed the light.Within minutes, the wo