Sera woke before dawn.
Her body felt different. Her skin buzzed. Her breath came quicker. The forest was louder, clearer. She could hear the wind shifting above the trees, the way the earth moved beneath her bare feet.
She was… aware.
But it wasn't frightening.
It was freeing.
Lucien lay beside her in the cabin, shirtless, his arm wrapped around her waist. His body was still warm, marked with faint scratches from the night before—when he had claimed her beneath the Ritual Moon.
Her throat still throbbed where he'd bitten her, but not in pain.
In pleasure.
And possession.
The bond had awakened something inside her—and now it was pulling her toward him. Emotionally. Physically. Even when he slept, she could feel him.
Lucien stirred, his voice deep and raw.
"You're burning up."
"I feel… alive," she said, turning toward him. "I hear everything. I feel everything."
He opened his golden eyes and smiled lazily. "You're linked to the pack now. To me."
She bit her lip, her body shifting toward him like a magnet.
"Is it supposed to be this… intense?"
Lucien growled softly, trailing his fingers down her thigh. "It's only just begun."
The Desire
As the sun rose, so did the heat between them. Lucien kissed her slowly at first, but the need in his body grew too fast, too fierce. He pinned her beneath him, worshipping every curve of her skin with lips and hands. Sera gasped as he spread her thighs and moved his mouth down—
And claimed her again.
There were no words.
Only moans.
Only fire.
When he entered her, she swore the bond lit up between them like a living thing. Each thrust felt deeper. More electric. She could feel him inside her mind. His hunger. His need. His fierce protectiveness.
And he could feel her—the pleasure, the ache, the way she whispered his name like a secret.
They weren't just lovers now.
They were something else.
Bound.
The Vision
Later, when their bodies were tangled and the light crept through the windows, Sera dozed off—only to be pulled into a dream.
Except it wasn't a dream.
She stood in a forest darker than night. Red mist swirled at her feet. A voice whispered from behind a tree.
"You were born from blood. From something older than the wolves."
Sera turned, but no one was there.
She saw a flash of silver eyes. A figure cloaked in black. Then a low growl.
"He can't protect you from what's coming."
The red mist thickened, coiling up her legs. The dream twisted—fire, claws, a scream in the distance—
She woke up screaming.
Lucien sat up instantly, grabbing her shoulders. "What is it?"
"I saw something," she gasped. "A voice. A threat. Something is coming, Lucien. Something worse than the Crimson Fang."
He looked at her, expression darkening.
"You saw it through the bond?"
"I don't know."
Lucien rose and pulled on his pants, muscles tense.
"Then we need answers. Now."
The Gathering
By dusk, Lucien had gathered his inner circle—Ronan, the mystic Alira, and two scouts. They stood in the old ruins at the pack's edge, where moonlight lit broken stones and runes none of them could read.
Alira, a gray-haired woman with glowing blue eyes, stepped toward Sera.
"You dreamed of the Shadow Pack," she whispered. "Didn't you?"
Sera stiffened. "What is that?"
Lucien swore under his breath.
"The oldest pack," Alira said. "They don't serve the moon. They serve something else. Something dark. Something ancient."
Sera's mark pulsed hot on her skin.
"Why me?" she whispered. "Why are they coming for me?"
Alira looked at her—and then Lucien—with a knowing sadness.
"Because your blood carries more than the bond. It carries prophecy."
The Cliffhanger
That night, Lucien refused to leave her side.
He held her close, kissed her slower. As if memorizing her. He didn't speak of danger, but it lingered behind every glance.
Before sleep, he whispered against her ear:
"I'll kill anyone who tries to take you."
Sera's eyes fluttered shut. But her mind raced.
What if she wasn't just bonded?
What if she was chosen?