Kael's POV
I pace the cell like a caged storm. Back and forth. Back and forth. My bare feet slap against the cold stone. The sound echoes off the walls, mixing with my ragged breathing. Each step burns through my muscles, but I can't stop. Won't stop.
The stone walls pulse with the echo of her voice—fragile, shaken, mine. That moment when her gaze locked with mine haunts every breath. Her eyes. Those beautiful eyes that once looked at me with such love. Now they're empty. Confused. Lost. She saw me. Not fully. Not clearly. But enough to tremble. Enough to crack the lie Rael built around her.
I slam my fist against the wall. Pain shoots up my arm. Good. I need to feel something other than this ache in my chest. Why does his pain feel like mine?
The question burns in my mind. I know the answer. Deep down, where the bond still lives, I know, because it is yours, Elira.
I grip the rusted bars and pull. The metal cuts into my palms. Blood drips between my fingers. They don't budge, and I don't care. I want to destroy something. Anything.
These bars. These walls. Rael's lying face, but I'm too weak, too broken, too cursed. My legs give out. I slide down the wall, breathing hard. The dampness seeps through my torn shirt. I taste copper in my mouth. Blood from where I bit my tongue.
Still, I will fight. I will crawl, if I have to. I'll bleed my way back to her. Footsteps echo in the corridor. Heavy boots. Multiple pairs.
When the guards come, I don't resist. My body screams as they haul me up. Every muscle protests. But I let them drag me. Let them think I'm broken. Because where they're taking me, she'll be there.
They take me above, toward the high sanctum. My heart pounds harder with each step. The air grows cleaner. Moonlight filters through cracks in the stone.
And she's there.
My breath catches in my throat. She's standing beneath the moonlight pouring through stained glass, her hair braided in silver cords, her eyes guarded. The moonbeams paint her skin silver. She's beautiful. So beautiful it hurts to look at her.
Like a stranger wearing my mate's face. I inhale her scent like salvation. Lavender and wild honey. Home. Safety. Love. Everything I've lost floods back in that single breath. My wolf whimpers inside me, reaching for her through the bond that barely exists anymore.
"Elira," I whisper. Her name feels like prayer on my lips. Like coming back to life.
She doesn't flinch, but her hands curl at her sides. I see the tension in her shoulders. The way she holds herself ready to run.
"You shouldn't be here," she says softly, warily. "You're dangerous." Each word is a knife in my chest. She's afraid of me. My mate. My moonfire. She's afraid of me.
"You know me."
Please. Please remember.
A flicker crosses her eyes. Something deep. Something fighting to surface. "I don't."
The lie tastes bitter in the air between us. "Moonfire." Her breath catches. Just a little. Just enough.
I take one step forward. The guards tense. Their hands move to their weapons. But I only have eyes for her. "No one calls me that," she says, but there's a tremble now. Her voice cracks on the last word. "No one but…"
"Me. Only me. Because you named me your moonshadow. Because we burned under stars and you said you'd never forget."
The memory hits me like a physical blow. Her body pressed against mine. Her fingers tracing patterns on my chest. The way she whispered my name like it was sacred.
"You're my shadow in the moonlight," she had said. "My moonshadow. And I'm your moonfire."
"Promise me," I had begged. "Promise you'll never forget." "Under every moon to come," she had sworn.
She looks down. Her hands are shaking. I can see the war happening inside her. Truth fighting against the lies they've planted, but her voice is cold. "That was a dream. A vision. Nothing more." "Then why does your bond scream when I bleed?" I say. "Why does your scent pull me back from death?"
I take another step. The guards raise their weapons. "Why do you shake when I say your name?"
"Enough." The voice cuts through the sanctum like a blade. Rael. My body goes rigid. Rage floods through me, hot and violent. He walks in, draped in royal crimson and smug certainty. Everything about him screams fake. False. Stolen. He stands between us, a wall in flesh.
"She is mine," he says to me. "You had your chance and lost it. The Moon chose again." I want to tear his throat out. Want to show him what happens when you steal from an Alpha. Even a broken one.
"The Moon never chose you. You forced this. Twisted her." Rael laughs. The sound grates against my ears. "Still clinging to old myths? You're a relic, Kael. A broken Alpha with no pack, no power, and no place." "Then fight me," I growl. "Or are you afraid what I might still be?"
His grin sharpens. "Gladly." They circle us with a ring of iron dust. The old rites. No magic. No interference. Just flesh and blood and will. I lunge first. Fast, desperate.
He blocks. His fist connects with my ribs. I hear something crack. Another blow to my jaw. Stars explode behind my eyes. I stagger.
He's strong, fed by stolen prayers and blind loyalty, but I fight like a man who has nothing left.
Like a man who would die before losing her again. Elira watches, her face pale. Her hands trembling more now. I can smell her fear. Her confusion. The way her scent spikes every time I take a hit.
Rael throws me to the ground. My shoulder cracks against the stone. I cough blood. It spatters the white floor. "Still want her?" he snarls. I push up. Spit blood. It lands at his feet.
"Always." Always. Until my last breath. Until the stars burn out. Rael charges again, and that's when she screams.
"KAEL!"
The vision hits her mid-duel. She clutches her head, eyes wide with agony. Her whole body convulses. The silver cords in her hair come loose. I can smell her pain through the bond. Feel it like fire in my veins. "Chains," she gasps. "Blood. A howl… his howl…"
My howl. She remembers my howl. Rael stops, caught off guard. His face twists with panic.
Elira drops to her knees, sobbing. Tears stream down her face. Each tear cuts through me like a blade. "Why do I remember stars? Why do I remember his name?"
The memories are breaking through. Fighting past whatever they did to her. Rael motions for the guards. "Take her. Now." I crawl forward, hand outstretched. Blood drips from my mouth. "Elira…"
The blow comes from behind. Something hard crashes against my skull. I drop again.
But I see her reaching for me. See her lips form my name.
It's enough.
Hours later, I wake in darkness. The cell again. But something has changed. The bond. It's stronger. Her memories are coming back, piece by piece. I close my eyes and reach for her through the connection. She's in her chambers. Awake. Holding something.
A pendant. Silver. Shaped like a crescent. The one I gave her the night we bonded.
Through the bond, I feel her confusion. Her growing awareness. The way she traces the letters carved into the back.
My name.
She's starting to remember, but then I feel something else. Rael's presence. His rage. His desperation.
The door to her chambers slams open. Through the bond, I feel her fear spike. Then pain. Sharp and sudden.
He hit her. I roar. The sound echoes through the dungeons. Guards come running. They find me gripping the bars, my eyes blazing with fury. "He touched her," I snarl. "He hurt her."
They don't understand. Can't understand. But through the bond, I feel her smile. Even through the pain, she smiles, because she knows now. She remembers, and I'm coming for her.
That night, I wake in a dream. Or something that pretends to be one. A silver plain stretches forever. The stars bleed red above me. The ground beneath my feet feels like glass. Cold and sharp, and then he steps from the shadows.
Tall. Antlered. His eyes glowing blue fire. Not the warm blue of summer skies. The cold blue of winter death.
Not the Moon Goddess. The other one. The forgotten one. Power radiates from him in waves. It makes my skin crawl. Makes my wolf whimper and hide. "She will never be yours again," he says.
His voice echoes from everywhere and nowhere. Like thunder in my bones. "I will make her remember." He tilts his head. "Would you give anything for that?"
I hesitate. Then: "Yes." "Even her soul?"
The wind stops. My heart does too. The plain goes silent. Even the bleeding stars pause in their weeping. "What?"
He steps closer. Each footstep cracks the glass ground. "Let me give you what the Moon stole. Power. Rage. The strength to break every chain. All it costs is her soul."
My fists clench. "I'd die first."
He smiles. The expression is horrible. Like watching a corpse laugh. "Oh, Kael. That can be arranged."
The ground beneath me gives way. I fall into darkness, his laughter following me down, and somewhere in the distance, I hear her scream. My eyes snap open. The cell is silent. But the scream still echoes in my mind.
Through the bond, I feel nothing. Empty silence where Elira should be. Terror fills me. Ice cold and sharp. What has he done to her?