The night was restless. Selene lay awake in her chamber, the covers tangled around her legs as if they too were trying to hold her in place. Sleep should have come, but every time she closed her eyes, she felt the whisper of a presence she could not shut out.
Kael.
The bond she thought severed still throbbed like a wound that refused to close.
She turned on her side and pressed her palms to her ears, as though she could block him out. But then his voice slid through the silence, smooth and commanding, curling into her thoughts like smoke.
Selene.
Her breath caught. She clenched her fists until her nails dug crescents into her skin. "Leave me alone."
You can tell yourself you belong to him, Kael murmured, the words echoing deep inside her head. But we both know the truth. You are mine. The bond doesn't lie.
Her chest tightened. She had heard stories of rejected mates, how sometimes the threads lingered, pulling at each other like half-healed scars. But this was no scar. This was a chain.
And Kael was pulling it.
She bolted upright, gasping, her heartbeat erratic. The room was empty. No shadows moved. No footsteps approached. Yet she felt his presence as vividly as if he were standing in the corner, watching her.
Her skin crawled. She stumbled to her feet and yanked the chamber door open.
Darius's quarters were across the hall. Before she could second-guess herself, she knocked.
It only took seconds before the door swung open, revealing him—bare-chested, his hair mussed from sleep, eyes instantly sharp the moment they landed on her.
"Selene?" His voice was low, alert. "What's wrong?"
She hesitated, the words thick in her throat. She wanted to be strong, to keep her burdens hidden, but the tremor in her hands betrayed her.
"I… I can't—" Her voice cracked. "He's in my head."
Darius's gaze darkened. He stepped aside without a word, pulling her inside and shutting the door behind her. The chamber was dim, lit only by the dying glow of embers in the hearth. He turned to her, his expression carved from stone.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
She wrapped her arms around herself, shaking. "I was trying to sleep, and then… I heard him. Kael. Not like a memory—he was there, inside me. Talking to me. He said I still belonged to him. He said the bond doesn't lie."
For a moment, Darius said nothing. Then he crossed the room in two strides and caught her chin gently, forcing her to look up at him. His silver eyes burned with restrained fury.
"He cannot have you," he said, his voice a growl. "Not in body. Not in mind. He may tug at the bond, but you will not answer it. Do you understand?"
Tears stung her eyes. "What if I can't stop it? What if he pulls too hard?"
Darius's grip softened, his thumb brushing her cheek. "Then I'll break the chain for you."
Her breath hitched at the quiet promise in his tone. He spoke it as if it were an unshakable truth, as if there was nothing in the world he would not tear apart for her.
But before she could reply, a sharp knock rattled the door.
"Alpha." A warrior's voice rang through the wood. "Urgent news. Bloodmoon messenger at the gates."
Selene froze. Her stomach dropped.
Kael had not only haunted her dreams—he had reached her in the waking world too.
---
The fortress was already alive with tension when Darius led Selene down to the courtyard. Warriors lined the walls, their faces set and grim. At the gates, flanked by two Shadowfang guards, stood a tall figure draped in crimson—Kael's colors.
The messenger's lips curved in a smirk as his gaze landed on Selene. "So it's true. The little wolf hides behind Shadowfang's walls."
Darius's growl reverberated through the courtyard. "Speak your message, before I cut your tongue out."
The smirk didn't falter. "Alpha Kael sends word. He will grant you mercy if you return what is his. Hand over Selene, and Bloodmoon will withdraw. Refuse…" His gaze swept across the gathered warriors, lingering on their wounds, their weary stances. "And war will be your only inheritance."
A ripple of anger surged through the Shadowfang ranks, but all eyes turned to Selene.
Her pulse thundered. She could feel Kael tugging at the bond even now, as if daring her to step forward, to surrender herself willingly. For a breath, fear gripped her so tightly she could hardly breathe.
Then her gaze found Darius. He stood tall, unshaken, his silver eyes locked on her, not the messenger. And in them she saw something stronger than fear. Trust.
Her voice shook, but she forced the words out. "Tell Kael… I am not his. I will never be his."
The messenger's smirk faltered. Selene lifted her chin, louder now, each word a blade cutting through the chain that bound her. "If he wants war, let him come. Shadowfang will not bend. And neither will I."
The courtyard erupted in growls of approval. The warriors, who had doubted her days ago, now roared their support. For the first time, Selene felt not their suspicion but their fire beside her.
The messenger's eyes narrowed. "So be it." He turned sharply, striding back toward the valley.
Darius's arm brushed hers, steadying her. "You did well."
But though pride flickered in his voice, Selene knew the battle had only just begun.
---
That night, Selene could not escape Kael's grip.
Sleep dragged her into visions—dark forests, moonlight dripping like blood, and Kael himself standing before her, eyes blazing with hunger.
"You think you can defy me?" His voice was silk and steel, cutting deep. "You are mine, Selene. You feel it. The bond screams for me. That Shadowfang Alpha cannot change it."
She shook her head, trembling. "I don't want you. I chose Darius."
His laugh was cruel, echoing through the dream. "You can choose nothing. The bond was forged by the Moon herself. You are bound to me until death. And death is what awaits you if you resist."
The forest closed in, shadows crawling up her legs like chains. She struggled, gasping, but the more she fought, the tighter they bound her.
"Selene!"
The voice shattered the vision. Suddenly hands gripped her shoulders, pulling her back. She blinked through the haze to find Darius looming over her, his eyes sharp with concern. She was in her bed, drenched in sweat, her throat raw from screaming.
"You were trapped in it again," he said, his jaw clenched.
Her chest heaved. "He won't let me go. He keeps pulling me back. I can feel him even now—"
"Look at me." Darius cupped her face, forcing her to meet his gaze. His voice dropped to a whisper, raw and certain. "You belong here. To me. Not to him. Every time he pulls, I will pull harder. Do you hear me?"
Her tears spilled over. She pressed her forehead against his, desperate for the strength he offered. "I'm scared, Darius. What if I'm too weak?"
"You are not weak," he growled, his breath brushing her lips. "You are stronger than any wolf I've ever known. And as long as I breathe, Kael will never touch you again."
Something inside her broke then—not in despair, but in surrender. Not to Kael's chain, but to Darius's steady, unyielding presence.
Her hands clutched his as if anchoring herself to him. His thumbs brushed her cheeks, lingering, protective, almost reverent. For a moment, the world narrowed to just the two of them—the storm outside, the war looming, all of it distant compared to the bond forming here, chosen, not forced.
"Stay with me," she whispered.
"I will," he promised, and for the first time in days, she believed it.
---
But the bond with Kael did not break so easily.
The next morning, Selene woke to find bruises around her wrists, faint but unmistakable, shaped like fingers. Her stomach twisted. He had touched her—in her dream, yet the marks lingered in reality.
When Darius saw them, his fury shook the walls. "He dares." His voice was lethal, low. "If he can reach you through the bond, then we will sever it—once and for all."
Selene's heart pounded. Severing a mate bond was dangerous, whispered of in stories more as legend than fact. Some said it could kill. Others said it left scars that never healed.
But as Darius wrapped his hand over hers, his warmth steady, his voice unwavering, she knew one thing: anything was better than living in Kael's chains.
And if she had to risk death to be free, she would.
For the first time, she felt not only the fear of Kael's claim, but the fire of defiance burning bright in her chest.
And beside her, Darius's fire burned just as fiercely.