The moon always rose too bright on nights like this too silver, too honest.
Its light crept across the courtyard of Valehart Manor, slipping through the cracks of our crumbling gates as though determined to expose everything my family had tried to hide.
Father used to say the moon never forgot its debtors. I used to think he meant debts of money. Now I know he meant debts of blood.
I drew my cloak tighter and forced my legs down the gravel path, every step whispering of ghosts. The air smelled of cedar smoke and wolf musk drifting from the forest where the other packs were already gathering. Tonight was the Moon Gathering the one night each year when every unmated wolf presented themselves before the Goddess. A blessing for some. A curse for others.
For me, it was both.
"Serenya!" My cousin Lira's voice broke the silence as she hurried to catch up, silk skirts rustling. "You'll make us late again. Do you want the Elders to think we're defying the summons?"
"I'm not defying anything," I murmured. "Just… hoping the moon overlooks me this year."
Lira laughed the way only the innocent can. "No one escapes Her choice, cousin. Even the Goddess loves a Valehart now and then."
That was easy for her to say. Her family hadn't been stripped of rank after my father's rebellion failed. Her father hadn't died beneath the Alpha's sword.
I bit down the taste of bitterness. The Gathering wasn't optional; even exiled bloodlines had to attend. If the Moon decided to pair me with a wolf from another pack, it could restore our honor. Or destroy it completely.
The road opened into the ceremonial field a vast clearing ringed by torches and marble columns older than the kingdom itself. Hundreds of wolves filled the space, dressed in finery, their scents mingling in a storm of nerves and excitement. Somewhere beyond them, musicians tuned their flutes; the hum of anticipation hung in the air like static before a storm.
I felt eyes follow me as I entered. Pity from some. Disgust from others. The Valehart name was a stain none wanted near their bloodline.
"Keep your head high," Lira whispered. "Pretend you don't notice."
But I did notice especially the black-cloaked guards stationed at the outer ring. They belonged to the Crimson Fang Pack, easily recognized by the red emblem on their shoulders. And where the Fangs gathered, their Alpha could not be far.
My pulse stumbled.
Everyone had heard of Alpha Kael Dravencourt, the Beast of the North, the man who had crushed my father's rebellion five years ago. Rumor said he ruled half the kingdom with claws instead of hands. Some said he killed for sport. Others whispered that he was cursed by the Moon herself, bound never to find his mate.
If that was true, then tonight would be his curse's breaking.
Lira tugged my sleeve. "Don't stare, Serenya."
"I wasn't," I lied.
Because the moment I looked across the field, I saw him.
He stood apart from the crowd, towering above his warriors, his cloak of black fur catching the wind like wings. The torchlight painted his hair in threads of gold and shadow, his face unreadable except for the faintest glint of crimson in his eyes. The mark of a true Alpha, a wolf whose blood had been blessed by the Goddess herself.
He turned his head then, as if sensing the weight of my gaze. Our eyes met across the distance.
Everything inside me froze.
It wasn't attraction. It was recognition, cold and primal, a memory I didn't own. For a heartbeat, the world narrowed to that single look: the hum of drums fading, the chatter dissolving, the air thick with a promise I didn't understand.
Then someone brushed my arm and the spell broke.
The High Priestess called for silence. The crowd parted as she stepped to the center of the circle, her robes shimmering like liquid moonlight.
"Children of the Moon," she intoned, voice echoing. "Tonight, the Goddess walks among us. May her light reveal the bonds she has written in our blood."
Wolves dropped to their knees. I followed, pressing a trembling hand to my heart as the first note of the ritual horn sounded. Above, the moon climbed higher round, perfect, merciless.
The High Priestess raised her arms. "Let the choosing begin."
One by one, silver threads of light began to shimmer in the air, drifting from the moon like strands of spun glass. They sought, they touched, they bound. Gasps rippled through the crowd as pairs were marked mates recognized by the same thread wrapping around their wrists.
I watched, holding my breath, praying none of those threads would find me.
And for a while, they didn't.
Until one broke away from the rest.
It wasn't silver. It was crimson, dark and pulsing like a vein of fire.
It arced through the night, slicing across the field toward the place where I knelt. Wolves turned, whispers spreading like wildfire.
The thread struck my wrist and burned, sinking into my skin in a spiral of red light. I screamed, biting back tears as heat spread through my veins.
When it cleared, a mark remained a half-moon made of blood.
The field erupted in shouts.
"A blood mark!" someone cried. "The Goddess has chosen the cursed Alpha's mate!"
My vision blurred. Across the circle, Kael Dravencourt was no longer standing still. He was moving toward me, each step silent but heavy, his eyes locked on mine as though he'd known this moment would come.
The crowd parted before him in fear and awe. Lira's hand fell from my arm.
I wanted to run. Every instinct screamed to shift, to flee into the forest, to tear the mark from my skin. But my body refused to move.
He stopped before me, close enough that I could smell the cold iron on his armor, the faint scent of pine and blood. His voice was deep, quiet, and absolute.
"The Moon has spoken," he said. "You belong to me."
The torches flickered. The mark on my wrist throbbed in answer.
And all I could think was:
The Moon never forgot its debtors.
The deeper I walked into the clearing, the thicker the silence grew. Only the rustling of leaves and the occasional whisper of fabric against skin could be heard as unmated wolves waited for the Moon's call. Above, the clouds parted slowly, deliberately as if the Goddess herself was peering down to choose her next victims.
Someone bumped into my shoulder. "Sorry," a soft voice said.
I turned to see a girl, younger than me, her hands trembling as she clutched a charm made of moonstone. "First time?" I asked.
She nodded nervously.
"Relax. The Goddess doesn't bite," I lied.
Because the truth was, she did.
A low hum rolled through the ground beneath us ancient, pulsing, alive. I froze. All around, wolves straightened, eyes flashing silver under the moonlight. The Hunt had begun.
Drums thundered. Then the scent hit wild pine, danger, and something sharper than sin.
My heart stopped.
No. It couldn't be.
Not him.
Through the crowd, shadows parted, and he appeared tall, broad, wrapped in black leather like he owned the night. Alpha Kael Draven of the Bloodfang Pack. The same Alpha whose warriors had once dragged my father through the mud, accused of treason, and stripped our family of everything.
The same Alpha I had sworn to hate until my last breath.
My pulse betrayed me, thundering in rhythm with the drums. Kael's presence was magnetic, lethal, impossible to ignore. The air shifted when he walked wolves bowed their heads without being told. His black hair gleamed under the moonlight, his sharp jaw clenched tight, and his crimson eyes scanned the crowd like a predator searching for his prey.
When those eyes locked on mine, the world tilted.
For one unbearable second, there was nothing else.
No sound. No breath.
Just the pull deep, primal, undeniable.
I tore my gaze away, chest burning. "No," I whispered to myself. "It can't be."
But the Goddess had already made her choice.
The mark on my wrist the dormant crescent every unmated wolf bore flared with searing heat. I gasped, grabbing my arm as the symbol glowed gold. A chorus of gasps followed. Around me, heads turned. Whispers erupted.
"The Alpha… he's found his mate."
I looked up and found Kael standing only a few feet away. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes… they blazed. He stepped closer, and the scent of him spice, smoke, and dominance wrapped around me until I couldn't think straight.
"Serenya Valehart," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "Fate has a cruel sense of humor."
I opened my mouth, but no sound came.
He was right. Fate was cruel.
Because the Goddess had bound me daughter of a disgraced Beta to the Alpha who destroyed my family.
Before I could speak, his hand came up, fingers brushing my jaw. The touch was scorching. "You feel it too," he murmured, almost to himself. "The bond."
"I don't want this," I breathed, stepping back. But the invisible pull tightened, yanking me closer until our breaths mingled.
Kael's lips curved into a half-smile that wasn't really a smile. "You don't have a choice, little wolf."
Then he leaned in, close enough for his whisper to curl against my ear:
"Run. Because once this night ends, you'll be mine."
And just like that, he vanished into the forest, leaving me trembling and gasping for air. The crowd erupted in murmurs, eyes following me with curiosity and fear. I stumbled backward, clutching my arm as the mark still glowed beneath my skin.
I should've felt honored—chosen by the Alpha himself.
But all I felt was terror.
Because Kael Draven wasn't just the most powerful man in the kingdom.
He was the one man I could never love…
and the one man I could never escape.