Rain lashed against the crooked rooftops of Hollowroot as Kael stood alone beneath the splintered shrine. Lightning slashed across the sky, revealing the agony etched into his features.
The crystal shard in his hand had gone cold.
The bond with Aria—his mate, his Moonbound—was fading. Not broken, but unraveling thread by thread.
And he had no idea how to stop it.
He hadn't slept. Couldn't eat. His wolf stirred beneath his skin restlessly, clawing to run, to find her. But she had made her choice.
She stayed with the witch.
Or maybe she simply didn't trust him anymore.
He looked at the horizon, the mist crawling in like a warning.
"I'm not giving up on you," he whispered. "Even if you've given up on me."
---
Aria sat inside the crystal sanctum, her body wrapped in a cloak Valeska had conjured from smoke and silk. The cavern was cold, but the chill came from within her.
She had watched Kael walk away.
Not because she wanted him gone—but because the truth between them had rotted into something painful.
Valeska brought her a bowl of glowing liquid. "Drink. It will heal what the moon has fractured."
Aria hesitated. "Why are you helping me?"
Valeska's eyes gleamed. "Because if you fall, everything falls with you."
Aria drank—and dreams overtook her.
---
She stood on a battlefield.
Smoke. Screams. Wolves fighting shadows.
Kael stood beside her—older, bleeding, his eyes wild.
"You left me," he said.
"I came back."
He looked past her. "Too late."
A blade of shadows pierced his chest.
She screamed, reaching for him—
---
She woke gasping, hand clutching her chest.
Valeska watched quietly. "Visions are often warnings, not certainties."
Aria wiped her tears. "Then I need to go."
"Where?"
"To make it right."
---
Elsewhere in the Whisperer's tower, Celene Vale stood before a mirror, her eyes rimmed in gold light. She had found it—an ancient charm buried beneath the ruins of their ancestral manor.
She held it now—a pendant shaped like a crescent fang, infused with the essence of betrayal.
Behind her, the Whisperer's voice coiled.
"She weakens. The Moonbound cracks. Her heart is vulnerable."
Celene smiled coldly. "Then I will be the one to shatter it."
She placed the charm around her neck.
And the shadows bent to her will.
---
Back in Hollowroot, Kael saddled his horse, prepared to ride north.
Nyla stepped in his path. "You sure about this?"
"She's in danger."
"She's always in danger."
Kael's hands shook. "I don't just want her back. I need her back."
Nyla softened. "Then bring her home."
---
The next day, Aria climbed the cliffs above the sanctum, her red hair whipping in the wind.
She stared into the distance.
She felt Kael—closer now. Searching.
She smiled faintly.
And then the cliff shook.
A massive shadow wolf leapt from the rocks above, jaws open.
Aria rolled to the side, barely avoiding its fangs.
Another one landed behind her.
She was surrounded.
Valeska's voice echoed in her mind. You must awaken your second form.
Aria screamed—and her eyes turned silver.
Wings of crimson light exploded from her back as she shifted—not into a wolf, but something new. A being of moonfire and blood.
She leapt forward, striking the first beast. Her claws burned with ancient magic.
They fought for what felt like hours.
And when the last beast fell, Kael stood at the ridge.
He saw her—not as the frightened girl he once met, but a force of power and pain.
Their eyes locked.
He took a step forward.
She didn't move.
"Aria," he breathed.
"You shouldn't have come."
"I had to."
She looked away. "I saw you die."
He froze.
"In a vision. You said I came back too late."
Kael stepped closer. "Then let me rewrite that future."
She hesitated.
Then a scream shattered the moment.
A figure flew down from the sky—Celene, cloaked in black, her eyes blazing.
"You don't deserve him, sister."
Aria turned, fury rising. "Then come and take him."
---
To be continued....