Chapter six: The Rogue Luna
1816 Words
The forest swallowed them whole, dark and cold and endless.
Damien moved fast. One hand locked in Elena’s, the other on the hilt of his sword. No talking. No stopping. No looking back.
Behind them, Blackwood Estate was chaos. Shouts carried through the trees like arrows. Dogs baying. Iron gates slamming shut. The sound of a pack turning against its Alpha.
“They’ll come for us,” Elena said between breaths. Her lungs burned. Her legs burned. “Selene has the seal. She can call every pack in the territory. She can make it legal to kill me.”
“Let her try,” Damien said. His voice was flat. Final.
They didn’t stop until the trees thinned and a black river appeared. Cold mist rolled off it and clung to Elena’s skin.
Marcus was already there with two horses and Kiera. Their faces were grim.
“Rogue camp,” Marcus said. “Two hours north. Abandoned since the last war. No pack claims it. No one goes there.”
Damien lifted Elena onto the first horse like she weighed nothing. He mounted behind her. His chest was solid against her back. His arms came around her to take the reins. He smelled like blood and smoke and storm.
“Hold on,” he said.
They rode. Hard. No moon to guide them. Only the bond pulling them north.
---
*Two hours later. Rogue camp.*
Ruins. Broken cabins with no roofs. A stone well choked with weeds. Ash in the fire pits from the last pack that died here. No one had lived here since the last Alpha fell to betrayal.
Elena slid off the horse. Her legs shook so hard she almost fell.
Kiera started a fire with shaking hands. Marcus set a perimeter with silver traps and old wards.
Damien didn’t speak. He checked the tree line. Checked the sky. Checked her. Every five seconds his eyes came back to her like he expected her to vanish.
“Eat,” Kiera said, handing Elena bread and water.
Elena couldn’t. Her stomach was knotted too tight.
Damien took the bread. Broke it. Held a piece to her mouth.
“Eat,” he said.
She did. Because his eyes said he wouldn’t look away until she did. Because through the bond she felt his fear. If she didn’t eat, she’d be weak tomorrow. If she was weak tomorrow, she’d die.
When she finished, he stood. “Training. Now.”
Elena stared. “We just ran for our lives. I’m bleeding.”
“And in two days Selene puts you on trial,” he said. “So we don’t rest. We get ready. We get dangerous.”
---
*Midnight. The clearing.*
Moonlight. Cold dirt. A wooden sword in her hand that felt like a rock.
Damien circled her. No shirt. Scars across his chest. Muscle moving with every step. He looked like a weapon.
“Again,” he said.
Elena lunged. He blocked. The impact sent pain up her arm to her teeth.
“I’m tired,” she said.
“Good,” he said. “Fight tired. Because they won’t wait for you to rest. They’ll come when you’re broken.”
She swung. He caught her wrist. Twisted. She went down hard. Dirt in her mouth.
Damien was over her in a second. Knee beside her hip. Wooden sword at her throat.
“Dead,” he said.
Elena stared up at him. Sweat in her eyes. Dirt on her face. Rage in her chest. “Then teach me not to be.”
His eyes darkened. He let her up.
They went again. And again.
---
*1:30 AM.*
Elena collapsed to her knees. Gasping. Her hands were blistered.
Damien crouched in front of her. “Look at me.”
She did.
“You’re not weak,” he said. “You’re human. That means you have to be smarter. Faster. Meaner than every wolf in that hall. You don’t have claws, so you use your brain. You don’t have strength, so you use anger.”
He took her hand. Pressed it to his chest. Over his heart.
“Feel that?” he said. “Mine beats with yours now. Use it. When you’re scared, pull from me. When you’re tired, take my strength.”
Elena felt him. His anger. His fear for her. His need.
The bond pulsed. Hot. Heavy. Real.
She stood. Picked up the sword.
“Again.”
---
*2:00 AM.*
She landed a hit. The wooden sword cracked against his shoulder.
Damien stopped. Looked at her.
Elena froze. “Did I hurt you—”
He smiled. Small. Real. Not wolf. Just him. “Again.”
She did. Harder this time.
He didn’t block. He let it hit.
“Good,” he said.
Elena threw the sword down. “Why did you do that?”
“Because you needed to know you could,” he said.
He stepped close. Too close.
“You’re bleeding,” he said. Thumb at her lip.
“So are you,” she said.
The bond surged. Heat. Need. Want. His was hers. Hers was his.
“Damien—”
“Don’t,” he said. Voice rough. Broken. “If I touch you now, we won’t stop. And we don’t have time.”
Elena’s heart hammered. “Two days left.”
“Two days,” he agreed.
He stepped back. “Rest.”
---
*Dawn. Red sky.*
Elena woke to shouting.
Marcus. “Riders. East. Five of them.”
Damien was already moving. Sword out.
Elena grabbed a knife.
Five wolves broke through the trees. Selene’s colors. Silver and black.
“Alpha Blackwood,” the lead one called. “Surrender the human. The Council will be merciful. She will be exiled, not killed.”
Damien stepped in front of Elena. “Touch her and you die.”
The wolves shifted.
The fight was fast. Brutal. No words.
Damien moved like a shadow. One down. Two down.
Marcus took another.
The last one came for Elena.
She didn’t run.
She remembered. Feet. Shoulder. Strike.
She drove the knife into his thigh. He howled.
Damien finished him.
Silence.
Elena was breathing hard. Blood on her hands. Not hers.
Damien turned to her. “You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine,” she said.
He checked her anyway. Hands over her arms. Her ribs. His touch was careful. Possessive. Angry.
“You fought,” he said.
“You told me to,” she said.
He pulled her in. Forehead to hers. “Good girl.”
Elena’s breath caught.
Marcus cleared his throat. “More coming. We need to move.”
Damien didn’t let go. “Then we move.”
---
*Noon. A cave.*
They hid. For now.
Kiera tended Elena’s scrapes. “You’re bruised, but nothing broken.”
Elena looked at Damien. He was cleaning his sword. Blood on his hands.
“Why me?” she asked.
Damien didn’t look up. “What?”
“Why didn’t you choose Selene? She’s wolf. She’s pack. She’s your history. She’s easier.”
“She’s not you,” he said.
He looked up then. Silver eyes. “The bond didn’t ask me. It chose. And I would choose you again. Every time. Even if it costs me the pack. Even if it costs me my life.”
Elena’s throat closed.
Marcus spoke from the entrance. “Message.”
He held up a scrap of parchment. Tied with silver thread.
Damien read it. His jaw clenched.
“What?” Elena asked.
“Selene,” he said. “She’s moved the vote. Tomorrow. Not three days.”
Elena stood. “Tomorrow?”
“She’s scared,” Damien said. “Scared of what we’re becoming. Scared of what you are to me.”
He stood. “Then we go to her.”
---
*Night. Blackwood Estate walls.*
They didn’t enter. They watched.
Torches. Wolves. The Council hall lit up like a furnace.
Selene stood on the balcony. Seal around her neck. It glinted like a knife.
“People of Blackwood,” she called. “Tomorrow we decide. Do we follow a human, or do we save our pack?”
Boos. Cheers. Division.
Elena felt it through the bond. Damien’s rage.
“She wants a riot,” he said.
“Then we don’t give her one,” Elena said.
Damien looked at her. “What are you thinking?”
Elena stepped out of the shadows. Just her. No guards. No Alpha.
“Elena,” Damien said. Warning.
She kept walking. To the gate.
“Open it,” she called.
The guards stared.
“Open it,” she said again. Louder.
One of them did.
Elena walked in. Alone.
Whispers.
Selene saw her. Smiled. “Look who came to beg.”
Elena stopped in the courtyard. “I didn’t come to beg.”
She pulled down her collar. The two silver marks showed. Mated. Claimed.
“I came to be seen,” she said. “I am Luna. By blood. By bond. And I will not hide while you lie to this pack.”
Selene’s smile faltered. “Guards—”
“Touch her,” Damien’s voice came from the wall.
He dropped down. Marcus behind him.
The courtyard went silent.
Damien walked to Elena. Took her hand.
“Together,” he said.
She nodded.
Selene raised the seal. “By Council law, I declare—”
“No,” Elena said.
Her voice echoed.
“I am not human anymore,” she said. “The bond made me pack. And if you want to remove me, you’ll have to go through him.”
She looked at Damien.
He looked at her.
The bond flared. Visible. Silver light between their hands.
Gasps.
Even Rowan stepped back.
Selene’s face twisted. “This is a trick—”
“It’s fate,” Elena said.
Damien pulled her to him. Kissed her. In front of everyone.
Not soft. Not careful. Claiming.
When he pulled back, he said, “Tomorrow. We come. And we end this.”
He took Elena’s hand.
And they walked out.
No one stopped them.
---
*Back in the cave. Night.*
Elena’s hands shook. “Did I just… declare war?”
Damien pulled her into his arms. “You declared you’re Luna.”
He kissed her forehead. “Tomorrow. One day.”
Elena looked up at him. “If I die—”
“You won’t,” he said. “Because I won’t let you.”
He held her tighter.
She relaxed into him. The bond settled. Warm. Certain.
Kiera brought blankets. “Sleep. Both of you. You’ll need it.”
Elena lay down with Damien’s arm around her. His heartbeat under her ear.
She was scared. But she wasn’t alone.
“Damien,” she whispered.
“Hmm?”
“Thank you. For choosing me.”
He didn’t answer with words. He just tightened his hold.
Outside, the moon watched.
Tomorrow would decide everything.
- Writer
