Bound by Moonlight: The Alpha's Hidden Mate

Chapter Four

Amara tried to ignore the strange encounter, to chalk it up to a figment of her imagination, but the city itself seemed to conspire against her. That afternoon, while rushing to the market, she felt a pair of eyes on her again. It wasn't the man from the streetlamp, but the feeling was no less intense. She glanced over her shoulder, spotting a lanky, pale man with eyes like a lizard, dressed in a mismatched suit that was too heavy for the heat. He was looking at her with a predatory glint, a smirk playing on his thin lips.

He was just one of many people on the street, but a cold wave of dread washed over her. Amara quickened her pace, her heart pounding in her ears. He followed. When she ducked into a crowded stall selling fabrics, he was still there, his gaze unblinking. She bought a small scarf she didn’t need, her hands shaking, and rushed out the back, taking a different route home.

She made it back to her apartment, locking the door and double-checking the locks on her windows. The feeling of being watched was overwhelming. She pulled the curtains shut, but it did little to ease her mind. She wasn’t safe. She wasn’t sure why or from whom, but she knew it with a chilling certainty.

Kai watched from the rooftop of a building across the street, his body a still, dark silhouette against the setting sun. His senses were on high alert, his wolf’s instincts screaming a warning. He had felt the lizard-like creature’s presence, one of the shadow beasts sent to hunt for her.

He knew he couldn’t let her go on like this. The threat was too great. The creature was close. He had to act.

He phased, his bones shifting and cracking as his body contorted, his skin stretching and his muscles coiling. In seconds, he was no longer a man but a massive, silver-furred wolf, his eyes glowing with a fierce, golden light. He leaped from the rooftop, landing silently in an alley below, and made his way to Amara’s compound.

Amara was in her living room, her laptop open but her mind a million miles away, when she heard a low growl outside. Her blood ran cold. It was the same sound from the night before, but closer now, more insistent. She crept to the window and moved the curtain an inch to peek out.

A massive, silver wolf stood in her compound, its golden eyes locked on her window. Its size was terrifying, but what truly stole her breath was the look in its eyes. It wasn't the blind rage of an animal, but an expression of intelligent, intense protection.

She recognized those eyes. They were the same ones she had seen on the man under the streetlamp. The same eyes from her dream.

Before she could fully process the impossible reality, she heard a new sound from outside her gate—a guttural shriek, followed by the clatter of a heavy object hitting the ground. The wolf, her wolf, turned its head, a low, menacing growl rumbling in its chest. It was staring at the gate, its hackles raised. The lizard-like man was there, his face contorted in a sneer of pure malice. And he was not alone.