Mated To The Twin Alphas

27: The Shadow’s Kiss

The night was heavy with mist.

The battle had ended, but its echoes clung to the air — the scent of burnt magic, the shimmer of fading light. Damon and Darius stood back to back in the ruins of the council hall, their chests heaving, sweat and blood glistening against pale moonlight.

The shadow wolves had vanished as suddenly as they’d appeared, dissolving into the darkness that spawned them. Yet something remained.

A pulse.

A whisper.

A familiar warmth that brushed their skin like a ghost’s touch.

Damon felt it first — a breath against the back of his neck, soft and impossibly human. His body went still.

“Selene?”

The word slipped out before he could stop it.

For a heartbeat, silence. Then, faintly — Yes.

The voice wasn’t in his head this time. It came from the air itself, wrapping around him like silk. He spun, but no one was there. Only the flicker of candlelight, dancing on shattered stone.

Darius turned sharply, his eyes glowing silver. “You heard it too?”

Damon nodded, his throat tight. “She’s here.”

They both stood in the stillness, waiting.

And then the air shimmered.

A shape began to form — faint, luminous, half-shadow, half-light. It was Selene. Or at least what remained of her. Her outline flickered like moonlight through fog, her hair flowing in invisible wind. Her eyes were filled with sorrow… and something else.

Longing.

“Selene…” Darius breathed, taking a hesitant step forward. His heart thundered, his wolf clawing at the edges of his control. He could feel her again — the bond that had been severed thrumming with life.

“Don’t,” Damon warned, grabbing his arm. “It might not be her.”

But Selene’s gaze found his, and in that moment, Damon felt everything crash through him — the nights without her, the weight of her last sacrifice, the ache that never healed.

“It’s me,” she whispered. “But not all of me.”

Her voice broke, trembling with emotion. “The part of me that loved you both… it didn’t move on. It stayed. It became this.”

Darius stepped closer, ignoring the chill that rolled off her form. “Then let us bring you back. We can find a way.”

Selene shook her head. “You can’t. Every time you reach for me, the shadow grows stronger. It’s feeding on what we feel.”

Her light flickered — and suddenly the shadow form that mirrored her began to stir in the darkness behind her. It stretched, matching her movements exactly, eyes gleaming with hunger.

Damon’s pulse quickened. “Selene, stop — it’s binding to you!”

“I know,” she said softly, tears glinting. “But it’s the only way I can touch you.”

She reached out — her hand, shimmering and trembling, brushed against Damon’s chest. The instant contact sent a surge of warmth through him, like fire under his skin. His breath hitched. His wolf growled, desperate and yearning.

Darius felt it too — through the twin bond between them, the shared pulse of emotion that always tied them together. He staggered, gripping the edge of a shattered table, as that same warmth rippled through his veins.

For a brief, impossible moment, it felt like she was holding them both again — one heart, two souls, burning for the same light.

Then the warmth turned to ice.

Selene gasped, pulling her hand back. The shadow’s claws burst from the ground, wrapping around her glowing form.

“Selene!” both brothers shouted, lunging forward — but the shadow slammed them back with a wave of energy.

Her voice echoed in the air, fading with the mist:

“Find me before it does.”

The light vanished.

And in its place, only the shadow remained — standing in the ruins, its eyes shifting between gold and silver.

⸻

That night, Damon couldn’t sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her — the way she’d looked at him, the way her voice had trembled when she said his name.

And in the next room, Darius sat in silence, staring at the moon.

Both brothers were haunted by the same dream — Selene, trapped between them, her hands reaching out, her lips whispering, “Only one can bring me back.”

But neither could bear the thought of losing her again.

And somewhere in the darkness, the Shadow Wolf smiled.