Mated To The Twin Alphas

8: The Hunt’s Begins

The forest was restless that night.

The Moon hung low and full, turning every branch silver and every shadow alive. The pack had gathered at the northern ridge — one hundred wolves strong, fur bristling, eyes glowing gold in the darkness.

Tonight’s hunt wasn’t for sport. It was for survival.

Something had been prowling the borders for days — a creature that moved like a shadow and left nothing but silence behind. Damon called it a rogue; Darius swore it wasn’t wolf at all. Whatever it was, it had already torn through one of the outer patrols.

The pack needed to strike first.

Damon stood at the front, his voice carrying through the wind. “We hunt in two units. Darius and I lead opposite flanks. Selene stays at the center with the scouts.”

I opened my mouth to argue — I could feel the bond urging me forward, my pulse thrumming with both their energy — but one look from Damon silenced me. His eyes said what words couldn’t: Stay safe.

The hunt began with a howl that shook the trees. Wolves leapt forward in a blur of motion, shadows weaving through the night. I ran beside the scouts, the forest a blur of silver and breathless sound.

Through the bond, I could feel everything — Damon’s focus, sharp as a blade; Darius’s wild energy, raw and fierce. Every heartbeat, every instinct, echoed in me. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once.

Then, the wind changed.

A new scent cut through the night — cold, metallic, wrong.

“Hold!” I hissed, my voice carrying through the trees. The wolves around me slowed, ears pricked. My mark burned like fire.

Through the bond, I caught a flash — Darius’s thoughts, sharp and urgent.

East ridge. It’s here.

I didn’t think. I ran. Branches tore at my arms as I sprinted through the undergrowth. Damon’s voice thundered through the link.

Selene, stay with your unit!

But I couldn’t stop. Something deep inside — instinct, bond, fate — was pulling me forward.

The clearing opened suddenly, and I froze.

The rogue stood at the center — massive, silver-furred, eyes black as ink. It wasn’t wolf. Not fully. Its scent was twisted, corrupted.

It turned toward me, lips peeling back in a snarl.

“Moon help me,” I whispered.

Before it could lunge, two blurs of movement crashed into the clearing. Damon and Darius, both in their wolf forms — one golden, one shadow-black — slammed into the creature from opposite sides. The impact shook the ground.

The fight was chaos. Claws, fangs, power. The rogue moved like smoke, striking too fast to follow. Damon took a hit to the shoulder; Darius countered, his growl echoing through the trees.

And then — the bond snapped wide open.

Their pain became mine. I gasped, dropping to my knees as the mark flared blinding white. I saw through their eyes — the blood, the struggle, the rage. My own heartbeat matched theirs, three lives pounding as one.

“No,” I choked out. “Stop— you’ll kill each other—”

The Moon’s mark pulsed again, harder. A burst of silver light exploded from my hands, washing over the clearing. The rogue froze mid-strike, eyes wide with shock before it collapsed, lifeless, into the dirt.

The silence afterward was deafening.

Damon shifted back first, breathing hard. Darius followed, blood streaking his arm but eyes blazing. They both turned to me — to the glowing mark that still shimmered against my skin.

“What did you do?” Darius demanded.

“I— I don’t know,” I whispered, trembling. “It wasn’t me. It was… us.”

Damon’s gaze lingered on the dead creature, then on me. “The bond amplified your power.”

Darius gave a dark laugh. “Or she just saved the entire pack.”

But I barely heard them. Because through the fading hum of power, one thought echoed clearly in my mind — not mine, not either of theirs, but something older.

The balance has been tested. The heart will be next.

I didn’t know whose voice it was.

But I knew the warning wasn’t over.