The Rejected Luna’s Secret Heir

The Border Raid

Wren’s POV

The explosion at the eastern wall shattered the cabin windows and showered the floor in glass. Sirens started wailing across the camp, cutting right through the midnight air.

Run, my wolf snapped, waking up instantly.

I grabbed my duffel bag and threw on my coat, my chest tightening as shouts echoed from the muddy courtyard outside. Red flames were already licking the dark sky near the main office shack, casting long shadows through the smoke. Night guards were running everywhere, scrambling toward the tree line with their weapons drawn.

I booted out the back door, taking the long way around to avoid the main path. This chaos was the only chance I had to cross the boundary line unnoticed.

“Run, Wren!” Jaxon yelled from somewhere near the fence.

I caught a glimpse of him shifting into his large gray wolf, his clothes shredding as his paws hit the dirt. He charged straight toward the burning perimeter where several large brown wolves were tearing through the iron gates.

“They are breaching the wall!” a guard screamed from the watchtower. “Get the servants out of here!”

I did not stop to look back. I sprinted into the thick forest, my thin sneakers tearing through the wet brush. The air was thick with the suffocating smell of burning pine and blood. Heavy tree branches scratched at my face, and the mud kept pulling at my shoes, slowing me down with every step.

He is right behind us, my wolf panicked, her voice suddenly trembling.

I tried to push my legs faster, but my boots sank deep into the mire. I was stuck. The sound of the battle behind me was deafening, but a heavy set of footsteps was closing in on my position too fast to dodge.

I tried to swing around toward the deeper woods, but a massive hand grabbed my shoulder and slammed me hard against a cedar tree. The impact knocked the wind completely out of my lungs.

I looked up into the darkness. Rurik stood over me, his shirt torn to ribbons and his chest heaving. His face was covered in dirt and blood, and his gaze was completely wild. His inner wolf had taken total control of him.

“You think you can run from me?” Rurik rasped, his voice cutting right through the noise of the storm. “You think I will let another man have you?”

Let him, my wolf whispered, completely giving in to his authority. We belong to him.

“No,” I choked out, ramming my palms against his chest to push him away. “Let me go, Rurik. You rejected me in front of everyone.”

He did not listen to a single word. He wrapped his fingers around my wrists, pinning my hands above my head against the rough bark. He leaned down, burying his face into the side of my neck.

Then I felt it.

His sharp fangs sank deep into my skin. A wave of intense heat exploded through my body, wrapping tightly around my heart and locking my soul to his. The physical pain was blinding, but the supernatural pull of the completed mark was much worse. He was sealing my fate against my will.

Rurik stepped back into the moonlight, a single drop of my blood staining his bottom lip. He stared down at me, his chest rising and falling rapidly. His gaze drifted from my bleeding neck to the fires burning down his camp, and then his eyes moved slowly back to my face.

I knew exactly what he had just done. He was the absolute King, and he was already engaged to Lady Tahlia. Now, he had just marked an ordinary estate maid in the middle of a war zone.

A massive golden brown wolf crashed through the bushes, lunging at Rurik with a deafening roar. It was Alpha Kaelen Vance. The giant beast slammed into Rurik, throwing him away from the tree and sending both of them crashing into the deep mud.

I slid down the rough bark of the cedar tree, my fingers shaking as I pressed them against the fresh wound on my neck. The new bond was screaming inside my head, forcing me to feel Rurik’s frantic thoughts, but the raw betrayal hurt worse than the bite.

He had broken his own rules just to keep me trapped.

As the two leaders tore into each other in the dark, ripping flesh and fighting for ownership of my life, I grabbed my bag and forced my legs to stand. I did not care who won the fight. I clutched my neck, turned my back on the flames of my old life, and ran straight into the freezing darkness of the rogue lands.