Moonbound Fate

Chapter 3: Rogue in the Dark

Lyra Hale moved like a shadow through the trees, her bare feet silent against the damp earth. The night air was crisp, filled with the scent of pine and distant rain, but she had no time to admire the quiet beauty of the Shadowfang lands. She was too deep in enemy territory.

Her heartbeat pounded in her ears as she pressed herself against the rough bark of an old oak, listening.

They were close.

She had felt their patrols tightening around her since sunset, their sharp, disciplined movements a stark contrast to the scattered rogues she had evaded in the past. Shadowfang wolves didn’t make mistakes. If they were tracking her, it was only a matter of time before they caught her.

And if they realized who she *really* was…

Lyra swallowed hard and forced herself to breathe slowly. She had come here for a reason. She had known the risks.

But she hadn’t expected *him*.

Ronan Blackwood.

His name had been nothing more than a whispered warning growing up—stories of the ruthless Alpha who ruled through fear and unshakable strength. But tonight, she had seen him with her own eyes, standing over the body of a fallen rogue like a god of war.

And when he had turned, when his gaze had flicked toward the forest where she had hidden, something inside her had *shifted*.

A pull. A force.

No. She couldn’t think about that now.

She adjusted the strap of the small leather satchel slung across her chest, feeling the weight of the rolled parchment inside. The information she had risked everything to find. The truth about what was coming.

The war that neither side was prepared for.

A twig snapped behind her.

Lyra’s breath hitched. She turned, but it was too late. A flash of movement—strong arms wrapped around her, dragging her back against a solid chest. A growl rumbled through the darkness, hot breath against her ear.

"Got you."

Panic surged through her. She twisted, driving her elbow back into her attacker’s ribs. He grunted, loosening his grip just enough for her to slip free, but before she could shift, another wolf appeared, cutting off her escape.

Two. Maybe more.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she stepped back, sizing them up. The one who had grabbed her—tall, muscular, golden eyes burning in the dark—was a Shadowfang warrior. The other, a Beta, his stance rigid with authority.

Lyra’s pulse thundered.

She had been caught.

And soon, she would come face to face with the man she had been running from her entire life.

**Ronan Blackwood.**