The Last Silver Moon

Chapter 2

Branches tear at my clothes as we race through the forest. My lungs burn, but Kieran doesn't slow down. His hand grips mine, pulling me forward whenever I stumble.

"Stop!" Ronan's voice echoes behind us. "She belongs to me!"

"Keep running," Kieran commands, his voice steady despite our pace.

My feet hit something hard and I cry out, falling forward. Kieran catches me before I hit the ground, scooping me into his arms without breaking stride.

"I can run," I protest.

"Not fast enough."

His scent surrounds me – pine and storms and something uniquely him. It makes my skin tingle in ways I don't understand.

The howls grow closer. Too close.

"They're gaining on us," I whisper.

"I know."

Suddenly, Kieran stops. We're at the edge of a cliff, a river roaring fifty feet below.

"Do you trust me?" he asks.

"I just met you!"

"That's not what I asked."

I look into his silver eyes and see something there – a promise, a fierce protectiveness that makes no sense.

"Yes," I breathe.

He pulls me against his chest. "Hold on tight. Don't let go, no matter what."

I wrap my arms around his neck just as Ronan bursts through the trees with five warriors.

"Step away from her, Blackwood," Ronan snarls.

So they know each other.

Kieran sets me down but keeps me behind him. "She's under my protection."

"She's my stepsister. My pack member. You have no claim here."

"Actually," Kieran says, his voice deadly calm, "I do."

He pulls out a paper from his jacket – old, yellowed with age. "A blood contract. Signed by her father and mine, twenty-two years ago. Aria Winters is promised to the Shadow Pack."

"That's impossible," Ronan spits. "Her father was a nobody. A lone wolf."

"Her father was Alexander Winters. The last Alpha King."

The words hang in the air like thunder. Even I can't breathe.

Ronan laughs, but it sounds forced. "The Alpha King bloodline died out—"

"No. It went into hiding." Kieran's voice is steel. "And tomorrow, when Aria's wolf emerges, she'll prove it."

"It doesn't matter," Ronan says, shifting his stance. "She's been in my pack for five years. Pack law supersedes old contracts."

"Not blood contracts. And certainly not royal ones."

Ronan's eyes flash. "Then I'll just have to kill you and take her anyway."

Everything happens at once.

Ronan lunges forward, shifting mid-air into his massive brown wolf. Kieran pushes me aside and meets him halfway, his own transformation instant – a pure black wolf, larger than any I've ever seen.

They collide with a sound like thunder.

"Aria, run!" Kieran's voice echoes in my mind.

Wait. In my mind?

'How are you doing that?' I think back, shocked.

'Questions later. Run now!'

But Ronan's warriors are circling, cutting off my escape. One reaches for me and I dodge, but another grabs my arm.

"Got her!"

Something inside me snaps.

Heat floods my veins like liquid fire. My vision sharpens, colors becoming vivid. The warrior's grip feels like paper.

I tear free, sending him flying backward with strength I didn't know I had.

"What the—"

My bones begin to ache. Not break, but stretch. The suppressants are failing.

'No,' I think desperately. 'Not now. Not yet.'

But my wolf doesn't listen. She's been caged for twenty-two years, and she wants out.

My scream tears through the night as my body begins to change. But it's wrong – too early, too fast. The suppressants are fighting back, and I'm caught in between.

"Aria!" Kieran throws Ronan off and races toward me.

I fall to my knees, my body convulsing. It feels like I'm being ripped apart from the inside.

"What's happening to her?" someone shouts.

"The suppressants," Kieran snarls. "They're killing her."

He shifts back to human form and pulls me against him. "Fight it, Aria. Don't shift yet."

"I can't... stop it..."

"Yes, you can." His hands cup my face, forcing me to look at him. "Listen to my voice. Breathe with me."

I try, but the pain is too much. My skin feels like it's on fire.

Ronan, back in human form, laughs. "Looks like the problem will solve itself. When she dies, the contract dies with her."

Kieran's eyes flash with rage. "She's not going to die."

He does something I don't expect – he bites his own wrist, deep enough to draw blood.

"Drink," he commands, pressing it to my lips.

"That's... that's forbidden," one of Ronan's warriors gasps. "Only mates share blood."

"Kieran, no," I whisper. I know what this means. Blood sharing creates bonds. Unbreakable ones.

"Trust me," he says softly. "Please."

The pain spikes and I scream again. Without thinking, I drink.

His blood is electric on my tongue – power and storms and ancient magic. It races through me, not fighting the change but guiding it, slowing it.

The pain eases. My breathing steadies.

"Impossible," Ronan breathes.

Kieran helps me stand, keeping his arm around me. I can feel his strength flowing through our temporary bond, holding me together.

"You just bound yourself to her," Ronan says, his voice shaking with fury. "You can't claim another wolf for a full year now."

"I know."

"Why would you—" Ronan stops, his eyes widening. "Unless... no."

Kieran smiles, but it's all teeth. "Figured it out, did you?"

"You're not just protecting her. You're..."

"Her true mate," Kieran finishes. "The Moon Goddess paired us before she was even born. That's why Alexander came to my father. He knew."

My legs give out, but Kieran catches me. True mates are rare – one in a million. And he's mine?

"You're lying," Ronan snarls.

"Am I? Tell me, Ronan – why do you think the suppressants started failing today? It's not just her birthday. It's because her true mate finally found her. My presence is calling to her wolf."

I look up at Kieran. "You knew? This whole time?"

"I've known since you were sixteen. I've been watching, waiting for the right moment."

"Five years?" My voice cracks. "You let me suffer for five years?"

Pain flashes across his face. "I couldn't interfere. The blood contract specified I couldn't claim you until you turned twenty-two. If I'd come sooner, it would have been void."

"So you let them hurt me."

"I didn't know." His voice is raw. "I swear, Aria, I didn't know what they were doing to you. I was only checking periodically, making sure you were alive. If I'd known..."

He doesn't finish, but I see murder in his eyes as he looks at Ronan.

"This isn't over," Ronan says, backing away. "True mate or not, she was raised in my pack. The Council will hear about this."

"Good," Kieran says. "I'm sure they'll be very interested to learn how you've been suppressing the wolf of the last living heir to the throne."

Ronan pales. Suppressing someone's wolf without consent is a crime punishable by death.

"You can't prove anything."

"Her blood is full of wolfsbane and silver nitrate. Any healer will be able to detect it." Kieran's smile is vicious. "Run back to your pack, little Alpha. Enjoy your ceremony. It might be your last."

Ronan shifts and flees, his warriors following. But I know this isn't over. He'll be back.

When they're gone, Kieran turns to me. "Are you okay?"

"No," I say honestly. "Nothing about this is okay."

He reaches out to touch me, but I step back.

"Don't. Just... don't." I wrap my arms around myself. "My whole life has been a lie. My wolf, my father, you..."

"Aria—"

"You're my mate?" I laugh, but it's bitter. "The Moon Goddess has a sick sense of humor. I finally escape one controlling Alpha just to be handed to another."

His jaw tightens. "I'm nothing like your stepbrother."

"Aren't you? You watched me for years. You made decisions about my life without asking me. You just forced a blood bond without my real consent."

"To save your life!"

"To save your mate," I correct. "Would you have done the same if I wasn't?"

His silence is answer enough.

"I need time," I say quietly. "To think. To understand all of this."

"You don't have time. Tomorrow at midnight, your wolf emerges fully. Every supernatural creature within a thousand miles will feel it. The white wolf has returned – and more than that, the heir to the Midnight Crown."

"I don't want a crown. I don't want any of this."

"Want it or not, it's yours." He steps closer, and this time I don't move away. "And whether you accept me or not, I'll protect you. It's not just the mate bond. Your father saved my entire pack once. This is a debt of honor."

Before I can respond, my knees buckle. The partial shift took more out of me than I thought.

Kieran catches me, lifting me into his arms. "We need to get you somewhere safe. My pack is three hours north."

"I can't just disappear. I have... had... a life."

"That life is over, Aria. The moment your stepbrother discovered what you are, everything changed."

He's right. I know he's right. But it doesn't make it easier.

As he carries me through the forest, I ask, "My father – is he really alive?"

"Yes."

"Where is he?"

Kieran hesitates. "That's complicated."

"Everything about this is complicated."

"He's been imprisoned for twenty years. By the Council."

I twist to look at him. "What? Why?"

"Because he refused to tell them where he hid you." His eyes meet mine. "He's been protecting you all this time, Aria. They've tortured him, tried to break him, but he never gave you up."

Tears burn my eyes. The father I thought was dead has been suffering for me.

"Can we free him?"

"Once you claim your birthright, yes. The Council can't hold the Alpha King."

"But I'm not—"

"You are. Tomorrow, when your wolf emerges, you'll see." He adjusts his grip on me. "There's so much you don't know. So much they've hidden from you."

"Tell me."

"Later. Right now, we need to move. Ronan might come back with reinforcements."

As if on cue, howls echo in the distance. Dozens of them.

Kieran curses. "Hold on."

He starts running, faster than should be possible in human form. The forest blurs around us.

"Kieran?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For coming for me."

His arms tighten around me. "I would have come sooner if I could have."

"I know."

And somehow, I do know. I can feel it through our temporary bond – his regret, his fury at what was done to me, his fierce determination to keep me safe.

But there's something else too. Something darker.

"What aren't you telling me?" I ask.

He glances down at me. "What makes you think—"

"I can feel it. Through the bond."

He sighs. "Tomorrow isn't just your twenty-second birthday. It's the blood moon. The first in a decade."

"So?"

"Blood moons amplify power. When your wolf emerges under it..." He pauses. "You won't just be a white wolf, Aria. You'll be something more. Something that hasn't existed for a thousand years."

"What?"

But before he can answer, something slams into us from the side. We go tumbling, and I hit the ground hard.

When I look up, a massive grey wolf stands over me, teeth bared.

But it's not Ronan.

It's someone worse.

Someone I recognize even in wolf form.

My mother's killer.