Episode 4 :Regret Has a Scent
624 Words
The forest was quiet, but Alera wasn’t. Not inside.
Her body ached from training, her hands scratched, her legs sore, but her breath was steady. She stood alone in the clearing as moonlight kissed her skin. The silver glow in her eyes no longer flickered. It pulsed.
Selene watched from the edge of the trees. Cloaked in silver, her presence was calm, ancient. She had guided Alera for days now, teaching her not how to fight—but how to awaken.
“Again,” Selene called. “Control the shift. Don’t fear the burn.”
Alera closed her eyes and reached for the energy inside her. It was wild and hot and alive. Her wolf stirred beneath the surface, no longer afraid. The pain didn’t vanish—it transformed. Her skin tingled, her blood hummed, and when she exhaled, the earth around her trembled.
Leaves lifted from the ground. A soft silver light burst from her chest and pushed through the clearing like a wave. The wind howled. Branches swayed.
And then it all fell still.
She stood, glowing faintly, heart pounding. Selene stepped forward and smiled. “You’ve taken your first step. Your Moonblood has awakened.”
“Why me?” Alera asked, voice still breathless. “Why was this power hidden?”
Selene looked toward the stars. “Because a Moonborn Luna can shift the balance of the world. Your bloodline was marked, hunted, and buried. But you… you survived long enough to awaken.”
Alera clenched her fists. The memory of Kael’s rejection burned fresh in her mind. “He said I wasn’t strong enough to be his Luna.”
“He was right,” Selene said, lips curving slightly. “Because you weren’t meant to stand beside him. You were meant to rise above him.”
Alera said nothing, but her silence was sharp. This wasn’t about proving Kael wrong anymore.
This was about reclaiming what was stolen.
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In the shadows beyond the border, someone watched. He moved like smoke, his scent cloaked, his presence barely noticeable. He had tracked the power here—drawn by the ancient pulse of the Moonborn.
“So she’s real,” he whispered. “The Luna they tried to bury.”
He vanished into the trees, a message already forming in his mind.
Kael wasn’t the only Alpha who would want her.
Kael hadn’t felt this level of unrest since his father’s death. The nights were colder, the silence heavier. He shifted nearly every evening now, running through the territory like it would calm the storm inside him. But it never did.
He stopped at the lake’s edge, panting, the moonlight casting silver reflections over the water. That’s when it hit him.
Her scent.
Faint. Distant. But there.
Alera.
He turned slowly, his wolf rising to the surface with a growl. The bond tugged again, raw and pulsing. How could it still exist? He’d rejected her. This shouldn’t be happening.
He didn’t want her. Couldn’t want her. She wasn’t fit to be Luna.
So why did his hands tremble when he remembered her eyes—glowing silver, defiant even in pain?
He walked back to the packhouse and poured a drink. Coren stood in the corner, quiet as always.
“Did the trackers find anything?” Kael asked without looking.
Coren hesitated. “Only a disturbance in the woods near the northern ridge. Something… strong. Unnatural.”
Kael clenched his jaw. “It’s her.”
Coren exhaled. “Are you sure?”
Kael didn’t answer. He just downed the drink and walked away, his mind racing. The girl he rejected was not the same one out there now.
And part of him feared he had just created something he could no longer control.
- Writer
