Chapter 7
1192 Words
I barely slept.
Every sound outside my window kept pulling me awake.
A branch scraping against the glass.
A car passing on the road.
The distant bark of a dog.
Each time, I expected to see someone standing outside.
Each time, there was nothing.
By sunrise, I had made a decision.
I was going to campus
Not because I wanted to.
Because staying home felt worse.
My mother didn’t try to stop me.
She barely spoke during breakfast.
That scared me more than anything.
Usually, she would have complained about my hair, my sleeping habits, my refusal to eat properly.
This morning, she simply sat across from me and stared at her coffee.
“Mum.”
She looked up.
“Promise me you’ll come straight home.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Just promise me.”
I sighed.
“Fine.”
She nodded.
I grabbed my bag.
At the door, I stopped.
“What is the Blood Moon Pack?”
She didn’t answer.
“Mum.”
Her eyes met mine.
“It’s one of the oldest packs in the kingdom.”
“And?”
“And nothing.”
“You’re lying again.”
She looked away.
I opened the door.
“I’ll see you later.”
“Arielle.”
I turned.
Her expression softened.
“Be careful.”
I nodded.
Then I left.
The university looked exactly the same as it always did.
That almost made me angry.
How could everything look so normal when my entire life suddenly felt like a secret someone had forgotten to tell me?
I walked across campus.
Selene spotted me near the library.
“There you are.”
She hurried over.
“I called you last night.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t answer.”
“I was asleep.”
She gave me a look.
“Liar.”
I smiled.
“Good morning.”
She studied me.
“You look terrible.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
I laughed.
For a moment, I almost forgot everything.
Then she asked:
“What happened?”
My smile faded.
“What?”
“You’ve been acting strange for days.”
I hesitated.
Then I told her.
Not everything.
But enough.
The messages.
The book.
The symbol.
My mother’s warning.
The Blood Moon Pack.
Selene listened without interrupting.
When I finished, she was silent.
Then she asked one question.
“What was the name?”
I frowned.
“What?”
“The name in the book.”
I hesitated.
“Kael.”
Her expression changed.
It was subtle.
But I saw it.
“You’ve heard of him.”
She looked away.
“Selene.”
“I’ve heard the name.”
“Where?”
She hesitated.
“My father mentioned him once.”
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I don’t know everything.”
I stared at her.
She sighed.
“Kael is the Alpha King.”
My stomach dropped.
“The Alpha King?”
She nodded.
“Of the Blood Moon Pack.”
I didn’t speak.
The name suddenly carried weight.
A title.
A position.
Power.
But none of that explained why seeing his name in an old book had made my chest tighten.
“Have you ever seen him?”
“No.”
“Then why does my mother want me to stay away from his pack?”
Selene looked at me.
“Because something happened years ago.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
I hated that answer.
Everyone knew pieces.
Nobody knew the whole thing.
Or maybe they did.
Maybe they were just refusing to tell me.
Before I could ask another question, a bell rang across campus.
Students began moving toward their lectures.
Selene grabbed my arm.
“We’ll talk later.”
I nodded.
We separated.
I headed toward my lecture hall.
Halfway there, I noticed something strange.
People were moving aside.
Not because someone had asked them to.
Because someone was coming through.
I slowed down.
A group of men crossed the courtyard.
They were dressed in black.
Not university students.
Pack guards.
I recognized the insignia on their jackets.
A silver crescent moon.
The same symbol from the book.
My heart began pounding.
They walked straight across the courtyard.
Toward the university entrance.
One of them stopped.
His eyes met mine.
He looked away.
They continued walking.
I stood frozen.
Then I heard a voice behind me.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
I turned.
The man from my house stood several feet away.
Except now I could see him clearly.
He wasn’t the man who had been outside my house.
He was younger.
Perhaps late twenties.
Tall.
Dark hair.
A scar ran along his jaw.
He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t read.
“Who are you?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he glanced toward the Blood Moon guards.
Then back at me.
“Did they find you?”
I frowned.
“Find me?”
His jaw tightened.
“You don’t know.”
“Know what?”
He looked almost frustrated.
Then someone called his name.
“Damon.”
He turned.
A Blood Moon guard stood near the entrance.
Damon looked back at me.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he said quietly,
“Go home.”
I crossed my arms.
“Everyone keeps telling me what to do.”
“Then perhaps you should start listening.”
“I don’t even know you.”
“No.”
Something about the way he said it made me pause.
“You will.”
Before I could ask what that meant, he walked away.
I watched him disappear among the students.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I already knew I didn’t want to look.
I looked anyway.
He was not supposed to speak to you.
My heart began pounding.
Another message.
Neither was Lucius.
I stared at the screen.
A third message appeared.
But now it’s too late.
I looked across the courtyard.
Damon was gone.
The Blood Moon guards were gone too.
But there was one person standing near the university gates.
A man.
Tall.
Completely still.
Even from this distance, there was something different about him.
People walked around him without touching him.
As though instinctively aware that he wasn’t someone they should approach.
I couldn’t see his face clearly.
But I knew one thing immediately.
He was watching me.
Our eyes met.
For one strange second, the entire courtyard seemed to disappear.
There was no sound.
No movement.
Nothing.
Just his gaze.
Cold.
Intense.
Impossible to read.
Something inside my chest pulled tight.
Not love.
Not recognition.
Nothing I could explain.
Just a strange, uncomfortable awareness.
Then he looked away.
He turned and walked through the gates.
I stood there, frozen.
My wolf remained silent.
As always.
I looked down at my phone.
One final message appeared.
You just met the man you’ve spent your whole life trying to forget.
I stared at the words.
Then I looked toward the gates.
He was already gone.
And for reasons I couldn’t explain, I suddenly wished I had followed him.
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