Perfect Luna, Double Crowned

Chapter 2 – Two Scents, One Fang

By the time I hit Moonfang’s border, my lungs were on fire.

The snow here was cleaner, but the air still stank of blood and burned metal. A dark wolf on the ridge shifted as I broke the tree line, bow already half raised.

“It’s me,” I called, lifting empty hands. “Don’t shoot the healer.”

Kade’s wolf shape melted into a man. He sniffed once, twice, eyes narrowing.

“You smell like Stormclaw,” he said.

“I smell like work,” I shot back, pushing past him. “Where are the wounded?”

“Everywhere,” he muttered, jogging after me. “Caelan’s been pacing since sunset. Elder Rowan said if you didn’t show soon, he’d bite the next fool who spoke.”

Moonfang’s camp glowed between the pines, tents and fires in loose circles. Too many bodies on the ground. Too many still.

“Kaela!”

Finn slammed into my side, thin arms wrapping my waist. Soot streaked his face, eyes too wide.

“You’re okay,” he blurted. “Rowan said you’d come, but you didn’t, and—”

“I’m here,” I said, steadying him. “I need you on water duty. Think you can handle that, little wolf?”

His chin trembled, then he nodded. I shoved a bucket into his hands and aimed him at Kade. “Go tire him out for me.”

I ducked into the nearest medic tent. Three cots. Three sets of eyes. I let my hands take over: clean, stitch, dose, move on. When the last wolf’s breathing evened out, my shoulders felt like stone.

The flap rustled.

“You’re late,” Caelan said.

I turned.

He filled the entrance, broad shoulders blocking the light, shirt smeared in blood that wasn’t his. A shallow cut on his jaw was already closing. His golden eyes swept over me, catching on every smear, every tremor. Relief flashed there before he masked it.

“Hello to you too,” I said. “Stormclaw walked into silver. Their Alpha included.”

His jaw flexed. “Alive?”

“For now.”

“Good.” His mouth twisted. “If anyone kills him, it’ll be me. Not a strip of wire in the dark.”

Despite myself, a huff of laughter escaped. “Romantic.”

“Honest.”

He stepped closer. The scent of smoke and pine pushed against the Stormclaw frost still clinging to me, trying to overwrite it.

“You’re shaking,” he said quietly.

“Everyone’s obsessed with my fine motor skills tonight,” I muttered. “Massacres will do that.”

His thumb brushed the corner of my mouth, coming away with dried blood.

“Not yours,” he said. “Better.”

My throat closed for a second. I jerked my chin toward the center of camp. “Where’s Rowan?”

“In my tent. Muttering at the Moon.” Caelan flicked the flap aside. “He wants to see you.”

The Alpha’s tent smelled of sage and smoke. Candles guttered around a stone basin. Elder Rowan stood beside it, silver hair loose, staff in hand.

“Child,” he said. “You cut it close.”

“Your wolves keep finding creative ways to meet my needles,” I answered. “I’m only one person.”

His gaze moved over me, distant and weighing. Then stopped.

Heat crawled up my neck.

The leather cord at my throat had slipped free of my shirt. A simple fang hung there, pale against my skin.

Not Moonfang make.

Rowan’s eyes narrowed. “That tooth,” he murmured. “Whose mark do you wear?”

Caelan’s head snapped toward me. “Kaela.”

My fingers closed around the charm before I could stop them. The bond under my skin flared—Stormclaw’s pull, hot and insistent. Under it, Moonfang’s claim burned just as bright.

“It’s nothing,” I said, too fast. “A patient’s superstition.”

Rowan did not look convinced. “You smell of two packs,” he said softly. “And you wear another Alpha’s tooth in my king’s tent, on a night when the Moon is watching.”

Caelan’s eyes darkened, gold sharpening. “Whose?”

The tent felt suddenly too small.

“We can argue about jewelry later,” I said, forcing my hand to unclench, letting the fang drop. “Right now you have wolves on the edge of dying.”

Silence stretched.

Then Caelan exhaled, rough. He looked away first.

“Later,” he said. “We’re talking about this. All of it.”

I met his gaze, the weight of both bonds like twin chains around my ribs.

“I know,” I said. “Later’s coming faster than you think.”