Chapter Six: What the Moon Reveals
805 Words
The word echoed in Aria’s head long after Kael said it.
Ours.
She stumbled back a step, her heel catching on a root. “No,” she said, breathless. “That’s not possible.”
Kael didn’t move to steady her. He stood frozen, as if crossing the distance between them would shatter something fragile and dangerous.
“I didn’t want this,” he said quietly. “Not like this.”
Aria laughed, a short, brittle sound. “You think I wanted to find out I’m some kind of myth in the middle of the forest?”
“You’re not a myth,” Kael said. “You’re a truth that was buried.”
Her heart raced. Every instinct inside her screamed to run—but another part, older and stronger, urged her to stay. To listen.
“Explain,” she said. “Now.”
Kael dragged a hand through his hair, gaze lifting to the moon. “Lunas aren’t born the way others are. They’re chosen. Marked by the moon itself. Their power doesn’t awaken until the bond is close enough to trigger it.”
Aria swallowed. “The bond with you.”
“Yes.”
Silence wrapped around them again, thick with everything unsaid.
“That means,” she said slowly, “my whole life… the weakness, the headaches, the dreams—”
“Were suppression,” Kael finished. “Someone hid you. Dampened your power so you wouldn’t be sensed.”
“Why?”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “Because a Luna bonded to an Alpha isn’t just a leader. She’s a force. And forces attract enemies.”
A chill crept down her spine. “You knew.”
“I suspected,” he admitted. “Your scent never made sense. It wasn’t human—not fully—but it wasn’t wolf either. It hovered in between, like it was waiting.”
“For you,” she whispered.
His eyes flickered. “Yes.”
Anger surged, sudden and sharp. “So you kept me close? Let the pack call me weak? Let them whisper?”
“I kept you alive,” he snapped, then exhaled hard. “You don’t understand what would happen if the council knew.”
Aria folded her arms around herself. “Then tell me.”
Kael hesitated too long.
“That bad?” she pressed.
“The last Luna was slaughtered,” he said. “Torn apart when her power shifted the balance between packs.”
The words landed like a blow.
Aria’s stomach twisted. “And you think that will happen to me?”
“I think,” Kael said carefully, “that if the wrong people find out, they’ll try.”
A distant howl cut through the night.
Kael stiffened.
“That was a warning,” he said. “The pack is searching.”
“For you?” Aria asked.
“For us.”
They didn’t have time to argue. Kael took her hand, and the moment their skin touched, something snapped into place—heat, awareness, a pulse that echoed in her bones.
Aria gasped.
Images flooded her mind—Kael bleeding on snow, a throne carved of stone, herself standing beside him crowned in moonlight.
She yanked her hand back, shaking. “That—what was that?”
“The bond,” Kael said hoarsely. “It’s waking up.”
They reached the edge of the clearing just as torches flared ahead. Voices rose—urgent, alarmed.
Kael cursed under his breath. “They can’t see you like this.”
“Like what?”
“Awake.”
A figure stepped into the light.
Elder Morren.
His sharp eyes flicked from Kael to Aria, narrowing as his nostrils flared. His expression changed—not to confusion, but to recognition.
“Well,” he said slowly, “so the rumors are true.”
Aria’s heart dropped.
“Elder Morren,” Kael said coolly. “You’re out late.”
“So are you, Alpha,” the elder replied. His gaze locked onto Aria. “And you brought something… unexpected.”
Something.
The word burned.
“What do you mean?” Aria asked.
Morren smiled—but there was no warmth in it. “I mean the moon has finally stopped hiding you.”
Kael moved in front of her, shoulders squared. “She’s under my protection.”
Morren chuckled softly. “That’s what frightens me.”
The torches flared brighter as more wolves gathered, whispers rippling through the crowd.
Aria felt it then—the pull of every gaze, the weight of something ancient settling onto her shoulders.
The moon flared overhead, brighter than it had ever been.
And deep inside her, the wolf stirred again—stronger, louder, impossible to ignore.
Morren lifted his staff and spoke the words that sealed her fate.
“Bring her to the council.”
- Writer
