Chapter four: The Pull
1325 Words
AT SHARDOWCREST KINGDOM
DARIUS
The air felt heavier that morning — thick, choking. Like rage that hadn’t burned out yet.
Didn’t sleep much. Not that I ever do.
Dreams don’t stick. Not usually.
But this one…
She did.
Her scent.
Her voice.
That look in her eyes was like she knew me.
Hell, she said my name like she owned it.
I sat up, dragging a hand through my hair. Sheets twisted around me — too tight. Too warm. Too damn human.
Find her.
There it was again. That voice.
My wolf, impatient as ever.
“Shut up,” I growled.
He didn’t. The bond just burned hotter under my skin, like fire waiting for air.
I’d never felt anything like this — that pull. That ache.
Didn’t even know her, but somehow, I did.
The forest. The moonlight.
It all felt too damn real.
I shoved the door open and stepped into the corridor. The air hit cold against my skin.
Guards stiffened the second they saw me. Good. They should.
“Alpha,” one muttered, head down.
Didn’t answer. Didn’t need to.
“Find Kael,” I said. “Now.”
He was there in minutes — dark hair, sharp eyes. Always too calm.
“What happened this time?” he asked, like I’d lost my temper again.
“Dream.” My jaw tightened. “It wasn’t just a dream.”
Kael studied me. “Your wolf again?”
“The bond,” I said. “It’s calling.”
He stilled. “You’re saying you found her?”
“Not found.” My teeth clenched. “Felt. She’s close, Kael. Too close.”
He gave me that look — the one that says he knows I’m lying to myself.
“Then why are you still here?”
Because I don’t trust what I’ll do if I see her.
Because last time I followed fate, it ended in blood.
“I don’t chase ghosts.”
Kael snorted. “Tell that to the way your wolf’s pacing right now.”
Didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
Just stared out the window as the first hint of silver light hit the clouds.
Storm’s coming.
Not out there.
In here.
SERENE
The echo of that dream still pulsed behind my eyes.
Every time I blinked, I saw him — those burning eyes, the voice that called my name like a command.
Who was he?
I pressed my fingers to my temple, willing the headache away. My cousin brother Leo had already noticed my distraction at breakfast.
“You look like you didn’t sleep at all,” he said, sliding me a plate.
“I didn’t.”
“Nightmares again?”
I hesitated. “Something like that.”
If I told him what I saw — the Alpha in my dreams, the way my wolf trembled at his voice — he’d think I’d lost my mind. Or worse, he’d tell Father.
And my father… didn’t believe in dreams.
When I looked down, I saw it again — faintly glowing under my skin — the mark.
A crescent moon. Silver-blue.
Right on my shoulder.
I’d scrubbed it. Hidden it. But it never faded.
DARIUS
Her scent hit me before the wind shifted.
Lilac.
Real. Not imagined.
My wolf surged, snarling inside my chest.
She’s here.
I strode out into the clearing, and my senses had sharpened. Every sound, every breath of wind seemed to hum with her presence. Then movement — a slim figure cautiously standing near the tree line.
She turned, sunlight spilling over her hair.
Her eyes met mine.
Then Time stopped.
And the mark on my wrist flared faintly but alive glowing in rhythm with hers.
And then—she ran.
I should have let her go.
But the bond didn’t ask for permission.
It commanded.
DARIUS
She ran.
Moonlight spilt across the clearing as her bare feet hit the ground, fast and silent. Every instinct in me howled to follow.
Go after her.
Don’t lose her again.
My wolf’s voice was a storm inside my chest, tearing through my restraint. I didn’t think — I moved.
Branches whipped at my face as I chased the scent. The world narrowed to her — the wild lilac, the shimmer of her hair as she darted between trees.
“Wait!” My voice came out rough, feral. “Don’t—”
She didn’t look back.
The trees thinned. She stumbled into a patch of silver light, her breath sharp and uneven. When she finally turned, I saw it — the mark glowing faintly on her shoulder. The same crescent that burned on my wrist.
For a second, everything went still.
Her chest rose and fell, eyes wide, pupils dilated — fear and something deeper. Recognition.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
I swallowed hard. “I should ask you the same thing.”
She took a step back, clutching her shoulder. “Don’t come closer.”
My wolf growled. “I can’t promise that.”
She flinched. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? The rival pack.”
Rival.
The word hit harder than claws.
“So you know me,” I said quietly.
“I know enough,” she shot back. “My father said your kind only brings blood.”
Her father.
The name burned on my tongue.
If she only knew that I’d spent half my life cleaning up her father’s war.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said.
“Then stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you own me.”
The air shifted. The moon above us flared brighter, silver light searing between us — from my wrist to her shoulder.
Mate.
Her breath caught. “What was that?”
“You heard it too.”
Her lips trembled. “No… no, that can’t be.”
“Fate doesn’t care what we want,” I murmured.
She stared at me like I’d just cursed her. Maybe I had.
“I’m not yours,” she said, voice cracking. “I can’t be.”
She turned and ran again, faster this time. I didn’t follow — not yet. If I did, I’d never stop.
The mark on my wrist still burned as I whispered into the night,
“You already are.”
SERENE
I didn’t stop running until the packhouse lights came into view. My lungs burned, my pulse thundered. I grabbed the railing, trying to breathe.
What just happened?
That pull — that light — it couldn’t be real. I’d heard the stories, the whispers of old wolves about the mate bond, the Moon Goddess’s thread that tied two souls forever. But those were legends. Warnings.
Except… I’d seen his eyes.
Felt the mark answer.
And I knew, deep down, he wasn’t just a stranger.
“Serene?” Leo’s voice startled me. He stepped out of the doorway, concern tightening his features. “Where did you go? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I—I got lost in the woods,” I lied quickly.
He frowned. “You shouldn’t be out there alone. Father’s already angry you skipped training again.”
“I’ll deal with him.”
Leo studied me, then sighed. “You’ve been… different lately. Is it the curse again?”
I froze. “No. It’s nothing.”
But the curse wasn’t the problem anymore.
It was the bond.
The one that shouldn’t exist.
When I shut my door behind me, I pressed my back to it, chest heaving. The mark on my shoulder pulsed faintly — the same rhythm as my heartbeat.
Mine.
His voice echoed through my mind — deep, rough, impossible to ignore.
I shivered. “Get out of my head.”
But he didn’t.
And that’s when I realised the truth.
Whatever happened in that forest wasn’t over.
It was only the beginning.
The Moon Goddess hadn’t cursed me.
She’d bound me… to my father’s greatest enemy.
- Writer
