Moonbound Fate

Chapter 3

“No, it’s not.” Maddox leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. “You’ve been assigned to the Alpha’s residence.”

My brows drew together. “Why?”

He paused, eyes assessing. “Let’s just say… it was a personal request.”

A beat.

“You mean his request?”

Maddox didn’t confirm, but he didn’t deny it either.

I glanced around again, the luxury now feeling like a gilded cage. “Is this normal? Do other trainees stay here?”

“No,” he said, flatly. “It’s not normal. But your circumstances aren’t either.”

I looked at him, heart quickening. “Because I’m an orphan?”

He shrugged. “Because you’re different. And Kellan doesn’t do things without reason.”

That didn’t exactly make me feel better.

Maddox pushed off the doorframe and gave me a half-smile—wry, unreadable. “You’ll find the Alpha likes to keep a close eye on the wolves he deems… interesting.”

“And I’m interesting?”

“Apparently,” he said. “Or dangerous. Or important. Hard to say with Kellan.”

He turned to go, but paused in the doorway. “You’re not a prisoner, Elyra. But you are being watched. That’s not a threat—it’s just how things are here. Sleep well.”

The door clicked softly shut behind him.

And suddenly the fire didn’t seem quite so warm.

I turned back toward the window. The trees still stood in silence. The sky darkened to inky violet.

But that presence—that weight I felt before—was still out there.

Watching.

Waiting.

And something told me… he was no longer on the landing.

He was closer now.

The night settled heavy over Ebonridge, the forest outside cloaked in frost and silence.

I moved slowly through the space, peeling away my jacket and boots, setting my things neatly aside. Despite the warmth of the fire, a strange chill lingered in the air—a low hum under my skin I couldn’t shake.

I slipped under the thick covers, the luxury of the bed doing little to ease the tension coiled inside me. Every creak of the old mansion, every sigh of the wind against the windows, kept me pinned in half-sleep.

Tossing. Turning. Restless.

Somewhere between waking and dreaming, the world shifted.

I stood in the woods now, barefoot, the snow biting at my skin but somehow not hurting me. The trees stretched impossibly tall around me, bending shadows into clawed shapes.

Fog rolled in thick and fast.

And through it, I saw her.

A wolf—massive and gleaming silver, almost ethereal under the fractured moonlight. Her eyes glowed a piercing violet, a color I’d never seen before in any shifter. Not in any wolf.

I stumbled back, heart hammering, but the wolf moved closer, steps silent on the snow.

When she spoke, it wasn’t with a voice—but with something deeper. Something ancient, humming inside my bones.

You are waking, Elyra.

The world seemed to tilt.

You are not like the others. You carry the blood of the First Ones—the Ancients. The power you seek, the strength you need—it will not be given. It must be claimed.

I shook my head, breath fogging in the frozen air. “Why now? Why here?”

The wolf’s eyes narrowed, not unkind but stern.

Because this is where your true path begins. Where you will find your power. Your purpose. And your mate.

Mate.

The word echoed through me, raw and burning.

I staggered forward, desperate for more, but the wolf was already backing into the mist, her form beginning to dissolve like smoke.

“Wait!” I called out, voice ragged. “I don’t understand! Who—”

You will, she promised.

And then she was gone.

I gasped awake.

The fire had dimmed low, embers crackling lazily. My skin was damp with sweat, my heart still racing.