Chapter Three: The Other Half of Me
1213 Words
I woke up to pain. Not sharp or screaming — that had dulled into something heavier now. Something that pressed into my spine and ribs and lungs with every breath I took.
The servant quarters were quiet. Too quiet.
The cot beneath me felt like stone. The bandages on my back clung like dried glue, stiff, and soaked through. My mouth was dry. My limbs were lead.
But even through all of that… something felt different. Not because today was the day I finally turned 18. There was something else.
There was a strange pressure building in my chest. Like static. Like a pulse that didn’t belong to my heartbeat.
The air felt thicker. Alive. The dust in the corners of the room seemed to hum.
And then—
> “Took you long enough.”
I froze.
“...What?”
Silence.
But it wasn’t the kind of silence I knew — not the lonely, hollow kind that echoed after every punishment.
This was expectant.
> “Wow. For someone who mouths off so much, you’re speechless now?”
My breath caught. My heart stumbled.
“Who… who are you?”
> “Seriously? You get beaten half to death and I’m the one that has to introduce myself?”
The voice was dry, sharp, and entirely unapologetic. A mirror of every sarcastic thought I’d ever had.
> “I’m your wolf, genius. Sapphire. Try to keep up.”
My chest constricted. “You’re real.”
> “Clearly. Though I do wish you’d picked a less traumatic day for our soul-merging moment.”
I let out a hoarse, wheezing laugh. “Sorry for the poor scheduling.”
> “It’s fine. I love bonding over dried blood and emotional scars.”
Tears stung the corners of my eyes. Not because I was sad — not exactly. But because something inside me had finally clicked into place.
“I thought maybe... the Moon Goddess forgot about me.”
> “She didn’t. You were just late blooming. Like a wolf-shaped cactus.”
Another laugh. I couldn’t stop it now. It hurt, but it felt good.
“Gods. You really are me.”
> “The best parts, obviously.”
I shifted onto my side slowly, every muscle screaming, and stared at the wall like I could somehow see her through it. I could feel her, though — like a second heartbeat, steady and fierce.
“How long have you been with me?”
> “Long enough to know we’re both terrible at staying quiet.”
My throat tightened. “I’ve felt alone for so long.”
> “You’re not alone anymore. And you never will be again.”
Silence stretched between us — not awkward, not cold. Just... full.
Full of things that didn’t need to be said out loud.
After a moment, she added more softly:
> “They tried to break you, Marshal. But they just woke me up instead.”
A pulse ran through my veins — fire and steel and something ancient. Something mine.
I sat up, slowly, carefully. My body groaned in protest, but I ignored it.
Because now, I had her.
“I’m running tonight.”
> “Damn right you are.”
“I don’t care if they chase me.”
> “Let them. I hope they do. I want to bite something.”
I smiled, sharp and tired and dangerous.
“I won’t let them chain me again.”
> “No one’s chaining either of us ever again. Not without losing a limb.”
I pressed a hand over my chest and felt her pulse with mine.
I wasn’t just Marshal anymore.
I was Marshal and Sapphire.
And together?
We were fire in a body that used to belong to ashes.
~~~~~~
It started as a whisper. A tingle in the air.
One moment, I was hunched near the herb cabinets in the healer’s room, helping Nina steal extra salve for my back. The next, I couldn’t breathe.
It hit me like smoke — thick, sudden, suffocating.
My knees buckled.
“Marshal?” Nina caught me just before I hit the floor. “What’s wrong?”
I pressed a hand to my chest. My heart wasn’t beating right. It was staggering.
And then—
> “Oh. No. No no no—this is not happening.”
Sapphire’s voice in my head was panicked. Furious.
I gritted my teeth. “What?”
> “Mate bond. It just clicked.”
My mouth went dry. “What?!”
> “Oh, it’s definitely happening. I feel it. You feel it. That heat in your spine? That ache in your ribs? That’s the Goddess playing connect-the-dots with your soul.”
I could barely think. My entire body was humming. Drawing me somewhere. Pulling me toward—
No. No.
I knew this feeling. I remembered the stories.
The uncontrollable draw to another wolf. The pull like gravity. The certainty, deep in your bones, that someone out there belonged to you.
I stumbled to my feet, nearly knocking over the table.
“Marshal?” Nina looked scared now. “What’s going on?”
“I have to—” My voice cracked. “I need air.”
I bolted out the door.
The pull led me around the back of the pack house, past the training field. Every step was electric. My wolf was howling inside me — not out of joy. Out of rage.
> “Turn around. Just turn around. Maybe it’s a mistake.”
But it wasn’t.
Because then I saw him.
Ryder.
Standing there like he owned the moonlight. His stupid perfect jaw clenched, green eyes searching. As if he felt it too.
As if he’d been looking for me.
He took one step forward.
“Marshal—”
“No.”
I said it too fast. Too sharp.
His expression shifted, the confusion morphing into understanding. Into horror.
"You’re..."
He didn’t finish the sentence.
He didn’t have to.
Because the truth crashed down on both of us like a thunderclap:
We were fated.
Fated mates.
I stumbled back a step.
“No,” I whispered. “No. Not you.”
His voice was quiet. “I didn’t know.”
I laughed — a bitter, broken sound. “You watched me bleed.”
He flinched.
“You stood there. While your father chained me like an animal. While they whipped me for speaking. And now what?” I spat. “Now we’re soulmates? Is that supposed to fix it?”
He took another step. I stepped back.
“Don’t,” I warned.
“I didn’t want this either—”
“You don’t get to say that to me,” I snapped. “You’re part of everything that broke me.”
His fists clenched. “I didn’t ask to be your mate.”
> “Neither did we,” Sapphire growled.
My jaw tightened.
“I would’ve rather stayed a servant for the rest of my life,” I said coldly, “than ever be yours.”
Then I turned my back to him — to the mate bond, to the Goddess, to fate — and walked away.
Because I had plans tonight.
And none of them included being someone’s Luna.
- Writer
