The Alpha Who Rejected The Moonborn

In The Unknown

I stared at Kael.

For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.

"I'm not going to abandon you twice."

The words should have meant nothing to me.

After everything that had happened, I should have laughed in his face.

Instead, something inside my chest tightened.

I hated that.

I hated that even after he had rejected me in front of everyone, even after discovering that he had known about my mother, some small part of me still cared what he thought.

Maybe it was the bond.

Maybe it was my own foolish heart.

Either way, I wasn't going to let it make decisions for me.

"You're not coming because you feel guilty."

Kael's expression remained serious.

"I'm not."

"Then why?"

"Because I know what we're walking into."

"That's not an answer."

"It is."

"No, it isn't."

He stepped closer.

"You want to find your mother. I know where we're most likely to find answers."

I narrowed my eyes.

"And you're suddenly willing to help me?"

"I've always been willing."

I laughed.

"Really? Because you had a strange way of showing it."

His jaw tightened.

"I deserved that."

That answer caught me off guard.

I expected an argument.

An excuse.

Anything except an admission.

Kael looked toward the dark forest.

"But if we stay here, they'll come for you."

Ryder nodded.

"He's right."

I looked at him.

"How bad is it?"

He glanced toward the trees.

"Bad enough that I'm recommending we leave."

"That's reassuring."

Ryder gave me a tired look.

"I wasn't trying to reassure you."

"Wonderful."

Ronan stepped forward.

"We need to move before the next patrol reaches this area."

Kael nodded.

"How long?"

"Ten minutes. Maybe less."

I looked toward the house.

My home.

The place I'd lived since I was a child.

The place where I'd spent years waiting for a mother who apparently hadn't abandoned me.

I wasn't sure when I'd see it again.

Maybe never.

The thought made my chest ache.

I turned toward the door.

"I need something."

Kael followed my gaze.

"What?"

"My mother's photograph."

He didn't question it.

I ran inside.

The house looked different now.

Not because anything had changed.

Because I had.

Everything that once felt familiar suddenly seemed filled with secrets.

I crossed the room and took the photograph from the wall.

My mother's smile stared back at me.

I brushed my thumb over the glass.

"I'll find you."

My voice broke.

"I promise."

I slipped the photograph into my cloak.

Then I noticed something behind the frame.

A tiny piece of folded paper.

My heart jumped.

I pulled it free.

There were only three words written on it.

Follow the moon.

I stared at the message.

My mother.

She had left it here.

But when?

And for whom?

I folded it carefully and put it with the pendant.

Then I walked back outside.

Kael was waiting.

His eyes immediately went to the photograph in my hand.

"You found something."

"Maybe."

I showed him the note.

His expression changed.

"Where did you get that?"

"Behind the photograph."

Ronan took a step closer.

"Let me see."

I handed it to him.

He studied the handwriting.

His face went pale.

"You know it."

I said it as a statement rather than a question.

He nodded.

"That's Selene's handwriting."

My heart raced.

"You've seen it before?"

"Many times."

"Where?"

"On the messages she sent to the Bloodfang elders."

I stared at him.

"She was working with them?"

"No."

Ronan shook his head.

"She was trying to warn them."

"About what?"

He looked at Kael.

"The same thing she warned everyone about."

"The Alpha families," Kael said.

Ronan nodded.

"More specifically, Darius."

I looked between them.

"Then why would my mother trust the Bloodfangs?"

"She didn't."

Ronan handed the note back.

"She trusted someone within the Bloodfangs."

"Who?"

He hesitated.

"That's what we need to find out."

A distant howl interrupted us.

Ryder immediately turned.

"We're out of time."

Kael nodded.

"Move."

We entered the forest.

I had walked through these woods countless times before.

Tonight, they felt unfamiliar.

The moonlight barely reached the ground beneath the thick branches.

Every sound made me tense.

Every movement in the darkness looked suspicious.

Ryder walked ahead.

Ronan followed several steps behind.

Kael stayed beside me.

I noticed that immediately.

"You don't have to walk next to me."

"I know."

"Then why are you?"

"Because I want to know if you're okay."

"I'm fine."

"You've said that several times tonight."

"Because I am."

He glanced at me.

"You don't have to pretend with me."

I stopped walking.

"That's rich."

He stopped too.

"I mean it."

I looked at him.

"Do you know what I hate most?"

"What?"

"I don't know if I can trust anything you say."

His expression softened.

"I understand."

"No, you don't."

"I do."

"You rejected me without telling me why."

"Yes."

"You knew about my mother."

"Yes."

"You knew I was Moonborn."

"Yes."

"And now you're telling me you're going to protect me."

"Yes."

I stared at him.

"Do you see the problem?"

He nodded.

"I've given you every reason not to trust me."

"Exactly."

He took a breath.

"Then don't trust me yet."

I blinked.

"What?"

"Don't."

He looked directly into my eyes.

"I won't ask you to."

Something about that answer made me uncomfortable.

It was easier when he was arrogant.

Easier when I could hate him.

Now he was being honest.

And I didn't know what to do with that.

"Then what do you want?"

His gaze dropped briefly to the pendant around my neck.

"I want to keep you alive long enough for you to decide whether I deserve your trust."

I looked away.

"That's a very Alpha thing to say."

A faint smile appeared.

"Probably."

"Don't smile."

"Why?"

"It makes you less annoying."

His smile widened.

I rolled my eyes.

"There. You're annoying again."

For the first time since the ceremony, the tension in my chest loosened slightly.

Then a branch snapped.

Everyone froze.

Ryder raised his hand.

Silence.

Another snap.

Closer.

Ronan's expression changed.

"Someone's following us."

Kael immediately moved in front of me.

I sighed.

"Again?"

"Stay behind me."

"I can fight."

"I know."

"Then stop treating me like I can't."

He looked at me.

"I know you can fight."

"Then—"

"That's exactly why I'm worried."

I frowned.

Before I could answer, three wolves emerged from the trees.

Their eyes glowed red.

Bloodfang.

Kael shifted.

Ryder followed.

Ronan stepped forward.

I felt the familiar energy building beneath my skin.

One wolf lunged.

Kael intercepted it.

Another charged toward Ryder.

Ryder dodged and struck it with his blade.

The third came straight for me.

I raised my hands.

The silver energy appeared.

But this time, it didn't explode.

It gathered.

Slowly.

Precisely.

A circle of light formed around my feet.

The wolf stopped.

It stared at me.

Then it lowered its head.

I froze.

"What is happening?"

Ronan stared.

"You're commanding it."

"I'm not doing anything."

"You don't need to."

The wolf stepped toward me.

Kael's voice cut through the clearing.

"Lyra, don't."

I looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because you don't know what it'll do."

The wolf suddenly transformed.

A young man stood where it had been.

He dropped to one knee.

"My Lady."

I stared at him.

"Excuse me?"

The man bowed his head.

"The Moonborn has returned."

Kael went completely still.

Ryder looked equally stunned.

I pointed at myself.

"You're talking about me?"

The man nodded.

"Yes."

"Why are you calling me that?"

He raised his head.

"Because you are the heir."

The forest seemed to disappear around me.

"Heir to what?"

The man's eyes shifted toward Kael.

"To the First Bloodline."

Kael's expression hardened.

"Who sent you?"

The man smiled.

"Our Alpha."

"Who?"

The stranger looked at me.

"Alpha Lucian."

Ronan stepped forward.

His face had gone pale.

"That's impossible."

The Bloodfang wolf smiled.

"Tell her."

Ronan didn't speak.

I looked at him.

"Tell me what?"

He swallowed.

"Lucian is the Bloodfang Alpha."

"And?"

Ronan's voice dropped.

"He's the last surviving descendant of the Moonborn guardian line."

I stared at him.

My mind raced.

"What does that have to do with me?"

The Bloodfang looked at me.

"Everything."

Kael stepped forward.

"Take me to your Alpha."

The man shook his head.

"He doesn't want you."

His eyes moved to me.

"He wants her."

Kael's expression darkened.

"She's not going anywhere."

The man smiled.

"That isn't your decision."

The silver mark on my chest burned.

The forest suddenly seemed colder.

Then a voice whispered inside my mind again.

Follow the moon.

I looked up.

Through the branches, moonlight fell directly onto a narrow path I had never noticed before.

The path disappeared deeper into the forest.

I understood.

The message.

My mother's handwriting.

Follow the moon.

I took a step toward it.

Kael grabbed my wrist.

"Where are you going?"

I looked at him.

"To find my mother."

"Lyra—"

"I think she left that message for me."

His grip loosened.

I pulled my hand away.

The Bloodfang wolf smiled.

"She's choosing."

Ronan looked toward the moonlit path.

Then his expression changed.

"That's not a path."

"What?"

"It's a boundary."

Kael looked at him.

"A boundary to what?"

Ronan's voice was barely a whisper.

"The old territory."

I felt a chill.

"What's there?"

Ronan looked at me.

"The place where the Moonborn disappeared."

Silence.

I looked down at the silver mark on my skin.

Then at the moonlit path.

For seventeen years, I'd thought I was nobody.

Just Lyra Vale.

An ordinary girl from an ordinary pack.

But tonight, I had discovered that my mother was alive, my bloodline was ancient, and powerful wolves were willing to fight over me.

Now there was only one thing left to do.

I stepped onto the path.

Kael followed.

Ryder sighed.

"Of course he did."

Ronan followed us too.

Behind us, the Bloodfang wolf disappeared into the trees.

But before he vanished, he looked back at me.

And smiled.

Somewhere beyond the boundary, something answered my presence with a distant howl.

Not a warning.

A welcome.

And for the first time in my life, I wondered if the forest had been waiting for me all along.