Chapter 2 - The wedding that wasn't
940 Words
Erya stood before her mirror, brushing her golden hair with deliberate strokes. Her gown shimmered like starlight, every thread carefully woven to echo the power and grace of a Luna. Her breath was steady, but her heart raced.
A knock came. Her father entered tall, steady, silver in his beard and wisdom in his eyes.
“You look ready,” he said.
“I feel like I’m walking into something I’m not sure he wants,” she admitted, eyes on her reflection.
He took her hand gently. “Maybe not in the way you dreamed. But you were raised for this. He needs you. The pack needs you.”
She smiled sadly. “I’ve always loved him.”
“Then love him enough to lead beside him. Fate doesn’t always choose for us. Sometimes, we choose each other.”
Outside, the clearing was alight with torchfire. The pack stood in a sacred circle, the altar stone gleaming under the full moon. Elders in ceremonial robes chanted softly. Kyle stood beside Erya, stoic but distant. His eyes were locked on the horizon as if expecting something, even now.
He had searched for his mate across every border, listened for whispers, followed trails that led to nothing. The Moon Goddess had been silent. Eventually, he had stopped hoping.
This was duty.
The final ritual began. The head elder’s voice rose, binding words thick with ancient power.
“By the moon’s will and the pack’s bond, we now......”
Then it hit him.
A scent.
Rain. Wildflowers. Smoke and something untamed.
His heart slammed against his ribs.
The dagger fell from his hand and hit the stone.
The crowd gasped.
“Kael?” Erya whispered.
But he didn’t answer. The scent was alive inside him, burning. His breath caught as Kigan, his wolf, surged forward, breaking past his skin like a dam bursting. With a roar, he shifted mid-step.
Fur. Fangs. Claws. Freedom.
He ran.
The pack parted in stunned silence. Erya turned, bewildered, as Kael's wolf kigan bolted into the forest, chasing the scent like a starved thing.
Kigan leapt over roots, ducked beneath branches, following the trail like it was part of him. The air was thick with the promise of her.
And then he saw movement ahead.
A flash of pale skin.
A girl.
She paused at the edge of the clearing, glancing back wide eyes, windswept hair. And in a breath, her form shimmered and shifted.
She transformed.
Her wolf emerged wild, beautiful, untamed.
Lyra.
Her coat was a storm of silver and black, her eyes glowing with sharp intelligence. She was smaller than Kigan, but her movements were fluid, fierce.
Kigan’s heart stopped.
Mate.
She saw him.
And she ran.
He growled low in his throat, primal need surging through him. Kigan chased her through the trees, their wolves tearing through the forest like wind. Lyra was fast weaving and dodging, breath like smoke. But Kigan was faster. Driven by something ancient, something written in their blood.
Finally, with a powerful leap, he caught her. They rolled through ferns and leaves until she lay beneath him, pinned but unhurt.
Their breath came heavy. Steam rose from their fur in the cold night air. Their eyes locked.
Then pain hit deep and searing like lightning through the bond.
Kigan stumbled back with a whimper, shifting as he moved. His body reformed, muscle and bone twisting until Kyle knelt there in human form, breathless and stunned.
She shifted, too.
Liora.
Naked beneath the stars, her chest rising and falling in sync with his. Her hair spilled over her shoulders, dirt and moonlight clinging to her skin.
For a moment, neither spoke. The air trembled with what passed between them bond, blood, magic.
Kyle stared at her, everything in him screaming mine.
The electricity of the mate bond still rippled through his veins.
“I’ve looked for you everywhere,” he said, voice raw.
“You shouldn’t have,” she whispered.
He opened his mouth to speak again
“Kael!”
The voice was sharp. Close.
Liora’s head jerked toward the sound, eyes wide.
Liora flinched, already scrambling to her feet. Her eyes met his one last time full of panic, pain, and something unspoken
Kyle stood in front of her, shoulders squared, body tense a protective barrier between his mate and whatever came next. He didn’t care who it was. He hadn’t searched the world just to lose her now. Not again.
Leaves crunched behind him.
Erya stepped into the clearing, breathless, her ceremonial gown torn and streaked with mud. Her hair was tangled from the chase. Two elders lingered behind her, silent, uncertain.
She stopped when she saw him.
Her eyes swept over the scene over his bare form, over the space where the girl had just been, over the rawness in his expression.
And then her gaze locked with his.
She didn’t scream. Didn’t sob.
Just one word left her lips barely audible, yet heavier than a howl.
“Why?”
Kyle’s jaw tightened. He turned slightly, as if to glance behind him to show her.
To explain.
But she was already gone.
His mate had vanished into the forest.
His chest rose sharply, then stilled. He looked back to Erya, his spine straightening, his expression unreadable. Alpha once more.
He didn’t flinch. Didn’t soften.
There were no words that could mend this moment not now. Maybe not ever.
He scanned Erya again. The dirt smeared across her gown, the desperation in her breat
h.
She hadn’t been brought by the elders.
She had run.
Followed him.
His voice remained silent.
Because there was nothing left to say.
- Writer
