Moonbound

Chapter Seven

It was impossible to sleep. Korrin's smirk would always gleam in the darkness when I closed my eyes, and his voice would drift like smoke through the recesses of my thoughts. It will be mine. The shadows within me reacted, agitated, skulking, as if they knew him—were hungry for him.

I was pacing my chamber at dawn, twitching my fingers and humming uneasily. I nearly yelled at Thorn when he came in without knocking, but the words got stuck in my throat. His amber eyes were sharp, and his jaw was locked, as though he hadn't even slept.

He said, "You ought to have remained in bed."

I let out a bitter laugh. "He is not silenced by Bed."

Thorn furrowed his brows. "He entered your mind."

Even though my chest tightened, I defiantly met his gaze. “Thorn, he twisted my shadows. As if they were his. How?”

Thorn remained silent for a long time. With the measured composure of someone who knew he was bringing bad news, he closed the door behind him and walked across the room.

Finally, he said in a low voice, "Korrin was once my brother-in-arms. Betrayal tainted everything before. He fought a hundred battles with me. He understands the language of authority. Worse, he researched the same darkness you bear.”

My veins rippled with ice. "You're saying that he's... similar to me?"

Thorn's ferocious and unwavering eyes met mine. "You are unique. However, Korrin has mastered the ability to mimic and manipulate shadows. And if you allow him to, he will use that knowledge to break you.”

The memory of my shadows slashing back at me was still fresh on my skin as I took a deep breath. "What if he has it already?"

Thorn was ahead of me in two steps. He raised his hand and I felt the heat radiating from him, though it did not touch my cheek. His voice was steel wrapped in gravel. “Then I’ll pull you back. as many times as necessary.”

Between us, the air was scorching. His closeness supported me in ways I didn't want to acknowledge, acting as both a burden and a promise. His presence caused my breath to catch and the shadows inside of me to temporarily quiet down.

However, the respite was brief. A sharp, urgent knock shook the door. Kalen's voice continued. "Alpha. At the border, we discovered something.”

Thorn's face immediately hardened. His tone was clipped as he looked back at me before opening the door. "Stay close."

The northern wall was slick with morning dew, the forest beyond shrouded in silver mist. Pack members stood in a half-circle, tension coiled tight. On the ground before them lay a single object: a crescent-shaped blade, its surface black as obsidian, its edge glinting with fresh blood.

My stomach knotted. I didn’t need to ask whose blood it was. The shadows recoiled violently, recognizing the weapon as if it had been forged from their own marrow.

Kalen’s face was grim. “It was left for her.”

The pack’s eyes shifted toward me, some with fear, some with suspicion, others with open hostility. Whispers threaded through the mist like venom.

Moonborn. Curse. Danger.

I forced my voice steady. “What does it mean?”

Thorn leaned over and carefully raised the blade. As he examined the crescent engraved on its hilt, his jaw tensed. "It indicates that Korrin is no longer putting our boundaries to the test." He raised his eyes, blazing with something I had never seen so unadulterated. "You are being claimed by him."

As though in agreement with him, the forest rustled low and tauntingly.

And I heard Korrin's voice whispering again in the back of my mind.

My stomach turned as the word slithered like venom through my head. Mine. I wished the whisper would stop by pressing my hands against my temples, but it continued to grow louder and reverberate beneath my skin.

I was being watched by the pack. Their eyes were knives. I could feel the weight of their doubt, fear, and stares. Some shuffled back, as if it were dangerous to breathe close to me. Others leaned forward, eager to find any evidence that I was, in fact, what they had accused me of being: a weapon, a curse, a danger to all they believed in.

With a sharper tone than I meant, I yelled, "I didn't ask for this."

Whispers rose like smoke as the pack stirred. With the crescent blade still in his hand, Thorn stood up straight. His icy, authoritative voice broke through the cacophony.

"Silence."

Even the air obeyed. Nobody spoke again.

However, the animosity persisted. Something inside of me threatened to react, and I felt it like a storm pushing against my skin. Curling along my fingertips, restless and desperate for release, the shadows twitched.

Thorn saw it at once. He silently warned me as his eyes met mine. Control.

I pressed my fingernails into my hands until I was startled back into reality by pain. Like sulky beasts, the shadows hissed and backed away, settling deep within my chest.

Thorn looked at the group. "Leave us. Right now.”

Even Kalen bowed to the order, his jaw clenched. The wolves scattered one by one, mistrust lingering in each backward glance. Thorn didn't lower the blade until the courtyard was empty.

"You cannot show them weakness, Ravenna," he said in a low, menacing voice. “Not right now. Not with Korrin flying around like a vulture.”

I felt tired and angry at the same time. "I'm not helpless. I am—“ My voice broke. I hated the tremor and swallowed hard. "I'm trying."

Something fierce softened at the edges of Thorn's expression. The tension between us ignited like fire as he moved closer. "Merely trying isn’t enough. You witnessed his actions. He used your strength against you. He'll use that until you break.”

“And what if I do?” The question slipped out before I could stop it, raw and trembling. “What if he’s right? What if this… thing inside me doesn’t belong to me at all?”

The silence stretched. Then Thorn closed the distance, his hand lifting—not to grab, not to restrain, but to cup my jaw with startling gentleness. His thumb brushed the line of my cheek, grounding me in a way words never could.

“It belongs to you,” he said, steady and unflinching. “And to no one else. Not Selene. Not Korrin. Not even me. You hear me?”

The shadows inside me quieted, just a little. My breath hitched, my chest aching with the weight of his conviction. For one dangerous heartbeat, I wanted to lean into him, to let his strength drown out the whispering chaos.

But the forest roared before I could.

The long, piercing, and strangely layered morning air was split by a howl. It wasn't a wolf. No, it wasn't rogue. It was twisted and wrong, something in the middle. As though the earth itself had recoiled, the ground beneath us trembled.

Thorn's whole body jerked back into Alpha readiness as he dropped his hand in an instant. His eyes flashed amber as he turned his head toward the treeline. "I didn't realize he was so close."

My heart pounded. Like a call to arms, the sound triggered a surge of shadows inside me. My fingers balled into fists, trembling.

Thorn said sharply, "Ravenna," in a commanding yet foreboding voice. "You stay with me no matter what happens next."

I nodded, though my throat was dry, my heart threatening to split open. Because deep down, I knew the truth.

Korrin wasn’t just testing borders anymore.

He was coming for me.

And the shadows were eager to let him in.