Chapter Five
1307 Words
The wind carried a chill that cut through the training yard, swirling around Kaelen as he leaned against the stone wall, arms folded.
His friends clustered nearby, laughing, teasing, the smoke of the torches curling around their heads like lazy snakes.
But Kaelen wasn’t hearing them. His mind was elsewhere, restless, heavy with the thought of her.
“Yo, you’re zoned out again, bro,” Ravik said, nudging him with an elbow.
“Earth to Kaelen. Moon Night’s coming up. You excited or what?”
Kaelen forced a smile, a sharp, fleeting thing. “Yeah… excited,” he murmured, though the word felt hollow.
His chest tightened, a burning mix of anticipation and something darker—jealousy
“She’s mine for the keep,” he thought, fists tightening. “Why’s he with her? Why does Draven get that ?”
Ravik frowned, leaning closer. “You okay, man? You look like someone stole your wolf heart.”
Kaelen’s jaw clenched. “I’m fine,” he said, but his voice was low, bitter.
He watched the shadows stretch across the yard, imagining her there, painting in Draven’s private room, so close to the man he couldn’t claim her from.
Fenric, sensing the tension, stepped beside him.
“Kaelen, focus. Moon Night isn’t just another night. It’s—” His voice dropped, almost reverent.
“It’s the bond. The choosing. What happens then lasts forever. Not just mating—it’s legacy, life intertwined. You know that.”
Kaelen swallowed hard, the words like fire in his veins. He wanted to argue, to deny it, but deep down, he knew he wasn’t the one for her.
He didn't care about that.
Thought of Draven winning
Having her taking what was his was killing him deep down.
. His brother was. Always had been. His jealousy wasn’t love—it was possessiveness over something that wasn’t his to take.
***
A cool breeze shifted, carrying the scent of pine and distant firelight.
Malekini’s mind wandered to the visions .
Malekini’s vision blurred, and suddenly she was small again, trapped in the child’s body.
She looked up at the woman carrying her, trying to make herself heard.
“Huh… where are we going?” she asked, her words bouncing silently against the dream.
The woman didn’t even glance at her, as though she wasn't yelling at the top of her lungs.
“Keep moving. We don’t have time,” the woman said aloud, voice sharp and commanding.
Malekini tried again, desperate. “Why… why are you running?”
The woman’s grip didn’t falter. She muttered something else, almost to herself.
“They’ll be here soon… mustn’t falter.”
Malekini’s little heart raced. They can’t hear me… I can’t… I can’t make her stop.
“They’re behind us! Quick! Hurry!”
she shouted, her voice trapped in her mind. Still, the woman’s stride didn’t change, her focus absolute.
“Hold on,” the woman whispered, tightening her arms around Malekini.
“Almost there. Almost safe Kiki.”
Malekini squirmed, trying to look around.
"Kiki!?" and name she had only heard once, she couldn't put her finger on where she heard it from
“Who’s chasing us? Tell me! Tell me!”
The woman’s face was set, eyes forward, jaw clenched. She spoke calmly, almost as if reciting a lesson. “No one will take you. I promise”
Malekini’s chest twisted in panic.
I have to help! I can see them! I can see them coming!
Suddenly, shadows moved faster, shapes sliding along the edges of the dream corridor.
“There! They’re catching up! Faster! Move!”
she begged silently, shaking her small arms, runnin, out of breathe.
The woman’s pace quickened, weaving through narrow passages, her voice low but unwavering. “Stay close. Don’t struggle. You must survive.”
Malekini’s eyes widened as a dark figure broke through the shadows, nearly grabbing her. “Watch out! Don’t let them—”
The woman spun on her heel, her expression calm, lethal. She swung a sword that emerged from thin air, fought, striking with precise, brutal efficiency.
Malekini could see every movement, every snap of muscle, every flash of steel.
“Not today,” the woman muttered, almost to herself. “Not ever.”
Malekini’s stomach lurched, the fear and exhilaration mixing. She could speak, she could warn, she could plead—but the woman still couldn’t hear a single word.
And yet, despite the terror, despite the helplessness, there was awe in Malekini’s heart. The woman—who she didn’t recognize as her mother—was unstoppable. Fierce. Unyielding.
“They… they’re still coming!” ........
***
The night deepened, shadows thickening over the stone courtyard.
Kaelen’s thoughts were a spiral of longing and self-reproach.
He remembered the council room, the meeting, the weight of duty pressing down.
He remembered the stakes—the pack, the territory, the legacy.
And then he remembered the way she looked when he questioned her about the painting from Dravens bedroom from the very room where Kaelen had only ever been once. And his stomach turned.
“She’s so close to him,” he whispered, voice heavy.
“Every stroke, every glance… she doesn’t even see me anymore.”
Ravik tilted his head, silent for a moment, then asked, “And yet you’re still going to follow the rules?”
Kaelen exhaled sharply. “I have to. I can’t… I won’t take something from him that’s not mine.... even if she is. “But it doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
The thought of the ritual pressed against his mind.
Moon Night—the night of choosing, of forever. A wolf Valentine, as the elders called it.
The night that could bind her to one for life.
The night that sealed a legacy, an eternal bond.
The very idea twisted his gut.
Kaelen stood still as the wind moved around him.
The moon was rising slowly, pale and cold in the sky.
For a moment, he thought of Malekini.
Her standing in the silver light.
Small. Quiet. Strong in a way no one saw at first.
His chest tightened.
He swallowed hard.
“Draven can have her,” he said quietly.
The words felt forced, relieved, cowardly.
“She was always meant for him.”
Fenric stayed silent beside him.
Kaelen folded his arms across his chest.
“She’s too soft for me anyway,” he continued.
“She needs someone who can give her comfort. Someone steady.”
He looked up at the moon again.
“That’s Draven, I can't be dragged down by somone unable to carry their own weight.”
He nodded once, like he was talking to himself.
“I don’t want soft,” he added. “I want strength. not obedient, defiantly adventurous”
His voice grew firmer.
“Loki is strong.”
He said her name clearly this time.
“She doesn’t wait to be protected. She fights back. She doesn’t look at someone like they’re her whole world. She stands on her own.”
His jaw tightened.
“She’s sharper. Smarter. She challenges me.”
He let out a slow breath.
“I’d choose that over fragile.”
There was silence after that.
But then something flickered in his memory.
Malekini standing in front of danger once. Afraid, but not running.
Her hands shaking, but her chin lifted.
She hadn’t been fragile.
Not really.
Kaelen’s fingers curled into fists.
He pushed the thought away.
“Draven deserves her,” he said again, softer now. “And I prefer Loki.”
But when he closed his eyes—
It wasn’t Loki he saw under the moonlight.
It was Malekini.
And that was the part he didn’t say out loud.
The moon rose higher.
The ritual was coming.
And Kaelen stood there, telling himself he had already made his choice.
- Writer
