Shadows in the Moonlight
1336 Words
The night felt colder than usual.
A sharp wind cut through the trees, carrying the scent of pine, damp earth, and something else… something that made the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand. My boots pressed silently into the forest floor as I followed the patrol route toward the eastern ridge, where the whispers of danger had become impossible to ignore.
Behind me, Orion and two warriors kept a respectful distance, but their tension was obvious. No one spoke. No one breathed louder than necessary.
War was coming, and everyone felt it.
But my mind… my mind was somewhere else entirely.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t escape the image of Liam unconscious on that stone slab in the healer’s hut. The messy brown hair matted with blood. The long lashes resting against pale skin. The faint glow of his aura that shifted like moonlight through fog.
My mate.
I hated the word… and yet it kept echoing through my skull like a distant drum.
“Alpha,” Orion called softly from behind me. “We’re nearing the ridge.”
I nodded and shifted my focus back to the forest. My wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin—alert, watchful, irritated.
Not at the threat.
At the bond.
Ever since Liam arrived, my wolf had been acting like a caged beast, pacing, growling, pushing against the walls I’d built around myself. It wanted to go back to him. Wanted to confirm he was breathing. Wanted to guard him like something precious.
I clenched my jaw and shoved the thought away.
I was Alpha before I was anything else. And mates… mates were a weakness I couldn't afford. Not when my pack was standing at the edge of war.
“Tracks,” one of the warriors whispered, pointing to the ground.
I crouched beside him. The earth had been disturbed—deep prints, heavier than normal wolves.
Rogues.
Not one or two. A group. Moving fast.
Orion crouched beside me. “They’re pushing closer each night. They’re testing us.”
“They won’t find us unprepared,” I replied.
He lifted his head, scenting the air. “But there’s something else. Do you smell that?”
I did.
A faint metallic tang. Blood. But not fresh. Old… and familiar.
My stomach tightened.
Liam.
Before I could issue a command, a young patrol warrior sprinted toward us from the shadows, breathless and pale.
“Alpha! You need to come to the healer’s hut. Now!”
My heart lurched.
I didn’t ask questions.
I ran.
The forest blurred around me, branches whipping against my arms as I pushed past them. My wolf leaped beneath my skin, desperate, frantic. Behind me, Orion and the warriors struggled to keep up, but I didn’t slow.
Not until the small wooden hut came into view.
Healers and guards were clustered outside, their faces tight. When they saw me, they straightened immediately.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“He woke up,” the senior healer said softly. “And… he’s asking for you.”
My breath caught.
I pushed past them and stepped inside.
The scent hit me first—cedarwood, smoke, and something warm that felt like lightning against my skin. My wolf surged forward, howling inside my chest.
He was awake.
Liam sat on the edge of the healing bed, shirtless, bandages wrapped around his ribs and shoulder. His hair fell messily across his forehead, and when he lifted his head, his eyes—
Golden. Bright. Quietly intense.
A shock ran through me.
“Selene,” he whispered, as if he’d been saying my name in his sleep for years.
I shouldn’t have reacted. I shouldn’t have felt anything.
But I did.
My pulse skipped. Just once. Just enough for me to feel it.
I forced my voice steady. “You’re supposed to be resting.”
He laughed softly—barely more than a breath. “I would, if the healers weren’t hovering like frightened birds.”
I folded my arms. “You were nearly dead, Liam. Hovering seems appropriate.”
His gaze softened. “I didn’t die. Because of you.”
I stiffened instantly. “Don’t thank me. I saved you for the pack’s sake. Not yours.”
Liam didn’t argue. He only held my gaze like he could see through every wall I’d ever built.
It was frustrating. Infuriating, even.
“Why were you near my borders?” I demanded. “Why were you attacked?”
He exhaled, pain flickering across his face. “Because they were hunting me.”
“Who?”
“The same pack that’s coming for you.”
A chill ran through me.
“Why?” I asked slowly.
He hesitated. “Because… I know something they don’t want you to find out. Something about the war. About why it started. About what they’re really after.”
My eyes narrowed. “And what would that be?”
He met my gaze, unflinching. “You.”
For a moment, the entire world seemed to go silent.
The candles stopped flickering. The wind stopped humming through the cracks in the wood. Everything stilled.
“Explain,” I said dangerously.
Liam stood—slowly, painfully—and even injured, there was something powerful about his presence. He stepped closer, stopping only when I blocked him with an outstretched hand.
“Their Alpha,” Liam whispered, “isn’t just after territory or resources. He wants power. And he believes the moon left something in you that he needs. Something old. Something dangerous.”
My heart pounded. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve felt it, haven’t you?” Liam said gently. “The pull in your blood. The way the moon reacts to you. The increased strength. The visions.”
I froze.
My wolf growled low in my chest.
He wasn’t supposed to know that.
“How do you—”
He cut me off, lifting his hand slowly, as if not wanting to frighten me. His palm hovered inches from my cheek, not touching, but close enough that the bond lit up between us like a live wire.
“Because,” he whispered, “I carry the same power.”
And then the truth slammed into me like a physical blow.
Liam wasn’t just a rogue.
He wasn’t an outsider.
He was something else.
Something the moon had chosen.
For me.
Anger and confusion warred inside my chest. “You will explain everything,” I ordered. “Tonight. Every detail.”
“I will,” he promised softly. “But Selene… there’s something else you need to know.”
I waited.
“When they attacked me, they weren’t only trying to kill me. They were trying to keep me away from you.”
“Why?”
He took a slow breath.
“Because the moment we complete the bond, their power over this war ends.”
My blood ran cold.
War. Mates. Power. Moon blessings. Prophecies I was never told.
It was too much. Too fast. Too dangerous.
I took a step back. “Leave. Go back to the bed. We’ll speak when you can stand without fainting.”
He didn’t move. “Selene—”
“I said leave.”
My voice cracked like a whip.
A flicker of hurt crossed his face, but he nodded and stepped away, wincing slightly as he returned to the bed.
I turned sharply toward the door, needing air.
But before I could leave, he said quietly:
“You can run from this bond all you want. But you can’t run from destiny.”
I didn’t look back.
Outside, Orion was waiting, face tense.
“Is he a threat, Alpha?”
I stared at the moonlight spilling across the ground.
“No,” I whispered. “Not yet.”
But the truth was far more complicated.
Liam wasn’t just a threat.
He was the one thing that could save my pack…
Or destroy everything.
And I had no idea which one it would be.
- Writer
