The Mate That Shouldn’t Exist

Chapter 2 – Flight and Shadows

Pathways of the Shadowmoon fortress were creepily quiet after the Summit’s festivities, lit only by the flickering torches along the stone walls. Kael’s boots echoed as he moved. Every step measured, silent, determined. He couldn’t afford mistakes. Ember Vale had appeared out of nowhere, and the bond that seared between them was not something he could ignore—or control.

He found the doorway empty.

Ember was gone.

Kael’s heart pounded, a mixture of frustration and fear. “How had she vanished so quickly?”. Every corridor,every hidden corner of the fortress should have been under his watch, yet she had slipped like smoke through his fingers. A flash of anger surged, but beneath it, a gnawing dread—what if she had been followed? What if the dangers that drove her into exile were still hunting her? Every shadow seemed to twitch, every whisper of wind a warning.

Panic surged beneath the surface, though he forced it down. She cannot run. Not now. Every instinct screamed that the timid healer’s flight was both fear and survival, but the mate bond clawed at him, pulling him forward faster than thought. He sprinted down the twisting corridors, senses alert, every shadow a possible threat!. Ember’s smell flared faintly ahead-fragile and elusive like smoke.

Running all along passages she learned from being held in exile, her heart pounded, her lungs burned, and wolf instincts warned her of every step of a possible trap or a step that would give her away. He will find me, and I really wonder if Kael asked me if I wanted it. Ember's wolf was just below the surface; it trembled in anticipation and was ready to fight, but she quelled it as her releasing would have been a blatant giveaway.

Kael never stopped; he could smell her fear, her hesitation, the faint hum of the bond buzzing between them. With every turn she made, he was there anticipating it.

Every shadow she hid behind, there he was. Yet the bond was pulsing violently—not with anger, nor with aggression—but with need. Desire. Recognition. Kael did not want to frighten her. He did not want to corner her like some hunted animal—but after five years, how was he supposed to let her go again?

The fortress opened onto snow-covered gardens gleaming silver beneath the moonlight. Ember escaped among the lattice of trees and frost-glazed statues, her footsteps muffled by snow. Her wolf surged in warning of a predator behind her—Kael. But she couldn't afford to stop.

Her mind was a whirlwind of searching for any possible exit to safety. She darted past statues frozen in eternal poses, wondering if the centuries of Shadowmoon guardianship could keep her safe from the wrath she had stirred. Her breath was ragged as its exhalation began to fog. Ahead, the forested gardens promised freedom but bargained in the equally ominous unknown. Every instinct screamed: trust no one. Not even him.

Every muscle burned as she held on and ran farther than her limits, desperate to be rid of the weight of a destiny she did not understand.

From the corridor behind her, Kael appeared, his blue eyes ablaze with fury and aplitetic yearning unspoken. He did not need weapons while chasing; his wolf was his guide, every step poised with calculated precision, every pause sudden in its swiftness. When he finally caught sight of Ember near the frozen fountain at the center of the garden, he halted in his tracks, his hands stretched out slightly—not in menace, rather in admonition.

"Stop," he commanded, his voice low but firm, carried across the crisp air. Ember froze, trembling inside as the wolf beneath her skin snarled.

"Ember... listen to me. You cannot run from this bond."

"I'm not running," she whispered, her tears frozen on her cheeks. "I just... I can't stay here. Not with everyone watching, not with... him," she added, referring to the invisible weight of Seraya's presence—the perfect, radiant Luna who had waited for him far before Ember had even returned.

Kael tightened his jaw. Seraya. His other mate. His bond with her had burnt with intensity just not long ago, intoxicating but wrong. Or rather, in the way that mattered, it was not right. He had not chosen it, yet under pack law, it was near impossible to discount the urge. The law of every alpha demanded him to honor Seraya. Honor the alliances. Honor the tradition.

But Ember's wolf beneath the timidity of her skins resonated with something Seraya never ever could. Kael took a slow step closer while measuring and considering. Not here, not in public view, not whilst the elders were watching; Kael couldn't claim Ember but he couldn't let her disappear again—not into the Borderlands, not into the shadows of exile.

"You don't understand," Ember whispered as she backed toward the frozen fountain. Her wolf surged forward-a brilliant faint glow just beneath her skin- ready to fight, ready to flee, ready to protect its human. "I... I am not worthy. You don't know what I've done... what I've lost."

Kael cut his eyes.

"Worthy?" his voice low and steel-sharp. "You survived five long years in exile, hiding from wolves who wished you dead, surviving on your own. You are more worthy than any other option. If you think, though, that I will allow anyone-anyone-to say otherwise, you are sorely mistaken."

Her wolf trembled under her fear, brushing against his, seeking permission, seeking acknowledgment, yet uncertain. Ember's human being shuddered, caught between awe and fear and the pull of a destiny she had tried so hard to deny.

Kael's hand hovered near hers, careful, controlled.

"You are mine, Ember. Not because of pack law, not because of politics, not because of anyone else—but because the bond does not lie. It never lies."

Her eyes glazed over with terror and longing. "Then… why does it hurt?" she asked far too softly as the cold in the garden whipped through.

"Because it’s real," he said, stepping closer, filling the space between them with his presence. "Because it is dangerous, because it is f*******n, because it should not exist—and yet… here it is. You and I. Together. Against everything. "

Ember swallowed hard as emotions washed over her like a storm. She wanted to flee, to run away, disappear into the shadows—but every intuition from her wolf barked at her to stay, to trust, to submit. "I...I don't know if I can," she confessed. "I've...I've been nothing all my life.

A mistake, an exile… And now this?"

Kael tensed in the chest. His entire alpha screamed at him that she could conceal herself no longer. "You are not nothing," he whispered. "You are strong. You are clever. And you are mine, whether you realize it yet or not."

Before Ember could get a word in, the silhouette moving at the edge of the garden shifted. Seraya was returning, flawless and composed, eyes gleaming with rage and something more menacing. "Kael," she hissed with a sharp clarity, "I've seen you found the other one.

How... convenient."

Ember flinched, taking a step back, her wolf with a warily moved a step back as well, yet Kael closed in between them. "Stay back, Seraya," he instructed. "This is no contest for you. Not now."

Seraya smiled with murderous glee, infuriatingly knowing, "You know, Kael, that I just cannot allow it. The bond between us is perfect, lawful, and necessary for the pack. That... creature," she gestured toward Ember, "does not belong here. And neither do you, if you continue indulging this... mistake."

Kael's wolf surged forward in reaction, low growls issuing forth as a warning; it was guarded. Ember's own wolf trembled underneath its surface on uncertain footing-the terror was unfamiliar, but it was gaining strength with every heartbeat.

"You will not touch her," Kael said, low and dangerous, mixed with the authority of an Alpha and the fury of a mate. "Neither of you will say what is right here. This ends now, Seraya. Or you shall learn why exactly the Shadowmoon heir is not to be trifled with."

Seraya let out a soft laugh, like the sound of broken glass. "We shall see, Kael. We shall see." And with those words, she sipped back into shadows, leaving nothing but an echo of her threats behind.

Ember let out a weak breath that trembled with anticipation but steadied her. "I can't stay here," she finally said. "It's too dangerous; I... I have to leave again."

Kael's jaws clenched. "Then we leave together," he said firmly. "You shall not face it alone. The bond does not permit it."

And so, into the shadow of the garden, they went-down stacked stones awaiting another storm, with fate, pack law, and unknown darkness already closing down on them.

The Norwegian pangair chilled their skin, a cold reminder of Borderlands' cruel nature. Ember kept close. Her heart was pounding anthems of fear and exhilaration mixed together. Every step into darkness was a gamble; every breath was the chance to survive.

Kael's wolf prowled, sensing the threats before their forms materialized, protecting her with a vigilance he'd never known. Together, they moved as one, two halves of a bond neither fully understood yet outright refused to be denied. The first hints of the coming eclipse were staining the sky far above-the silent herald of the trials that awaited them.