MOONBOUND : HIS SECRET MATE

CHAPTER FOUR

The sheets were cold, despite the warmth of the woman tangled in them.

Ronan sat at the edge of the bed, bare back scarred with history, elbows resting on his knees, eyes fixed on the wall like it might open and swallow him whole.

Valeria stirred behind him.

“That’s twice now,” she said softly. “You can’t keep pretending it means nothing.”

He didn’t respond.

“Do you even remember what I smell like?” she asked. “What I feel like?”

“I remember,” Ronan said flatly.

Valeria slid her arms around him, pressing her cheek to his back. “Then stop acting like I’m poison.”

“You’re not poison,” he said.

“Then what am I?”

He pulled her arms off slowly, carefully.

“A mistake.”

Her breath caught. She sat up, sheets falling from her shoulders. “You were there too, Ronan.”

“I was drunk. Exhausted. Stupid.”

“Lonely,” she added quietly.

He stood, reaching for his pants. “Desperate.”

Valeria’s voice cracked like ice. “Say it again. Say I was just a hole to fill.”

Ronan turned slowly, eyes glowing faintly. “You want the truth?”

She stared at him, jaw clenched.

“You wanted to feel like a Luna. And I… wanted to feel anything. But when it was over, I still felt nothing. That should terrify you.”

---

Pack Courtyard – That Afternoon

The warriors were training in silence, each movement precise and vicious.

Ronan watched from the balcony, arms folded, gaze sharp.

Caleb appeared beside him.

“She’s pissed.”

“I’m not her Alpha in bed.”

“You are her Alpha in war,” Caleb said. “You need her.”

“I need loyalty. Not mood swings.”

“She’s loyal. She just wants more.”

“She wants what I can’t give.”

Caleb looked at him sideways. “Still thinking about the girl?”

“I’m not thinking about her,” Ronan snapped. “I’m thinking about how long I’ve led with weakness.”

Caleb nodded. “Then lead. Because Valeria isn’t the only one who’s restless. The Gamma thinks your silence is fear.”

“Let him say it to my face.”

Caleb smirked. “He won’t. Not yet.”

---

Council Room – Later That Night

The Inner Circle gathered — Ronan, Valeria, Caleb, the Gamma, and two advisors from allied packs.

The room was stone and firelight. Maps. Weapons. Old blood on the walls from older wars.

“We’ve intercepted word,” said Joren, one of the visiting alphas. “The Hollow Claws want a seat at the Elders’ Circle.”

“They’re rogues with banners,” Ronan muttered. “They shouldn’t sit with wolves who’ve spilled real blood.”

“Times change,” said Gamma Locke. “And you haven’t spilled anything in a while.”

Caleb growled. “Watch your tone.”

Valeria raised a hand. “We need to move. Either strike Hollow Claws now or form an alliance before they get stronger.”

Ronan stood. His presence silenced them all.

“There’s no alliance with animals who tear open pups just to prove a point.”

Joren blinked. “You’ve grown cold, Thorne.”

“No,” Ronan said, voice low. “I’ve always been cold. I just stopped pretending to be anything else.”

---

Midnight – The Forest Beyond Crescent Ridge

Ronan walked alone under the trees.

He came here every night now. The same trail. The same clearing. The same silence from Azerin.

“Still nothing?” he whispered.

Wind stirred the leaves.

“You used to roar for war,” he said. “Now I can barely feel you. Are you punishing me?”

A heartbeat passed.

Then… a growl. So soft it could’ve been wind.

“…You betrayed yourself.”

Ronan turned sharply. “You’re here.”

“You bedded another. Lied to yourself. Lied to me.”

“I never claimed Valeria.”

“But you used her.”

He dropped to one knee, pressing his palm into the earth. “I’m losing control.”

“Because you are not whole.”

“I was whole before her,” Ronan growled.

“…You were never whole. You were just angry enough to hide the emptiness.”

Silence returned.

Ronan sat in the dark, breathing hard, sweat clinging to his back.

For the first time in years, he whispered like a man, not an alpha:

“…Then help me. Come back.”

No reply.

---

Pack Watchtower – Dawn

Caleb found Ronan sitting on the high ledge, looking toward the ridges.

“I thought you hated heights.”

“I hate silence more.”

Caleb studied him.

“You’re unraveling, brother.”

“I know.”

“What now?”

Ronan stood slowly.

“We make war.”

The room smelled of firewood and musk.

Stone walls surrounded them, warm from the flames crackling in the hearth, but there was nothing soft about the way Ronan pinned her to the mattress.

Valeria’s breath hitched as his mouth claimed hers — demanding, possessive. He didn’t ease in. He didn’t ask.

He never did.

Her hands raked down his back, nails dragging across scars. “Ronan—”

“Quiet,” he growled against her neck. “No talking tonight.”

But she wanted to talk.

She always did.

Still, she bit her lip and tilted her head back as his teeth grazed her collarbone. A shiver ran through her as he moved lower, mouth hot and unrelenting, fingers gripping her hips like iron.

Valeria gasped when he slid inside her — no warning, no sweetness. Just raw hunger.

But she welcomed it. Wrapped her legs around him. Matched his pace with a fire of her own.

Their bodies moved like war, not love. Every thrust was a challenge. Every moan a battle cry.

She clawed at his shoulders. “You need me,” she whispered. “Say it.”

Ronan’s breath was ragged, chest heaving. His silver eyes burned down at her, but not with affection — with frustration.

“I need to forget,” he said darkly. “That’s all this is.”

Valeria stilled beneath him for half a second, pain flickering behind her eyes. But then she bucked her hips harder, forcing him deeper.

“Then forget her in me,” she hissed. “Just don’t stop.”

He didn’t.

He pushed harder, faster — like punishing himself. Her moans filled the room, bouncing off the stone walls, matching the rhythm of the storm outside.

But even when she came apart beneath him, her cry echoing in his ear —

Even when he buried himself in her with a final, guttural groan —

Even then…

He still didn’t kiss her.

---

Later That Night

Valeria lay tangled in the sheets, chest rising and falling.

Ronan sat at the edge of the bed again, staring into the fire.

She watched his back, knowing the silence meant more than his words ever could.

“You think of her when you’re inside me.”

He didn’t reply.

“I see it in your face,” she whispered. “You’re not here with me. Not really.”

Ronan stood, pulling on his pants. “If this hurts you, stop crawling into my bed.”

“I crawl in because I hope maybe one day, you’ll see me.”

“I see you,” he said quietly. “But I don’t feel you.”

Valeria swallowed hard. “Then why do you come back?”

He didn’t answer.

---

Before Dawn

Ronan stood on the balcony, wind slicing across his skin. His muscles still burned from the night, but it was a cold burn, empty and meaningless.

Azerin was silent again.

His wolf didn’t stir during s*x. Didn’t hunger for Valeria. Didn’t claim.

There was no bond.

Only flesh.

And flesh, alone, could not heal him.

---

The air in the war room had turned heavy. Not with heat — but with distrust.

A bloodied scout knelt on the stone floor, head bowed, lips trembling.

“They knew we were coming. Shadow Vale… they were waiting. Like they’d heard our plans.”

Ronan’s jaw clenched.

Someone had talked.

His silver gaze scanned the room slowly — across Caleb, across Locke, across the stone-faced soldiers who swore loyalty with blood but kept secrets in their eyes.

“Leave us,” Ronan said coldly.

Everyone but Caleb and Valeria left.

Caleb folded his arms. “You think someone’s feeding them intel.”

“I know someone is,” Ronan growled. “The only question is how long they’ve been doing it.”

Valeria tilted her head, licking her lower lip slowly. “Could be Hollow Claws. They’ve always had spies.”

“They don’t know our patrol routes,” Caleb muttered.

“Someone inside the ridge does,” Ronan said, voice sharp. “And when I find them, I’ll skin them alive.”

---

That Night – Ronan’s Quarters

Valeria was already in his bed.

Again.

Laid across the sheets like temptation carved from ice and fury. Her dark hair spilled over the pillows, her eyes glittering gold in the firelight.

“You’re tense,” she said, watching him undress.

“I’m angry.”

“Good,” she murmured. “Take it out on me.”

Ronan’s eyes darkened.

He crossed the room in two steps and dragged her to the edge of the bed, yanking her hips forward, making her gasp.

“I’m not gentle tonight,” he warned.

“You never are.”

And then he was inside her — hard, brutal, relentless.

Her nails clawed down his back as he slammed into her, fast and raw, like trying to burn the doubt out of his bones.

Valeria cried out, wrapping her legs around his waist, her lips brushing his ear.

“Say you need me.”

He didn’t.

“Say I’m yours,” she begged.

He growled low in his throat, gripped her tighter, thrust deeper.

But he never said it.

Because he couldn’t lie like that.

The sound of skin against skin echoed in the dark. Her moans filled the room. And when they both climaxed, his hand pressed over her mouth — not in dominance, but to silence the lie she always whispered when she came:

"I love you."

---

After

She lay back, glowing with sweat and pride.

He sat up, cold and silent.

“You use me like a blade,” Valeria said softly. “And I keep letting you.”

Ronan’s voice was low. “Then stop coming to my bed.”

“I come because I want what she threw away.”

“You’ll never be her.”

“Good,” she hissed. “Because she’s weak.”

His head snapped toward her.

“Don’t. You. Dare.”

Valeria smiled, dangerous. “Then say her name.”

Ronan’s hands clenched into fists.

He couldn’t.

He wouldn't

Elsewhere – Shadow Vale Territory

A wolf walked through a field of bones.

Broad-shouldered, eyes black, lips curled into a permanent smirk.

Alpha Maddox.

“You heard?” he asked his Beta.

“She’s in Europe. And he doesn’t know.”

Maddox chuckled darkly. “Poor Ronan. Big, bad Crescent Alpha. Lost his mate because of his pride.”

“Think he’d kill her if he finds out she had his child?”

Maddox turned, eyes glinting. “No. I think he’d burn the world to ashes trying to keep them.”

“Should we move?”

“Not yet.i made her disappear, and it made him lose his wolf . she would be a pawn to destroy him and his lovely pack”