Moonbound

Moonbound

Chapter One

The Scent of Rain and Sin

Evelyn

The forest wasn’t supposed to feel alive.

But tonight it breathed.

Rain fell in a slow, steady rhythm, soaking through Evelyn’s sweater as she moved deeper between the trees. The path had long disappeared behind her, swallowed by mist and shadow.

She didn’t know why she kept walking.

Maybe it was grief. Maybe it was anger. Maybe it was the need to feel something other than the hollow ache in her chest.

Thunder rolled across the sky.

And then—

The air changed.

It thickened.

Her steps slowed.

The scent hit her first.

Not rain.

Not pine.

Something darker.

Warm.

Wild.

Male.

Her breath caught in her throat.

“You’re not alone,” her instincts whispered.

She turned.

Nothing.

Just trees bending under the storm.

But her skin tingled like eyes were tracing every inch of her.

Watching.

Waiting.

A branch snapped behind her.

She spun around—

And collided with something solid.

No.

Someone.

Strong hands caught her before she fell. Her palms pressed against a hard chest beneath a soaked black shirt.

Heat.

Too much heat.

She looked up.

And forgot how to breathe.

Golden eyes stared down at her.

Not soft gold.

Not warm.

Predatory.

“Who are you?” she whispered.

His fingers tightened at her waist.

Not hurting.

Claiming balance.

“You crossed a boundary,” he said, voice low and steady.

It wasn’t loud.

But it carried weight.

Authority.

Her heart pounded harder.

“I didn’t see a sign.”

“There isn’t one.”

Lightning split the sky.

For a second, she saw his face clearly — sharp jaw, rain sliding down his cheek, lips pressed tight like he was holding something back.

He wasn’t just standing there.

He was restraining himself.

From what?

“Then how was I supposed to know?” she asked, stubbornness flaring.

His gaze darkened.

“You would have felt it.”

Her stomach dropped.

Because she had.

Colt

Mine.

The word had never struck so violently.

Not in thirty years.

Not in a century of bloodline instincts carved into bone.

Mine.

She was soaked. Shivering. Defiant.

And standing inside his territory like she belonged there.

His wolf surged forward, claws scraping against restraint.

Mark her.

The urge nearly brought him to his knees.

He hadn’t even touched her skin yet, and already the bond was coiling tight around his ribs like a chain.

Dangerous.

Because the curse stirred beneath it.

A dark pulse under his flesh.

The witch’s voice echoed in memory:

“When the moon-touched comes, you will crave her more than you crave air.”

He didn’t believe in fate.

But right now?

He could barely breathe.

“Go home,” he said, forcing control into every syllable.

She didn’t move.

Rain slid down her cheek.

“Why?”

Because if you stay, I won’t.

Because if you stay, I will forget that I am trying to protect you from myself.

Instead he said:

“This forest is not safe.”

Her eyes flicked down to his hands still at her waist.

“You’re the one holding me.”

His grip loosened instantly.

He stepped back.

But his wolf howled in protest.

She swayed slightly without his support.

And something inside him twisted.

Instinct screamed to pull her back.

To shelter her from the rain. From the wind. From every male who would ever look at her.

From himself.

Evelyn

He stepped away.

And the cold rushed in.

Why did that feel wrong?

She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to steady the strange pull in her chest.

He watched her like she was fragile glass.

But there was nothing fragile about the way he stood.

Tall. Grounded. Dangerous.

“You keep telling me to leave,” she said quietly.

“But you haven’t.”

His jaw flexed.

For a moment, the storm seemed to pause with them.

“I am trying,” he answered.

The honesty in that nearly undid her.

Trying?

Trying not to what?

Thunder roared again.

She flinched instinctively.

Before she could stop herself, she stepped closer.

His breath caught.

She felt it.

The shift in the air.

Like the world narrowed to the space between them.

His scent wrapped around her — deep, warm, intoxicating.

It felt sinful to inhale him.

And she did anyway.

“You’re not human,” she whispered.

His eyes flickered.

Gold brightening.

“No,” he said.

And for some reason—

She wasn’t afraid.

That should have terrified her more than anything.

Colt

She stepped closer.

God.

She stepped closer.

Her heartbeat thundered in his ears.

Her pulse glowed beneath her skin like something sacred.

The curse flared violently.

Not in rejection.

In recognition.

It wanted her.

It needed her.

He felt the shift begin beneath his ribs — claws threatening to tear through flesh.

Not here.

Not with her.

He forced it down.

Forced control like he had every full moon since the curse bound itself to his blood.

“You need to go,” he said, voice rougher now.

“Or what?”

Or I will mark you against that tree. Or I will choose you over my own sanity. Or I will not stop.

He leaned down slightly, eyes level with hers.

“Or I won’t be responsible for what my wolf decides.”

Her breath trembled.

But she didn’t run.

Instead—

She reached out.

And touched his chest.

Just once.

Light.

Curious.

The world stilled.

His curse went silent.

Completely silent.

For the first time in years.

His eyes widened.

She didn’t know what she had just done.

But he did.

The witch had been right.

Only the moon-touched can quiet the beast.

He grabbed her wrist gently.

Not in anger.

In disbelief.

“Who are you?” he demanded softly.

Her voice shook this time.

“Evelyn.”

The name branded itself into his bones.

Evelyn.

Mine.

And this time—

He didn’t fight the word.

Chapter Two

Edge of the Blackwood Estate

Evelyn

The morning fog clung to the fields like a silken veil, softening the edges of the Blackwood estate. Evelyn’s boots pressed into the wet grass as she walked along the boundary line her father once owned, her fingers brushing the tips of the tall weeds. The mansion loomed behind her, distant and imposing, and she could almost feel the weight of its secrets pressing down.

She didn’t know why she came here so early. Curiosity, probably. Something about the forest, the rain, the way last night had felt—alive, dangerous, impossible to ignore.

And then she saw it.

A flash of movement at the edge of the tree line.

Instinct made her pause. Her pulse stuttered.

A tall figure stepped into the clearing. Black coat, wet hair plastered to his forehead, golden eyes scanning the horizon.

Colt.

Her chest tightened. Even from a distance, she felt the pull. Her body wanted to step closer, but her mind screamed caution.

He didn’t move toward her. He didn’t even call out. But she could feel it—every muscle, every sense, alive and alert. Watching. Waiting.

The wind shifted. His coat fluttered. And she smelled it again. That wild, raw scent—underneath the rain, stronger than yesterday.

Her breath caught.

She wanted to run.

But she couldn’t.

Colt

She had stepped into his territory again.

The sight of her moving through the mist made his wolf stir violently.

Mine.

The word came unbidden, sharp and demanding. But he forced it down, burying it behind years of control, behind the steel of his billionaire composure.

She didn’t know. Couldn’t know.

If she did… she’d be afraid.

The wind carried her scent to him—soft rain, sweat, earth, something unmistakably hers. Something irresistible. Something that made his teeth ache and his claws clench under his skin.

He stepped forward slightly, careful not to break the invisible line she had drawn. Protective. Controlled. Everything he always promised himself he could be.

She didn’t notice him yet. That was good. He wanted her to feel safe. For now.

Evelyn

Her hand brushed against a rough stone marker at the edge of her father’s land. It was carved long ago, half-buried in mud, a faint insignia visible in the morning light. Something about it made her shiver.

Footsteps. Behind her.

Not human.

She spun.

Colt was closer now. Far too close to be just “someone walking.”

“You shouldn’t be here alone,” he said, his voice low, calm… unnervingly certain.

“I’m not afraid of the forest,” she said, trying to mask the tremor in her voice.

“Good,” he said. His gaze softened, just for a moment. “Because I don’t like it when people I care about get hurt.”

Her stomach flipped. He doesn’t even know me…

But something in the way he said it made her want to believe he did.

And then she felt it again—the almost imperceptible hum in the air, a heat that shouldn’t exist in the morning fog.

A warning.

His wolf was near.

She didn’t understand what that meant.

But she knew instinctively—she was being claimed.

Colt

He inhaled her scent and forced himself to take a step back.

Control.

That was the word that had kept him alive through centuries of this curse.

She didn’t know yet. She wouldn’t understand until later.

But his wolf recognized her as its anchor, and that recognition tore at the edges of his calm, leaving heat under his skin, an ache in his chest.

He couldn’t touch her. Not yet. Not until she understood the danger of being near him.

“Stay on this side of the marker,” he said. Not a command. A warning.

Her eyes met his.

Curiosity. Defiance. A flicker of understanding.

And his chest tightened. Because even controlled obsession hurts when the heart is involved.

Evelyn

She stepped closer, ignoring the invisible boundary.

“Why do you care so much?” she asked.

The question hung in the foggy air.

Colt’s eyes flickered gold in the early sunlight.

“Because I have to,” he said quietly. “Because if something happens to you… I couldn’t forgive myself.”

Her fingers twitched. His tone, his presence—it was intoxicating, and terrifying.

And she realized, for the first time, that the forest wasn’t dangerous. Not really.

He was.

And somehow, she wanted that danger.