MOON BOUND

Wolves-territory

Sierra’s hand stayed locked on Raven’s arm.

“Inside. Now.”

Raven tried to pull free. “He’s hurt. Those things are still out there—”

“And you’re the reason they came.” Sierra’s voice stayed low but hard. “Kael can handle himself. You can’t. Move.”

She did not give Raven a choice. She steered her up the porch steps and through the heavy front door. The second they were inside, Sierra kicked it shut and threw two thick bolts into place. Then she moved to the windows, checking locks one by one.

The pack house smelled like wood smoke and pine and something wild underneath. A big open living room with leather couches and a stone fireplace took up most of the first floor. Lights were low. No one else was in sight, but Raven felt watched.

Sierra turned back to her. The rifle stayed in her hands.

“Sit down. Don’t touch anything. Don’t open any door.”

Raven stayed on her feet. “What did you mean I’m waking up?”

Sierra studied her for a long second. “Your scent changed the moment Kael got close to you in town. It’s stronger now. Wolf under the human. Buried deep, but it’s rising. Your mother kept it locked down. Whatever she did, it’s failing.”

Raven’s stomach turned. “That’s not possible.”

“Tell that to the rogues who tracked you to the cabin.” Sierra moved to a side table and pulled a clean towel from a drawer. She tossed it onto the couch. “Kael’s bleeding all over the woods. When he gets back he’ll need that. Until then, you stay put.”

Outside, the night stayed too quiet.

Raven wrapped her arms around herself. The pull under her ribs had not faded. It tugged toward the trees where Kael had gone. She hated how much she wanted to follow it.

Minutes stretched. Sierra checked her phone once, frowned, then shoved it back in her pocket.

“He’s not answering.”

Raven stepped toward the door. “Then we go find him.”

Sierra blocked her. “You take one step outside and I will put you on the floor. Pack rules. Alpha’s order. You stay inside these walls.”

The two women stared at each other. Raven’s pulse hammered in her ears. She could hear it too clearly now. She could also hear the soft creak of the house settling, the wind moving through the trees outside, and something else — a faint, distant growl that Sierra should not have been able to miss.

Sierra’s head turned sharply toward the back of the house.

“Did you hear that?”

Raven nodded.

Sierra raised the rifle and moved down the hallway without another word. Raven followed even though no one had invited her. The hallway was narrow and dark. At the end, a door stood half open to what looked like a mudroom.

The growl came again. Closer.

Sierra pushed the door wider with the barrel of the rifle.

Empty.

Then glass broke somewhere above them.

Both women looked up.

Heavy footsteps crossed the second floor. Too heavy for a normal person.

Sierra swore under her breath. “Get to the basement. Door under the stairs. Lock it from the inside.”

“I’m not—”

“Go!”

Raven ran. She found the door under the stairs, yanked it open, and took the steps down two at a time. The basement was cool and smelled of earth and old wood. A single bare bulb hung from the ceiling. She slammed the door shut and threw the bolt.

Above her, the house shook with a hard impact. Something large hit a wall. Sierra’s voice rose in a sharp command, then cut off.

Silence.

Raven pressed her back to the door, breathing hard. Her hands trembled. The flashlight from the cabin was gone. The only light was the weak bulb.

Then she heard it.

Footsteps on the basement stairs.

Slow. Deliberate.

Not Sierra’s.

Raven backed away from the door until her shoulders hit a set of metal shelves. Her fingers closed around the first heavy thing they found — a rusty crowbar.

The bolt on the door slid open from the other side.

The door swung inward.

Kael stood there.

Blood covered more of his shirt than before. A fresh cut marked his collarbone. His eyes still glowed, but the gold looked dimmer, strained. He held himself carefully, like every movement cost him.

“Raven.” His voice was rough. “It’s me.”

She did not lower the crowbar right away. “Where’s Sierra?”

“Upstairs. Holding the line. Two more got inside the border before we stopped them. They’re down.” He stepped fully into the basement and closed the door behind him. “You’re shaking.”

“No shit.”

A tired almost-smile touched his mouth, then vanished. He leaned against the wall like standing took effort. “The scream you heard was one of our scouts. Young. Marcus’s wolves caught him alone. I got there too late to save him. But I made sure they paid for it.”

Raven finally set the crowbar down. The pull in her chest eased the second he was close, and that scared her almost as much as the wolves.

Kael watched her face. “You feel it. The bond. It’s why you couldn’t leave me in the clearing. It’s why my wolf nearly lost its mind when that first rogue came through your window.”

She swallowed. “I don’t want this.”

“Neither did I.” He pushed off the wall and took one step closer. “But it’s already started. Your scent is changing faster now. By the next full moon it won’t be hidden anymore. Every wolf in a hundred miles will know what you are.”

“And what am I?”

Kael’s eyes held hers. “Latent. Born of a line that was supposed to have died out. Your mother ran from this pack before you were born. She bound the wolf in you so deep most of us thought it was gone for good. Tonight it woke up. Because of me.”

The basement suddenly felt too small.

Above them, boots hit the floor hard. Sierra’s voice called down the stairs.

“Kael. You need to see this. Now.”

He turned toward the door, then looked back at Raven. “Stay behind me.”

They climbed the stairs together. Sierra waited in the hallway, rifle still in hand, face pale.

She held out her phone.

On the screen was a photo taken in the dark woods. A body. One of the pack. Throat torn open. But that was not the worst part.

Carved into the tree above the body were three words, still fresh and dark.

She’s already ours.

Kael went still.

Sierra’s voice dropped. “Marcus left it. He knows about her. And he’s not done.”

From the trees outside the pack house, a new howl rose.

Long. Confident.

Answered by too many others.

Kael’s hand found Raven’s wrist again, warm and blood-sticky and steady.

“They’re not testing the border anymore,” he said quietly. “They’re coming for the house.”

The first heavy impact hit the front door.