Bonded by moonfire

The secret between us

The victory feast roared through the night, the pack’s howls carrying into the trees. Meat roasted over open flames, wine flowed, and laughter replaced the tension of the trial.

But Kieran felt none of it. His golden eyes stayed fixed on Elias, who sat apart from the crowd, his shoulders rigid, a shadow carved in moonlight.

The bond pulled—demanded. And Kieran had never been good at ignoring demands.

He found Elias by the edge of the forest, where the noise of the feast faded into crickets and silence.

“You fought with me,” Kieran said quietly. “You saved me.”

Elias’s storm-gray eyes flicked to him, unreadable. “It was the Trial. I didn’t have a choice.”

Kieran stepped closer, anger sparking. “Don’t do that. Don’t pretend it meant nothing. I felt you. Every strike, every breath—we were one. That’s what the bond is.”

For a heartbeat, Elias’s mask cracked. His jaw trembled, his hands clenched at his sides. But then he shook his head, voice low and rough.

“You don’t understand. This bond isn’t a gift, Kieran. It’s a trap.”

Kieran froze. “A trap?”

Elias finally met his eyes—and the pain there nearly buckled Kieran’s knees. “Because I knew. Before the Moon chose us, before the bond snapped into place—I knew this would happen.”

The words hit like claws across his chest. “What do you mean you knew?”

Elias swallowed hard. “When I was fifteen, the Seer gave me a vision. She told me my mate would be the Alpha. She told me that loving him would bring blood and ruin. That one of us would have to die for the other to lead.”

The forest seemed to go silent. Even the bond itself pulsed painfully, as though it understood the truth.

Kieran’s wolf snarled, refusing the prophecy, refusing the fear. He grabbed Elias by the shoulders, shaking him. “That’s why you’ve been pushing me away? Because of some cursed vision?”

Elias shoved him back, eyes blazing with desperation. “Not cursed. I’ve seen it. Every night since then. You—broken, bleeding—because of me. I won’t let that future happen. I can’t.”

Kieran’s breath came hard, his wolf clawing to claim, to protect. “You think you can fight destiny by denying it? By running from me? No, Elias. The bond doesn’t destroy—it saves. And I will prove it, even if I have to fight fate itself.”

For a moment, they just stared, the bond thrumming hot between them, their breaths uneven. Elias’s eyes softened, a whisper of longing slipping through.

But before Kieran could close the distance, a horn blasted in the distance—short, sharp, urgent.

Another alarm.

The rogues were back.

And this time, they weren’t coming for the pack.

They were coming for Elias