Bonded by moonfire

Healing hands

The fortress felt eerily quiet now, as if even the stones held their breath. The shadows had vanished, but the memory of their presence lingered like a chill against Elias’s skin.

Kieran leaned heavily against him, his body trembling with exhaustion. Blood streaked his side where the rogue’s claws had grazed him, but the wounds were shallow compared to what Elias had feared. Still, he pressed his hand over them, unwilling to let go.

“You’re bleeding,” Elias whispered, his voice breaking.

Kieran’s lips brushed his temple in reassurance. “I’ve had worse.” His golden eyes softened as they met Elias’s. “But I’ve never had someone fight for me the way you just did.”

Elias swallowed, emotion catching in his throat. He didn’t feel like he’d fought. Not really. He had only reached out with his heart, desperate not to lose the one person he couldn’t imagine living without. “I thought I was useless,” he admitted quietly. “Too weak to shift. Too weak to help.”

Kieran shook his head, cupping Elias’s cheek with surprising gentleness for hands still trembling from battle. “You saved me. Without you, the shadows would have swallowed me whole.” He leaned closer, his forehead resting against Elias’s. “You are my strength, Elias. Always.”

The words sank deep, melting away the fear that had clung to Elias for so long. The bond between them pulsed with warmth, steady and sure, like a heartbeat. He closed his eyes, letting it wash through him, mending pieces of himself he hadn’t realized were broken.

For a long moment, they simply breathed together, wrapped in the glow of their connection. The world outside the chamber could have crumbled, and neither would have noticed.

But then a distant howl echoed through the night—one of their own, calling, searching. The pack.

Elias pulled back slightly, his brows furrowing. “They’ll be here soon.”

Kieran nodded, though his gaze lingered on Elias, reluctant to break the fragile peace they’d found. “Let them come. They need to see the truth of what we are.”

Elias hesitated. The rogue’s final words still haunted him: Your bond will be your undoing. What if the pack believed the same? What if instead of strength, they saw danger?

Kieran seemed to sense the fear twisting in him. He took Elias’s hand and placed it over his heart. “Whatever comes,” he said firmly, “we face it together. No prophecy, no shadow, no pack law will change that.”

Elias nodded slowly, his chest tightening with both fear and hope.

Because deep down, he believed him.

And maybe—just maybe—the world would too.