Marked By The Moon That Hates Me

An Alpha Shouldn’t Kneel

CHAPTER FOUR

The chains of divine law are heavier than iron, colder than any winter wind, and sharper than the claws of a hundred wolves.

I felt them coil around me the moment I thought of her. Lyra. My mate. The girl the Moon Goddess had tried to erase before she even drew her first breath.

The bond between us screamed, pulsing under my skin like molten fire, a reminder that fate does not follow rules made by tyrants—no matter how divine.

I knelt in the moonlit clearing, the pack behind me, obedient yet fearful, because even they could feel the tension that coiled in the air. The Moon Goddess hovered just above, her eyes cold and unblinking, luminous silver hair catching the light as if spun from the moon itself. Every heartbeat I took felt heavy, laden with the weight of her fury, yet my soul would not submit.

“You are mine,” she whispered, voice like a blade sliding across stone. “Do you understand what I command?”

“Yes,” I said, low and steady, though every fiber of my being screamed otherwise.

She leaned closer, and I felt the warmth of her divine essence suffocating me. “Do not speak again. Obedience is your only path.”

My wolf howled inside me, thrashing against the invisible chains of divine law. She is not yours. She never was. And I will not kneel.

I lifted my head, the gold of my eyes flaring against the moonlight, and let the words leave my mouth before caution could stop them: “I will find her. And I will touch her. Even if it costs me everything.”

The silence that followed was a living thing.

Selunara’s expression darkened, a predatory gleam sharpening her perfection into something cruel. She did not shout. She did not strike. She didn’t need to. Her power hung heavy, pressing down on me, suffocating, testing my resolve.

“You would defy me?” she asked, voice calm but lethal. “An Alpha cannot disobey a goddess. To do so is death.”

My wolf growled low in my chest, threatening, waiting for the moment to break free. Death is nothing if I cannot protect her.

I breathed through the pressure, letting the fire of my defiance burn hotter. “I will risk the heavens themselves for her. And if I die, I will die with my hands on her skin, my lips on her soul.”

Selunara’s pupils narrowed. She tilted her head, fascinated, angry, incredulous. “Such arrogance. Boldness. Foolishness.”

“I call it love,” I said, letting my body shift forward slightly, feeling the surge of the bond flare again at the thought of Lyra.

It was instantaneous. The chains of divine law that had restrained her and restrained me trembled, pulsed, and whispered across the distance, sensing recognition, acknowledging the claim that could not be undone.

And then—pain.

I clutched my chest as fire tore beneath my skin, scorching through my muscles, my nerves, my very essence. Lyra. She was there. Somewhere in the sanctum, bound and trapped, sensing me, reaching out despite the Goddess’s wards.

I closed my eyes, every instinct screaming not to give in. And yet I let the bond take me. Not fully, not willingly, but enough to hear her voice—not in words, but in thought, trembling and beautiful.

Kael…

I bit back a roar, tears stinging my eyes. I am here, I sent back, raw and unfiltered. I will find you. I will break her. I will burn the sky before she touches you again.

Selunara shrieked, a sound so pure and wrathful it shook the earth beneath me. “No! You will obey! You will forget her!”

I ignored her. The bond flared hotter, stronger, thrumming in my veins like a second heartbeat. I saw her then, flickers of her in the shadows of the sanctum—pale, stubborn, alive.

“Little moonless one,” Selunara hissed, voice curling through my mind as if she were inside me, testing my fear. “You think your bond is stronger than mine? You are nothing.”

She is everything.

The words were mine and my wolf’s at once. Rage, desire, obsession—they all converged into a single pulse of energy, a promise. I would not kneel. I would not obey. I would touch her, even if the moon cracked and bled.

⸻

The first connection came without warning.

It was fleeting—a spark of heat, of recognition, of hunger that passed through the miles of magic separating us. The Goddess had tried to sever the bond completely. She had failed.

Kael…

Her thought was a whisper, fragile but insistent, reaching through stone, wards, and divine control. It filled me with something I hadn’t expected: hope.

And need.

I pressed my palms to the ground as if to anchor myself, but it did nothing. The bond pulled, a tether of fire that burned through my chest, into my hands, into the very marrow of my bones. I imagined her lips, her hands, her scent, the curve of her neck under my jaw. The memory—or vision—was not mine, and yet it was. It belonged to both of us now, inseparable, defiant, screaming across the distance that she was mine, no matter the Goddess’s will.

I heard her heartbeat. Felt it. Faster than mine, wild and unbroken.

I growled. My claws scraped the stone floor.

“Enough!” Selunara’s voice cut like ice. She struck at the bond with a force that shook me to my core, a weapon of magic and will. I stumbled back, doubled over as my wolf screamed inside me.

But even her power could not erase what was awakened.

Every pulse of the bond scorched my mind and soul, reminding me of the promise I had made. I will burn the sky for her.

⸻

Hours—or maybe minutes, time had no meaning here—passed in a brutal standstill. I alternated between sitting, pacing, glaring at the empty air where I knew she was, and fighting to contain the bond’s pull. It was maddening, intoxicating, irresistible.

Finally, when the Goddess’s attention wavered—perhaps overconfident in her control—I made my move.

I closed my eyes. I let the bond take me, fully this time. Not through sight, not through magic, but through essence. Soul to soul.

I found her.

Lyra.

She was trembling, her hands bound, pale light washing over her as she fought the wards. She had felt me too. The recognition burned in her chest, her pulse racing in tandem with mine.

And in that moment, all rules, all gods, all threats—everything except her—vanished.

I whispered, not aloud but through the bond, my wolf and I and my entire being:

I am here. I will find you. I will not kneel. I will not obey. Not to her. Not to fate. Not to the moon itself.

She gasped—startled, afraid, exhilarated. Kael…

The single word made my chest tighten with fire. Desire, protection, obsession, love—they all surged at once. I had never wanted anything like this in my life. I had never needed anyone like this. And the bond… the bond would not let me look away.

The Goddess roared, the sound so furious it rattled the stones of the sanctum and made my teeth ache. She struck at the bond again, but we had tasted it. We had reached through it.

And there was no going back.

I didn’t know how I would get to her. I didn’t know how I would survive the Goddess’s wrath. But I knew one thing:

No divine chain, no celestial law, no ancient curse could stop me from touching her, from claiming what had always been mine.

⸻

The first connection ended as abruptly as it began. Lyra disappeared from my mind, the wards snapping back into place. I collapsed against the stone floor, chest heaving, wolf growling, teeth bared, eyes on the ceiling as if I could will her presence back through sheer force.

I had tasted her essence. Felt her. Known her. And it was unbearable.

Selunara hovered above me, furious beyond reason, beauty sharpened into rage. “You dare!” she hissed. “You will regret this!”

I smiled, bitter and furious. “I already have. I regret only that I didn’t reach her sooner.”

⸻

The bond would not go silent. Even now, separated by stone, magic, and divine wrath, we were connected. Every heartbeat, every pulse of fire, every flicker of thought reminded me of her, and her of me.

I would find her. I would touch her. I would defy the Moon Goddess.

And when I did…

The heavens would burn.