Bound by Moonfire

CHAPTER5.THE CHASE

The Chase.

ARIA'S POV

For a moment nobody moved.

The whole clearing seemed to hold its breath the same way I was holding mine, every eye locked on the stranger standing at the edge of the trees like he'd stepped straight out of some story none of us had been told yet.

The scariest part is that he is staring daggers at us, I'm not sure if it's to Kael or to me. But I know the look wasn't friendly at all.

Then Kael's hand tightened around mine, hard enough to hurt. I winced almost immediately, gripping his hands to tell him to release his grip but he wasn't paying attention, he was equally glaring at the man at the end of the room.

"Who let him through the border?" His voice cracked across the silence, sharp with something between fury and disbelief. "Someone answer me. Who let him through?" He thundered his grip getting even tighter to bruise my skin.

No one answered. No one seemed to know what to say at all. Most of his pack were all shaken to anger.

My father moved first, stepping in front of me and Kael both, his whole body coiled tight the way it only got right before a fight.

"Lucien Thorne." His voice carried none of the warmth it had held minutes ago. "You are not welcome on Crescent Hollow land. Not tonight. Not ever, after this." My father calm and diplomatic voice stated clearly, unlike the furious rough voice Kael used.

Lucien Thorne.

The name settled into me strangely, like I already knew it from somewhere I couldn't place.

Lucien didn't answer my father. He didn't even look at him. His eyes moved back to me, softening slightly, amber and burning, like literal flame.

He stood like the rest of the clearing simply didn't exist for him anymore.

"Aria." My father's voice, sharper now, meant for me this time. "Get behind me."

I didn't move. I couldn't move. My whole body felt like it belonged to someone else, rooted to the spot, chest aching with a pull I had no name for and no way to explain. Lucien started walking towards me, not minding anyone,well nononr stopped him.

Kael stepped forward almost immediately, putting himself between me and Lucien with a growl low in his throat. "You've got some nerve," he said. "Coming here. Tonight of all nights."

"Move," Lucien said, his voice was sweet, like lemon sweet. It was also rough and soothing, with a lot of control and restraint peeking through his body language.

"She's marrying me," Kael snapped. "You don't get a say in this."

My heart skipped a beat almost immediately, why is kael saying that when Lucien never mentioned disrupting the bond, well even a fool could tell the interruptions was intentional and that means bad omen if the marriage continues.

Something shifted in Lucien's expression, dark and dangerous, like a wall of control cracking under pressure it had held back for years. "She's not marrying anyone."

The clearing erupted. I almost choked on Air, my eyes wide as I step out of the barrier Kael body provided. His eyes locked in my again, my heart race as his eyes suddenly became very familiar, I frowned slightly, thinking of the possibilities.

At the background the elders were shouting, Warriors were shifting into position around the fire. My father's voice rising above all of it, ordering someone, anyone, to remove the intruder before this went any further. Kael's grip on my hand turned bruising as he tried to pull me backward, away from Lucien, away from whatever was happening that none of us fully understood.

And through all of it, Lucien never looked away from me.

"Aria." His voice, low, meant only for me even across the chaos. "Come here."

I don't know why my feet moved. I don't know why every instinct in my body screamed to listen to a stranger's voice over my own father's orders, over Kael's hand locked tight around mine, over every single thing I had been raised to believe about duty and obedience.

But they did.

I pulled against Kael's grip, and for one terrifying second his fingers held firm, refusing to let go, his eyes flashing with something possessive and furious all at once.

"Aria, don't," he said. "Don't you dare…"

My father lunged toward Lucien, warriors closing in from every side, the fire roaring higher between us like even the flames wanted a piece of what was happening.

I don't remember deciding to run.

One second I was standing frozen between two men fighting over what I was supposed to become, and the next I was breaking free of Kael's grip entirely, stumbling forward through the chaos toward the one person in that entire clearing whose voice felt like it was calling something inside me awake.

Lucien caught me the second I reached him, one arm locking around my waist, pulling me against him like he'd done it a thousand times before even though we'd never touched in our lives.

"Hold on," he said.

I didn't have time to ask what that meant.

The warriors were already closing the distance, my father's voice roaring somewhere behind us, Kael's fury cutting through the noise louder than anything else. Lucien turned, and the world tilted sideways as he moved faster than I thought a person could move, the trees blurring past us in a rush of dark and shadow, torchlight fading fast behind.

"They're following," I gasped, glancing back at the shapes already breaking from the tree line behind us, fast, furious, gaining ground with every second.

"I know," Lucien said, voice tight, arms tightening around me as he pushed faster through the dark.

My heart slammed against my ribs, fear and adrenaline and something else, something warmer and more terrifying than either, all tangled together as the ceremony grounds disappeared behind us and the forest swallowed us whole.

Whatever was happening, there was no going back now.