Chapter Three: Blood and Bone
1146 Words
Selene drifted in and out of awareness to the rhythm of motion.
Hooves. Stone. Wind brushing against wood.
Her body felt heavy, as though gravity itself had grown teeth and latched onto her limbs. Every breath dragged warmth through her chest, unfamiliar and unsettling. Vampires were not meant to feel warmth like this. Not after battle. Not after power loss.
She forced her eyes open.
Firelight flickered against stone walls etched with old markings. Runes, she realized distantly. Ancient. Werewolf in origin. They hummed faintly beneath her senses, not hostile, but alert.
She was alive.
That, in itself, was a complication.
Selene pushed herself upright, ignoring the dull ache threading through her muscles. She lay on a narrow bed layered with furs, the air scented with herbs and pine resin. Not a dungeon. Not a cell.
Aiden Kaelthorn sat across the room, elbows resting on his knees, his attention fixed squarely on her.
“You wake quietly,” he said.
“Habit,” Selene replied. Her voice came out steadier than she felt. “Where am I?”
“My territory,” he answered. “The outer pack stronghold.”
Her gaze swept the chamber again, cataloguing exits, distances, weapons. She noted the absence of chains, the respectful space between them, the way he did not loom despite his size.
“You brought me to your people,” she said.
“Yes.”
“That was unwise.”
Aiden’s mouth twitched. “I’ve been told.”
Silence stretched, thick but not hostile. Selene studied him now with clearer eyes. He was different in human form, still powerful, still alert, but less overwhelming than the wolf. Dark hair fell loosely around his face, his expression unreadable but intent.
“You knew they were coming,” he said at last.
Selene did not deny it. “I suspected.”
“From your own kind.”
“Yes.”
He leaned back slightly. “That does not trouble you?”
“It does,” she said quietly. “But not in the way you expect.”
The truth pressed against her ribs. The court had not merely watched her. They had decided she was a liability. Or worse, a resource someone else might claim.
The curse stirred in response to her thoughts.
Aiden noticed the slight tightening of her jaw. “You are injured.”
“I will recover.”
“That power you used,” he continued. “It was not ordinary.”
“No,” Selene agreed. “It was not.”
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. The room tilted briefly, then steadied. Aiden rose instantly, close enough to catch her if she faltered. She did not, but she did not step away either.
“You carry death like a crown,” he said suddenly.
The words struck harder than Severin’s accusation had.
Selene looked at him sharply. “What do you know of crowns?”
“Enough,” Aiden replied. “My people kneel to alphas, not kings. But power has weight no matter the name you give it.”
Her laugh was soft, bitter. “Then you understand why I refuse to wear it.”
Aiden’s gaze lingered on her face, thoughtful. “You are imperial blood.”
Her breath stilled.
For a heartbeat, she considered denial. Lies came easily. Survival had taught her that. But something in his expression told her it would be useless.
“Who told you?” she asked.
“No one,” he said. “I can sense it. The way others defer to you without realizing why. The way the forest reacts when you pass. And the way your enemies are willing to risk war to eliminate you.”
Selene exhaled slowly. “I am the Emperor’s niece. Or I was. Titles blur when one refuses to be useful.”
“And you refused,” Aiden said.
“Yes.”
He studied her for a long moment. “That makes you dangerous.”
“So they keep telling me.”
Outside the chamber, distant voices echoed through stone corridors. Wolves. Curious. Uneasy. Selene felt their awareness brush against her like a tide testing a shoreline.
“They will want answers,” she said.
“They will get them,” Aiden replied. “From me.”
She tilted her head. “You would risk your pack for a vampire.”
“I would risk it for the truth,” he corrected. “And for someone my enemies tried to murder on neutral ground.”
Selene’s lips curved faintly. “You are either noble or foolish.”
“Usually both.”
Something loosened in her chest. She did not trust him. Not fully. But she trusted that he had chosen her side for now.
The curse pulsed again, sharper this time.
She staggered, breath catching as heat ripped through her veins, uncontrolled, violent. Aiden was at her side instantly, hands gripping her arms to steady her.
“Selene.”
She gasped, fingers digging into his shirt. “It is reacting to this place,” she forced out. “To you.”
His hands tightened, warm and solid. “Tell me how to help.”
“You cannot,” she said. “Not yet.”
The power surged again, shadows flickering across the walls, responding to her instability. The runes flared briefly, then dimmed, containing rather than resisting her magic.
Aiden’s eyes darkened with something like awe. “What are you?”
“Someone they failed to finish shaping,” Selene replied.
The surge faded slowly, leaving her exhausted but standing. She was acutely aware of how close he was now, of the way his breath warmed her cheek, of the way his heartbeat echoed beneath her palms.
This was dangerous.
Not the curse. Not the war.
This.
She stepped back deliberately. “You should let me leave.”
Aiden did not move. “If you step beyond these borders tonight, you will be hunted again.”
“Then I will survive again.”
“You are not alone anymore,” he said.
The words settled heavily between them.
Selene met his gaze. For centuries, she had stood alone by choice. Power had demanded it. Survival had enforced it.
And yet, standing here in a werewolf stronghold, facing a man who should have been her enemy, she felt something unfamiliar press against her resolve.
Possibility.
“Very well,” she said at last. “I will stay. For now.”
Aiden nodded once. “Then you are under my protection.”
She smiled faintly. “Be careful, Alpha. Crowns are heavy. And curses do not share their burdens kindly.”
His answering smile was sharp, unafraid. “Neither do wolves.”
Outside, the moon climbed higher, bright and watchful.
And somewhere between blood and bone, something ancient and dangerous had begun to bind them together.
- Writer
