Chapter 11 — Aiden’s Moonblood Secret
1052 Words
Aiden didn’t move.
He stayed kneeling in front of Lena, hands still lightly resting on her shoulders, like letting go would somehow make the world splinter. His golden eyes didn’t waver, but something inside them had shifted—hesitation, conflict… fear.
Not fear for himself.
Fear of what she had learned.
Lena took a steadying breath. “You said you felt my awakening before I did. You said my scent changed.” Her voice didn’t tremble, but her heartbeat thundered. “Why? How did you know so quickly?”
Aiden’s jaw tightened. “Lena, I—”
“Don’t lie,” she whispered. “Not now.”
He froze.
Lena wasn’t angry. She wasn’t panicked. She was simply… certain. Something inside her—the same strange instinct that had been stirring since the forest vision—told her Aiden carried a truth he’d been avoiding.
Her grandmother stepped back silently, giving them space.
Aiden inhaled deeply, as if dragging courage into his lungs.
Then he said it:
“Because I’m Moonblood.”
Lena blinked. “Moonblood?”
Aiden stood, but instead of stepping away, he began to pace—circling, restless, caged.
“It’s a… rare lineage,” he said. “Feared. Respected. Sometimes hunted. The Moonblood wolves carry traits the others don’t.”
“Traits like what?”
Aiden looked up at her, eyes glowing faintly. “Stronger senses. Faster healing. Sharper instincts. But that isn’t the part that matters.”
Lena waited.
“The part that matters,” he said quietly, “is the bond.”
The room fell still.
Aiden continued in a voice rough with restraint.
“A Moonblood wolf can sense their fated connection long before the other person even knows what they are. Their instincts react instantly. Their senses sharpen. And their… protectiveness becomes almost impossible to control.”
Lena felt her pulse skip—not from fear.
From recognition.
“Aiden…” she whispered. “Are you saying you sensed a bond with me?”
His silence was the answer.
He finally stopped pacing and leaned both hands on the table, head bowed as if the weight of every word pressed on him.
“When I first found you in the forest,” he said, low and gravel-deep, “I thought it was a mistake. A coincidence. But the moment you touched me—just one touch—my instincts reacted so violently I could barely think.”
Lena swallowed. “Is that why you were tense? Why you kept pulling away?”
Aiden let out a bitter breath. “Because a bond is dangerous. It ties a wolf to someone completely—emotionally, physically, instinctively. And for a Moonblood…” He exhaled shakily. “For a Moonblood, it’s nearly unbreakable.”
Lena stepped toward him, her voice softer now. “But why hide it?”
Aiden finally looked up, his eyes glowing faintly with a deep gold light.
“Because I didn’t want to trap you,” he whispered. “I didn’t want you to think I was forcing something on you. Especially not when you didn’t even know what you were.”
Lena felt something shift in her chest—an ache, warm and stinging.
“Aiden,” she breathed, “you didn’t force anything.”
He stared at her like he was trying to memorize every detail—every flicker of her eyes, every shift of her expression.
“You don’t understand,” he said, voice low and raw. “If the bond completes and I lose control even once—if I give in to my instincts too early—it could put you in danger. A Moonblood bond is… consuming.”
Lena’s cheeks warmed, but not from fear. “Define consuming.”
Aiden’s voice dropped to a near-growl. “It means I’d do anything—anything—to protect you. Even if it destroys me. Even if it destroys everything around me.”
Lena’s breath hitched.
Not because of the danger—
—but because of how much truth pulsed in his words.
She stepped closer. “Aiden… in my vision, the wolves said our fates would be tied deeper than blood. Is that part of the Moonblood bond?”
Aiden went completely still.
His voice came out in a whisper. “If your ancestors said that… then it means the bond is not just instinct.”
He took a shaky breath.
“It means it’s fate.”
Lena’s heart hammered.
But Aiden stepped back abruptly, running a trembling hand through his hair.
“Lena, you have no idea what this means. The clans—Varek—if they find out you’re a Keeper and I’m Moonblood? They will hunt us both. They’ll try to claim you, control you. And they’ll kill me because the bond makes me a threat to them.”
“Then we don’t let them find out,” Lena said.
Aiden looked at her sharply.
She stood tall despite the fear curling in her stomach. “I’m done being afraid. I’m done pretending I’m powerless.”
“That’s not what I—”
“I know,” she cut in softly. “But I’m not running anymore. If I’m really the last Keeper… then I have to act like it.”
Aiden stared at her for a long moment.
Then something softened in him—something warm, fierce, reverent.
“You’re braver than you realize,” he murmured.
She stepped closer, close enough to feel the heat radiating from him.
“Maybe,” she whispered, “or maybe I’m not the only one awakening.”
Aiden’s breath hitched—but he didn’t move away.
Not this time.
Her grandmother suddenly cleared her throat loudly, making Aiden jerk back like someone had dumped cold water over him.
“That’s enough bonding for today,” she said dryly. “If you two are done dancing around your destiny, we have work to do.”
Aiden coughed and looked away.
Lena bit back a smile.
But the moment of warmth didn’t last.
Because the cottage door rattled—once, twice—then burst open.
A wild-eyed wolf scout staggered inside, bleeding and gasping.
“Varek,” he choked. “He knows. He’s coming.”
Aiden’s expression turned to steel.
Lena’s awakening had begun.
And the hunt was already here.
- Writer
