Moonblooded

Chapter 10

***18 plus warning mild trigger warning

Selene jolted awake.

The sheets were soaked with cold sweat, and the corners of her mind clawed against something she couldn’t see. Her body had curled in on itself, trembling, stomach twisted in a coil of instinctive pain.

It felt like betrayal.

Like loss.

Like something sacred being torn.

Then the true pain hit.

It started low just beneath the ribs, where the bond lived. A searing twist, as though someone had reached into her chest and was yanking her heart apart thread by thread. She gasped and dropped from the bed, crumpling to the wooden floor with a sharp cry she barely managed to muffle.

Lira howled inside her, thrashing.

“He’s with another. He’s betraying the bond.”

Selene writhed, chest heaving. Her fingernails scraped the floor. “Kade—”

Lira’s voice was ragged with fury. “It’s not Varric. This isn’t his doing. The human is the one choosing this.”

Every nerve in Selene’s body screamed. Hours passed in waves of agony. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

She felt everything.

He didn’t mean to let her in.

The door had been locked.

He was sure of it.

But Mira stood there anyway bold, breathless, and already naked in the dim glow of the bedside lamp. Her pupils blown wide with something desperate. Desire. Ambition. Or maybe just the thrill of trespass.

“Alpha,” she whispered, voice syrupy and thick. “I couldn’t sleep.”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. The air between them pulsed with heat and tension, his scent no doubt calling to her the way it called to all unmated she wolves. He should’ve told her to leave. Should’ve bared his teeth and ordered her out with the authority of his rank.

But he didn’t.

Because Selene’s scent still haunted him.

Because Varric hadn’t stopped pacing since the last time they saw her.

Because he needed to pretend, just for a moment, that he wasn’t unraveling.

Mira stepped closer. Her fingers grazed his bare chest like they had every right to. “Let me take care of you,” she murmured.

And he let her.

She was just to be a body. A distraction. A punishment.

But the second her skin slid against his, soft and warm and unfamiliar, and her lips trailed up his torso like she belonged there.

He saw silver hair.

Not golden.

Not Mira.

Selene.

The lie came easy. Instant. Automatic. He welcomed it, wrapped it around himself like armor as he pulled Mira into his bed. She didn’t question his silence. Didn’t flinch when he gripped her harder than he should’ve likely bruising her. She mistook the edge in him for hunger, for heat.

She was eager.

Bold.

Grateful to be chosen.

And Kade let her believe it.

But Varric flinched.

She isn’t ours.

The voice cut through him like claws, sharp and angry. Kade bared his teeth in the dark and shoved the connection away with a snarl.

Silence.

Varric recoiled, wounded, furious.

But Mira moaned, delighted, arching into his hands as if his aggression was something romantic. Something earned. Her hips moved, coaxing his compliance. Kade let instinct take over. He closed his eyes.

And forced the image.

Selene, trembling beneath him, her breath catching in his name.

Selene, eyes like twin moons, wide and shining, locking with his.

Selene, whispering mine as he lost himself in her.

His body responded to the illusion, tightening with need, he quickly hardened,the ache of longing twisting into something darker. Something he could use.

Varric’s disgust burned like acid just beneath the surface.

You’re lying. To yourself. To her. And now to me.

But Kade didn’t stop.

Couldn’t.

Because the alternative was worse. The emptiness. The craving.

The bond, bleeding him dry from the inside out.

So he held the lie close. Clung to it with both hands and pretended the warmth beneath him was silver, not gold.

Pretended it was Selene.

Even if it wasn’t.

Even if it never could be.

Mira arched beneath him, whispering his name like it meant something.

“Kade…” she breathed, her voice thick with satisfaction, her limbs limp and glowing in the aftershocks of release. She curled against his side, nuzzling into his chest like a mate would.

But he wasn’t hers.

He never would be.

He didn’t speak. Didn’t hold her.

His breathing was shallow. Tense. Like a storm was still rising in him, unsated.

Because it was.

The ache hadn’t dulled.

The bond still pulled at him, vicious, hungry, hollow.

And Selene’s face still danced behind his eyes, soft and silver and burning.

He needed more.

Kade rolled over, dragging Mira with him, rough hands guiding her where he needed her, where he could take what he needed without thinking.

She blinked in surprise as he shoved her forward onto her knees.

“Alpha ?” her voice trembled slightly, unsure now. “W-wait, I’ve never, not like this.” As he lined himself up against her other entrance.

His grip on her hips tightened as she squirmed , fingers digging deep, a silent answer that didn’t invite discussion.

“Kade…”she whimpered, a thread of hesitation laced through the plea.

He didn’t stop.

The beast inside was too loud now. The ache too sharp. Selene’s ghost too close.

Kade spit into his palm, slicked himself with impatience, and thrust into a part of Mira no one else had touched, because he didn’t care.

Because he couldn’t take Selene the way he wanted to.

But this?

This he could control.

He thrusted harder.

Mira cried out, a sharp gasp that caught in her throat. Her hands clawed at the sheets. Her legs trembled under the force of him.

“It’s too much,Kade,ah!”

Still, he didn’t stop.

He grunted, low and raw, buried in heat and tightness, in the illusion of release.

And Mira, Mira broke.

Her protests turned to whines.

Whines into moans.

Moans into a messy, breathless chant of his name.

Her body gave in, back arching, the sting swallowed by pleasure until she was a panting wreck under him,slick, flushed, lost, and begging him for more.

And all the while, Kade wasn’t even looking at her.

His eyes were shut. Teeth clenched. Fingers digging into her skin like he could carve her into someone else.

Selene.

That was the name on his tongue.

The one he never said.

He took Mira again and again, never releasing inside her that he still kept for Selene as if he wasn’t betraying her by taking Mira. Her kept using her body until the tension in his gut finally snapped, and even then, it wasn’t enough. He stayed inside her, chasing another release, like each one could erase the bond, could sever the thread tying him to a woman he couldn’t have.

The sky outside had begun to pale, gray light spilling into the room like shame.

Mira collapsed beside him in a haze of sweat and euphoria, a dazed smile on her lips.

“Kade…” she murmured, boneless and drunk on pleasure.

But he didn’t respond.

He stared at the ceiling, hollow.

Because no matter how many times he took Mira’s body.

He was still starving for Selene’s soul.

The morning light didn’t ease the pain.

It just left her hollow.

She stood in front of the mirror, brushing her hair with trembling fingers, eyes red, skin pale. She looked like a ghost.

He did that.

Lira remained curled inside her mind, simmering with quiet rage.

“He is a coward.”

Selene didn’t argue.

She dressed in silence and walked to the training yard without speaking. Her limbs were sore, but not from the sparring she’d return to. From enduring every thrust, every whisper, every second of Kade’s betrayal.

She hadn’t cried.

She wouldn’t.

The courtyard was already full of movement by the time she arrived. Warriors stretched, sparred, joked.

Selene ignored them.

She moved through the drills with quiet precision, her mind somewhere else entirely.

And then Mira strutted past her. Kade and her s*x still scented on her.

Her golden braid was wrapped around one shoulder, lips glossy, eyes bright.

“Rough night?” Mira asked, just loud enough.

Selene didn’t flinch.

Mira stepped closer. “You look like hell. Should’ve stayed in bed.”

Still, no reaction.

Then Mira leaned in, breath brushing Selene’s ear.

“I didn’t.”

Selene turned.

Mira’s smirk sharpened.

“I was in his bed all night,” she purred. “The Alpha kept me very, very busy.”

Lira snapped.

“Rip her tongue out.”

Selene didn’t move.

Didn’t blink.

But her eyes flashed silver for a heartbeat.

“Ten laps,” Taylor called sharply from across the yard. “Now.”

Mira blinked, startled.

Taylor’s stare was cold.

Mira huffed and jogged off.

Selene dropped into position and began sparring.

She moved like fire. Fast, brutal.

But her mind,Her mind was breaking.

He watched from the balcony, arms folded tight across his chest, jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached.

Below, the training yard buzzed with motion and the dull thuds of impact, but Kade only saw her.

Selene.

She moved like a storm. Fluid, fast, furious. Every swing of her arm, every brutal strike of her foot was too sharp, too wild.

She wasn’t training.

She was bleeding.

And he felt it.

Through the bond.

The ache of betrayal.

The sting of disillusionment.

The way her heart pulled away from his.

Because of him.

Because of what he’d done.

What she’d felt.

Even now, Mira’s scent clung to him. Faint but persistent, like shame soaked into skin. Even after a second shower. Even after scrubbing hard enough to turn his chest raw.

It still lingered.

He swallowed hard, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

Selene stumbled. Just for a second. Her opponent struck out, too slow. She dodged and came back twice as hard, landing a blow that cracked across his ribs with enough force to make the warrior stagger back.

Kade didn’t flinch.

But his hands curled tighter into fists.

“Impressive,” came a voice beside him.

Amara. Always knowing the worst moment to appear. Always using it.

She didn’t ask to join him. Didn’t wait for permission as she slid up beside him, her perfume curling like poison ivy into the back of his throat. Her palm smoothed across his bicep, her body pressed against his.

She tilted her head. Smirked.

“You taste like jealousy.”

Her lips brushed the skin just above his collarbone, tongue flicking over his pulse like a dare.

He didn’t stop her.

Didn’t say a word when she dropped to her knees.

Her hands were already at his waistband, practiced and eager.

And still, his eyes never left Selene. If he was looking at her he could almost pretend it was her sucking him off.

She looked up.

Not at her opponent.

Not at the crowd.

At him.

Their eyes locked, and time fractured. Froze.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t blink.

Didn’t stop Amara.

He just stared, expression cold, unreadable, carved from stone.

And Selene saw.

She saw Amara’s head disappear from view.

Saw the way his body tensed with pleading, the barest tension in his neck, the emotionless set of his mouth.

Saw the choice.

Kade felt the bond tighten like a noose.

But it didn’t scream.

Not this time.

It didn’t need to.

Because whatever remained between them didn’t burn.

It fractured.

Selene blinked once, silver eyes hollowing.

Then she turned.

And when she walked away from the sparring ring, from the crowd, from him.

She didn’t look back.