Moonblooded

Chapter 6 Awake

The knock came just after midnight.

Kade looked up from where he sat at his desk, surrounded by old maps and patrol reports he hadn’t read in hours.

“Enter.”

The door opened and Merek stepped in, his white coat slightly wrinkled, eyes sharper than usual. The healer held a thin tablet clutched tight in one hand.

“I wouldn’t disturb you if it wasn’t urgent,” Merek said quietly.

Kade gestured him forward. “What is it?”

Merek passed him the tablet. “The Rogues bloodwork.”

Kade glanced down. The results meant little at first, markers, protein strings, irregular hormonal spikes.

Then he saw the flagged section.

Lunar Gene Activation – Positive.

Classification: Moonblooded (Lineage Class Alpha-0)

His breath left him in a single, controlled exhale.

Merek stepped back. “She’s not rogue. Not by blood.”

“What is she?” Kade asked, voice gravel.

“Divine.”

The word felt foreign in the room.

Merek nodded slowly. “Old blood. Older than any record I’ve seen. Her body’s healing faster than natural. And the lunar hormone surges, she’s never been formally claimed, but the bond activity suggests her wolf’s already chosen.”

Kade’s jaw tightened. “I know.”

“You knew?” Merek asked, surprised.

“I felt it.”

Merek said carefully. “She might be the one the Council fears most.”

Kade didn’t speak for a long time.

Then he handed the tablet back without another word.

Merek took it and left in silence.

Sleep came late. Violent. Unwanted.

Kade collapsed onto his bed, still dressed, muscles tight, thoughts louder than ever. But exhaustion finally clawed him under, and that was when the dream came.

Not the usual flashes of rage or guilt.

This time, it was her.

She stood barefoot in the woods beneath a full moon, dressed in white that glowed like starlight. Her silver hair drifted in a wind that didn’t exist. Her skin shimmered with soft light, alive, ethereal.

She didn’t speak.

She didn’t have to.

She looked at him, eyes full of something ancient.

Something real.

Kade stepped forward. The forest shifted around them, a dreamscape painted from instinct. He reached for her, and when their fingers touched—

The bond erupted.

Lightning surged between them, blinding. Not gentle. Not seductive. Primal. Savage. Old. It tore through him like fire, like prophecy, like inevitability.

Selene didn’t cry out.

She just stepped into him, forehead to forehead.

And he felt everything.

Her pain.

Her silence.

Her waiting.

“Come back to me,” he whispered, barely audible.

Then—

He woke.

Breathless. Covered in sweat. Sheets torn. His hands bleeding from where claws had punched through his palms in his sleep.

The hall outside the infirmary was colder than usual.

Kade stood just beyond the door, heart still hammering from the dream. Sweat clung to his skin beneath his shirt. The image of her silver eyes wouldn’t leave him.

He hadn’t brought guards. No Ronan. No Darian. No witnesses.

Just him.

And her.

He stepped inside.

The overhead lights had been dimmed for the night, casting Selene’s body in soft gold where it lay beneath crisp white sheets. Her breathing was steady. Skin flushed. Hair clean and silken across the pillow.

Still, she hadn’t moved.

But the air around her was thick.

Not with sickness.

With power.

Varric stirred, quiet now, almost reverent. She’s stronger.

Kade moved to her side and sat, only once resting his forearms on his knees. He didn’t touch her. Didn’t breathe too loud. Just stared at the girl who’d shattered every plan he’d ever built.

“She’s not just a rogue,” he said under his breath.

Varric didn’t reply.

Because they both knew the truth now.

She was Moonblooded.

The bloodline of the old gods. The line the Council feared. The one fated to unravel everything.

And somehow… she was his mate.

Kade leaned back, muscles tense, exhaling through clenched teeth.

“She’s going to wake up,” he murmured.

Soon, Varric replied. And when she does… you’ll lose your grip.

He knew that too.

He felt it in the tension between his ribs. In the way his claws ached even now, just being near her.

The bond thrummed again, like a second heartbeat.

And then, for just a moment, her fingers moved beneath the blanket.

No twitch. No reflex.

Kade stood abruptly. His chair scraped lightly as he stepped back, jaw clenched.

He had to leave.

If he stayed, he wouldn’t resist touching her. Wouldn’t stop his wolf.

His hand hovered over the doorknob. He glanced back once more,

And in that instant, something shifted.

Not in her body.

In her mind.

Darkness.

Stillness.

She floated somewhere between breath and memory. She didn’t know how long she’d been here, adrift, voiceless, forgotten. The pain was distant now, like a dream receding into shadow.

But something had changed.

The air buzzed.

She felt… watched.

Not by danger.

By him.

And then, there it was.

A voice. Feminine. Fierce. Beautiful.

Not from outside.

From within.

“Selene,” the voice whispered. Calm. Wild. Warm.

Her breath caught, though her body didn’t move.

“It’s time.”

The voice wrapped around her like fur and moonlight. Strong. Protective. Undeniable.

“Wake up.”

The first thing Selene felt was the cold.

Not the kind that numbed, but the kind that burned. It licked down her spine and settled in her bones like frostbite, sharp and hollow.

She didn’t open her eyes at first.

Sound came next, too much of it. Beeping. A distant hum. Footsteps padded in rhythm far away, muffled like underwater drums. Someone whispered. Metal clinked. Something soft hissed.

The light came after that.

Blinding.

It pierced her skull, drilling through her closed eyelids like fire. Her head pounded. Her muscles locked.

A scent drifted in.

Pine. Smoke. Leather. Him.

She didn’t know who he was. But the scent was stamped into her lungs, into the center of her ribs.

Her fingers twitched.

Pain followed. Not sharp. Just constant. Pressure everywhere, weight behind her eyes, fire in her joints, a deep ache across her ribs.

She forced her eyes open.

The ceiling above her was white. Too white. Lights buzzed above, sterile and cruel. A needle was taped to her arm. Wires trailed from her chest to blinking monitors.

She was in a room. A bed. Trapped.

Instinct screamed to move.

Her body didn’t obey.

Then—

“You’re not broken.”

The voice echoed softly in her skull, not from her ears but somewhere behind them.

“You’re waking.”

Her breath hitched.

“Who…” she tried, but the sound scraped her throat raw.

“Lira,” the voice said gently. “I am your other half. I’ve waited… and so have you.”

Another breath. Shallow. She turned her head slightly. The movement hurt.

She saw silver at her wrists, the cuffs. Not pure silver. Diluted. Not enough to kill her. Just enough to bind. The metal pulsed cold.

She tried to lift her arms.

They barely twitched.

Trapped.

Weak.

Her heart began to race.

“Breathe,” Lira said again. “They haven’t hurt you. Not yet. But they watch.”

“Where…?” Selene rasped.

“Blackfang,” Lira answered. “The heart of our enemies. And our fate.”

The door opened.

A nurse stepped in, humming softly.

She froze mid-step when she saw Selene’s open eyes.

A sharp gasp escaped her. The tray clattered to the floor.

Silence followed. And then, chaos.

The pack link exploded like lightning.

::The rogue is awake!::

::She moved. I saw it.::

::Alert Alpha. Now.::

Minutes later, the door burst open again.

Two men entered.

One tall and broad, a presence that filled the room like a fortress, his aura steady but wary. The other, slighter, older, dressed in white,clinical and controlled.

The older man approached her bedside immediately.

“Merek,” he said simply, mostly to himself. “Vitals normalizing. Neural spikes… impressive.”

His fingers brushed across the screen beside her. Beeping shifted in rhythm.

The other man watched her. Quiet. Measured.

“Do you remember your name?” he asked.

Selene blinked at him, tongue dry as ash.

She tried to speak. It took her three attempts.

“Selene,” she croaked.

The tall man gave nothing away. But something in his gaze sharpened.

Merek, the healer, nodded. “Cognitive retention in place. Remarkable, considering the damage.”

“You remember your name,” he said. “Anything else?”

She hesitated.

“I… don’t know where I am,” she said finally.

“Blackfang territory,” Merek replied.

That meant nothing.

“Why am I here?” she asked.

“You were found near, death in the northern no-man’s lands. You were brought in by our Alpha. You’ve been unconscious for awhile.”

She blinked.

“I don’t remember.”

“I didn’t expect you to. The trauma was significant.”

The other name stepped forward.

“Selene,” he said, voice deep and steady. “I’m Ronan. Beta of Blackfang.”

She didn’t answer right away.

He didn’t push.

Merek moved aside to let him approach.

Ronan’s gaze swept over her, not lecherous, not cruel. Evaluating.

“I wanted to meet you properly,” he said. “You woke earlier than expected.”

“So I’ve heard,” she rasped.

“Do you remember what happened to you?”

“No,” she said, too quickly.

He noted it but didn’t comment. “You’ve healed faster than a rogue should. That’s why Merek is here. And why I am.”

“You think I’m lying?”

“No,” Ronan said simply. “But you’re holding back.”

He stepped closer.

Selene’s heart beat harder, but not from fear.

It was something else.

He radiated rank. Discipline. Power. But there was no pull. No hum beneath the skin. No bond.

Yet when he said the word—

“Our Alpha wants to know when you’re stable enough to be questioned.”

Her pulse spiked.

Lira growled softly in her mind.

“He’s near,” her wolf whispered. “The Alpha. Yours.”

Selene’s throat dried.

“Your Alpha…” she murmured.

“He found you,” Ronan said. “He made the call to bring you in instead of leaving you to the woods.”

“Why?”

“That’s what everyone wants to know.”

Selene flinched slightly. She wasn’t sure if it was from the question or the implication.

Ronan softened, just a fraction.

“You’re not a prisoner,” he said. “But you are being watched. Blackfang doesn’t take chances.”

“Is that what I am?” she asked. “A chance?”

Ronan’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “You’re something. We’re still deciding what.”

He didn’t stay long after that. Merek did another round of vitals, all quiet professionalism, then left without ceremony

Selene’s eyes fluttered shut again.

The exhaustion pulled at her, dragging her back into the dark.

“Don’t sleep yet,” Lira warned. “Eyes open. Always.”

The lights had dimmed since the nurse’s panicked exit. Selene lay still, wrists aching from the silver cuffs, her breathing quiet and steady now. Her senses no longer screamed—only whispered.

.

She was alone again.

But not really.

The scent remained.

Faint but steady. Pressing behind her eyes, curling around her lungs.

Him.

The sun set behind the mountains beyond the infirmary walls. Selene couldn’t see it, but she could feel the shift in the air. The silence after dusk had its own pressure, one that made her chest too tight.

She stared up at the ceiling, fists weakly clenched.

“You feel it now,” Lira murmured.

Selene didn’t reply.

“He’s coming.”

The cuff at her left wrist burned a little deeper. Not fire. Something older. Something instinctual.

“Why does he feel like this?” she whispered in her thoughts.

“Because he’s yours,” Lira answered.

Selene’s eyes closed.

She didn’t understand what that meant.

Not yet.

But her body did.

Every inhale that pulled that pine-smoke scent closer.

Every shiver when the word Alpha rolled through her head.

Something primal was waking.

And it didn’t want to sleep again.

The wind bit hard across the northern ridge, but Kade didn’t slow his pace.

He had run for hours.

Midnight had come and gone, and still his wolf had refused to turn back until his lungs burned and his paws split on the jagged stone. But even now, back in human form and clothed in sweat-damp cotton and dirt, the scent of her still chased him like a ghost through the woods.

Awake.

The news had reached him hours ago, whispers racing across the pack link like wildfire. He hadn’t answered. He hadn’t dared.

Varric had howled the moment it hit.

She lives.

And now, every step he took toward the infirmary felt heavier than the last.

By the time he reached the hallway outside her room, his claws had started to slip free from beneath his skin again.

The door was closed. Sealed. But not soundproof.

He could hear her heartbeat inside, slow, steady, alive.

He gripped the doorframe with one hand, fingers curling so hard into the steel trim that his nails cracked through the surface. Blood welled beneath his claws.

Varric was near the surface, pacing like a trapped beast.

She’s awake. We should be with her.

Kade’s jaw locked. “We can’t.”

We’re not made to run from what’s ours.

“I’m not running,” Kade hissed under his breath. “I’m protecting her.”

You’re pretending, Varric snapped. Pretending that distance keeps her safe. Pretending that playing cold will hold back fate. But you forget what we are.

Kade leaned forward until his forehead touched the wall beside the door. Cool. Unmoving. Unforgiving.

Alpha.

Leader.

Enforcer.

But not mate.

Not to her. Not publicly. Not when the Council watched his every step and Lucien circled like a vulture.

He had made his choice days ago.

He would be what the rumors claimed he already was.

Brutal.

Unfeeling.

Controlled by nothing.

Not even fate.

Especially not fate.

He would keep her alive. Keep her hidden. But he would not show the world her importance. He wouldn’t risk them both.

So he would play the part.

The womanizer. The untamed Alpha too cold to love.

And behind the mask?

He would burn.

He always had.

Kade’s breath caught as her scent pressed harder through the sealed door. Clean now, but still wild, like rain on moss and wildflowers of moonlight on skin.

The bond pulsed beneath his ribs like a second heartbeat.

Varric’s voice dropped to a whisper. She’s close. We only have to open the door.

“I can’t,” Kade whispered. “Because if I see her…”

His claws sank deeper into the wall. His body trembled once. Not from pain.

From restraint.

“…I won’t be able to stop myself from marking her.”

Behind the door, Selene stirred in her sleep.

Not with words.

But with presence.

She was real. Awake. Alive.

And for the first time in his life, Kade wished he had been born something else. Something free.

Because this?

This was a cage.

He let his blood drip onto the floor, watching the red slide across white tile.

Then, slowly, he turned away from the door.

And walked back into the dark.