Moonblooded

Chap 13

Selene sat alone beneath the arched branches of the forest’s edge, her back pressed to the cold bark of a pine. The courtyard was visible from here, distant and blurred through the morning mist, but far enough that no one would disturb her.

She needed quiet.

She needed to breathe.

But her chest still ached from what Kade had done.

His kiss still burned on her lips rough, primal, and consuming. The way he had pressed her to the wall, the way their wolves collided like stars collapsing it was everything and too much. Her wolf, Lira, had screamed in triumph.

And then he’d shoved her away like she was a mistake.

“You kissed me like I belonged to you,” she whispered bitterly to herself. “Then looked at me like I was nothing.”

Lira growled softly from within.

“He does want you. But he fears it. He fears himself more.”

“Then he shouldn’t touch me.”

“He can’t help it.”

Selene clenched her hands into the dirt. “Then what am I to him? A body he can’t control himself around? A bond he regrets?”

Lira didn’t answer.

Selene drew her knees to her chest and pressed her forehead to them. She wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. Just behind her closed eyelids, Lucien’s silver eyes surfaced. The way he had looked at her—calm, curious, unthreatening.

Like she was something sacred.

“He’s playing a long game,” Lira murmured.

“Maybe,” Selene said aloud, “but at least he doesn’t pretend I don’t exist.”

She didn’t hear the approach until Taylor sank to the ground beside her. She didn’t say a word at first, just let the silence stretch between them.

Finally, Taylor spoke. “There’s dirt in your hair.”

Selene let out a weak breath that almost passed as a laugh.

Taylor reached over and brushed some of it away gently. “Want to talk about it?”

“No,” Selene murmured. “Yes. I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to,” Taylor said softly. “But I see the way he looks at you. And I see the way you flinch now when he’s near.”

Selene shook her head. “He kissed me. Then told me it wasn’t him. It was his wolf. And then he walked away.”

Taylor didn’t gasp or frown. She just nodded. “And you think that makes it worse.”

“It does.”

“Because you felt it too,” Taylor said. “Because it mattered.”

Selene bit her lip until it hurt. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep surviving in a place where he pulls me in just to push me away.”

“You survive by becoming so strong they can’t look past you anymore.”

The words weren’t soft, but they weren’t cruel either. They were steel wrapped in understanding.

Taylor stood and brushed off her pants. “You’ll walk through this. Even if you have to walk alone.”

And with that, she walked back toward the courtyard, leaving Selene with the cold wind and her pounding heart.

Back at the estate, the tension was palpable.

Selene returned just before midday, keeping to the far edge of the hallways, unnoticed by most. But even in the shadows, she heard it. Whispers from the warriors, murmurs from the omegas, conversations silencing as she passed. Her name wasn’t spoken, but it lingered on every tongue like an omen.

“She’s still here?”

“Thought the Alpha would’ve sent her away by now.”

“Did you see him yesterday? He’s not right.”

Selene didn’t flinch, but her ears burned.

In the west courtyard, Amara held court like a queen without a crown. Draped in red silk, she lounged on the stone bench, one leg crossed over the other, flanked by two younger warriors hanging on her every word. Her laughter rang out too loudly, too sharp.

“She’s not just here,” Amara said with mock innocence as Selene passed out of view. “She’s watching. Always watching. I suppose when you’re nothing, you have to latch onto someone who is something.”

Selene didn’t stop walking.

She didn’t look back.

But Lira bared her teeth.

“She thinks being bedded makes her Luna. It makes her nothing but marked.”

Selene pressed a hand to her chest where the bond still thrummed, tangled and raw.

She passed Ronan and Darian outside the training hall, both of them in low conversation. Ronan’s expression was tight with concern, his arms crossed, eyes scanning the yard as if it might give him answers.

“She’s not the reason he’s breaking,” Darian was saying, unaware of Selene’s approach. “He was already unraveling. This… rogue just showed us how far gone he is.”

“He’s not far gone,” Ronan replied. “But he’s losing the fight.”

Darian glanced around, then lowered his voice. “He’s off. And not just because of her. He’s snapping at the pack. Ignoring Council messages. Refusing to mark Amara. How long until they notice?”

Selene ducked away before they saw her, heart thudding. So it wasn’t just her. Everyone felt it. Kade was shifting, and not in ways the pack trusted.

Inside, tension pulsed like a second heartbeat under every step. Wolves moved with a wariness Selene hadn’t seen before. And at the center of it all—Kade was nowhere to be found.

She’d looked toward the training field instinctively, but his absence hung heavy in the air.

“He’s hiding,” Lira whispered.

“No,” Selene replied. “He’s breaking.”

She returned to her room, trying to find peace, but the walls felt too small, the silence too loud.

Even alone, she couldn’t stop wondering where Kade had gone why the bond still burned in her veins even as he pulled farther away.

Outside her window, clouds rolled low across the sky like smoke.

Somewhere, Kade was watching her. She felt it like a thread tugging beneath her skin.

And for the first time, Selene didn’t pull away from it.

She just let it ache.

She didn’t sleep that night.

Even with her eyes closed, the echo of his kiss returned—followed by the echo of his rejection.

And when she finally did drift off, it wasn’t Kade she dreamed of.

It was silver eyes in the trees.

The room was too quiet.

Kade stood in his office, unmoving, staring out through the glass at the fog creeping in over the treeline. His hands were clenched behind his back, the sharp ache of split knuckles hidden beneath his folded grip. But it was nothing compared to the storm twisting through his chest.

Varric hadn’t stopped snarling since the kiss.

“You touched her. You tasted her. Then threw her away like filth.”

“I had no choice,” Kade answered coldly, mentally bracing against the wolf’s fury.

“Don’t lie to yourself. You had a choice. You always have a choice.”

Kade dragged in a breath, shallow and sharp. The pull of the bond was worse now—like a live wire under his skin. Selene’s retreat from him only made it more unbearable. The more she pulled away, the louder the tether screamed in his blood.

And worse… she hadn’t come looking for him.

He didn’t blame her.

He blamed himself.

“She’s not like the others,” Varric growled. “She won’t beg for your scraps. You’re losing her.”

Kade turned from the window and faced the monitors along the wall. Security feeds flickered across them—angles of the courtyard, gardens, halls. It took him a second to find her.

Selene walked slowly along the eastern gardens, her shoulders tense, her expression unreadable. She looked like a ghost. Like something he’d already ruined.

He nearly shifted then right there in the center of the office. Claws bit through his skin. His breath heaved. The wolf wanted out.

“Not now,” Kade hissed aloud.

The door creaked open.

He didn’t turn.

“I thought I’d find you here,” Amara’s voice purred. “Alone again.”

He kept his back to her.

She stepped in slowly, heels echoing too loudly across the marble floor. “You’ve been hiding. From me. From the pack. From everything.”

“I’m busy,” he muttered.

“You’re always busy lately,” she said, walking a slow circle around him, finally stopping beside his desk. “But never too busy for me. That’s what you used to say.”

Kade said nothing.

She leaned against the edge of his desk, her fingers tracing the leather in lazy loops. “I miss you, Kade. We were good together. Are good together.”

“I’m not in the mood, Amara.”

She straightened. “You’re never in the mood anymore.”

“I said I’m busy.”

She stared at him for a long moment, then softened her voice. “Then promise me something. When all this… chaos settles, you’ll come to me again. Like you used to.”

Kade’s jaw tensed. “Later.”

That seemed to satisfy her. She smiled smug, victorious and walked to the door. “I’ll wait. But not forever. I might even bring you another treat like that omega girl.”

She left without another word.

Kade exhaled shakily and turned back to the monitors.

Selene was gone.

He cycled through the feeds. Courtyard. Dining hall. Upper gardens.

Nothing.

Then he caught a flicker of silver on the far eastern border of the woods—just before the camera lost her.

“No,” he breathed.

Varric roared in his mind.

“She’s slipping away! If you won’t claim her, I will!”

Kade slammed a fist against the desk, cracking the wood.

And still he didn’t go after her.

He staggered back, breath ragged, and dropped into the leather chair, its arms groaning under his weight. His pulse was thunder in his ears, his thoughts a blur of fury, longing, and fear.

The wolf wouldn’t stop pacing.

“She’s in the woods. Alone. And you let her go.”

Kade rubbed a hand down his face, cursing under his breath. “She’s not mine to protect.”

“She is everything to protect.”

The bottle of whiskey on the desk called to him like a cruel friend. He yanked the cap off and drank straight from it, the burn sharp and punishing. It dulled the edge—just barely.

“She’s strong,” he muttered.

“She shouldn’t have to be.”

His gaze returned to the black screen where she had been seconds ago. “You don’t understand what happens if I give in.”

“I understand better than you. You’re already giving up.”

He slammed the bottle down so hard amber liquid sloshed over the desk.

Somewhere deep inside, he could feel the bond throbbing—like an open wound pulsing to her heartbeat. It reached out even now, like a thread of light through the darkness, anchoring him to her whether he wanted it or not.

Kade leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’ll lose her if I claim her.”

“You’ll lose her if you don’t.”

A knock echoed at the door.

He didn’t answer it.

A moment later, Ronan’s voice drifted through. “Alpha, patrols are tightening. No sign of breach but we’ve noted fresh scent masking near the south boundary. Human trace, herbal, likely Hollowfang.”

Kade’s blood ran cold.

“Keep doubling the watch,” he called back. “Report directly if anything shifts.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

He waited until the footsteps faded before speaking again.

“Lucien.”

Varric’s response was low, guttural.

“He’s getting too close. And she’s starting to wonder if he’s the safer choice.”

Kade stood abruptly. The thought of Lucien’s gaze on Selene made his vision flicker gold.

“You’re not helping,” he growled at his own reflection in the dark glass.

“Then stop giving her reasons to run.”

The bottle was empty before he realized it. His chest burned, but not from the whiskey.

He pulled on his jacket and stepped out into the hallway. His claws itched just beneath the surface. The world was too bright, too loud. Wolves dipped their heads as he passed, but he barely saw them.

He made it to the courtyard just in time to hear one of the younger warriors whisper, “Think the rogue ran off?”

Kade’s growl silenced him before the sentence ended.

He walked the perimeter for hours, searching for a trace of her. But the woods were thick with fog and silence. Her scent was faint, but real.

When he returned to his quarters, the moon was high and full.

He collapsed onto the couch, claws half-formed, and stared at the ceiling with wild, hollow eyes.

Varric’s voice rumbled one final warning:

“If you let her go again, I’ll never forgive you. And I’ll make sure you never forgive yourself either.”