BOUND BY THE MOON’s OATH

THE WOLF WITHIN

The forest surrounding Blackfang’s estate was thick and ancient, its trees whispering secrets no one dared voice. That morning, Kael had left early to hunt the traitor’s trail. Elysia, restless and boiling with purpose, slipped past her guards and followed a different pull.

To the Moonstone Cavern.

The sacred place of awakening.

It was forbidden to outsiders, yet the bond guided her there. Her mother had once whispered stories of it—the place where the old bloodlines could awaken the dormant wolf within.

Elysia had not shifted in ten years.

But she would need her wolf now. More than ever.

Inside the cavern, glowing stones lit the path to a circular pool. The water shimmered silver, reflecting her face like a mirror of her soul.

She stepped forward.

And knelt.

“I am not afraid of you,” she whispered to her reflection. “Come back. I need you.”

Her heart raced. Nothing happened.

Then—pain.

Fire bloomed across her skin. Her spine arched. Her eyes flashed silver.

And deep inside her, a voice awoke.

“Finally.”

Her wolf.

Wild. Ancient. Furious.

Her skin shimmered and shifted—and then fur replaced flesh, claws replaced nails. The transformation roared through her body until she stood on four legs, panting, power humming through every limb.

She had returned.

And with it, came visions—memories from the past not her own.

A dark meeting room. Evald speaking to shadowed figures. Gold coin passed in bloodied hands. A child—her—marked for execution not by chance, but by order.

The council had feared her bloodline.

They had made her the enemy before she’d even shifted.

Her vision cleared.

And she knew what she had to do.

⸻

Back in human form, Elysia returned to the estate just before sundown—cloak soaked in mist, eyes glowing with new strength.

Kael met her at the gate, worry flashing across his face. “You were gone.”

“I found her,” she said simply.

“Your wolf?”

“My purpose.”

He stepped closer, and something unspoken passed between them. Not just bond. Not just survival.

Alliance.

“You trust me now?” he asked softly.

“No,” she said. “But I trust what we can do together.”

And for the first time, Kael smiled.

Not as an Alpha.

But as a man with something to lose