THE MOON-BINDERS

Chapter Two: Marked

Arielle POV:

I was still gasping for air when my twin brother, Nyax, rushed into the room.

“Arielle, you have to leave the pack tonight,” he blurted out.

Then he really looked at me.

The color drained from his face the moment he saw how pale I was, how my hands trembled. His jaw tightened. He knew immediately.

“You had another vision,” he said quietly.

I sighed, dragging my palms down my face. “A black wolf,” I murmured. “Red eyes. Massive. At least eight feet tall.”

Nyax’s eyes widened. The blood seemed to drain from them.

“What did it say?” he asked.

I stared at him. “How did you know it said something?”

His breath hitched. “Because I saw fragments of the same revelation,” he said. “So—what did it say?”

A chill slid down my spine.

“Time to purge the last of your line, Arielle,” I whispered. “That’s what it said.”

Nyax cursed under his breath, raking his fingers through his hair. “f**k. You’ve been exposed.”

I frowned. “Exposed?” I repeated. “To what? It’s just a wolf, Nyax.”

“That’s the problem,” he said sharply. “Because that wasn’t just a wolf.”

I stilled. My heart thudded very hard at once.

“Then what was it?” I asked.

Nyax wiped his lips nervously, pacing now, restless and agitated.

“What the f**k was that thing, Nyax?” I pressed.

He stopped.

Turned to me.

And said one word.

“Fetches.”

The word landed harder, even though I had braced for it.

“Fetches?” I repeated. My voice sounded distant, hollow.

Nyax nodded once, grim. “They are called death doubled. Legend says no one has ever seen one unless they were already marked by death itself.”

A cold knot formed in my chest. “Does that mean I’m marked?” I asked, even though part of me already knew the answer.

“Yes Arielle. Death has visited you itself,” he said quietly. “It means the Devourer is now aware of your existence.”

My stomach twisted violently. “Then what do we do now?”

Nyax’s jaw clenched. “Mother instructed that you are to leave the pack if you ever glimpsed the threads of fate.”

Cold shivers crawled down my spine.

Outside, a sharp and familiar howl rose. The wild cry of the pack’s Gammas.

Nyax stiffened.

“They’re executing Mireille today,” he said. “She failed the test. They discovered what she is.”

My heart slammed painfully against my ribs. “Mireille?” I gasped. “No. No, no. They can’t do that. They have no right!”

I turned for the door.

Nyax grabbed me and dragged me back. “You can’t do anything about this, Arielle!” he snapped. “Her fate is sealed. If you interfere, you expose yourself to the pack.”

I fought him, fury shaking my limbs. “I don’t give a damn, Nyax!” I shouted. “My best friend is about to be executed, and you want me to do nothing?”

“Yes!” he yelled back. “I want you to do nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

He raked his fingers through his hair, breathing hard. “The fate of our entire kind hangs by your thread, Arielle, and I will not have you jeopardize it because of your emotions.”

The fire in me faltered.

My shoulders slumped.

“Our mother died protecting you,” he said, his voice dropping, heavy with pain. “Because she knew what you meant to our kind. Don’t ruin that. Please.”

He turned and walked out of the room, leaving the door open behind him.

And for the first time, I felt the weight of everything I had to bear pressing down on me.

***** ***** *****

The bell summoning everyone to the execution grounds kept ringing, persistent and merciless.

My breath hitched as the sound crawled through the pack territory. Every wolf knew what it meant. Judgment had been passed. The Great Circle had been called.

Nyax’s words echoed in my head.

'You can’t be at the execution.'

But my body moved with a will of its own.

I stayed in the shadows as Mireille was dragged toward the center. My hood was pulled low, heart pounding so violently I feared someone might hear it. The clearing was already filling, wolves gathering in tight, silent clusters.

And Mireille stood at the center.

Her hands were bound behind her back with moon-etched chains. They glowed faintly, drinking in her strength, dulling her scent. She looked smaller than I remembered. Her body were bruised from torture and she's barefoot. Her lips were dry and cracked from thirst, her dark hair tangled and matted around her face.

But she stood straight.

She didn’t cry.

An Elder stepped forward, his staff striking the ground once.

“Mireille of the Dominant Pack,” he intoned, voice carrying across the clearing. “You have been tested under the moon and found wanting.”

My nails bit into my palms.

“You are accused of harboring forbidden blood,” he continued. “Of hearing whispers not meant for wolves. Of seeing truths that endanger the pack.”

Mireille lifted her chin.

“I hear nothing,” she said clearly. “I only speak what I remember. The truth.”

A murmur rippled through the crowd. Fear, disgust and relief that it was not them. I could smell it all in the air.

The Elder’s expression hardened. “That is blasphemy.”

I tasted blood. I hadn't realized I was biting my lip.

A Gamma approached her, a massive gray wolf in humano form, blade already drawn. The metal gleamed white beneath the moonlight, laced with wolfsbane.

It was the Lunar steel. The Lycans' cursed blade for execution.

Mireille’s eyes searched the crowd.

For a heartbeat, they found mine.

The world narrowed between us.

There was no panic in her gaze. What I saw, was just sorrow as her gray eyes softened as they crinkled into a faint, forced smile.

Her lips parted. I felt her voice linked to my mind.

'Survive, Arielle.'

I shook my head, tears blurring my vision.

The Elder raised his staff.

“May the Moon cleanse what should never have been.”

The blade plunged.

Mireille gasped, a sharp, broken sound, her body arching as the steel pierced her chest. The Gamma twisted the blade once, efficiently, mercilessly.

Her heart was torn free in a single brutal motion.

Her final whisper echoed in my head.

'Remember… this is not your fault.'

My entire body screamed as I clamped my hands over my mouth, choking back the cry clawing its way up my throat.

The moon flared brighter.

Mireille’s body collapsed to the ground, lifeless, blood soaking into the earth that had raised us both. Her heart burned briefly in the Gamma’s hand before turning to ash, scattered to the wind.

The greatest punishment for werewolves:

Her connection to every wolf she'd ever known, has been broken. Her heart has been erased.

Around me, wolves bowed their heads in reverence and relief.

I sank deeper into the darkness, shaking so violently my teeth rattled. My chest burned. My lungs refused air. The whispers surged again, furious and violent as I felt my connection to Mireille severed.

And beneath them all, a single voice cut through.

“I will purge every last one of your kind. Every single one of them, Arielle.”