I ran through a forest. Trees twisted and moved like living things. The moon hung too close, like it was watching me. It looked like a silver eye pulsing with power.

Something was chasing me.

No, not something, someone.

I could feel him. Tall, cloaked in darkness, with emerald eyes that glowed like embers. His voice echoed around me, never from one place.

“You are mine.”

I turned and ran faster with my feet bare and heart pounding. My fingers stretched into claws. My scream twisted into a growl.

“Stop fighting,” the voice called again, closer now. “Let it break you.”

I fell to my knees.

My spine cracked inward, my bones shifted. Pain lanced through every nerve. My breath came in ragged gasps as fur erupted beneath my skin. My eyes stung, glowing white in the reflection of a blood-slick stream.

I wasn’t human anymore.

I was a wolf, massive, sleek and strange. Silver lines veined my midnight fur like a shattered mirror.

My mouth opened, and I heard it… a howl. Not sad. Not mournful.

It was filled with rage and defiance

A second howl echoed behind me.

Kaiden.

He stepped from the trees, caught between man and beast, black fur, broad shoulders, eyes burning. He reached for me.

My heart surged toward him.

Not from love.

From something older. A bond I never asked for.

“Luna,” he whispered.

“No,” I said. “I’m not yours.”

But my wolf snorted and stepped forward anyway.

“Well, you sure know how to pick ‘em,” a dry voice muttered in my head, female, sharp and laced with amusement. “Tall, broody, with murder issues? Classic.”

I froze. “Who… what?”

“Hi, sunshine. I’m the part of you you’ve been pretending didn’t exist. Call me whatever you want…. ‘Wolf,’ ‘Pain in your ass,’ ‘Uninvited roommate.’ I’m here now, and oh boy, do we have things to unpack.”

Before I could answer…

The moon split in two.

I screamed…

GASP!!

My body lurched upright.

I woke in a room made with stone walls.

Just cold air and coarse pelts. My skin clung to sweat and my limbs were trembling.

I wasn’t alone anymore.

“Okay, note to self,” the voice muttered again, unimpressed. “Next time we have a spiritual awakening, can we skip the torture horror movie intro?”

I pressed a hand to my chest, still trying to steady my breath.

“Am I hallucinating?”

“Nope. You're just finally interesting.”

Footsteps echoed outside the chamber door. I recognized them before he stepped inside

Kaiden.

And suddenly, I wasn’t sure which part of me hated him more, me… or my wolf.

Instinct kicked in before thought.

I leapt from the bed, grabbed the pelt blanket, and scanned the room for exits. The torchlight flickered off stone walls and iron bolts. No obvious way out—except the heavy wooden door.

And the tiny window.

“You're not seriously thinking about that, are you?” my wolf sighed. “Because the last time you ran from something, you landed in werewolf court with a death sentence and an engagement ring.”

I ignored her and pressed my back to the shadows just as the door creaked open.

Kaiden entered, calm and composed. He glanced at the empty bed.

His gaze snapped to me a second too late.

I bolted.

“Reina!”

His voice thundered behind me, but I was already gone, darting through the corridor on bare feet.

The hallway curved and opened into another corridor, then another. The whole place was carved into the mountain, veins of silver threading through the walls like veins in a body.

I ran until the air smelled of wind again… fresh, pine-tinged and wild.

A larger archway spilled into the open.

I ducked behind a low wall and peeked out.

It was a courtyard… no, a training ground.

Female wolves circled, striking, flipping, moving in perfect synchrony. Some trained with weapons. Others shifted mid-spar, fighting in wolf form with fluid ease. There were no frilly dresses or ceremonial Luna crowns here.

Just sweat, power, and precision.

“Well damn,” my wolf breathed. “They didn’t put that in the werewolf welcome brochure.”

I stared, heart thudding. “This…. is the Luna’s life?”

“Looks like Queen of the Bloodthirsty Ballerinas is more accurate.”

Before I could ask anyone anything, before I could even decide what I felt about it…

I turned and slammed into someone’s chest.

I stumbled back, blinking.

White hair. Blue eyes.

The chaos wolf.

The one who had bound my parents. The one who stood over them like a statue while they were dragged away.

My breath hitched. I expected rage.

But something else hit me first.

Heat.

A strange warmth spilled down my spine, spreading through my stomach. My skin prickled. My knees almost buckled. He didn’t even touch me, he just stood there, eyes locked to mine, like he recognized something.

I couldn’t look away.

And worse?

Neither did he.

“Oh no…” my wolf groaned. “Do. Not. Do this to me. Not him.”

I shook my head, stepping back. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

He didn’t answer right away. His throat worked like he was about to speak but changed his mind.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said finally, low and unreadable.

“You’re the one who kidnapped me.”

“I was following orders.”

“And my parents?” My voice cracked. “Was that an order too?”

A flicker crossed his face. Familiarity? Regret?

Confusion tangled with my anger. My wolf shifted uneasily beneath my skin.

“You didn’t flinch,” I said. “You didn’t look away when they died.”

“I couldn’t,” he replied, voice tight. “You think this life gives us choices?”

His gaze dropped to the ground for just a second before locking back onto mine, blue, stormy, and something else, something hungry.

“Why do I feel like I know you?” my wolf whispered, unnerved. “He smells like a threat. But he feels like…” She hesitated. “…home.”

I recoiled at that.

“Stay away from me,” I hissed.

He didn’t move, but his voice was softer now. “It would be safer if I could.”

Then I spotted Kaiden behind him.

I spun around to bolt, heart in my throat but I wasn’t fast enough.

A hand shot out and caught my arm. I twisted, growling, trying to yank away, but his grip tightened.

The white-haired chaos wolf held me firm.

“You bastard, let me go!” I screamed, fighting. “I trusted… No. Wait. I didn’t trust you. I hated you!”

He said nothing, jaw clenched, blue eyes unreadable.

“Why are you helping him?” I spat, thrashing. “Why do you care what Kaiden wants? Why are you all just dogs at his feet?”

He flinched, barely. But it was enough.

“Ooh,” my wolf murmured darkly, “hit a nerve there, sunshine.”

The footsteps I'd feared echoed down the corridor, unhurried, powerful, every step like a warning drumbeat.

Kaiden.

He stepped into view, his presence swallowing the space like gravity. His green eyes burned into me as he came to a stop, hands behind his back like a king surveying a nuisance.

“I see you’ve met my chaos wolf,” he said coolly.

I jerked against the white-haired one’s grip. “Is this what you do? Collect people like pawns?”

Kaiden arched a brow. “He’s not a pawn. He’s a weapon. And right now, he’s keeping my Luna from wandering where she shouldn’t.”

“Don’t call me that,” I snarled. “I’m not your Luna.”

His gaze flicked to my restrained arm.

“I could remind you,” Kaiden said, stepping closer, voice dropping low, “that I just spared your life. And you accepted the bond.”

“I accepted nothing.”

Kaiden's lips curled into a smirk. “Then tear it off. Walk back into that courtyard. Let the wolves finish what they started.”

I stiffened. My breath hitched. My wolf snarled quietly in my head but said nothing this time.

Kaiden turned to the white-haired wolf.

“You may release her, Dexter.”

Dexter.

The name hit like ice down my spine.

He let go slowly, fingers lingering for a moment longer than necessary. Like he wanted to say something. Like he couldn’t.

I stepped back, rubbing my wrist, glaring at them both.

Kaiden spoke again, tone casual, but eyes too sharp. “Dexter is my chaos wolf. First blade. First blood. He sees what I see. He moves when I command. Remember that, Luna.”

Dexter stood like a statue beside him. Cold. Deadly. Perfect.

And somehow, still disturbed me in ways I couldn’t explain.

I turned my face away, masking the storm that brewed under my skin. The pain. The confusion. The simmering heat that only grew stronger when it should’ve died.

Kaiden’s final words fell like a closing lock.

“You belong to the Night Pack now. Try running again, next time, I won’t send Dexter to retrieve you.”

He turned.

Dexter followed.

And I was left standing in the hallway, breath shallow, skin buzzing, heart at war with itself.

Because I didn’t know what scared me more…

Kaiden’s power…

Or the part of me that wanted to understand Dexter.