(Remi’s POV)

The camp woke to the scent of smoke and blood.

Morning light spilled over the ridges, soft and golden, almost mocking how broken everything felt. Healers were already at work tending the wounded. The fires had burned out, but the air still hummed with tension. The rogues had vanished into the forest, leaving behind only ashes and unanswered questions.

I’d barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Atlas’s face,the hard line of his jaw, the promise in his eyes.

“I’ll find out who you are.”

His words haunted me more than the screams from the night before.

Moon found me near the supply tent, sleeves rolled up, helping pack herbs. Her expression was tight, the usual warmth dimmed by exhaustion.

“You should be resting,” she said, handing me a bandage roll.

“I can’t sit still,” I replied. “Not after last night.”

She studied me carefully. “You’re shaking.”

I looked down. My hands trembled faintly around the linen. “It’s nothing.”

Moon sighed. “You always say that.”

I didn’t answer. She knew better than to push.

The truth was, the battle had stirred something inside me,something I’d spent years burying. The sound of wolves shifting, claws hitting the earth, the scent of power and iron,it all pulled at the part of me I swore to kill.

The part that wasn’t human.

Moon began mixing a paste for a burn wound, her voice softer. “Atlas has been up since dawn.”

“Doing what?” I asked before I could stop myself.

She shrugged. “Talking to the guards, the trackers. He’s convinced last night wasn’t random.”

I forced a steady breath. “Maybe he’s right.”

“Maybe,” she said, eyeing me. “But when the Alpha gets suspicious, people get hurt.”

My chest tightened.

She caught my look and frowned. “Remi, if he asks questions,”

“I’ll handle it,” I cut in quickly.

She hesitated. “Be careful. He’s… different. He doesn’t just lead the pack, he feels them. You can’t hide forever.”

Her words hit too close to home. “Who says I’m hiding?”

Moon gave a small, sad smile. “You always look like you’re waiting to run.”

Before I could respond, a deep voice cut across the clearing.

“Remi.”

Atlas.

He stood a few feet away, his presence as commanding as ever. The camp quieted instinctively around him. His shirt was clean now, his wounds already healed, but his eyes,those silver eyes,still burned with that same quiet intensity.

“Walk with me,” he said.

Moon’s gaze flicked between us, worry shadowing her face. I forced a reassuring nod and followed him.

We walked past the training fields where young wolves sparred, past the barracks still being rebuilt after the attack. The air smelled of earth and pine.

He didn’t speak for a while. Neither did I.

Finally, he said, “The rogues were from the northern border.”

I nodded, careful. “So the patrols were right.”

“Except there shouldn’t be any northern rogues left,” he said. “That pack fell years ago.”

“Maybe stragglers,” I offered.

“Maybe,” he echoed, his voice low. “But their leader had markings,symbols of the Lunar Crest.”

My stomach dropped. The Lunar Crest. The same mark burned into my skin beneath my sleeve.

I forced a neutral tone. “I thought the Lunar Crest was just an old myth.”

His eyes flicked to me, sharp and assessing. “You know of it?”

I cursed silently. “Just stories. The kind healers tell to frighten pups.”

Atlas stopped walking. “They weren’t stories where I came from.”

I turned to face him. “Then what were they?”

“History,” he said simply. “Bloody, buried, and better left forgotten.”

For a moment, neither of us spoke. The wind rustled through the trees, carrying the faint scent of rain.

Then he said quietly, “One of the rogues,before he died,said something.”

I tried to keep my voice steady. “What did he say?”

“He said, ‘The lost Alpha returns under the crescent’s light.’”

Every breath in my body froze.

Atlas’s gaze hardened. “He was looking at you when he said it.”

I forced a scoff. “You think I’m some lost Alpha? That’s ridiculous.”

His lips curved slightly, not quite a smile. “I think nothing about you is what it seems.”

I crossed my arms. “You’re wasting your time with fairy tales.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But if fairy tales are bleeding into my camp, I need to know why.”

He took a step closer, his voice softer now. “Tell me, Remi. What are you so afraid of?”

“I’m not afraid,” I lied.

His eyes narrowed, studying me. “Then why does your scent change every time I get near?”

I turned away. “You’re imagining things again, Alpha.”

“Maybe,” he murmured, “but imagination doesn’t make my wolf react like this.”

There it was again,that pull. The one that made my heart pound and my wolf stir beneath my skin despite every wall I’d built.

I couldn’t do this.

I stepped back. “If you’re done interrogating me, I have patients to treat.”

He didn’t stop me, but his voice followed like a shadow.

“You can run from the truth, Remi. But it’s already running toward you.”

I didn’t look back. I couldn’t.

Moon found me later by the river, where the camp’s stream cut through the forest. She handed me a tin cup of water, then sat beside me quietly.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she said.

“Maybe I have,” I murmured.

She frowned. “What happened?”

I hesitated. “He asked about the Lunar Crest.”

Her eyes widened. “Does he know?”

“Not yet.”

She grabbed my hand, her grip trembling. “Remi, if he finds out,”

“I know.”

We sat in silence, the water whispering against the stones.

Finally, Moon said, “Then maybe it’s time you stopped running.”

I turned to her, startled. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” she said softly, “that secrets have a way of destroying everything good before it even begins. You don’t have to tell him everything. But maybe it’s time to tell someone.”

Her words sank deep, stirring the ache I’d tried to bury.

I’d lost everything once already. My family. My title. My pack. My name.

I couldn’t lose it again,not now, not when I’d just started to feel alive.

And yet…

When I closed my eyes, all I saw was Atlas’s face,his anger, his confusion, and beneath it all, the strange tenderness he didn’t even know he showed.

“Tell me what you’re afraid of.”

The truth was simple.

I was afraid of him.

But more than that,

I was afraid of what he’d see if I stopped hiding.

That night, long after the camp fell silent, Atlas stood alone by the Alpha’s tent.

From the shadows, I watched him speak to Kieran. Their words were faint, but I caught fragments.

“Find out where she came from.”

“No records, Alpha. No trail.”

“Then make one.”

Kieran hesitated. “You think she’s dangerous?”

Atlas’s eyes flashed silver. “I think she’s the reason the rogues came.”

My breath hitched.

So this is what it feels like, I thought bitterly. To be hunted twice.

I turned and slipped into the darkness of the woods before either of them noticed.

The moonlight spilled through the trees, cold and silver on my skin.

I pressed my palm to the scar on my shoulder,the mark I’d carried since the night my pack burned.

The mark of the Lunar Crest.

The mark Atlas was now chasing.

And for the first time since I’d met him, I wasn’t sure who would survive the truth,

Him,

or me.