Selene couldn't stay any longer.
The pain in her back had dulled into a constant throb, but it wasn't the lash marks that drove her to the edge — it was the silence that followed.
Kael hadn't come to see her since the punishment. Not a word. Not even a glance in passing. He'd returned to his duties as Alpha as if nothing had happened, leaving her alone in a room that no longer felt like hers, in a pack that treated her like both an outsider and a warning.
She'd spent the last two days planning.
She memorized the patrol patterns. Watched which warriors left their posts for meals and when. She knew the shifts, the blind spots. Mooncrest territory stretched into dense forests to the north — wild, tangled places where no wolf patrolled without backup. If she could just reach the treeline, she might have a chance.
She didn't leave a note. What would she even say?
That she was tired of walking on eggshells?
That she'd grown to care — and it had only made everything worse?
The night she left, the moon hung low and red, shrouded in clouds. Her boots barely made a sound against the cold earth as she slipped from the side of the packhouse, wrapped in a dark cloak. She passed the east watchtower under cover of shadows, ducking low through the underbrush, heart thundering in her ears.
Freedom was only a few yards away. The cold air bit at her exposed skin, but she barely noticed; adrenaline burned hotter than any chill, pushing her forward with desperate urgency.
Then a branch snapped. Every snapped twig, every rustle in the leaves sent her heart pounding faster — the forest was no friend here, but a labyrinth of shadows and hidden eyes.
She froze.
But no one emerged.
A rabbit, maybe. Or the wind.
She moved again, faster now, eyes fixed on the trees ahead.
She didn't make it far before the woods swallowed her. The weight of her decision pressed down on her chest like a stone, but the promise of freedom — even if fleeting — whispered to her with each step she took away from the packhouse.
They weren't the peaceful kind. These trees groaned with age, their limbs bent and twisted, their roots coiled like serpents beneath the soil. Fog curled low around her boots, thick and damp. Every shadow looked like a threat.
She kept walking.
And that was when she heard the voice.
"You're running from fate, little wolf."
Selene spun around, eyes wide.
An old woman stood behind her, cloaked in dark furs, her hair silver and wild. She held a staff carved with runes that pulsed faintly in the dark.
"I— Who are you?" Selene asked, heart hammering.
The woman tilted her head. "Someone who's been watching you longer than you know."
Selene took a step back. "I don't want trouble."
"Of course you don't," the woman said with a smile. "But trouble has a way of following those touched by prophecy, and a person like you born from a bloodline with ancient powers cannot escape such fate"
Selene stilled. "What did you say?"
The old woman moved closer. Her eyes were not cloudy with age — they were sharp, piercing, the color of frost.
"There's an old tale," she said softly. "Of an Alpha who would be cursed… not by the sins of his ancestors, no. That's what they want you to believe. But the truth is darker."
Selene's breath caught as the woman stepped even closer, voice dropping into something nearly reverent.
"He was cursed by love. Betrayal. By the mate he cast aside — Ophelia, she was called. A powerful she-wolf, full of fire and spirit. He loved her once… but when his ambition outgrew his heart, he broke the bond. And in her final breath, as she bled beneath the full moon, she cursed him."
The words fell heavy in the cold night air, even though she had read and heard part of the prophecy from Marcus.
"She cursed him to bleed, and never heal. To carry the weight of her pain in his bones. No Alpha can lead from a place of guilt… and Kael carries enough guilt to drown."
Selene felt her blood go cold.
The woman stepped closer. "You've seen the wound, haven't you? The one that won't close."
Selene nodded slowly.
"He cannot shift," the woman whispered. "Cannot lead without bleeding. He is fading. The pack sees it. The enemy knows it. And yet…"
She raised a hand and brushed her fingertips near Selene's shoulder — not touching, but close enough to feel the charge.
"You changed something. When you stood for him. When you faced his past without fear."
Selene's throat tightened. "I'm not his mate." Because her mate won't brutalize her like he did.
The woman smiled faintly. "A bond is not always known by the one bound. The moon chooses. It waits. And it whispers."
Selene stepped back. "This is madness."
"And yet you came to these woods," the woman said calmly. "Not to flee him… but to save yourself from what you feel."
Selene looked away, breathing shallowly.
"He doesn't want me," she muttered. "Not truly. I'm just a placeholder. A way to silence the elders."
"Then why does he punish you so harshly?" the woman asked. "Why does he let no one else close?"
Selene blinked, her eyes burning. "That's not love."
"No," the woman agreed. "It's fear. And fear is a powerful shadow over the heart."
A howl echoed in the distance.
Selene's blood froze.
"Go," the old woman said gently. "You haven't been found yet. But you will be. And when you are, remember this — you are not running from him. You are running toward the truth."
Selene turned back, panic and confusion twisting in her chest.
The woman was gone.
Only fog remained where she had stood. As the fog curled around her ankles and the ancient trees loomed overhead, she realized this night would change everything — whether she ran toward salvation or into deeper darkness.
Another howl — closer now.
Selene's legs moved on instinct. She ran.
Branches whipped at her face. Her side ached. But the trees thinned, and she saw the clearing ahead — the edge of Mooncrest territory.
Then came the snarl.
He found her.