Sometimes, running isn't freedom, it's just the start of fight.
Kieran
I stood in the hallway outside Selene's room, jaw tight, watching the heavy door for any sign of movement.
Each second stretched like steel wire, taut with tension.
"Send someone to bring her food," I ordered one of my men quietly. "And have someone check if she's awake."
The warrior gave a short nod and disappeared down the corridor, boots silent on the polished floor.
I stayed rooted, pacing only a few steps at a time, the quiet pounding of my thoughts louder than the footsteps fading away.
Selene had run. Again. Slipped through my grasp like smoke on the wind. But I found her. Dragged her back from the brink of whatever hell she thought she'd escape into.
Now, she was here, under my roof, in the guest house I'd prepared with every security measure we had.
But this wasn't how I imagined our reunion.
Not with cold walls between us. Not with suspicion etched into every breath she took.
She wasn't just some enemy's daughter.
She was mine, my mate.
And she didn't even know what she truly was.
Minutes later, the door creaked open. A maid stepped inside with a silver tray, the clinking of dishes muffled by the cloth draped over it. My senses sharpened. I waited.
Selene
The scent hit me before I even turned, roasted meat, fresh bread, warm broth. My stomach twisted violently.
Hunger clawed at me like a caged animal, rising up so quickly it made my head spin.
The maid moved slowly, her posture cautious, as if approaching a wounded predator. "Miss Selene, I brought you something to eat," she said gently.
I lunged forward, hands trembling as I snatched the cloth off the tray.
Just the sight of the food nearly broke me.
I hadn't eaten properly in days or maybe longer.
My pride had kept me silent, but it couldn't feed me.
"Please... just leave it," I rasped, throat raw from disuse and defiance.
She nodded, placing the tray carefully on the bedside table.
"Eat slowly," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, eyes flicking to the silver cuffs still locked around my wrists. Not tight. Not painful. Just... permanent. Like a brand I couldn't wash off.
I didn't answer. I tore into the bread like it might disappear, the taste strange on my tongue, both a comfort and a curse.
The maid lingered, uncertainty in her gaze, then turned to leave.
"Eat slowly," she repeated again.
"I can't," I whispered, the words cracked and raw. "I'm starving."
The door opened again with a faint groan.
And then his voice cut through the room like a blade.
Kieran
"Selene, slow down."
She froze mid-bite, eyes snapping to me, wide and burning with something fierce. Something... desperate.
"Do you think I want to be this weak?" she snapped, standing with a force that made the tray rattle. "Do you think I want to be locked up like some, some thing?"
Her anger scorched the air, but I saw the truth behind it.
She was terrified.
"This isn't how it has to be," I said, keeping my tone even. "But you have to let me help."
She shook her head violently, eyes glistening with defiance and something close to shame.
"No. Not yet."
Her voice trembled on that last word. Not from fear, but from the effort it took to hold herself together.
Selene
I turned away from him, chest heaving. I hated how my body betrayed me, how much I wanted to trust him, even after everything.
But trust had cost me everything once before.
I looked down at the half-eaten bread in my hands.
Once, I'd dined at long tables with golden goblets.
Now I scavenged like a prisoner.
"I didn't ask for this," I muttered, not even sure who I was speaking to.
Kieran didn't answer. Not right away.
Instead, he stepped closer. I could feel him behind me, the warmth of his presence unnerving.
He didn't touch me.
He didn't have to.
"There's something waking inside you," he said, voice low and steady. "I can feel it."
My spine stiffened.
A cold ripple moved through me, something ancient, something wrong.
Something right.
I didn't know which yet.
"I don't know what you mean," I lied.
But he saw through me. I could see it in the way his jaw clenched.
"You will," he said. "Soon."
Kieran
She was unraveling, thread by thread, and I didn't know if I was holding her together or helping her come undone.
The energy around her was shifting and rising.
Not magic. Not wolf.
Something in between. Something more.
And it terrified me.
Because I wasn't sure if I could protect her from what she was becoming.
Or protect anyone else from her.
That night, after the house had quieted and the guards took their posts, I found myself standing outside her door again.
Listening.
A hush filled the space, but beneath it, I heard it.
A whisper.
Soft. Barely audible. Like the wind speaking secrets in a forgotten tongue. And then
A pulse of energy. Dark. Radiant. Dangerous.
I stepped back, eyes narrowing.
Inside her room, Selene slept. But her fingers curled in the sheets, twitching.
Her breath came short. Shallow. Like something was calling to her in her dreams.
My heart pounded.
Because whatever was waking inside her...
It wasn't just a Luna.
It was something older. Wilder. Untamed.
And if I couldn't find a way to reach her
It wouldn't just destroy us.
It would burn the entire pack to the ground.
Selene
I woke up slowly, blinking against the morning light pouring through the tall windows. Warm sunlight fell in golden lines across the wooden floor, making the dust in the air sparkle like tiny stars.
For a few seconds, I didn't remember where I was.
The bed felt too soft, too warm. The scent in the room was faintly masculine, pine, leather, something unfamiliar but comforting. I sat up quickly, the sheets falling away from my body. My heart thudded in my chest as I looked around.
Then I remembered.
The auction.
The escape.
Being caught again.
Kieran.
And the cuffs still locked around my wrists.
I looked down at them. They weren't heavy, but they made me feel like I was wearing the past. Like I belonged to someone else. Like I was still trapped.
My stomach growled. I glanced at the tray of food beside the bed. The bread from last night was still there, half-eaten, cold now. I thought about finishing it, but the hunger wasn't strong enough to silence the feeling in my chest, the need to move, to breathe, to get out of this room.
I stood up, tugging at the oversized shirt I was wearing. It hung almost to my knees, soft and warm. I had no idea where my clothes had gone. This shirt must have been Kieran's.
I walked to the door and turned the knob. It wasn't locked.
That surprised me.
I stepped out slowly into the hallway. It was quiet, too quiet. My bare feet made no sound on the stone floor as I walked, trying to remember which way led to the main part of the house.
Left... or right?
I chose left.
The hallway twisted like a maze, one turn after another, each corridor looking the same. After a while, I realized I had no idea where I was.
I turned a corner
And stopped.
There, standing in the open doorway of a room, was Kieran.
He was shirtless. A white towel hung loosely around his neck, drops of water still clinging to his chest. His hair was wet, pushed back from his face, and a thin scar crossed just beneath his collarbone. His skin was golden in the morning light, his muscles tense as he looked at me in surprise.
My breath caught in my throat.
He didn't speak right away. His eyes moved over me, slowly from my tangled hair to my bare legs.
"I…I didn't mean to come this way," I said quickly, trying to step back. "I was looking for the stairs."
He tilted his head slightly, the corner of his mouth twitching. "So you ended up at my room?"
"I didn't know," I whispered, feeling heat rise into my cheeks. "It was an accident."
"Was it?" His voice was low, husky, and something in it made my stomach twist.
He stepped forward.
I should've moved. I should've walked away.
But I didn't.
Kieran
She was standing in my shirt, her hair messy from sleep, eyes wide like a startled deer, but there was something else in her gaze too.
Curiosity.
Heat.
A question she didn't want to ask.
She looked... beautiful.
More than beautiful.
Dangerous.
"You should be careful," I said quietly, stepping just close enough that I could smell her skin, warm and soft like vanilla and storm rain. "Wandering the halls. You never know what or who you'll bump into."
She didn't reply. Her lips parted slightly as she leaned back against the wall, watching me with narrowed eyes, like she couldn't decide whether to run or stay.
"You should go," I said again, though my hand reached up and rested against the wall beside her head, keeping her in place.
"Then move," she whispered.
I didn't.
I moved closer instead.
Her chest rose and fell quickly. Her heart beat like a drum only I could hear it, and feel it, almost taste the tension between us.
"I don't trust you," she said suddenly, voice sharp.
"Good," I answered. "I don't trust myself either. Not around you."
Selene
He was so close. His body heat wrapped around me like a cloak. My head felt light, my breath shaky. His hand slid to my waist, not rough, gentle, like he was asking a question with his touch.
My body answered before my mind could. I leaned toward him, just a little, just enough that our mouths almost brushed.
The kiss didn't come.
But the promise of it hung in the air.
And Moon help me, I wanted him to kiss me.
But he pulled back.
Just slightly.
"This isn't how it's supposed to happen," he said, voice low and hoarse. "Not when you still think you're a prisoner. Not when you don't know who you are."
I blinked. His words cut deep, because they were true.
I didn't know who I was anymore.
Not completely.
But something inside me was changing. I could feel it. Like fire trapped beneath my skin. Like a voice whispering from deep within my bones.
"I don't want to belong to anyone," I whispered.
"You don't," he said. "But you do belong to yourself. And whatever's waking up inside you? It belongs to you too."
I stepped around him, heart pounding. I didn't look back.
I couldn't.
Kieran
She left like a storm, quiet on the outside, but something powerful building underneath.
I stayed in the hallway, staring at the place where she'd just been.
I wanted her. More than I wanted anything.
But wanting her wasn't enough.
Because if I took her now, before she was ready
Before she knew what she truly was
I'd lose her forever.
And that scared me more than anything.