The forest was never silent.
Even in the dead of winter, when snow muffled the ground and frost clung to the branches, the woods whispered. The wolves heard it best every rustle, every snap of a twig, every frightened breath of prey hiding under the white. Tonight, though, the whisper was not of prey but of betrayal.
Kaelen Drazek tasted it before he saw it.
The air reeked of copper and smoke as he strode into the clearing, boots crunching the frost beneath him. His pack followed in silence, their shadows fanning out like a storm behind him. Blood smeared the snow, a crimson trail leading to what had once been a loyal outpost of the Bloodfang Pack. Now it was ash.
His jaw flexed as he scanned the scene. The fire had been deliberate, the strike precise. Whoever had done this knew the pack's defenses, knew how to strike in the blind spot of their patrols. Wolves didn't betray wolves not unless there was treachery inside.
"Alpha," Rynar Volk, his Beta, spoke low behind him. "Survivors."
Kaelen turned. Two wolves knelt in the snow, bound and bleeding, their bodies battered but their eyes burning with a terror that wasn't fear of death it was fear of truth. One of them trembled as Kaelen crouched before him, his shadow falling across the young wolf's broken face.
"Who did this?" Kaelen's voice was iron wrapped in frost.
The wolf spat blood into the snow, coughing. "Not… not them. One of ours. She opened the gate."
The clearing stilled. Even the forest hushed, as if it waited for the Alpha's rage.
Kaelen's eyes sharpened. "A name."
The wolf's voice cracked. "Selara. Selara Veyne."
The name struck him like steel to the chest.
Impossible. That bloodline was dead. Extinct. Wiped out in the purge before his father's reign had fallen to ruin. Yet here it was again, whispered on the lips of the dying like a curse crawling back from the grave.
Kaelen rose, his gaze cutting through the night. "Find her."
The command was thunder. His wolves dispersed into the forest like smoke in the wind. But Kaelen did not wait. He shifted, bones snapping, body tearing and reshaping until fur burst across his skin and the beast took form. His Alpha wolf was massive, fur black as midnight, eyes gleaming like molten silver. With a snarl, he launched into the trees.
The hunt was on.
Selara Veyne had never meant to spill blood.
Her hands shook as she pressed them against the wound of the boy at her feet, his life spilling out too fast for her healing to catch. The fire she had lit to cover her tracks had burned too hot, too fast, and now she was crouched in the wreckage of her own mistake.
But what choice had she had?
The Bloodfang Pack would have killed her on sight. The moment they scented her lineage the cursed Moonveil blood they would have torn her throat out. She had come for medicine, for supplies, nothing more. But they had caught her, and fear had done the rest. Fear always made monsters of the desperate.
The boy's breath hitched once, then stopped. Selara's eyes burned, but she forced her trembling hands to close his lids. "I'm sorry," she whispered into the silence, though her apology would never reach him.
And then the forest roared.
A howl, deep and terrible, cracked the night in half. It was not the cry of a wolf. It was the call of an Alpha. The kind that made the marrow in her bones freeze, the kind that said you are prey, and I am coming.
Selara bolted.
Her cloak snapped behind her as she tore through the undergrowth, boots slipping in the snow, lungs burning. She had run from wolves before rogues, hunters, even starving packs who would kill for meat. But this howl was different. This was no ordinary Alpha. This was Bloodfang.
Branches clawed her skin as she sprinted, but still she felt it hot breath on her neck, a shadow at her back, the forest itself pushing her toward him. She broke into a clearing, heart hammering, when the beast dropped from the trees.
He hit the ground like thunder, snow exploding beneath his paws. Black fur shimmered in the moonlight, eyes molten, fangs bared. Selara skidded to a stop, breath shattering in her chest.
The Alpha.
She turned to flee, but he was faster. His body slammed into hers, sending her crashing into the snow. Pain sparked through her ribs as his weight pinned her down. His growl rumbled like an earthquake, hot saliva dripping from his fangs as his jaws hovered above her throat.
Selara's instincts screamed shift, fight, die trying. But her wolf inside her cowered. Not from fear. From recognition.
Because the moment his eyes met hers, her blood sang.
The bond struck like lightning. A searing thread of heat laced through her chest, pulling, binding, whispering one undeniable truth.
Mate.
Her lips parted in horror. "No," she breathed.
The Alpha's snarl faltered. For the briefest instant, his jaws hesitated over her throat. His silver eyes widened not with mercy, but with rage. As if the bond itself had betrayed him.
Selara saw her chance. She twisted beneath him, pulling the dagger from her belt and slashing upward. The blade bit into his shoulder. Not deep enough to kill, but enough to make him recoil with a roar.
She scrambled to her feet, blood freezing on her hands, and ran.
Behind her, Kaelen Drazek shifted back to his human form, blood running down his arm, fury boiling in his chest. He stared at the place where she had vanished into the trees, her scent still burning in his lungs.
Mate.
The word was poison. She could not be. She must not be.
And yet the bond coiled tighter.
Kaelen's breath came in ragged growls as he pressed a hand to his bleeding wound. His wolves crashed through the trees behind him, their eyes searching for orders.
"Alpha," Rynar called, catching sight of the blood. "Who was she?"
Kaelen's gaze cut through the forest, his voice low and burning.
"She was my mate."
The clearing stilled. Wolves shifted uneasily, the weight of his words sinking into the snow. But Kaelen's jaw clenched with something darker than shock something that tasted of both fury and inevitability.
He knew what this meant.
He knew what prophecy whispered about the Alpha's heart.
And he knew what would happen if the pack discovered that the last surviving Moonveil was bound to him.
Kaelen's silver eyes narrowed on the blood-stained trees.
"She will not escape."
But deep in his chest, his wolf whispered otherwise. She belongs to you.
And for the first time in years, Kaelen Drazek the Alpha who feared nothing felt the edge of fear.
Selara and Kaelen both discover they are mates an impossible, forbidden bond that could unravel everything. Kaelen vows to hunt her, torn between killing her for her betrayal and protecting her because of the bond.