Dawn came pale and brittle.
The mist had not yet lifted from the forest floor; it clung to their boots, curling like smoke around the roots of the old trees. No one spoke. The air smelled of wet earth and iron, the residue of what had been on the loose beneath the crypt.
Melody walked ahead of the others, her hands buried in her coat pockets. The mark that had burned into her wrist the night before still shimmered faintly beneath her skin, a soft pulse that matched the slow rhythm of her heartbeat. Every now and then, she caught herself touching it, as if confirming it was real.
Lucien followed a few paces behind. He didn't look at her, though his every sense was fixed on her movements, the tension in her shoulders, the way her breath hitched whenever the forest whispered. His own wolf stirred uneasily beneath the surface, nervous in her presence.
Asha was the first to break the silence.
"We shouldn't stay in the open for long," she said, her voice quiet but firm. "The forest remembers what we did. It'll draw attention."
Kael glanced at her, expression guarded. "From what? The Moonbound?"
"From everything that hunts what shouldn't exist," Asha replied.
Darian gave a low chuckle, though there was no humor in it. "Then we'll fit right in."
The banter faded quickly, swallowed by the woods.
They found a clearing near a stream and made camp beneath a canopy of tangled branches. The light was dim here,colour tinted green by the leaves overhead. Asha lit a small fire, her magic flickering through the sparks like a heartbeat.
Melody knelt beside the stream, splashing cold water on her face. The ripples warped her reflection with one eye instead of two, human and wolf staring back at her. She didn't recognize either.
Lucien's voice came softly behind her. "You didn't sleep."concern obviously threaded in his voice.
She didn't turn. "Neither did you."she replied.
"I don't," he said simply.
For a moment, only the sound of the stream filled the silence. Then she spoke, voice brittle. "You think it'll come for us, don't you?"
His answer was slow. "It won't need to. It's already inside you."
Melody's breath hitched. She turned then, meeting his gaze. "You mean inside us."
Lucien's jaw tightened. There it was again the unspoken thread that bound them since the crypt. The shared curse. The pull neither of them wanted to name.
Before he could answer, Asha called out softly, "Lucien. A word."
He hesitated before stepping away. Asha stood near the fire, her expression unreadable. "She's changing," she said quietly.
"I know."Lucien replied.
"You don't understand." Her tone sharpened. "That mark it's not just a bond. It's a bridge. Whatever the Moonbound was, it's reaching through her. The moment she loses control"
"I won't let that happen."Lucien retorted.something growing in him,hope, that this time Melody would be able to overcome her fate-curse.
Asha's eyes softened, but her words didn't. "You can't save her from what's already inside her."
Lucien said nothing. The firelight caught the scar along his throat, the one that marked him as something neither man nor beast.
Across the clearing, Kael and Darian were arguing in hushed tones. Kael's eyes were sharp, suspicion coiling beneath his voice. "We're following a ghost's trail because he said so?" He nodded toward Lucien. "Do you trust him that much?"
Darian shrugged. "Trust doesn't keep you alive. Luck does."
Kael's mouth twisted. "Then we're running out of both."
Melody sat alone by the stream again, watching the reflection of the sky darken as clouds gathered. She could feel the pulse beneath her wrist growing stronger, as though something beneath the skin was listening waiting.
Lucien returned to her side without a word. For a long while, neither spoke. Then she said, "They don't trust you."
"They don't need to."
"And me?"
He looked at her. "Do you?"
The question hung between them, fragile and dangerous. Melody opened her mouth, but no sound came. She wanted to say yes. She wanted to say no. Instead, she said nothing, and the silence said enough.
The fire crackled behind them, the others' murmurs fading into the hum of the forest. The scent of rain thickened in the air.
Lucien shifted closer, his voice barely above a whisper. "When the Moonbound calls again and it will don't answer it."
"I don't think I'll have a choice."she replied,as if gradually giving in to what Asha,Kael and Darian saw her as. Something the Moonbound would eventually control against her will.
"You always have a choice," he said, though the words sounded like a lie even to him.
Their eyes met, and the space between them seemed to hold everything they hadn't said fear, longing, the ache of something they couldn't name.
Then Asha's voice broke through the stillness. "Storm's coming."
Thunder rumbled in the distance. The first drops of rain hissed against the fire, dimming the light until only embers remained.
Melody rose slowly, brushing damp leaves from her coat. "Then we move at dawn."
Kael gave a dry laugh. "You sound like him."
She didn't smile. "Maybe that's the problem."
They packed in silence. The rain grew heavier, drumming against the trees like a heartbeat.
Lucien lingered a moment longer, watching the last of the fire die. His gaze flicked once more to Melody her silhouette outlined against the storm, her shoulders squared against the weight of something neither of them could outrun.
Asha stepped beside him. "Whatever's coming," she murmured, "it's not just her fate tied to it. It's ours."
Lucien's expression didn't change, but his voice was soft, almost resigned. "I know."
Above them, lightning tore across the sky a flash of silver that turned the forest to bone. For an instant, it illuminated the mark on Melody's wrist, glowing brighter than before.
And somewhere, beyond the rain and thunder, something howled long, low, and familiar.
Not in anger. Not in hunger.
In recognition.