"A wolf never forgets a scent… or the mate he lost."
The hum of fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, blending into the sterile air of St. Briar's Night Hospital. Selene hadn't slept. She'd spent the night curled around Aiden, listening to the subtle beat of his little heart, the faint growls he made in sleep—half dreams, half instincts. They'd made it out of the woods, barely. But the stranger's words haunted her more than the hunters ever could.
"The child born of cursed Luna and exiled Alpha shall unbind the chains of night."
Chains of night? What prophecy? What curse?
She barely had time to breathe when the automatic doors hissed open behind her.
She turned.
And froze.
A tall figure stepped in, cutting through the white hallway like a midnight storm. His tailored suit clung to a body forged in power, not vanity. Broad shoulders. Raven-black hair slicked back. Sharp jaw shadowed in stubble. And his eyes—
Blue, yes.
But colder than ice.
Killian Black.
He walked with the confidence of a king who knew every inch of his castle. Nurses whispered. A doctor straightened his tie. The air shifted with the subtle weight of dominance—Alpha energy cloaked in human charm.
Selene's pulse stuttered.
What is he doing here?
She took one step back, then remembered her son's tiny form curled behind the curtain.
Too late to run.
Killian turned—and saw her.
Time slowed. His expression didn't change, but his gaze sharpened.
Selene forced herself to straighten. Her white scrubs were blood-smeared, her face pale and drawn, hair messy. She probably looked like a ghost from another life. But she didn't flinch.
Not this time.
He moved closer, every footstep silent but thunderous in her chest.
"You're the night-shift nurse?" His voice was smooth. Rich. Dangerous.
Selene's throat was dry. "Yes."
He scanned her with those piercing eyes—not with lust or recognition, but… curiosity. Like she was a puzzle he couldn't quite solve.
"I'm Killian Black. I've just acquired the hospital."
Of course he had.
Of all the towns, all the buildings, all the nights—why now?
His eyes dropped to the faint blood stains on her sleeve.
"You were involved in last night's incident?"
Her voice betrayed none of the chaos inside her. "I was… caught in it. Just lucky."
He tilted his head slightly, sniffing the air. Barely perceptible. But Selene felt it—his wolf sensed something.
Her scent. Familiar. Buried under blood and antiseptic, but not gone.
Killian's eyes lingered. "Have we met?"
Selene's heart thudded, but her lips didn't betray her.
"No."
A lie.
A sin.
A shield.
"Hmm." He studied her. "You look familiar."
Selene forced a polite smile. "People say that."
They didn't. But it was the only lie she had left.
He narrowed his eyes, then let it go. For now.
"I'm restructuring the hospital. New security. New files. New leadership."
She nodded slowly.
"I'd like to know more about the team—background, history. You've been here… three years?"
"Almost four," she replied quietly.
"Hmm."
Killian glanced at the hallway behind her. "Family?"
Selene's mouth dried.
He couldn't know. He couldn't see Aiden. Not yet. Not now.
"No."
His eyes flicked back to hers. "Interesting. A lone wolf."
The words hit too close.
"Only in metaphor," she said quickly.
But Killian's gaze had drifted again—beyond her. Toward the soft curtain at the end of the hall. The one barely concealing her son.
No.
He took a step forward.
Selene snapped, "That room is off limits. Patient under surveillance. No visitors."
Killian blinked, surprised—but intrigued.
"Is that so?"
"Yes." Her voice was steady now. "Hospital policy."
He smiled slowly. Not amused—interested.
"Noted."
Selene clenched her fists behind her back. If he saw Aiden—those golden eyes. The resemblance. The scent. Her entire world would unravel.
He studied her again. Too long. Like he was trying to remember a dream he almost forgot.
Then he stepped back.
"Very well. I'll see you tonight."
"Tonight?"
He turned. "We're holding a staff review. Top floor. Midnight."
Of course. Midnight.
Selene's body trembled only after he left. She raced behind the curtain and scooped up her son.
Aiden stirred, yawning. "Mama?"
"I'm here," she whispered, kissing his forehead.
But even as her heart slowed, her wolf whimpered deep inside.
He was here.
Killian.
The father of her child.
The Alpha she left without a name.
And he had no idea.
Yet.
The Whisper Beneath the Moonlight
The wind howled louder as Selene stood in the overgrown path behind the cabin, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She could feel her wolf stirring, restless beneath her skin. It wasn't just the moon—something in the air was changing.
The old woods whispered a familiar name through the trees.
"Killian…"
She closed her eyes.
She hated how easily the sound of his name could still make her heart ache. Even after two years—after the betrayal, the heartbreak, and the silent escape—his memory lived beneath her skin like a curse that refused to be lifted.
Her fingers traced the silver crescent scar near her collarbone—the mark he gave her on their mating night. The mark she'd once worn with pride. Now, it burned whenever he was close.
And it was burning now.
"He's here," she murmured.
Suddenly, a sharp snap echoed through the forest behind her. She turned, heart thundering, her eyes glowing faintly in the shadows. A scent hit her—one she had tried so desperately to forget. Pinewood. Storm. Alpha.
Killian.
Selene backed up instinctively, her breath ragged. But before she could take another step, a towering figure emerged from the trees. Cloaked in moonlight, eyes blazing like wildfire.
He stood still. Silent. Watching her like a ghost reunited with the living.
"Selene," he said, voice hoarse. "You came back."
She swallowed hard, lips trembling.
"I didn't come back for you."
But her voice betrayed her. So did the tears pooling in her eyes.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. The space between them filled with all the words they never said, all the pain they never healed.
And then—he stepped closer.
Eyes That Remember
Killian took another step forward, his boots crunching the forest floor. Selene didn't move, but her spine straightened—ready to fight or flee.
"You smell the same," he said softly. "Like night rain and wild lavender."
Her heart clenched at the memory his words brought, but she steeled herself.
"Don't romanticize what you broke." Her voice came out sharper than she intended, laced with pain she thought she'd buried. "You lost the right to speak to me like that when you chose your throne over me."
His jaw tightened. "I never chose the pack over you. I tried to protect you—"
"By rejecting me?" she snapped. Her wolf flared, scratching beneath her skin. "By letting me be hunted like a traitor? By letting your mother call me an omega whore?"
The silence that followed was deafening.
Killian's face twisted, guilt carving lines into his otherwise perfect expression. "I didn't know what they were doing until it was too late. I tried to fix it."
"Too late," she echoed bitterly. "I begged you to believe me. And you looked me in the eye and walked away."
The wind shifted. The forest stilled.
His eyes darkened. "And yet, you still wear my mark."
Selene's hand flew to the scar on her collarbone. "Because I haven't had a chance to remove it. Not because I want to keep it."
Killian stepped even closer now, barely a breath away. The bond between them flared like a dying ember that refused to be snuffed out.
"You think I stopped feeling it?" he whispered. "Every night I feel the emptiness where you should be. The bond may be broken, but my soul still calls yours."
Her breath hitched.
She hated him.
She loved him.
She wanted to run. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to scream until the stars shattered.
But all she did was whisper:
"You shouldn't have come here."
The Scar Beneath the Moonlight
Killian's jaw tensed as Selene turned her back to him, her long hair cascading down like a curtain he wasn't allowed to pull aside.
"I shouldn't have come here?" he repeated, voice low, bitter. "Maybe not. But don't pretend you didn't feel it the second I crossed the border. You still feel me, Selene."
She spun around. "Of course I do! That's the curse of the mate bond. Even when the heart is shattered, the soul remembers!"
Her chest rose and fell rapidly. Her wolf was snarling beneath her skin, begging to surface, to defend what was left of her dignity. But Selene didn't shift.
She'd already shifted for him once—and it had nearly killed her.
"You weren't supposed to find me," she said. "This pack—this place—isn't yours. You have no right to step here."
Killian took a cautious step forward, something vulnerable flickering in his eyes. "They told me you died."
Selene flinched.
"Good," she said coldly. "Because the woman you left behind did die. The Selene who waited for you at the edge of the Moonstone River, praying you'd come back—she died that night."
The truth of her words struck harder than any physical blow.
"Then who are you now?" he asked quietly.
Her voice was barely a whisper. "Someone who no longer needs her Alpha."
And yet, the moon chose that moment to peek through the trees, casting its silver light on her skin. It illuminated the old mating mark on her collarbone… and the new scar just below it.
Killian saw it. Froze.
"You… were attacked," he said, a dark growl rising in his throat.
Selene looked down at the faint claw-marked scar and pulled her shawl tighter around herself. "It's none of your concern."
His voice deepened, laced with fury. "Who hurt you?"
"I handled it."
"Selene—"
"I. Handled. It."
Silence again.
But this time, something unspoken passed between them—a truth both were avoiding: that the world hadn't stopped spinning when she ran, and Killian had never stopped chasing.
Finally, she said:
"Leave, Killian. Before you start a war you can't win."
He didn't argue. Didn't fight.
But as he turned away, his voice drifted back to her.
"The truth always finds its way to the surface, Selene. And so do secrets."
Then he was gone.
And Selene stood alone in the moonlight, clutching the scar that told a story she hadn't yet dared to speak.
The Luna's Secret
Selene sat alone on the edge of the balcony, the cool breeze of the midnight hour brushing her cheeks. From here, the moon looked close enough to touch, as though it too was listening to the chaos building inside her. Her fingers clutched the edge of her shawl, knuckles white. She hadn't told Killian everything. Not even close.
"Four years ago, I didn't just run for freedom," she whispered to the night. "I ran to save his life."
A rustle behind her startled her, but it was only Iris, her cousin and confidante, cloaked in shadows.
"You can't hide the truth from him forever," Iris said gently, stepping beside her. "He'll find out. He's the Alpha—he always finds the truth."
Selene looked away, pain flickering across her face. "The truth could destroy him."
"And lying could destroy you."
There was a silence, heavy and full of everything Selene wasn't ready to say out loud. That her child—the one Killian had never known about—wasn't just any werewolf. He was born under a blood moon. A child of prophecy. A weapon or a savior, depending on which side held him first.
She took a deep breath, her voice shaking. "If he learns about our son now… they'll come for him. The ones who cursed our bond. The ones who want revenge."
Iris's eyes widened. "You think the Sixfold Curse is connected to him?"
"I know it is."
Down in the village below, a horn echoed—low, haunting, a warning call.
Selene stood. Her instincts flared, her breath catching. The past was no longer chasing her. It had arrived.
And with it, the shadows of the curse had found her once more.