The night was quiet in the omega quarters, save for the steady hum of crickets beyond the windows. Abigail lay curled on her thin mattress, her body aching from the day's punishments, but it wasn't the pain that kept her restless. It was the bond. That invisible thread tugging at her heart, reminding her that no matter how cruel fate seemed, it had tied her to someone who refused to claim her.
Her eyelids grew heavy, and soon sleep claimed her.
She found herself standing in the forest beneath a silver moon. The trees whispered softly, shadows dancing across the earth. Then she felt it, a warmth at her back, a presence so familiar that her entire body trembled. She turned, and there he was. Steve. His eyes glowed molten gold, piercing straight through her.
"Why do you haunt me?" she whispered, her voice breaking as the dream pulled her closer to him.
"I could ask you the same," he murmured, his deep voice rough, as though he were fighting himself even here.
She reached out, almost against her will, her fingers brushing the edge of his chest. Heat flared where their skin nearly touched, and the bond roared to life. Her wolf whimpered inside her, aching, begging to close the distance.
But Steve stepped back, shadows swallowing his figure. "I can't," he said firmly, though his eyes betrayed torment. "You don't understand, Abigail. You're better off without me."
The words shattered her, yet the bond didn't weaken. It wrapped tighter, pulsing between them like a heartbeat. She wanted to scream, to beg him to stop rejecting what was theirs. But before she could speak, the dream began to fade, pulling him away like mist in the morning sun.
"No...please," she whispered, reaching out desperately as the forest dissolved around her. "Don't leave me again."
Her eyes flew open. She was back in her tiny room, her pillow damp with tears she hadn't realized she'd shed. Her chest ached as if her heart had been physically torn in two.
Meanwhile, across the pack house, Steve sat awake in his chamber, a half-empty glass of whiskey forgotten in his hand. He hadn't slept at all. Every time he closed his eyes, he felt her, her pain, her longing, the echo of her touch. His wolf clawed at him, restless, demanding he go to her.
But he didn't move. Instead, he buried his face in his hands, his voice a broken whisper.
"Moon Goddess… why her? Why make me crave what I can never allow myself to have?"
His wolf snarled inside him, furious with his denial. And yet Steve stayed rooted in silence, fighting a bond that only grew stronger with every passing night.
And in the stillness of the pack house, though they were apart, their hearts beat to the same rhythm tied together by a bond neither could escape.