I didn't remember falling asleep, only waking up to the sound of rain.
It pattered gently against the canopy of trees above me, each drop cold on my skin. My clothes were damp, my hair tangled, and my heart, still raw from last night, felt like a wound the rain couldn't wash clean.
When I tried to stand, pain shot through my legs. My wolf was quiet, distant. The rejection had weakened her, leaving an ache deeper than bone. Still, I pushed myself up. I had no pack, no family now, but I had breath, and that had to be enough.
A rustle broke the silence.
I froze. The forest wasn't empty.
Something, or someone, was watching me.
"Who's there?" My voice cracked, my senses flaring.
A figure emerged from the shadows, tall, broad, wrapped in black leather that glistened with rain. His hair was dark, his eyes even darker, burning like amber caught in firelight. The stranger's presence was commanding, too calm, too quiet to be anything but dangerous.
"You shouldn't be here," he said. His voice was deep, gravel and velvet mixed. "This is Bloodmoon territory."
I swallowed. "Then maybe I've made another mistake."
He tilted his head, studying me. "You're not from any of the border packs. Your scent… it's fading." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Rejected."
The word stung again. I looked away. "You can smell that?"
"It's hard to miss," he said softly. "Pain changes the scent of the soul."
Something about his tone wasn't mocking, it was almost… understanding. I hated that it made my chest ache again.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Ronan," he said after a pause. "Alpha of the Bloodmoon pack."
My breath caught. Another Alpha. I'd wandered straight into another pack's land, and not just any pack, but one known for its ruthlessness. Every story I'd ever heard painted them as cold, merciless, wild.
"Then I'll leave," I said quickly, trying to move past him. "I don't want trouble."
He stepped closer, his gaze flicking to the faint mark still visible at my collarbone, the remnants of the broken bond. "You won't get far in this state."
"I've survived worse," I muttered, though the tremor in my legs betrayed me.
He looked at me for a long moment, then sighed. "Come with me. I'll have the healer look at you."
"I don't need help."
"Maybe not. But your wolf does."
The mention of her broke my resistance. My wolf stirred faintly, drawn to the sound of his voice. It scared me, that pull. I didn't even know him. And yet… there was something familiar in the energy that surrounded him, like the echo of that howl from the night before.
Still, exhaustion won. I followed.
His camp was hidden deep within the forest, nothing like the grand houses of Moonstone or Bloodridge. This place felt alive, breathing. Wolves moved silently among the trees, watching us but not attacking. There was order here, but not the kind built from fear.
A woman with silver hair appeared at the entrance of a wooden hut. "Another stray?" she asked, eyeing me with curiosity.
Ronan's tone was calm. "A rejected one."
Her expression softened. "Ah." She motioned me inside. "Come, child. Let's tend to your wounds."
The warmth of the hut was almost unbearable after the cold. The healer gave me herbs to drink, their bitter taste grounding me. My limbs stopped shaking, and for the first time since last night, I could breathe.
Outside, I heard Ronan's voice, low, commanding, issuing orders to his pack. Every word carried weight. He wasn't loud like Kael; he didn't need to be. His wolves obeyed because they wanted to, not because they feared punishment.
When he entered the hut again, I sat straighter.
"You'll recover faster if you rest," he said.
"I can't stay here long," I replied.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't belong anywhere anymore."
His eyes softened, the amber light in them shifting. "That's not how the Moon works, Aria. She doesn't give up on her children, even when others do."
I blinked. "You know my name."
He smiled faintly. "You talk in your sleep."
Embarrassment flushed through me. "I… said something stupid, didn't I?"
"You said, 'The Moon doesn't make mistakes.'" His tone was unreadable. "You were right."
The silence stretched between us. Something unspoken filled it, a pull, gentle but undeniable. My wolf stirred again, weak but curious, as if drawn to his energy.
I tore my gaze away. "Don't pity me."
"I don't," he said. "If anything, I'm curious."
"About what?"
"How a wolf survives being broken like that."
I didn't have an answer. So I just looked at him, wondering the same thing.
The air between us thickened, heavy with things neither of us dared to name.
Ronan took a quiet step closer, not enough to touch, but close enough that I felt the heat of him, the faint charge that came with his presence. His scent hit me then, pine, smoke, and something wilder beneath, like rain over iron. It slid under my skin before I could stop it.
My wolf stirred again, this time sharper, awake. A pulse echoed in my chest, hers, not mine.
I told myself it was the cold wind that made me shiver. That it wasn't him.
He tilted his head, studying me like he could hear every lie I told myself. "You felt that too, didn't you?"
"What?" My voice cracked on the single word.
His lips curved, not quite a smile. "The pull."
I forced a breath, turning away before my wolf could answer for me. "You're imagining things."
"Maybe," he said softly, "but so are you."
His words lingered, low and dangerous, a whisper my wolf refused to forget.
As night fell, the healer left us alone in the hut. The rain had stopped, and moonlight filtered through the window. Ronan stood at the door, looking out at the forest.
"Get some sleep," he said quietly. "You're safe here tonight."
"Why are you helping me?" I asked.
He didn't turn. "Because once, someone helped me when I was broken too."
There was a pause, then he added, "And because something tells me your story isn't over yet."
I lay back, staring at the flickering shadows on the ceiling. My body was weak, but my spirit… it was stirring again. The rejection had nearly destroyed me, but here, in this strange Alpha's territory, something new was forming. Something I didn't understand yet.
Outside, the forest whispered again, and far in the distance, another howl rose, wild and fierce. My heart skipped.
My wolf lifted her head for the first time since the rejection.
And I knew: fate wasn't done with me.