POV- Alera
The blood moon was rising—again.
There's something about that cursed red sky that always sets my nerves on edge. Maybe it's the way the air thickens, like it's trying to warn us. Or maybe it's the memories I can't shake—of the night everything fell apart.
I stood at the edge of our territory, boots sinking into the mud, eyes fixed on the horizon. Every instinct screamed danger, but I didn't turn back. I couldn't. Not when I knew someone had crossed our border last night. Not when my father—Alpha Tyran—pretended everything was under control.
He was wrong. We weren't safe. Not anymore.
My claws itched beneath my skin. The shift was close. Too close for comfort. The pull of the moon always hit harder during blood phases, especially for a she-wolf with something to prove. And in my pack? Being the alpha's daughter didn't earn respect. It earned enemies.
"Trying to run off and die without saying goodbye?"
I didn't need to look to know who it was. "Jace," I sighed. My second-in-command. Loyal. Annoying. Too good at reading me. "I'm just scouting."
He stepped up beside me, tall and broad, a dark presence in his own right. "You're looking for something. Or someone."
I didn't respond. Because he was right.
Last night, I'd caught a scent I hadn't smelled in years. Musky, wild, rogue. My heart had clenched the second it hit my senses. Not because it was unfamiliar—but because it wasn't. That scent belonged to one wolf only.
Kael.
The name was a curse on my tongue. A ghost I'd buried five years ago. The boy who broke me. The rogue who vanished without a trace the night my world burned.
He wasn't supposed to come back.
And yet…
"He's not your responsibility anymore, Alera," Jace said, voice softer now. "You owe him nothing."
I turned toward him, eyes narrowed. "He stepped into our land. That makes him everyone's problem."
And mine.
I didn't wait for a reply. I shifted mid-step, bones snapping, body stretching into the black wolf I always became under the moon's eye. The forest swallowed me, but not before I caught the flash of worry in Jace's gaze.
Let him worry.
Because if Kael was back—really back—then this time, I wasn't going to run.
I was going to find him.
And maybe, just maybe, I'd finally get the answers I deserve.