I don't remember when sleep finally dragged me under.
All I know is:
when I open my eyes, I'm still in his arms.
Aiden is half sitting, half lying on the bed, back propped against the headboard, head tilted back against the wood. The faint gray of dawn pushes through the cracked curtains, washing his face in pale light.
He didn't sleep.
Of course he didn't.
His arm is around my waist, hand splayed over my ribs, as if anyone who tries to pull me away will have to tear his fingers off first.
For a moment, I just… look at him.
The Alpha King, feared by wolves and rivals.
Jaw shadowed with stubble.
Hair a mess.
Shoulders tense even in stillness.
He looks less like a king and more like a man who fought the night and lost.
Quietly, I slide my fingers over his chest.
"Hey," I whisper.
His eyes open immediately.
No confusion. No slow blinking. Just instant focus.
"Liyana." His voice is low, rough. "Did I wake you?"
I smile faintly. "Pretty sure I woke you."
He exhales, relief flooding his features. His hand moves instinctively to my face, thumb brushing my cheek like he needs to check I'm real.
"How do you feel?" he asks.
"Like I got hit by a truck full of lightning."
His mouth twitches. "That's… specific."
"My bones hum," I murmur. "My veins itch. My head feels heavy. My heart feels… weird."
He tenses. "Weird how?"
"Like it wants to run in two directions at once."
I pause.
"Toward you. And away from him."
His jaw clenches.
"He isn't getting you," Aiden says. "Not in this life. Not in any."
I don't answer.
Because I don't know if destiny listens to threats.
He leans forward, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead.
"We leave in an hour," he murmurs. "Ethan is preparing the car. We'll drive close to the mountains, then shift and run the rest of the way."
"Moon Temple," I say quietly.
His eyes flick up to meet mine.
"You remember?"
"You said no shadow can cross its walls."
He nods. "It's the last sacred place tied to the Moon Goddess. Witches, wolves, hybrids—anyone with a soul marked by her can stand under its protection. The Shadow King's power bends around it."
"So I'll be safe there."
"For a while," he admits.
The honesty both comforts and scares me.
"And you?" I ask softly. "Will you be safe there too?"
His lips quirk in something that isn't quite a smile.
"I'm only in danger when I'm not beside you."
I wrinkle my nose. "That's cheesy."
"Maybe."
He leans in closer, voice dropping.
"But it's still true."
My heart stutters.
The bond pulses—
warm, steady, like a hand sliding into mine from the inside.
I close my eyes.
"I'll go wherever you take me," I whisper. "As long as you don't let go."
His hand tightens at my waist.
"Never."
The Pack Sees Us Off
BlackMoon has never been this quiet.
When we step outside the Alpha Wing, wolves stand along the courtyard edges in two rows, watching.
No one talks.
No one jokes.
They just stare.
Some with fear.
Some with awe.
Some with suspicion.
All of them feel it:
Their Alpha is leaving.
And he's taking the storm with him.
Ethan stands near the car—a sleek black SUV—jaw tense, trying to look professional when he clearly wants to scream.
Kai leans against the hood, spinning a key around his finger.
"Nice morning for a secret runaway trip," he says dryly. "If you ignore the mild terror in the air."
Aiden gives him a look.
Kai raises both hands. "Relax. I'm not stopping you. I'm just filling the awkward silence."
Ethan steps forward. "Report: Lockdown orders are in place. Warriors are positioned along the west and north borders. Council members are currently pretending they aren't terrified, but I give them two hours before they start a formal complaint."
"They start anything," Aiden says, "you remind them I still own their lives."
"Yes, Alpha."
"And Serene?" Aiden's voice cools.
Kai clears his throat. "She's… missing."
Aiden's aura spikes. "What?"
"Her scent left the packhouse around an hour ago," Ethan adds. "We tracked it to the trees but then… it just stopped. Almost like something cloaked it."
My chest tightens.
"Do you think she—"
"Whatever she's doing," Aiden cuts in, voice clipped, "it doesn't matter right now. We focus on you."
I swallow my worry.
Serene may hate me.
She may hate us.
But I don't want her near his father.
"Get in," Aiden says.
Kai opens the back door. "VIP witch seating, right this way."
I slide into the backseat. Aiden gets in beside me instead of the front, which says a lot.
Ethan climbs behind the wheel. Kai takes shotgun.
"Let's move," Aiden orders.
The car pulls away from the packhouse.
I look out the window as we pass the last gates. Wolves bow their heads, some in respect, some in fear, some because they never thought their Alpha would leave the pack borders.
"It feels like we're abandoning them," I say softly.
"We're protecting them," Aiden replies. "He wants you. Not them. If you stay, he'll keep using the pack as leverage."
"And if I go… he'll come after me directly."
"Yes."
There's something terrifyingly steady in his voice. He's already decided:
He will stand between me and the darkness
even if there's no one left behind him.
The forest thickens as we drive deeper into the wild lands.
The sky, once pale, grows darker, heavy with gray clouds.
It feels like we're driving into a different world.
Meanwhile — Serene
Far behind us, in a clearing surrounded by dead trees, Serene stands alone.
Her hair is tangled.
Her eyes swollen.
Her hands shaking around the shirt she stole.
My shirt.
"I did what you asked," she whispers into the shadows. "Now keep your promise. Don't hurt Aiden."
A figure steps from the dark.
Not the Shadow King.
But not a wolf either.
A tall woman cloaked in black, her eyes glowing faint purple.
A witch.
"Such loyalty," the stranger purrs. "You love him deeply."
Serene glares. "Don't taunt me. You said you can 'separate' them. That if I give you her scent, you'll make him see she's a threat."
"Oh, I will," the witch laughs softly. "But separation is rarely… gentle."
Serene hesitates.
"I don't want him hurt," she says quietly. "Not truly. I just… want her gone."
"Relax," the witch says. "I don't need to kill her."
She takes the shirt with two delicate fingers and lifts it to her nose, inhaling.
"Moonfire," she hums. "And something else."
She smiles.
"We won't need to follow her. The scent will guide the Seeker right to her."
Serene frowns. "The… what?"
"The creature that hunts her through worlds."
A pause.
"Even sanctuaries."
Serene goes pale.
"You didn't say—"
"You didn't ask."
The witch folds the fabric, whispers over it, and shadows curl around the cotton like snakes.
"When he sees what she attracts, he'll know," the witch croons. "Wolves were never meant to bond with things like her."
Serene's hands shake.
"What if he hates me for this?"
The witch smiles.
"By the time he realizes what you've done… it will be too late."
Back in the Car
We drive until the roads turn to rough tracks and those tracks fade into nothing but flattened grass and dirt.
The mountains rise ahead of us, dark and sharp against the sky.
Ethan stops the SUV.
"We go on foot from here," he says. "Too steep for the car."
Aiden nods.
He steps out first, then offers his hand to help me down.
The air up here is thinner, colder, sharper.
It smells different too.
Less like wolves.
More like old magic and stone.
"We'll shift beyond that ridge," Aiden says, pointing. "The temple is hidden in the valley past it. No one can see it unless the Moon allows it."
"The Moon likes you?" I ask weakly.
"She brought you to me," he replies. "I'd say that's a yes."
Heat rushes up my neck.
Ethan and Kai move ahead, scanning the trees, their wolves just under their skin.
The forest around us is quiet.
Too quiet.
I shiver.
"Aiden… do you feel that?"
His eyes narrow.
"Magic?" he asks.
"Yes."
It slithers along my skin, faint but wrong.
Not Moonfire.
Not his father's darkness.
Something else.
Something hunting.
Aiden's arm comes around my shoulders.
"Kai," he calls sharply.
Kai stops. "Yeah?"
"Smell anything?"
Kai inhales deeply.
"…Pine. Dirt. Old stone. No rogues. No wolves. No…"
He trails off.
"What?" Aiden barks.
Kai's face creases.
"Liyana's scent," he says slowly. "Everywhere."
I blink. "But—that makes sense. I'm here."
He shakes his head.
"No, it's not coming from you. It's ahead of us."
My stomach drops.
Ahead?
I take a tentative step forward and the magic under my skin spikes.
Aiden's grip tightens.
"Don't move," he growls.
Ethan draws a blade. "Ambush?"
Kai bristles. "Could be creatures. Or witches. Or—"
The forest goes silent.
No birds.
No wind.
Nothing.
A low growl echoes from the shadows.
Aiden shifts halfway instantly, placing himself between me and the trees.
"Show yourself," he snarls.
Branches creak.
The darkness between the trunks thickens—
And something crawls out.
It moves wrong.
Like a shadow trying to remember how to be a body.
A quadruped shape, hunched and long, with too many joints and claws that dig into the earth without sound. Its eyes—if they can be called eyes—are empty holes of pale light.
A hound made of darkness.
My heart stops.
"What is that?" Ethan whispers.
The creature lifts its nose.
Sniffs the air.
Then—
It lunges toward me.
Aiden shoves me back, roaring.
He meets the creature mid-air, claws slashing, teeth bared.
They collide with a sickening crunch.
Kai dives in, daggers flashing.
Ethan moves to circle it.
The shadow hound snaps, its maw stretching unnaturally wide. Aiden rakes claws through it, but they sink in like smoke and tar.
"What the—?!" Kai curses. "It's not solid!"
"It's partially phased," I gasp, instinct kicking in. "Half here, half not!"
The hound twists away from Aiden and lunges around him—straight at me.
I throw my hands up.
My magic reacts before my mind does.
Golden light erupts from my palms, not in a blast this time, but in chains.
They snap out like glowing whips, curling around the creature's neck and legs.
It howls—a horrible, echoing sound that makes the trees shiver.
I pull.
The chains tighten.
The hound thrashes, clawing at nothing.
Aiden's eyes blaze as he sees what I'm doing.
"Hold it!" he shouts.
"I—I'm trying!"
The beast's body seems to split—half of it trying to slip back into shadow, half forced into solidity by my light.
"NOW!" Aiden roars.
He leaps, shifting fully, massive black wolf slamming into the creature.
His jaws clamp around its throat.
The hound shrieks as Moonfire and wolf strength combine—my chains holding it in this world, his fangs tearing it out of it.
It explodes in a burst of black smoke and ash.
Silence crashes down.
My knees buckle.
Aiden shifts back halfway and rushes to me, grabbing my arms.
"Easy," he mutters. "I've got you."
Kai coughs, waving smoke away.
"Okay. That was… disgusting."
Ethan pants, eyes wide. "That was not a normal shadow. That thing was sent."
A chill runs through me.
"It was tracking… my scent," I whisper.
Aiden's jaw tightens.
"Not just that," he says.
He walks to the spot where the hound first emerged, scanning the ground.
Then he sees it.
A piece of fabric, half-burned, lying in the dirt.
He picks it up slowly.
My breath catches.
It's a scrap of a shirt.
Not his.
Mine.
Aiden's grip tightens around the cloth, knuckles whitening.
His voice drops into a terrifying whisper:
"This was taken from the packhouse."
My stomach twists.
"There's only one person who hates me enough to do that," I whisper.
Kai swallows. "Serene."
Ethan closes his eyes. "Damn."
For a few seconds, Aiden doesn't move.
His aura shifts—
not just angry, not just hurt.
Betrayed.
He crumples the cloth in his fist.
"She's working with them," he says.
"Whether she understands it or not."
I swallow the sting in my eyes.
"Maybe she didn't know what she was doing," I say softly. "Maybe she just wanted me gone."
"That doesn't matter," he answers, voice tight. "She put you in danger."
The shadows between the trees shift.
For a heartbeat, I hear a laugh in the wind.
"Wolves," the Shadow King's whisper curls in my mind.
"Always so predictable.
Their weakness is not in their teeth…
but in their hearts."
I shiver.
Aiden steps closer, cupping my face.
"Look at me."
I do.
"You are not alone," he says. "You are not his. And I don't care if my own pack turns against us—we are reaching that temple. Together."
The mark on my palm burns in answer.
The bond hums.
The mountains loom closer.
And I realize—
It's not just the Shadow King we're running from now.
It's betrayal.
From inside our walls.
From inside his past.
From inside the life he had before me.
And fate is smiling.