At that very moment, the sound of a body being violently thrown to the ground echoed from beside us, and that sudden impact instantly shattered the growing sense of embarrassment inside me.
I pulled back at once, freeing myself from Arkan's arms, and turned my attention to the man who had fallen. It was the guard who had just asked Arkan, "Who are you?"—or a gatekeeper, whatever they called them.
As I tried to make sense of what was happening, another body was hurled through the air and crashed down on top of him. The force knocked the breath out of both of them, and low, muffled growls began to rise. Within seconds, those sounds changed—becoming more familiar, yet just as disturbing.
That dry, cracking sound of bones shifting… filled the air.
Kongar appeared at my side in an instant.
"Are you alright, my master?" he asked. But his gaze wasn't on me—it was locked onto the men who were in the middle of transforming.
Before I could even respond, Arkan's voice tore through the air.
"Enough!"
His roar was so sudden and sharp that I flinched where I stood.
"What is going on here?" he demanded.
The men on the ground froze mid-transformation; the changes in their bodies halted, and the growls faded. After a brief moment, they pulled themselves together and stood up. One of them stepped forward, lowered his head, and pointed at Kongar.
"We were preventing that being from entering, Alpha," he said.
Arkan's gaze slowly shifted to Kongar. His brows furrowed. Then his eyes turned to me—
and in that instant, something changed.
His expression softened.
"He is coming with us," he said, his tone leaving no room for objection.
Those words made the corners of my lips lift slightly. He was keeping his side of the agreement… and that created a sense of relief I hadn't expected.
But I couldn't trust that feeling.
I needed time to rest, to gather my thoughts—because the longer I stayed near him, the easier it became to lose myself.
And I needed to get out of here. I had to return to my old life. I didn't even know what these beings were… and that made them all the more dangerous.
Along the way, people stopped whatever they were doing and turned toward us. Then, almost all of them performed the same gesture—tilting their heads to the side and exposing their necks.
Some of them called out, "Alpha!" and burst into tears, while others shouted, "We're saved!" in joyful cries.
When they looked at me, there was a strange glimmer in their eyes. It unsettled me… but there was something else in those gazes as well.
Hope.
But the moment their eyes shifted to Kongar, everything changed. Brows furrowed, growls rose, and the men quickly pulled the women and children behind them.
Kongar, however, acted as if none of it affected him. He walked at my left side, occasionally glancing at me with that unsettling smile of his.
Still… I felt sorry for him.
I knew very well what it meant to be unwanted.
Arkan walked on my right. Throughout the entire walk, he never took his eyes off me. It made me uneasy… and yet, in a strange way, it also made me feel good.
This… made no sense at all.
As we moved through the crowd, Soren walked ahead of us. There was a wide smile on his face—as if bringing us here was something he took pride in.
Whispers rose from behind us.
"Is that our Luna?" a girl whispered.
"She's so beautiful," another added.
Those words made my shoulders tense instantly.
Why did they keep calling me Luna?
For a moment, I had the urge to walk up to them and shout—
My name is Kayra… not Luna.
And I was not the person they thought I was.
When we arrived in front of a massive mansion, I stopped in place and began to take it in. The structure was shaped like a crescent; it looked as though multiple buildings had been connected by long corridors.
The central building stood four stories tall, more imposing than the rest. From there, the structures extended outward on both sides, gradually decreasing in height and completing the crescent shape.
People were lined up all around it. Everyone who had seen us along the way had followed, and the crowd had grown even larger.
As Soren stepped forward, Kongar, Arkan, and I found ourselves standing between two circles.
"Alpha has returned!" Soren shouted.
At his cry, everyone lifted their heads to the sky and howled in unison. Then came the cheers—people embracing one another, voices blending into a chaotic wave of relief and excitement.
Soren raised his hand, silencing the crowd, and walked over to me. Pointing in my direction, he shouted again:
"He has found our Luna!"
At first, a wave of joy spread through the crowd. But it didn't last long.
"She's not a wolf," someone said.
At those words, the noise died instantly.
Together, they all inhaled sharply, drawing in the air around me.
They were scenting me.
Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around myself. An uncomfortable tightness rose in my chest.
I felt movement behind me. Arkan… he was trying to pull me into his arms.
But I didn't let him.
I stepped forward.
At that exact moment, Kongar moved in front of me. His gaze hardened; even a single step toward the crowd felt like it would be enough to force them back.
And just like that… I was caught between them.
"Mine!" Arkan growled.
Then those familiar sounds rose again—the dry, sharp cracking of bones shifting beneath skin.
Was he going to transform?
I turned around immediately.
"Alpha, calm down," Soren said, taking a step toward him.
But Arkan didn't allow it. He snarled at Soren, and his voice was no longer entirely human.
"Why is he acting like this?" I asked, unable to hide the unease in my voice.
Soren stepped back, then shifted his gaze from Arkan to me.
"The Alpha has been overtaken by his wolf for a long time," he said. "That's why he struggles to control it… especially when you're near, Kayra."
His eyes locked onto mine.
"You're the only one who can stop him."
What did that even mean?
How could I possibly stop him?
Next to him… I felt so small.
In that brief moment as I tried to figure out what I was supposed to do, Arkan had already shifted into his wolf form and lunged toward the crowd. Everything happened so fast that my mind couldn't keep up—my body moved before I could think. Before I even realized it, I was running after him.
I didn't know why I was doing it.
I just… felt like I had to stop him.
My hand shot forward, gripping onto his thick, coarse fur as I caught his tail. I tried to pull him back, but I didn't even know what drove me to do it.
He didn't seem to notice me. He kept moving forward, dragging me along with every step. As if I wasn't even there, he surged ahead with full force, pulling me behind him.
I tried to tighten my grip as his fur slipped through my fingers, but my body couldn't withstand that kind of strength.
In the end, my hold gave out.
My balance broke, and I slammed hard against the ground.
The moment a pained sound escaped my lips, the wolf stopped abruptly and turned toward me. His eyes were glowing. When he saw me on the ground, his ears flattened back and a low, strained whine escaped him. Then, without hesitation, he rushed toward me.
Before he could reach me, Kongar tried to step in front of me. I raised my hand quickly, stopping him.
"Don't."
My voice came out sharper than I expected.
At that, Kongar's eyes darkened. But he stepped back.
This… was starting to become exhausting.
When the wolf reached me, he nudged me with his nose, as if checking every part of me for injury. Then he forced me onto my back. When he noticed the scratches on my arms, that same low whine rose again.
"I'm fine—"
My words were cut off.
The warmth of his tongue brushed against my wounds.
I tried to push his head away, but he wouldn't let me. A low growl rose—followed immediately by that familiar, strained whine.
As if he was both warning me… and apologizing at the same time.
After a while, he stopped.
I looked at my arm.
The scratches that had been bleeding just moments ago were gone.
Not a single mark.
Was this real too?
Before I could even process it, he climbed over me, positioning his body around mine, caging me in. Then he lifted his head and began growling at the people around us.
"Alpha, no one is going to harm Luna—" Soren started, but suddenly stopped.
His gaze shifted to the wolf.
"I think… your emotions are affecting him, Kayra."
What?
What had I done?
I tried to push myself up, but he must have sensed it—because he pressed his massive body down over me just a little more. Now he was lying fully on top of me.
Thankfully, he wasn't putting all his weight on me.
Still…
It didn't feel like he was protecting me.
It felt like he was hiding me.
"Everyone, disperse!" Soren shouted. Then, with a disturbing smile curling on his lips, he added,
"Let's leave our Alpha and our Luna alone."
Bastard.
He was enjoying this. What was there to be happy about in this situation?
"And what about that being?" someone from the crowd called out.
Soren's gaze shifted to Kongar, who was staring straight at me.
He paused for a moment.
Then spoke again.
"Luna will decide."
His eyes returned to me.
"Kongar… now belongs to her."