Boards covered the windows. Wolf scent lingered in the air, old and faded but unmistakable.
He killed the engine.
"Neutral ground," he said as he pulled off his helmet and ran a hand through his wind-tossed hair. "It was a meeting place from before the packs split. No one comes here anymore." "It's a Private."
"Exactly," I said.
He climbed the steps and pushed the door open. Dust drifted out on stale air that smelled of pine, old wood and long neglect.
I followed him inside.
The interior smelled strongly of pine and dust. Furniture stood draped in faded sheets. The fireplace remained cold and dark, its hearth empty. Jimmy moved straight to the windows and yanked the boards free one by one. Late afternoon light slanted across the floor in golden bars, cutting through the gloom.
"So," I said. I leaned against the doorframe with my arms crossed. "We are mates."
"Apparently."
"And you are supposed to kill me."
"If the Hollow takes over completely. Yes."
"But you do not want to." He turned to face me. The expression on his face was complicated, anger warring with regret and something softer he clearly tried to bury deep. "No. I do not want to."
"Why not? Were you not raised to hunt monsters?"
"You are not a monster." He crossed the room in three long strides and stopped just short of touching me. "You are just a girl carrying a curse you never asked for and I have watched you long enough to know you fight like hell to be more than the stories say you are."
My breath hitched in my throat. "You have been watching me."
"Tradition." A ghost of a smile touched his mouth. "The Blackthorn heir always watches the Vale heir. But maybe I watched longer than tradition required."
"That is creepy."
"That is pack politics." He shrugged one shoulder. "And maybe I was curious about the girl who was supposed to be my enemy but kept doing things that made her look like someone I would want to know."
I had no answer ready for that. The idea that Jimmy Aeson had shadowed me for months, unseen and unnoticed, made my skin prickle with a strange mix of unease and something warmer I refused to name.
"The sun is dropping fast," he said. He glanced out the newly uncovered window. Red already bled thick along the horizon line. "We should head back soon."
"I do not want to go back."
"I know. But your pack needs to see you before the ceremony starts and my father will skin me alive if I keep you away too long."
He was right, but still I did not move from the doorway.
"What if I cannot do this?" My voice came out smaller than I intended. "What if tonight I shift and the Hollow takes over completely and I hurt people I care about?"
"Then I stop you." "By killing me."
"If I have to." He met my eyes without flinching. "But I am hoping very much that it does not come to that."
"Me too."
We stood in the dusty room while afternoon light turned the air golden and soft. For one fragile moment, I let myself imagine a different story entirely.
One without curses and without prophecies. Just two people standing in an abandoned cabin, figuring out what the pull between them actually meant without the weight of blood moons and ancient hunger pressing down.
But obviously, that was not my life. My life was red moons, ancient hunger and a monster waking slowly inside my skin.
"We should go," I said finally. He nodded once and headed for the door.
I caught his arm before he could step outside.
"Thank you," I whispered. "For bringing me here and for giving me the space to breathe."
His smile was small and real. "Anytime."
The ride back felt much shorter than the ride out and my arms stayed locked around his waist. The sky burned crimson and gold overhead, looking beautiful, ominous and inevitable.
We pulled up to the packhouse. We saw that preparations were already in full swing. Torches flickered along the edges of the ritual circle. Wolves gathered in small, tense knots and voices stayed low. Faces stayed watchful.
Every head turned when our bike rolled to a stop. The Vale heir is returning with the Blackthorn heir.
Eira rushed forward the moment my boots hit the dirt. "Are you all right? Your father has been pacing holes in the floorboards for the last hour."
"I am fine." I handed Jimmy the helmet. "Thanks for the ride."
"Amira He caught my hand before I could pull away. His fingers were warm. Calloused from years of grips and reins and blades... Steady. "Whatever happens tonight, remember what I said. You are stronger than they think you are."
I nodded my head. Words would not come past the knot in my throat.
I walked toward the packhouse with Eira at my side. I could feel Jimmy's gaze follow me across the clearing.
I felt it like a physical touch against my back. The mate bond stretched between us, thin and taut like a wire pulled to breaking. A lifeline in the gathering dark.
Torches burned brighter as dusk deepened. The ritual circle had been marked in white chalk and silver dust that caught the torchlight and shimmered.
Elders stood at the four cardinal points and chanted low under their breath. The air tasted thick with pine smoke, crushed herbs and the electric promise of a coming storm.
I looked up and noticed that the first sliver of the Blood Moon crested the treetops. It hung fat and heavy; its light had already stained deep crimson, watching and waiting.
Deep inside my chest, the thing stirred again. It uncoiled slowly and deliberately, stretching through muscle and bone.
Claws scraped gently against the inside of my ribs, not painful yet, just testing, exploring, and claiming space.
And then, clear as a bell inside my skull, it spoke in a voice that was mine and not mine at the same time.
"Tonight, daughter of ash." "Tonight we rise together."
Tonight, under the Blood Moon, I'd either prove everyone wrong about me, or I'd prove the prophecy right and I had no idea which outcome scared me more.