Chapter 10 The Wolf of Bloodmoon
The night was still, yet Kael could not rest.
He stood alone atop the highest tower of Bloodmoon’s fortress, the cold wind ruffling his dark hair as his gaze lingered on the endless stretch of forest below. His pack slept, his warriors kept their watch, but his thoughts were far away, chasing a shadow that refused to leave his mind.
Elara.
For years, her name had been a ghost on his lips, a wound he carried in silence. And now she had returned into his orbit, alive, defiant, hating him with every breath. He clenched his fists against the stone railing, the same hands that had once brought destruction to her home.
The Silverfang massacre.
The memory still gnawed at him, night after night. The fire, the screams, the rivers of blood. Remnants of choices that could never be undone. Yet within that storm of carnage, he had made one decision he could not regret, sparing her. It was not mercy. It was necessity. She was more than she knew, and if fate was cruel, she would one day learn why.
A sharp knock at the tower’s door broke his thoughts. One of his betas entered, bowing slightly.
“My Alpha. Hunter Guild patrols have been spotted near the northern border. They’re pushing closer every night.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “Double the watch. I want their heads if they cross into our land.”
The beta hesitated before adding, “They are searching for someone.”
Kael already knew who. The lone wolf with silver fire in her eyes.
When the room was empty again, Kael descended into his private chambers. The walls here were bare stone, unadorned, save for a single chest of black iron. He knelt before it, unlocking it with a key that never left his side. Inside lay a small chain, dull with age, its pendant etched with the sigil of Silverfang.
He lifted it carefully, as if it might burn him. His throat tightened.
“Elara…” he whispered.
The name was a promise. A curse. A confession.
She hated him, of course she did. To her, he was nothing but the monster who had ended her world, the Alpha who had slaughtered her kin. Perhaps she would never believe the truth, even if he laid it bare. Perhaps she would never forgive.
And still, he could not let her go.
Kael’s fingers closed around the pendant until his knuckles whitened, the sharp edges biting into his palm. His eyes hardened, returning to the steel resolve that made him feared across the land.
“She can hate me. She can fight me. She can run from me.” His voice was low, almost a growl. “But she will never fall to the hunters. I will see to that.”
Rising to his full height, he returned to the tower and let his gaze sweep once more over the moonlit horizon. Somewhere out there, she walked alone, blind to the truths that bound them, blind to the storm that awaited.
“You can run as far as you like, Elara,” Kael murmured into the wind, his eyes cold and unyielding. “But I will always find you. And when the time comes… you will know why I spared you.”
The night swallowed his vow, but the forest seemed to listen, carrying his words through the shadows like a warning or a promise.
••
The night hung heavy over Bloodmoon Fortress, its stone walls bathed in the eerie glow of the rising moon. Alone in the tower, Kael stood rigid, his broad shoulders tense beneath the black cloak that marked him as Alpha. From this height, the whole valley stretched before him, vast and unforgiving. Yet his thoughts refused to linger on territory or power.
They circled back, again and again, to her.
Elara.
A lone wolf. A survivor. A girl who should have been long dead on the night Silverfang fell.
And yet—here she was, alive. Breathing. Running. Hating him with every glance.
His jaw tightened. She thought him a monster. Perhaps he was. But she didn’t know the whole truth. Not yet.
The door creaked behind him. Irvine, his most loyal Beta, stepped inside, the torchlight glinting off his armor. “Alpha,” he said cautiously, “the others are restless. They don’t understand why you pursue her. A lone wolf is no threat. She is nothing more than a stray clinging to life.”
Kael turned slowly, his silver eyes sharp as blades. “She is not nothing.”
Ronan, another Beta lingering by the door, shifted uneasily. “Then what is she, my Alpha? Why risk Bloodmoon’s strength for a girl who spits venom at your name?”
For a long moment, silence hung between them, broken only by the crackle of torches. Then Kael spoke, voice low and certain.
“She is the key. To survival. To the truth. To everything we’ve fought for.”
The Betas exchanged wary looks, but pressed no further. Some truths were not for them.
When they had gone, Kael remained by the window, the weight of memory pressing down on him. That night, fire, blood, screams. Silverfang’s halls collapsing into ruin. And in the chaos… another presence. A shadow that had moved among the slaughter, swift and merciless, unseen by all but him.
No one ever spoke of it. And he would not, not now.
He gripped the windowsill, claws digging into stone. Should he tell Elara? Would she even believe him? She wanted him dead, cursed his name with every breath. Perhaps that was safer for her. Perhaps her hatred was the only shield strong enough to keep her alive.
But Hunter Guild drew closer. He could feel them tightening their net, emboldened as though someone fed them secrets. If he waited too long, if he allowed her freedom much longer… they would have her. And then all would be lost.
Kael lifted his gaze. The blood moon had risen, bleeding its crimson light across the sky. His lips curved into something between a snarl and a vow.
“If she refuses me again…” his voice was a growl swallowed by the night,
“…then I will drag her into Bloodmoon myself. Even if she hates me for eternity.”
The fortress stood silent, but the weight of his words lingered, heavy as iron chains. And far away, beneath the same moon, Elara’s path was already turning toward him.
