The Runaway 8

 Chapter 8 

After a week of rest in the healer’s den, Kael insisted on taking me out to the lavender fields on the edge of Frostfang lands. 

When we arrived, the entire valley was glowing with blossoms under the silver light of the moon-lanterns strung high between the trees, music drifting softly through the night air. It was arranged exactly the way I 

liked it. 

At some point, Kael disappeared. 

When he came back, he was holding a huge bouquet of moon-roses, and right in front of everyone, he dropped to one knee. 

“Last Solstice, you promised that whatever I wished for on my next birthday, you’d give me. Well, here’s my wish. Athena-will you be my Luna before the Moon Goddess and the Pack?” 

His golden eyes glimmered, already wet. 

These past weeks, he had treated me as if I was something precious. 

At night, I’d often wake to find him clinging to me, whispering that cursed bed still haunted him. 

“Every time I wake up and you’re not there, I think you’ve gone again. You owe me for that trauma,” he 

would mutter, holding me tight. 

When we were together, his voice would drop low, rough in my ear: 

“Athena Wilde, I love you more than anything. Do you know how happy I was when you accepted our bond?” 

I’d asked him about it before, but he always flushed and avoided the question. 

But that night, after I nodded yes, after our vows were spoken under the stars with the Moon as our witness -when we were wrapped up together in our tent, he finally told me the truth: 

“It wasn’t just when you moved into Pack housing. From the moment the mate bond snapped into place, I knew you were mine. But I didn’t dare say it out loud. I thought you only agreed because it was duty to the 

Goddess, not because you wanted me. 

I froze. Because I had felt the same way-the pull of that bond had been there from the beginning, but I was 

too afraid to admit it. 

“Everyone else thought it was just a family arrangement. But for me, you were already everything.” 

His smile turned bitter. 

“Then I overheard you telling your mother being bonded so young was a curse. Later, I heard you tell a friend you’d been hung up on someone for nearly ten years. That broke me. I prayed it was me, but you kept 

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your distance… I thought maybe you didn’t feel what I did.” 

His lips brushed over my hand, eyes burning into me. 

“As for Claire-her so-called confession meant nothing. I never wanted her. But I was an idiot. I thought if I pushed, if I made you jealous, you’d finally admit something. When you didn’t, I thought maybe this bond was only mine to carry. I’ve never been more wrong.” 

Tears blurred my sight as I whispered back: 

“It’s always been you. From the bond’s first pull, my heart was already yours.” 

He kissed me hard, like he was sealing the promise for good. 

Later, he whispered against my ear: 

“Athena Wilde, you can never leave Kael Frost. You’ll love me forever.’ 

I brushed my hand through his hair and answered softly: 

“Okay.” 

Two days later, Kael posted a picture of our Luna vows on HowlNet, with the caption: 

[She’s mine. Every wolf can back the fuck off.] 

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