“Talon, for the love of Luna, SHUT UP.”
I leaned back against the wall and rubbed my eyes, the weight of this whole messed up situation pressing down on my shoulders like a boulder.
Elowen. Fucking Elowen.
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The girl I’ve spent the last few years fighting, glaring at, throwing snark and insults just to keep her away. Because she made me feel things. Things I wasn’t supposed to feel. Things that made me question shit. I’d known Elowen our whole lives. Her father was an Alpha who served my father. I hadn’t noticed her until we turned 13. She was a nerd. A bad ass nerd, but still. She wasn’t anything special.
And now?
Now the moon had the audacity to mate me to her?
My father was going to kill me for skipping the ceremony.
Or worse, he’d be disappointed.
And honestly, that was harder to deal with.
“Get up,” I growled, shoving off the wall and tossing the whiskey aside. “We need to run.”
Rylen raised a brow. “Now? In dress clothes?”
“Now,” I snapped. “Talon’s going crazy and I need to hit something.”
Jace whooped. “Hell yeah. Let’s wreck some trees.”
We stripped down behind the tree line, the forest already humming with energy from the full moon. My shift hit fast and hard, bone snapping, black fur bursting through skin, the kind of pain that made you feel
alive.
Talon surged forward, massive and black with silver streaks down his flanks, shaking the earth with each
pawstep.
The others followed, Rylen’s wolf Anton, all lean speed and brown and tan fur, and Jace’s wolf Kreel, a hulking russet brute who ran like the damn wind.
We tore through the woods, paws digging into moss and dirt, leaving shredded bark and crushed leaves in
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Chapter 13
our wake.
But no matter how far we ran…
No matter how fast…
Her scent followed us.
And Talon?
He howled for her like the moon itself had carved her into his soul.
Elowen POV
17
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The bass thumped. The lights spun. Bodies moved like they had no care in the world, twirling and grinding in celebration. But I couldn’t breathe.
Not with this many people.
Not with him not showing up.
Not with the bond humming like a live wire under my skin.
I was gonna lose it.
Taya had dragged me onto the dance floor once, but I faked a stomach cramp to escape. The truth? I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. Hunted. Like the moon itself was burning into my skin.
I needed air. I needed to run.
I slipped out the side door, heels in my hand, dress hitched up as I bolted into the woods. Branches scratched at my legs, the wind licked across my face, and the second my feet hit soft moss, I let go.
The shift hit fast, skin to fur, bones breaking and rebuilding, Lyssira screaming with joy as she ripped through me and took control.
Finally,
She howled into the night, stretching her limbs and shaking her coat.
Her silver and blue tipped fur shimmered in the moonlight, no longer hidden, no longer dyed. We were raw. Wild. Free.
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11:56 Mon, Sep 22
Chapter 13
And then…
We smelled him. Thunderstorms and campfire.
Mate.
My paws stuttered mid stride, claws gouging the earth as the scent crashed into us like a goddamn freight
train.
“Mine. Mine. Ours. GO.” Lyssi was a one track wolf. I screamed in my mind, “NO LYSSI!” But she shut that shit down. I watched helplessly from my mind already knowing what was coming.
Lyssira took off, full speed, no hesitation. I couldn’t stop her even if I wanted to.
The trees blurred. The earth trembled.
Then…
There.
A blur of black and silver fur tearing through the forest just ahead.
Talon.
Our eyes met mid sprint. Silver to silver. Fire to fucking gasoline.
We collided.
Snarling. Twisting. Tangling in limbs and teeth and pheromones thick enough to drown in.
Not fighting…claiming.
Rolling through the leaves, we snapped and circled, nipping flanks and throats, testing dominance and dancing that dangerous, beautiful line between feral and fated.
“Mate.” I groaned in my head. “Here we fucking go.”
Our wolves didn’t care about politics, or bloodlines, or bullshit.
They only cared about us.
