Bound By Blood and Moonlight

CHAPTER ONE

ELIRA

Smoke had a taste. Acrid, bitter, and far too familiar. It clung to her tongue like ash-and memory.

Elira Vayne kept her chin high as they marched her through the crumbling gates of Vareth's palace, or what remained of it. Once proud towers were now blackened husks, spines of stone rising into the blood-colored dusk. Her bare feet left prints in the soot-streaked marble, shackles clinking softly with every step.

She did not look at the corpses. Not even the ones she recognized.

The Crimson Fang wolves flanked her in silence, tall and armored in dark steel. No one spoke. They didn't need to. She was the last. The final ember of a kingdom that had already gone cold.

They brought her to the great hall-though now it looked more like a ruined temple, with shattered pillars and a yawning hole in the ceiling that opened to the blood moon above. And there, upon the broken throne of her ancestors, sat the man who had done this.

Kaelen Draven.

The cursed heir. The alpha of blood and shadow.

He was nothing like the monstrous tales whispered in Vareth's streets. No snarling beast or twisted abomination. He was... still. Too still. As if he barely breathed. Dark-haired, broad-shouldered, and cloaked in battle-black leathers, he radiated a cold, unnatural calm. Only his eyes betrayed the stories-silver and burning like starfire.

They locked onto her the moment she entered. Didn't blink. Didn't waver.

Elira stopped in front of him, forcing herself not to flinch beneath his gaze.

"You are Elira Vayne," he said at last. Not a question.

"I was," she replied, voice hoarse but unshaken.

A flicker of something passed through his eyes-confusion? Amusement? She couldn't tell.

Then the scent hit him.

Kaelen's jaw tightened. His fingers twitched where they rested on the hilt of his blade. The air grew thick, electric. His wolf stirred beneath his skin, a low rumble of hunger and recognition clawing to the surface.

Fate.

No. No. Not her. Not now.

The realization hit him like a blade to the gut. She was omega. She was his.

His mate.

She had no idea what she was walking into.

Elira narrowed her eyes. "Kill me or don't, Alpha. But do not waste my time with stares."

Kaelen stood slowly, the full force of his height and presence pressing down on her like a weight. Still, she did not cower.

"I will not kill you," he said, voice low, dangerous. "That would be a waste."

He stepped closer. Too close.

"You belong to me now."