# Moonbound: The Alpha's Secret
## Chapter 1: Welcome to Black Hollow
The moving truck disappeared around the bend, leaving me alone with cardboard boxes and the suffocating silence of my new life. I stared at the small cottage that was supposed to be home now-weathered wood siding, overgrown ivy crawling up the walls, and windows that seemed to watch me like dark eyes.
*Mom would have loved this place.*
The thought hit me like a physical blow. Three months since the accident, and I still expected to hear her voice calling from the kitchen, asking if I'd remembered to water her plants.
"Aria, honey, you okay?" Mrs. Chen, my elderly neighbor, peered over the fence with concern etched in her wrinkled features.
"Fine," I lied, forcing a smile. "Just tired from the drive."
She nodded, but her eyes lingered on me. "Black Hollow takes some getting used to. Especially for someone your age. Not many young folks around here anymore." Her gaze drifted toward the dense forest that bordered our properties. "Just... be careful in those woods, dear. They're not like other forests."
Before I could ask what she meant, she disappeared back into her house, leaving me with more questions than answers.
I grabbed the nearest box and headed inside. The cottage was smaller than our old house in Portland, but it had character-exposed wooden beams, a stone fireplace, and built-in bookshelves that Mom would have filled with her romance novels within a week.
*Stop thinking about her.*
I unpacked mechanically, trying to focus on the mundane task of organizing my new life. Outside, the sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of amber and crimson. Through the kitchen window, I could see the forest Mrs. Chen had warned me about. The trees stood like silent sentinels, their branches swaying despite the absence of wind.
That's when I heard it.
A low, haunting howl echoed from somewhere deep in the woods. The sound raised goosebumps along my arms and made something primal inside me respond-not with fear, but with recognition. Like a song I'd heard before but couldn't quite remember.
I pressed my face against the cool glass, straining to see into the darkness between the trees. For just a moment, I could have sworn I saw two golden points of light staring back at me.
Then they were gone, and I was left wondering if grief was finally making me lose my mind.