Chapter 3 The Heir of Shadowmoor

The trees summoned my name once more that evening.

I stood at my window late in the night, the locket still closed in my palm, and Kael's silver eyes blazed behind mine. I was coiled tight, a spring uncoiling to release. Or a human uncoiling to receive.

I did not have long to wait.

A tap-faint, nearly deferential-tapped against the windowpane.

I turned around, throat constricted with emotion.

Kael stood in the doorway, half-hidden in fog and darkness, as if he'd forever be there. As if he were always meant to be in the shadows.

He still had on the same black hoodie he'd been wearing before, the hood thrown back to show his rumpled hair, still damp from the night air. His eyes shone with dim light, reflecting the moonlight like a mirror.

I didn't scream. I didn't even move back. I just unfastened the latch and stood aside.

He was like a ghost-quiet, smooth, lethal. But there was more in him than that. There was something that was guarded. Something that had been hurt.

"I didn't mean to frighten you," he said, voice low and even.

"You didn't," I lied.

He looked at me, his head cocked slightly. "You opened your mind to me last night."

"I didn't mean to."

"It means the bond is stirring. Quicker than I anticipated."

I crossed my arms, wary of speaking. "Aunt Celeste said you kidnapped me."

His expression grew even darker, and he stepped closer. "I didn't initiate the bond, Aria. Neither did you. But it exists. Ancient. Unbreakable. We're bound by blood and destiny."

I sensed it again- that pull within me, strong and unbreakable. As if something was drawing me to him from the inside out.

"You don't know me," I told him, though my own heart betrayed me, racing wildly.

He smiled, but it was not mocking. It was calm, thoughtful. "Then let me."

I should have sent him. Should have closed the door and window, and my heart. But I didn't. I allowed him to sit beside me on the edge of my bed, the quiet between us heavy and thrumming. He was scented with pine and rain and something feral.

"I was born into war," Kael began, his voice barely above a whisper. "The Shadowmoor Pack is the most feared in the region-feral, reclusive, and ruthless. My father, Alpha Corvan, rules with bloodied claws and absolute control. But I'm not like him. Not all the way."

He glanced down at his hands, as if he didn't trust them.

My mother was a healer. She was Nightglade Pack. She taught me how to fight, yes, but how to feel, too. She was the only light in a land built of shadows. When she died. I think the last good in my father died with her too."

There is a crack on the last word.

"And now?" I said softly.

"Use the prophecy now. Use you. Manipulate fate to his heart's desire. And I will not let him."

My breath stalled. "Why do you care so much?"

His gaze locked on mine, stormy and silver. "Because since I was twelve years old, I've dreamed of you. I didn't know it then. I believed that I was under a curse. But then the bond was stirred-and I knew. You existed. And you were mine."

I swallowed hard. "Don't say that. You don't even know my name."

"I know your scent." His voice dropped lower. "I know your fear, your courage. I know how the tattoo on your wrist thunders when I'm near. I know you, Aria. Maybe even better than you know yourself."

I turned away, reeling from it all.

Your first shift will arrive with the next full moon," he whispered. "The bond will grow. You'll sense everything-every feeling, every pain, every falsehood you've hidden."

"What if I don't want it?"

Kael rose, his shadow spreading across the walls like wings.

"You don't have a choice," he said, not unkind. "But you do get to choose who you are. And I promise you-I won't allow anyone to hurt you.".

Before I could answer, he stepped back from the window.

"I'll return when it's safe," he said. "There are eyes everywhere."

And he was gone.

The wind blew his scent long after his feet had been on the ground.

The next morning, Kael was gone, and Aunt Celeste's face told me she was aware.

"You let him in," she said softly over breakfast, her tea sitting cold.

"I needed answers."

She sighed, rubbing her temples. "You're walking a dangerous path, Aria. Kael may care for you, but his bloodline is cursed. His father-"

I cut her off. "What happened to my father?"

The question hovered between us like a blade.

Aunt Celeste froze. For a long moment, she said nothing. Then she set her cup down with a quiet clink and looked me straight in the eye.

"Your father was murdered the night you were born. He was being hunted by the packs. Your mother was giving birth too early. He went out to divert them. And never returned."

"Do you know who murdered him?" I asked, even though I already knew the response burrowing under my skin.

She nodded slowly, grief pressing down on her eyes. "Yes. And Kael does too."