Chapter 4 Chains and Crowns

Kael stood at the edge of the training ground, watching the young warriors spar. His hands were clasped behind his back, his jaw tense, his expression unreadable.

He was everything an Alpha should be,strong, stoic, sharp. Yet behind his eyes, a quiet war raged.

A war no one saw.

A war that began the night Aria failed to shift.

Duty Wounds Deeper Than Blades

He remembered that night with cruel clarity. The full moon, the drum of celebration, the anticipation in her eyes. She had looked like a vision,draped in white, barefoot in the grass, trembling with hope.

He had wanted to run to her, to hold her hand, to whisper that whatever happened, she would always belong. Always matter.

But he couldn't.

The laws of the pack were older than love.

And when her shift never came...

When the silence stretched longer than the stars could endure...

He'd felt the ground shift beneath his feet.

Aria,the girl whose laugh once pulled him from shadows, whose dreams used to tangle with his,was suddenly... wrong.

An unshifted wolf was an omen.

And as the future Alpha, Kael had been trained for one thing: protect the pack. Even if it meant abandoning the pieces of himself that longed to protect her.

What They Never Saw

No one knew that he'd wept that night.

Not loud sobs, not the kind that asked for witnesses,just silent, shattered tremors beneath the moon. He'd stood alone in the forest after the ceremony, where no eyes could judge him, and let the pain burn him raw.

And then... he locked it away.

He grew sharper. Colder. Dutiful.

But every time he saw her,walking past him with her eyes cast low, shoulders hunched, skin pale,something inside him cracked a little more.

Selena's Rise

Selena was everything the Elders praised.

Powerful. Strategic. Ruthless.

She had shifted two days before Aria's fated night. Her wolf, a golden-hued beast with piercing eyes, had commanded the respect of the council almost immediately. She wasn't just a candidate,she was the Luna-to-be. And she knew it.

What started as charm had turned to entitlement.

What began as confidence had become control.

The Throne Behind Her Smile

Kael noticed it first in the small things. Selena correcting warriors before he could speak. Her gaze lingering too long on Elders in meetings, whispering words behind closed doors.

Then came the Luna Council trials,lessons where Selena stood in front of future advisors, wielding influence like a weapon.

She'd smile, of course. Always smiling. But her words cut deep.

"We must prepare for enemies from within," she had said once, looking pointedly at Lila, whose loyalty to Aria was still whispered about. "Weakness invites ruin. The pack must never coddle the broken."

Kael had clenched his jaw. She hadn't said Aria's name.

But she didn't need to.

Control Wasn't Enough

Kael realized Selena didn't just want to be Luna.

She wanted to erase anyone who had ever threatened her claim to that title.

Especially Aria.

And she was clever about it. Her bullying wasn't loud or messy. It was curated cruelty. Whispers to the council. Questions like, "Should unshifted wolves be allowed near sacred lands?" or "Isn't it dangerous for children to see failure up close?"

And slowly, the pack began to echo her.

Aria became a cautionary tale.

A ghost that still breathed.

Kael's Conflict

He told himself he was doing the right thing,choosing duty, choosing the pack.

But at night, he dreamed of her.

Not the broken girl she was now,but the fiery dreamer, the one who used to sneak out to the cliffs with him, talking about the kind of Luna she would be. She used to say things like, "What if we made the council younger? More open-minded?"

And he'd laugh. "You'd drive them mad."

She'd grin. "Good. It's time someone did."

Now that spark was gone.

And he had helped snuff it out.

Confrontation in the Shadows

One night, after a long council meeting, Kael found Selena waiting for him near the training yard, her golden hair gleaming under the moonlight.

"You're distant lately," she said softly, stepping close.

"I'm focused," he replied.

"On her?" she asked bluntly.

He said nothing.

Selena's lips curled into a smile. "You know what she is. An unshifted. A relic. A reminder of failure."

Kael's eyes darkened. "She's not a threat."

"Not to the pack," Selena said, stepping closer. "But to you. To us."

He turned to leave.

Selena's voice followed him like a blade. "You still love her, don't you?"

Kael didn't answer.

He didn't have to.

Secrets Behind Smiles

Selena had her own secrets.

She'd begun working in the archives late at night, digging through old records of bloodlines, curses, histories. Something about Aria's unshifted state gnawed at her.

It didn't make sense.

And Selena couldn't stand not knowing.

She found scrolls speaking of ancient wolves,sacred, feared, divine. Wolves who were not born, but reborn. Ones who emerged only after death. Hidden, dormant, watching.

Selena's hand trembled as she read.

She couldn't let it be true.

If Aria was one of them...

Then her place as Luna would never be secure.

Kael's Breaking Point

Days later, Kael stood atop the northern ridge, watching the village below. He'd seen Aria earlier that day, struggling to lift a crate near the greenhouse. No one had helped her. Not even the Elders.

She hadn't cried. She hadn't asked for help.

She just kept moving.

And he realized something bitter:

She was still stronger than any of them.

Even him.

The Decision That Haunts

That night, Kael returned to the archives.

He searched scrolls until his fingers were black with dust. He wasn't sure what he was looking for,hope, maybe. Redemption.

He found a line etched in old ink:

"The wolf that sleeps does not die. She waits. Until the moon calls her home."

His breath caught.

Could it be? Could Aria have been... waiting?

Could they all have been wrong?