Chapter 4 The Pack with No Name

Kalen's POV

Kalen

Kalen had not run like this in years.

Not since the fall of his pack. Not since the blood and betrayal and curse carved into his bones.

But now he tore through the moonlit forest, heart pounding, one arm wrapped protectively around Elara's waist.

She was breathless. Cold. Still glowing faintly with the bond's mark.

And she had no idea what kind of world she'd just stepped into. "We are being followed,

she gasped. I know.

He could smell them. A dozen wolves. Maybe more. None of them are Ironfangs. This was something else.

They reached the base of the ridge, where the trees thinned and the ground dipped into shadow.

Kalen stopped abruptly and crouched low, drawing Elara down with him.

Stay quiet,

he said with his low voice

She nodded, shaking. He reached out with his senses.

The bond between them pulsed faintly, warm and steady, and underneath that, his curse shifted like a serpent in his blood.

Then he saw them. Their eyes Lining the dark like stars.

Gold and silver and ice-blue.

They stepped forward as one, a pack unmarked. No banners. No scent of territory.

A rogue pack should not exist. Kalen straightened, baring his teeth.

"You have got five seconds to explain why you are tracking me."One of them stepped forward.

A tall woman with short white hair, cloaked in wolf pelts, a jagged scar down her jaw.

We felt the bond snap into place, she said calmly.

Felt the curse flare. We came to see if the rumors were true.

Elara stepped slightly behind him. Who are they? They are ghosts,

Kalen muttered.

They died with the old bloodlines.

The woman's lips twitched. Not all of us stayed dead.

Kalen's muscles tensed.

Why now? he asked.

Why her?

The woman's eyes slid to Elara. Because she is moonborn.

Just like the stories said.

Elara flinched.

What does that mean?

You are the first wolf in a century born of blood not sworn to any pack, the woman said.

The old magic flows through you. Magic that shouldn't exist anymore. Magic that can awaken him."

Elara is not a weapon, Kalen snapped. "No," the woman agreed.

But she is the key.

Kalen snarled.

The others in the rogue pack growled in return, low and warning.Elara touched his arm.

Kalen...

He turned to her.

There was fear in her eyes, but also fire. The kind that came from someone who spent their life wondering if they were something more.

And now they knew they were.

"Why do they keep calling me moonborn?" she asked.

"Because you were born under the Blood Moon," the woman said before Kalen could stop her.

The last one.

The same night the Thorne pack was cursed.

Elara blinked.

That's... impossible." Kalen felt his blood freeze. She didn't know, he stepped in front of her again. "You have said enough." The woman raised her hands.

As you wish. But you can't protect her from the truth forever, Alpha.

She's not just your mate. She's the one who breaks the bloodlock."

Kalen's heart thudded.

You don't know that.

She has the mark. You both do. That bond was sealed by the Moon Goddess herself. She did not just choose you, Kalen Thorne.

she chose her.

The forest went silent, even the wind seemed to hold its breath from somewhere deep in the trees, a new howl rose.

Not Ironfang.

Not rogue, but something worse.

The rogue pack tensed, the white-haired woman's,face darkened.

You have led them here.

They have been hunting me for days,

Kalen said. They won't stop.

"You need to run," she said. Now?

Kalen grabbed Elara's hand. We have to move.

But where? she asked. There is an old sanctuary, he said. "The Hollow.

She didn't ask questions. Just followed, they ran again, through moonlight and shadow, across frozen creeks and under hollowed trees. Behind them, howls rose.

Not chasing. Not close, but circling and Hunting.

It was only when they reached the edge of the Hollow that Kalen realized how close the curse was to breaking loose but his vision was blurred.

His chest ached.

He leaned against a tree, gasping. Elara turned to him. You are not okay.

I will be fine.

You're lying. He looked at her. Really looked.

Her skin glowed faintly in the silver light.

Her eyes burned with questions.

Her presence dulled the pain, but also fed the thing inside him.

The curse wanted her. Because she was pure.

Whole.

Made of something older than time.

She took his hand. Tell me what this bond really means.

He hesitated. "It means," he said slowly,

that I am yours, you are mine, and if one of us dies... the other might too.

Her breath caught. And if we break it?

We can't, he said. "Not without tearing ourselves apart."

She let go of his hand.

Slowly.

Her gaze dropped to the mark on her collarbone.

I did not ask for this.

I know. And yet, she whispered, l don't want to let you die.

Before he could respond, the air around them shifted the trees bent inward.

A shadow stepped out from the Hollow's mouth, not a rogue, not a hunter.

But a man.

wrapped in dark robes. Wearing a half-mask of bone.

His eyes shimmered silver.

He looked at Elara and smiled.

I have been looking for you, moonborn.

We landed hard on stone, cold, ancient, humming with power.

I gasped, the air thick with forgotten magic. Runes pulsed along the walls, glowing as if recognizing my presence.

Kalen shifted back, eyes on me. "This place... it's sacred."

"Why does it know me?"

He didn't answer, because something else did.

A voice echoed through the chamber, low and female.

"The blood returns. The curse awakens."

And then the shadows stepped forward... wearing Mira's face.

Kalen stepped in front of her instinctively, but the stranger raised a hand, and Kalen's body froze.

Not with fear. With magic.

"I am the one who cursed you, Alpha," the man said.

And now, I've come to finish what I started."