Chapter 7 Blood Between Lines

Selara didn't sleep that night. Her body sat still, but her mind ran wild through the dark corridors of memory. Kael had once been her sanctuary, her fiercest protector. Now he was a ghost wrapped in cruelty, capable of anything. The fact that he found Kieran first wasn't random it was personal. Selara stood in the middle of the living room, eyes closed, whispering ancient Luna chants to strengthen what little magic she could still summon. Her bond to the moon was weak in this realm, but her instincts sharpened by the second. She wasn't going to wait for Kael to strike again.

Kieran watched her from the hallway, half in awe, half in fear. The calm, strange woman he let into his home was now radiating something untouchable power, pain, rage. He stepped forward. "You need to tell me who he really is," he said. Selara opened her eyes slowly. "Kael was once my mate. My Alpha. We were raised to rule together." She paused, voice tight. "Until I broke the bond. And he never forgave me." Kieran swallowed. "And now?" Her jaw clenched. "Now he's trying to make me regret it."

Jules had been watching the building from across the street, eyes behind dark glasses, hand on the blade at her thigh. Her gut twisted with confusion. She didn't trust Selara, but she didn't trust her feelings, either. There was something magnetic about the Luna a force Jules couldn't define, but it pulled at her like a tide. When Kael appeared in her dreams the night before golden eyes, cruel smirk, whispering her name she'd told herself it was just paranoia. But now? The veil between their worlds was thinning, and Selara wasn't the only one being hunted.

Ignoring protocol, Jules made her move. She waited until nightfall, slipped into Kieran's apartment while he was on call, and confronted Selara directly. Blade in hand. "We both know this ends one way," she said, stepping into the dim light. Selara didn't move. "You think I'm your enemy," she said calmly. "But you're not even aiming at the right monster." Jules raised her blade. "Then prove it. Or I swear, I'll make you bleed." Selara's eyes flashed silver. "You'll try." And with a single blink, the room filled with a gust of wind that didn't belong to this world.