Chapter 2 Strange With Silver Eyes

Selene Rayne

Ashfang Territory

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Warmth.

For the first time in what felt like hours... maybe days... there was warmth.

It wrapped around me like a thick blanket, seeping into my bones, slowly pushing back the frostbite of rejection.

I wasn't dead?

I blinked slowly, groggy and aching. The room came into focus in pieces - pale gray walls, a crackling fire across from the bed, the faint scent of pine, leather... and something stronger. Male. Wolf.

I sat up too quickly.

Pain shot through my body, sharp and punishing. My legs throbbed. My head spun. My palms were wrapped in bandages, and the long ceremonial dress I had worn was gone - replaced with a soft cotton tunic several sizes too big.

Panic surged in my chest.

Where was I?

Whose bed was this?

Why was I still alive?

And then I remembered:

Kade.

The rejection.

The Blood Moon.

The forest.

The rain.

I curled in on myself and gripped the sheets as if they could anchor me in place.

But the mate bond... it was still gone.

I still felt empty. Unbound. Like a wolf without a home or a heartbeat.

A soft knock broke through my thoughts.

I barely looked up before the door opened.

And he stepped in.

The stranger from the forest.

Only now I could really see him.

Tall. Broad. Every inch of him radiated power, like it bled out of his skin. His black shirt stretched across muscled shoulders, dark pants tucked into combat boots, and his silver eyes - cold, sharp, and unsettling - locked onto mine with a predator's focus.

His presence filled the room like smoke.

My wolf whimpered low in my chest.

But not in fear.

In recognition.

No.

Not again.

He said nothing for a moment. Just watched me with a tight jaw and an unreadable expression.

Then, in a voice as low and rough as gravel, he asked,

"You're awake."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement - factual, clipped.

I swallowed. My throat burned.

"Where... am I?" I managed, voice barely above a whisper.

"You're in Ashfang territory," he said. "Pack infirmary."

Ashfang.

My pulse skipped.

This was Alpha Ronan Vale's pack.

I'd heard of him - everyone had. Ruthless. Isolated. A wolf with a heart carved out of stone. His pack was feared across the North. No alliances. No diplomacy. No softness.

What was I doing here?

"I found you past the riverbend," he continued. "You were unconscious. Half frozen. You'd lost blood."

I clenched my jaw, heat crawling up my neck. "You should have left me there."

He blinked slowly, as if weighing every syllable I said.

"I don't leave Lunas to die in the woods."

I flinched.

Luna.

The word stung.

"I'm not a Luna anymore," I said, bitterness lacing the words before I could stop them.

"Rejected?" he asked.

I nodded once.

His gaze swept over me, taking in the pain I wore like skin.

"You were bleeding," he said. "But not from battle."

"No." I forced myself to meet his eyes. "From betrayal."

Something flickered in his expression - not pity. He didn't look like the type to pity anyone.

But there was a shift.

Like he knew the taste of that word, too.

Betrayal.

He didn't speak for a long moment. Then:

"I'm Ronan Vale. Alpha of Ashfang."

Of course he was.

"I'm Selene," I said, voice rough. "Former Luna of Nightfall."

His eyes narrowed slightly at that. "Kade Thorn's pack."

"Yes."

"And he left you?"

My mouth twitched. "He stood me up in front of the entire pack during our Blood Moon ceremony. Announced his rejection. Replaced me."

Silence.

Then, low and sharp: "Coward."

The word cut the air like a blade, and I flinched - not because he was wrong. But because of how much I agreed.

I looked down at my bandaged hands. "Why did you bring me here?"

His silver eyes met mine again, steady. "Because your wolf was broken, but not dead. And I don't let good wolves die for the mistakes of weaker ones."

Something about the way he said it made my chest tighten.

He saw through me.

Not as a victim.

Not as a fragile thing.

But as a wolf with something left worth saving.

And I didn't know how to feel about that.

"I can't stay here," I said quickly, heart racing. "Kade might-he might come looking. I don't want to cause you trouble. Or... or put your pack in danger."

Ronan's expression didn't change.

"If Kade Thorn steps one foot into my territory, I'll tear his throat out and feed it to the crows."

My breath caught.

He didn't say it with anger or threat.

He said it like a promise.

Like a fact.

I didn't know what to say to that.

I only knew one Alpha before. And he had stood beside me only long enough to burn me in front of everyone.

But this one?

This one hadn't even touched me, and I felt more protected than I ever had in my own pack.

Still, I couldn't let myself hope.

Not again.

"I'll leave as soon as I can walk," I whispered. "I won't be a burden."

Ronan took a single step closer. Not threatening. Just... present.

"Selene," he said. "You're not a prisoner. You're not charity."

"Then what am I?"

His voice dropped, eyes glowing faintly.

"I don't know yet. But my wolf doesn't want you to leave. And neither do I."

I froze.

My heart skipped.

He couldn't mean-

"No," I said quickly. "Please don't say it."

His jaw ticked. "I'm not claiming anything. I don't believe in fate. But I do believe in what I feel. And you're not just some broken Luna."

He turned and walked to the door, pausing with one hand on the frame.

"You're stronger than you know," he said. "Heal first. Decide later."

And then he left.

Leaving me alone in a room I didn't recognize...

With a heartbeat I didn't expect.