Chapter 5 – Of Ash and Silver
POV: Kael Draven
The first time I felt it, I dismissed it as nothing more than a passing moment of weakness.
A sharp headache, a ripple of dizziness. A fleeting image of her — Seren — standing in the moonlight, eyes full of defiance.
I'd thought the bond would fade. That the rejection would sever it. That my life would return to the careful, controlled chaos I was used to. But nothing had gone according to plan.
By the time I returned to my tent, the headache was gone. But it was quickly replaced by something more insistent.
It started with the fire.
I was pacing, lost in thought, my mind a storm of doubts and anger, when I looked down and noticed the flame in the hearth. It flickered, guttered, and then flared in an unnatural burst of light. It reached toward me, almost as though it were alive.
I blinked, and the flame pulsed again — an undeniable connection, like the spark between two wires.
And then I heard it.
A voice, not my own. But familiar. The same as before, the one I'd heard in the clearing.
"You should not have rejected her."
My heart stuttered, and I stepped back. It was like the air around me had thickened. My skin prickled.
Who is that?
The fire dimmed, and the voice disappeared. But the air remained heavy, like a storm was gathering on the horizon.
I hadn't realized I was holding my breath until it came out in a rush. I cursed under my breath and knelt by the hearth, staring into the embers. Nothing. Just the flickering flames, nothing more.
But the sensation lingered. The tug, the pull. Something was happening, something I didn't understand.
I stood, quickly shaking off the unease, and dressed for the night hunt. My father had already told me that the pack needed me — the Nightfangs were restless, and I was supposed to lead the hunt. But the thought of going back into the wilds, the thought of confronting Seren's ghost in the trees, made my blood run cold.
The bond still lingered. It throbbed in the back of my mind, a low hum in the shadows. I couldn't shake it. No matter how much I tried to drown it out.
I forced myself to walk out into the crisp night air.
I could hear their voices before I even reached the ridge.
The wolves of the pack had already gathered, their scents thick in the air. I could smell their anxiety, their need for a hunt, their hunger for blood. But there was something else — something… restless.
My eyes locked on the pack members assembled by the edge of the clearing, and I noticed something I hadn't expected.
Talia was there.
Her gaze caught mine almost immediately. A sharp, calculating look. Her lips curled into a predatory smile.
I didn't acknowledge her.
Instead, I walked toward the center of the clearing, my alpha presence settling over the group like a wave of heat.
"We hunt tonight," I said, my voice strong. "But we do not hunt like animals. We hunt with purpose."
I didn't explain what that purpose was. I didn't need to. The pack knew — there was power in the air tonight. It hummed through the trees like a living thing. And we were going to claim it.
But as I led the pack deeper into the woods, a sense of dread gnawed at me. My senses were sharp, more so than usual, and the forest around me seemed… wrong.
The wind didn't move the way it should. The trees didn't creak like they used to. Everything was too still. Too quiet.
And then, deep in the heart of the forest, the sensation hit me again.
The pull.
I froze mid-step, a sharp ache shooting up my spine. The bond flared, bright and unyielding.
I knew where it was coming from.
Seren.
Her presence was like a whisper on the wind, like a shadow stalking me through the trees. I felt her — felt her power, wild and untamed, thrumming through the forest.
I couldn't deny it. Not anymore.
POV: Seren Thorne
The pain was gone.
But the emptiness remained.
I woke up in my tent, drenched in sweat. The fever had passed, but it left something behind — a sense of loss that went deeper than my bones. I'd woken with the sun, but something felt different.
I could feel it in the air. The tension.
It was like the forest was holding its breath.
And then I heard it — a howl, distant but unmistakable. The call of the Nightfangs, echoing through the trees like the roar of a storm.
I stood, my muscles stiff, and walked toward the clearing. The camp was already waking, readying for the hunt. But I knew I wouldn't be joining them. Not tonight.
As I reached the edge of the woods, I stopped, frozen. The pull had returned — stronger this time. It throbbed through me, burning under my skin, like an unhealed wound.
I turned toward the east, toward the ridge where Kael and his pack waited.
And for the first time since the rejection, I understood something.
I couldn't run from him. Not now.
Not when the bond had already begun to change everything.