The night air was heavy with mist and secrets.
Selena moved through the forest in silence, her cloak brushing against the wet leaves. Every step brought her closer to the border she had sworn never to cross — the invisible line that divided vampire lands from the wolves' domain.
But the pull inside her chest would not stop. It burned like a second heartbeat, urging her toward something — someone — she shouldn't want.
She reached the edge of a clearing and froze. The scent of wolves was strong here — sharp, earthy, and alive. Her instincts screamed to turn back, but the faint hum of the bond whispered otherwise.
You shouldn't be here, a voice echoed faintly in her mind.
She spun around. No one. Just the whisper — his voice. Luca.
Selena clenched her fists. "Stop haunting me," she said aloud, though the forest was empty.
The voice came again, softer this time.
Then stop calling me.
Her breath caught. "I didn't—"
Didn't you?
A sudden pain flared through her wound, making her drop to her knees. Images flooded her mind — a flash of silver armor, a torch-lit hall, and eyes like molten moonlight. She saw him, pacing restlessly in a stone chamber far away, his heart pounding in rhythm with hers.
The connection had become undeniable.
In Silverfang Keep, Luca Varyn stood at his window, gripping the cold stone sill. The night stretched endlessly below, the forests black and endless. For three days, he had tried to suppress it — the voice, the visions, the bond — but it only grew stronger.
He had felt her pain that evening like a knife in his ribs. He had seen what she saw — the ruins, the rain, her loneliness.
He couldn't explain it. He couldn't ignore it.
And worst of all, he didn't want to.
When the moon climbed higher, he made his decision.
He packed lightly — a blade of silvered steel, a dark cloak, and a pendant bearing the mark of his house. Kael found him in the stables as he saddled his horse.
"Leaving without a word?" Kael asked, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.
Luca didn't look up. "I need answers."
"From where?"
"The ruins in the forest. The ones our ancestors abandoned after the first Blood War."
Kael frowned. "Those are vampire lands, Luca. If your father finds out—"
"He won't," Luca said coldly. "And neither will you tell him."
Kael sighed, stepping closer. "You've changed since the last Hunt. Ever since that night under the Blood Moon…" He lowered his voice. "You're hiding something, aren't you?"
Luca's eyes flashed silver. "Be glad you don't know what it is."
Without another word, he rode into the night.
The journey was long and shadowed. The forest grew wilder as he approached the border, the air colder, the silence heavier. The smell of iron and decay — the mark of vampire soil — clung to the air.
He dismounted when he saw the old chapel rising in the distance, half-buried under vines and mist. The bond pulsed inside him like a beacon. She was there. He could feel her.
He stepped quietly into the ruins. Moonlight streamed through the shattered roof, casting silver beams across the stone floor.
And then — she appeared.
Selena emerged from the shadows, her cloak trailing behind her, her crimson eyes catching the moonlight. For a long moment, neither spoke. The air between them felt charged, alive.
"You shouldn't have come," she said, her voice trembling between anger and disbelief.
"Maybe not," Luca replied softly, "but I couldn't stay away."
Her gaze hardened. "Are you here to finish what you started in the forest?"
"If I were," he said, taking a slow step forward, "you'd already be dead."
The words should have frightened her. They didn't.
Instead, she whispered, "Then why are you here?"
Luca hesitated — then answered the truth. "Because when you bleed, I feel it. When you dream, I see it. And when I try to forget, the bond reminds me I can't."
Selena's breath caught. "It's impossible. A wolf and a vampire can't share blood."
"Then tell me why I hear your heartbeat in my sleep," he said, his voice low.
They stood only a few feet apart now. The moonlight painted their faces — silver and crimson, predator and prey, both trembling under the weight of something neither understood.
Finally, she whispered, "Maybe fate's playing a cruel trick on us."
"Maybe," he murmured, "or maybe it's giving us a choice."
The air thickened with silence. For a fleeting moment, they simply looked at each other — two enemies bound by a curse older than either clan could remember.
Then a howl broke through the night — close, sharp, and angry.
Selena's eyes widened. "They've found you."
Luca turned toward the sound, his body tense. "Then run with me," he said.
She hesitated. "Run with you?"
"Just this once."
The bond pulsed again — stronger than fear, stronger than reason. And before she could answer, the shadows exploded with movement — claws, snarls, and silver eyes closing in from the trees.
Luca drew his blade. Selena's fangs bared.
For the first time in centuries, wolf and vampire fought side by side.