I wasn't always a wanderer. Once, I had parents. Once, I belonged to a pack.
They were proud, strong wolves—both gray-furred and respected among their kind. So when they gave birth to a child with hair as white as snow and eyes the color of the sea, it shook the pack to its core.
The seer had a vision the moment I was born. He said fate had tethered itself to me, that my life would set off a series of events too powerful to stop. He didn't give details, but after that, the pack began to look at me differently. Even my parents couldn't deny it: I looked like no one else.
Some called me a gift from the gods. Others, a warning.
I didn't understand what any of it meant, but I felt it—that strange pull in my chest. Like I was meant for something more. That kind of intuition doesn't just come from nowhere.
As I grew, it became worse. I didn't shift when the other pups did. My parents worried. The pack whispered. I was taken to the healer, but he found nothing—only said that perhaps my wolf was too weak to emerge… or that I might not have a wolf at all.
A human child born to wolves? It was unthinkable.
I became an outcast. But through it all, my parents never stopped loving me.
Then came the blood.
I was five the night my world ended. The sharp scent filled the air—iron, copper, death. I searched for my parents, but they were gone. I stumbled outside, heart pounding, and the scene burned itself into my memory.
Bodies. Blood. Silence.
The sky was painted in crimson. The moon—a full blood moon—hung low and ominous. Shadows moved through the haze. Cloaked figures. I saw them.
And that was when it happened.
My wolf surfaced. Not by choice, not by will, but by sheer terror and pain. I shifted for the first time as the massacre unfolded around me.
A white wolf. A pup.
The cloaked figures turned toward me. I should've died that night. But fear is a powerful thing. I ran.
The one thing I remember most? Black fur… and golden eyes. It had etched itself in my mind. Like a vision. I didn't know who they belonged to.
Those eyes have haunted me every night since.
---
I blinked and looked up. Cassian Vale's gaze was fixed on me, unreadable as ever. He had taken me from the cell to this sterile interrogation room, though I was still bound at the wrists and ankles. Overkill, if you asked me.
"Haven't I made it clear that I'm harmless?" I muttered, rattling the chains slightly.
His beta stood silently nearby, watching me with wary gray eyes. Cassian leaned back in his chair and exhaled.
"So let me get this straight," he said at last. "Your entire pack was wiped out by unknown beings during a blood moon?"
I nodded. "Not just mine. Every pack I've settled in since has been attacked. I've been hunted since birth… and I still don't know why."
He studied me for a moment, eyes narrowing. "And now?"
"Now, I'm rogue. I wandered until a circle of elders found me. They were the first to tell me the truth."
Cassian raised a brow. "Which is?"
I met his gaze evenly. "That I had to find you, Cassian Vale."
His jaw tensed, but he said nothing. He folded his arms and leaned forward slightly.
"The seer left me a parchment," he said slowly. "It spoke of the Moonbound. Are you familiar with the legend?"
I blinked, surprised. "No. The elders only told me what I needed to know. They said that once I found you, everything would become clear."
It sounded foolish aloud, but I meant every word. The elders spoke of a fated messenger and a destined protector. I didn't want to believe it—but how could I ignore everything that's happened?
Cassian stared at me for a long beat, then stood.
"What does the legend say?" I asked.
He turned toward the door. "I can't tell you. Not until I'm certain of what I'm dealing with."
Frustration bloomed in my chest, but I didn't argue.
Just as he reached the door, he paused. "You said you came to my territory looking for me. What did you see?"
I met his gaze. "Your name. Written in blood."
His beta stiffened. Cassian's eyes darkened.
"Are you saying the Alpha is in danger?"
"I don't know," I said truthfully. "That's just what I saw."
Cassian didn't reply. He simply turned and walked out, his beta following closely behind.