Chapter 1: The Blood Moon Dream.
The forest howled with wind and secrets.
Kael Fenrir stood at the cliff's edge, silver eyes narrowed at the crimson moon hanging above the treetops like an omen. A low growl rumbled in his throat.
Blood Moon.
A time of unrest, of shifting power. Every wolf in the Fenris Pack felt it in their bones, but only Kael had seen her.
In the dream, she stood wreathed in flames. Her eyes glowed like burning embers, and her skin shimmered with moonlight. He'd tried to move toward her, but his legs had rooted to the ground. Then the Moon Goddess's voice echoed from the stars:
Your mate is not of your kind.
He had woken with sweat on his brow and the taste of ash in his mouth.
The vision haunted him—more than just a dream. It felt like a memory borrowed from another lifetime. Each night, it returned stronger, more vivid. And each time, her fire licked closer to his soul.
Kael's Beta, Lioren, emerged from the shadows behind him, his footsteps silent on the mossy stone. "The eastern patrol reports movement along the border. Witches again."
Kael didn't respond at first. His thoughts were trapped in the burning world of the dream, where the unknown woman consumed him with nothing but a look. Her scent had stayed with him even after waking. Fire and lavender. A dangerous contradiction. And it stirred something within him he couldn't name.
"Alpha," Lioren said more firmly. "Do we strike?"
Kael turned slowly. The wind caught the ends of his dark hair, and his eyes gleamed with a light that wasn't entirely his own. Beneath the weight of the Blood Moon, he looked every inch the predator the world feared. The Alpha. The Wolf of Crimson Nights.
"No," he said. "Not yet."
Lioren frowned. "That's the third time this week. If the witches think us weak—"
"They don't," Kael cut in. "They're restless. So are we. But there's something else brewing. Something... older."
Lioren hesitated. He'd known Kael long enough to recognize the tone—the one that spoke not just with authority, but with something deeper. A pull from beyond. A call from fate itself.
Kael turned back to the forest, the deep hum of night pressing in. His breath fogged slightly in the air. Despite the summer heat, he shivered.
He could still see her.
That woman of fire.
That woman who could destroy him.
And yet... she was his.
The wolves had warred with witches for centuries. Blood soaked the earth of these woods. But even blood had roots. What had started this enmity? What power had cursed two races to oppose one another endlessly?
Kael didn't have the answer. But the Moon Goddess did.
And she had shown him his fate.
As the howls of his pack echoed in the valley below, Kael whispered to the wind.
"Show me again. Let me see her."
The air shifted. A warm breeze drifted through the trees, carrying with it the faintest trace of lavender and fire.
Kael's chest tightened. His wolf stirred, pacing beneath his skin.
Then came the low, distant cry of an owl. A signal.
Movement along the southern border.
Kael turned, cloak billowing behind him. "Lioren, ready the scouts. And send word to Elder Ardyn. If the witches breach again, we respond. But not with blood."
Lioren blinked. "Then how?"
Kael's gaze returned to the moon. "With answers."
Because war had brought nothing but pain.
But fate—fate offered something far more dangerous.
Hope.
And with hope came the promise of change.
Kael remained there for a moment after Lioren left, letting the weight of the Blood Moon settle over him. The vision of the woman burned behind his eyes—her lips, parted as if to whisper a name. His name?
A tremor ran through him, not from fear, but anticipation.
He could feel it. Something was coming.
No, not something.
Someone.