Chapter 8: First Sight
Selene couldn't sleep.
She paced the floor of her tower chamber, her bare feet silent against the cold stone. Outside the window, the forest shimmered under the pale light of the moon. The same moon that had watched her stand in the ruins face-to-face with Kael.
The memory was still raw.
His touch had been brief—just a brush of fingers—but it had lit something deep within her. A spark. A promise. A warning.
She pressed her hand against her chest, where her heartbeat fluttered too fast. The magic inside her had been restless ever since. It pulsed like a flame with a will of its own. It wanted him.
It terrified her.
"I can't do this," she whispered to the empty room. "This goes against everything I've been taught."
Yet the truth was undeniable.
She had seen his soul—and he had seen hers. Not as enemies. Not as symbols of an ancient war. But as people. As kindred. As something destined.
A knock came at the door. Selene whirled, startled. No one came to her chambers at this hour.
It was Mira, her closest friend and fellow witch. She entered without waiting. "You've been gone for hours. Where were you?"
Selene hesitated, then lied. "Out in the glade. I needed air."
Mira didn't look convinced. Her sharp hazel eyes narrowed. "You're glowing. Your aura's spiked. Something happened."
Selene turned her back. "It's nothing."
"Selene." Mira came closer. "Is it about the dreams again?"
Selene swallowed. "Not just dreams anymore."
Mira's eyes widened. "You saw him?"
Selene nodded. "In the ruins. It wasn't planned. We were both drawn there."
"You spoke?"
"We did more than speak." Selene let out a shaky breath. "I touched him. We felt the bond. It's real, Mira. I'm not imagining it."
Mira sat heavily on the edge of the bed. "By the Goddess…"
"I don't know what to do," Selene confessed. "Part of me wants to fight it, to run. But another part—" she placed a hand on her chest— "knows this is what I was meant for."
Mira looked at her with quiet understanding. "Then maybe it's time we stop letting the past decide the future."
Selene stared at her. "Do you really believe that?"
Mira's voice was steady. "I believe in you."
The two sat in silence for a long while, listening to the wind whisper outside the window. When Mira finally left, Selene stood at the window and stared at the stars.
The bond had awakened something deeper than magic. A force old as the Moon itself.
Across the forest, Kael sat alone near a small campfire, his pack scattered in the shadows beyond. They were wary, unsettled. He could feel their unease like smoke in the air.
He understood. He should be afraid too.
But he wasn't.
He thought of her—her hair, her eyes, the fire that danced at her fingertips. How her presence had calmed his inner beast. How the anger he had carried for years had quieted when she spoke his name.
Selene.
Kael clenched his fists. "What are you doing to me?" he murmured into the night.
The moon above was silent. But deep in his bones, he felt it watching. Guiding.
He rose to his feet and wandered away from the camp, deeper into the woods. He followed no path—just instinct. Until he came to a stream. The water reflected the stars, the trees, and his own solemn expression.
He knelt and touched the surface. It rippled.
And then her face appeared.
Not in the water—but in his mind.
"I'm not your enemy," she had said. "But I need time."
Kael understood now.
They were mirrors of one another. Different, but bound. Fire and fang. Witch and wolf.
He would give her time.
But not forever.
And if the world tried to stop what had begun between them—then the world would burn.
He stayed by the stream until morning light began to creep through the trees. When he returned to camp, Lioren was waiting.
"She's in your blood now, isn't she?" his second asked.
Kael didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
The Moon had chosen. And Kael would follow it—into fire, into fate, into whatever storm was coming.