Adolphus' POV
I never believed in fate. Only hard work. Only action.
But standing here now, I could almost feel the Moon Goddess breathing down my neck—shifting pieces on a board I didn’t know I was part of.
After the uproar in the grand hall, the Alpha raised a hand and ordered everyone to leave. His voice cut through the shouting like a blade. Cassandra, red-faced and trembling, was screaming at him, demanding answers. Her voice cracked as she asked if the Indigo pack was lying. Whether they were sent to ruin her.
The Alpha didn’t answer.
Instead, he ordered a closed-door meeting with the visiting pack and the council. And in the chaos, she grabbed my arm.
“Stay with me,” she hissed.
But I didn’t.
I didn’t owe her anything anymore.
My feet moved before I could think, before duty or guilt could wrap their chains around my neck. I left the ceremonial hall, pushed through the murmurs and guards and smoke. The heavy scent of burning torches still lingered. Crushed petals from the mating ceremony littered the floor like bruised reminders of what was supposed to be.
But beneath it all, I smelled something else.
Danger.
My wolf growled low in my mind, pacing, ears pinned back. His voice rumbled through my chest.
Katrina is in trouble.
I didn’t hesitate. I shoved past the outer guards, ignoring their calls. I ran.
Her scent pulled at me—sharp, wild, panicked—tugging something primal loose in my chest. I didn’t need directions. My instincts led me straight to the river. The same place where she had found me months ago. Half-dead. Lost. Broken.
Now she stood at the edge of the water.
Her arms wrapped tightly around her trembling body. Her skin gleamed with sweat. Her bare feet were planted in the mud, legs shaking. Wet hair clung to her face and shoulders, strands caught in the wind. Her chest rose and fell in shallow, ragged gasps. But her eyes—gods, her eyes—they glowed.
Not from fear.
Not from submission.
But with wild, uncontrollable power.
She had shifted.
And she had survived it.
She turned suddenly, sensing me before I said a word. Her breath caught. Her lips parted.
And then the word came—not from her lips, but from deep within us.
“Mate.”
It hit like a seismic crack through the air. A pull. A tether. My knees nearly buckled.
Katrina gasped, stumbling back, her face twisting in denial. “No.” Her voice shook. “It can’t be. This isn’t possible.”
I took a cautious step forward. “Katrina—”
“No.” She moved again, further away, her arms clutching the cape tighter around herself. Her eyes searched mine, wild, uncertain. “You knew, didn’t you?”
I hesitated.
Did I? Not in words. Not in certainty. But there had always been something. A gravity between us I couldn’t name. A pull I ignored.
I nodded.
She reeled, like I’d struck her. Her voice cracked. “So it’s true.”
“I didn’t know how to tell you,” I said quietly.
“You didn’t have to,” she snapped. “You just had to not betray me.”
Her pain was sharp. Raw. I could feel it like it was my own.
“You were with Cassandra,” she said, tears brimming now. “You stood in that hall, ready to claim her.”
My jaw tensed. “You told me to get closer. You said—”
“I never meant for you to choose her!” Her voice broke. “I thought you…” She faltered. “I thought you cared about me.”
My chest tightened. “I do.”
She laughed, bitter and sharp. “Then why was I alone? Why did you stand there, silent, while she paraded around like she owned you?”
I stepped forward again, slower this time. “It was never about her, Katrina.”
“Then what was it about?” Her voice dropped, trembling. “Because it didn’t feel like it was about me.”
Before I could answer, a memory sliced through me.
Pain exploded in my head. I staggered, clutching my temples as the vision slammed into me like a tidal wave.
Blood. Fire. Screams. The battlefield burned red. My father’s banners torn. My people falling. And him—my half-brother—smiling over the bodies. The blade in his hand gleaming with my blood.
“You’ll never rule, Adolphus,” he sneered. “You were never meant to.”
The sword plunged into my side. The agony was instant. Total.
I stumbled back, gasping. My vision blurred.
Katrina’s voice reached through the haze. “Adolphus!”
Her hands gripped my arms, trying to hold me steady. But I was falling—again. This time into memory. Into the truth. The riverside. The blood. Her voice calling my name.
She had found me then.
She had saved me.
And now, I was collapsing at her feet.
I tried to speak, to warn her, to tell her what I had seen—but my lips barely moved. The edges of the world curled inward.
And then everything went black.