Kieran had always known fear. He had faced rogue wolves, bloodthirsty hunters, and the merciless bite of winter, but nothing compared to the terror of standing in his own skin and feeling like a stranger.
The moon was missing from his memories, and with it, something vital had been stolen.
Now, standing at the edge of the ruined temple, he stared at the stone pillars cracked with age. The air smelled of old magic, damp earth, and something else familiarity. He clenched his fists as an ache spread through his chest.
"You've been here before," the woman beside him murmured.
Seren. That was her name. The only name his mind hadn't let slip through the cracks.
Her silver eyes reflected the distant torchlight, making her look as if she had swallowed the stars. Kieran wished he could say he remembered her, that her face stirred something beyond the unsettling pull in his gut, but all he had was fragments half a voice, a touch, a promise he couldn't recall.
"Tell me what happened here," he said, his voice raw.
Seren hesitated, fingers brushing the hilt of the dagger strapped to her thigh. A weapon meant for him? Or to protect him?
"This is where you were taken," she said finally.
A chill slithered down his spine.
"Taken?"
"You don't remember because they made you forget."
The words hit him like a strike to the ribs. His wolf stirred weak, struggling, but angry.
"Who?" His voice came out rough, barely human.
Seren exhaled, stepping closer. She smelled like rain and smoke, like something warm he should have clung to long ago.
"The Elders," she said, voice tight. "They feared you. So, they ripped the moon from your soul."
The ground tilted beneath him.
"That's not possible."
Seren's gaze darkened. "Then why do you feel empty?"
Kieran sucked in a sharp breath. He didn't want to admit it, but she was right. The hollowness in his chest, the eerie silence where his wolf should have been it wasn't natural. It was as if something had been carved out of him, leaving only a gaping wound behind.
"I don't understand," he whispered.
Seren's jaw tightened. "You were the strongest of us, Kieran. The true Alpha. But power like yours?" She shook her head. "It scared them. They couldn't kill you, so they did the next best thing."
A memory flickered in his mind shadows moving against a cold stone wall, voices chanting, pain searing through his body.
Then… nothing.
His hands curled into fists. "They stole my wolf."
Seren nodded, but her gaze softened. "Not completely."
Kieran's head snapped toward her. "What do you mean?"
"They couldn't take everything. That's why you're still alive."
A heartbeat of silence stretched between them. The weight of her words sank into his bones. If they had truly erased him, he wouldn't be here, standing, breathing, feeling the ember of something burning deep inside him.
"Then I can get it back."
Seren didn't respond immediately. Instead, she reached out, brushing her fingers against his forearm. It was such a small touch, but it sent a bolt of warmth through him, like sunlight breaking through a storm.
"Not without a price."
He swallowed hard. He didn't care about the cost. He'd already lost too much.
"Tell me."
Seren hesitated, then stepped back. Her silver eyes flickered with something close to regret.
"The moon is still within you, Kieran. Buried deep. But to awaken it…" Her voice dropped. "You have to face the ones who took it."
The Elders.
The wolves who had betrayed him.
"And if I do?"
Seren's lips parted, but before she could answer.
A howl split the night.
Kieran's body tensed. It wasn't just any howl it was a call, a warning.
They had been found.
"Run," Seren ordered, unsheathing her dagger.
But Kieran didn't run.
For the first time in too long, his wolf stirred.
The sound of footsteps thundered through the trees. Shadows emerged from the darkness figures cloaked in black, eyes gleaming with a cruel kind of knowing.
The Elders' enforcers.
Kieran's pulse pounded, but unlike before, he didn't feel lost. He felt anger.
The air around him grew heavier, a strange hum filling his ears. His hands trembled not with fear, but with something deeper, something raw clawing its way to the surface.
"You should have stayed forgotten, Kieran," one of them sneered.
Seren shifted beside him, her blade glinting under the dim light. "And you should have killed him properly the first time."
The enforcer smirked. "That's what we're here to fix."
Kieran exhaled slowly.
Then, he smiled.
"Try."
And as the first attacker lunged his wolf awoke.