RAFE

The forest had never felt so loud.

Each crunch beneath my boots was a threat, and every rustle of leaves screamed a warning. I kept glancing over my shoulder, my instincts screaming at me that we were being followed even though we hadn't seen anyone since we left my house.

Luca walked a step ahead, his hood was pulled low, and his shoulders seemed tense. The moonlight made his hair glow silver, he didn't speak, but I could hear his heartbeat, fast, uneven and matching mine.

I wanted to reach for his hand, to ground us both. But that wasn't an option anymore, not with the way our scents had changed.

We reeked of bond.

It clung to us....faint, but wrong and different. Anyone with a nose would notice it soon, and once they did, we were dead.

Zayne's sudden return hadn't helped. He trudged behind us now, silent as a shadow. His presence gnawed at me, it felt alive, changed and haunting.

He hadn't said much when we left, just that we needed to move, and fast.

Now, I couldn't stop thinking about what he'd muttered when Luca wasn't listening:

"Caleb is hunting you both, not just Luca, you too, Rafe, he's been told of what you are."

I didn't ask who because, I already knew.

"Stop," Zayne said, his voice was low but urgent.

Luca and I froze, my body tensed, wolf rising. I tilted my head, listening. There was a second heartbeat, maybe two and it was far but closing in.

"They've picked up your trail," Zayne whispered, "And I'm not sure they're alone."

"How many?" I asked.

"Three I can sense. But Caleb... he's smart, he wouldn't come without a plan."

I cursed under my breath. "We have to move."

"No," Zayne countered, "We need to hide."

Luca turned to him. "Why should we trust you?"

Zayne flinched, then looked at me instead. "Because I didn't die like everyone thought. I was captured and the only reason I escaped was because someone else needed you alive."

His gaze flicked to Luca.

I stepped in front of him, my wolf bristling, "What does that mean?"

Zayne shook his head. "Later, because right now, we either run or fight."

A howl tore through the air, close enough to make my blood chill.

They'd found us.

"Run," I snapped, grabbing Luca's arm. "Now."

We broke into a sprint, branches whipped past, roots grabbed at our feet, and the forest became a blur of shadows. Behind us, footsteps thundered....closer, heavier.

Luca stumbled. I caught him before he hit the ground. His eyes were wide, panicked, and glowing faintly.

That stopped me cold.

His eyes, they were glowing.

Omegas didn't glow, not unless...It can't be true.

"What's happening to me?" he whispered, voice shaky. "I feel... off."

"Not now," I said, pulling him upright. "Later, keep running."

We cut through a clearing, moonlight drenching us, bad move.

A growl echoed across the trees, and suddenly, he was there.

Caleb.

His wolf leapt from the shadows, black as pitch, his eyes locked on Luca, his growl vibrated through my bones.

I shifted mid-air, fur erupting, bones snapping, landing between him and Luca with a snarl.

He lunged.

We collided with brutal force, claws raking, and teeths snapping. Pain bloomed down my side, but I held firm, I wouldn't let him touch Luca, not now, not ever.

Zayne appeared from nowhere, slamming into one of Caleb's flanking wolves causing a blur of motion and blood.

"Get Luca out of here!" he yelled.

I turned to Luca, his face pale, and shaking. "Run, don't stop, head for the river, I'll find you."

"No," he said, voice breaking. "I won't leave you..."

Another wolf crashed out of the underbrush, charging straight for him.

That's when it happened.

Luca screamed, not in fear, but in fury and the air around him trembled.

The attacking wolf froze mid-strike, his eyes widening. Then he yelped, his spine arching unnaturally, and was thrown backward by something I couldn't see.

A force, a blast.

Luca stared at his hands, in horror.

"What did I....?"

"Go!" I roared, my own fear mixing with awe.

He ran, and the forest seemed to move with him, shadows bending, trees shivering. Whatever he'd unleashed, it wasn't normal and it definitely wasn't Omega.

I turned back to Caleb, barely avoiding his claws. He was laughing now, blood dripping from his mouth.

"You're protecting a monster," he spat, shifting back mid-fight. "He's not just an Omega, you feel it, don't you? He's wrong, he's a curse"

"You're the curse here," I growled, fur bristling. "You and your twisted rules."

"You think you can outrun the Purge?" he sneered, "You think you can protect him when the entire pack system turns on you?"

I hesitated only for a second.

He slashed my shoulder open.

Pain blinded me, but I forced my wolf to push through. One last shove sent him crashing into a tree.

I didn't wait to see if he got up, I ran.

The forest blurred and my wounds burned, but I didn't stop. I followed Luca's scent, wild and bright and terrified. I needed to get to him, now.

Then I saw him.

Luca was standing by the river, staring into the trees like he was waiting for something or someone.

And then I felt it too.

A ripple in the air, power, cold, ancient, and foreign.

This wasn't Caleb, it was something worse. Figures emerged from the trees, hooded, unfamiliar, and scentless.

Rogues.

But not ordinary ones. These were marked, ritual-burned, feral and controlled.

They hadn't come for both of us.

They'd come for Luca.

I stepped forward, but one of them spoke first, his voice sounded deep, and inhuman.

"There he is," he said. "The Lunar Omega."

Luca backed up, eyes darting to me. "Rafe...?"

I started toward him.

Then a dart flew from the shadows, silver-tipped, soaked in wolfsbane and hit Luca square in the side.

He gasped and tumbled.

I screamed his name.

He collapsed into the river's edge, convulsing.

The last thing I saw was one of the rogues lifting his limp body over his shoulder, and stepping into the shadows.

And then they were gone.

Rafe's Pov

My wolf wanted to howl. It wanted to tear, to break, to sink its teeth into something and not let go.

The silence after the rogues took Luca was worse than the fight. It was loud ringing sharply in my ears, a cold dread filled my heart, where the bond had been. But I could still feel him a thin, silent drag pulling northeast but it felt fragile and stretched.

The river washed the blood from my shoulder but couldn't touch the fury. I crouched, snatching the silver dart from the mud, its tip was coated with silver Wolfsbane, not for killing but for capture.

"Rafe."

Zayne called as he stepped out from the tree line, his voice sounded hoarse,and there was a fresh cut above his brow.

His eyes swept the clearing, the dart in my hand his face twitched, but he didn't ask, he already knew.

"Kindred Rogues." He said, nodding his head sadly.

"They are the marked ones, Rafe, they don't hunt for sport. They hunt for power."

"They took him." My voice sounded strange, it was filled with fear and bitterness for my mate.

"I know."

"They called him something, Lunar Omega."

Suddenly there was a flicker in Zayne's eyes,

"So it's starting." He murmured to himself, but the wind blew it to my ears.

"What's starting?" I asked curiously and took a step toward him.

The wolf in me was a chaos of rage and fear. "What did they mean? What is he?" I roared in anger.

Zayne didn't flinch, he just grunted with a lopsided smile. "Hope and a death sentence, depends on who gets him first."

"Stop talking in circles!" The snarl ripped out of me.

"Where is my mate?"

"Your mate?" Zayne's laugh was short and bitter.

"You bit him? Of course you did. You just painted a target on his back twice as bright as the moon" He cursed and ran a hand over his face.

"The Kindred believe in prophecies, they think a 'Lunar Omega' is a key to power. To break curses. They'll want to test him. To use him."

The word 'use' made me furious. "Where, Zayne?"

He looked toward the dark line of mountains, and pointed to nothing. "They could be anywhere Rafe, anywhere."

"The old mines. A stone labyrinth. They could be anywhere in there. And they won't be the only ones looking for him now. That title... it's a beacon."

The bond gave a sudden spike of pain, sharp and bright, that wasn't physical. It was like the inner body was thrown into a world of pains, but the pain wasn't mine, it was Luca's.

"He's hurt." I muttered, grimly as the pain filled the bond.

"No," Zayne said, his voice dropping low.

"That's not pain, that's shock." He paused, his gaze turning frightened and wary.

"They've already taken him to the heart of it, to the only prisoner they keep alive down there."

"Who?"

Zayne met my eyes, I could see pains and secrets in his eyes, they looked heavy and awful.

"Our mother, Rafe."

My world stood on a standstill for a while, disbelief flooding my heart. "She's dead, Zayne. The rogues killed her years ago."

"That's what everyone was supposed to think. What he was supposed to think." Zayne replied, tightening his jaw.

"They didn't kill her! They took her. For the same reason they just took Luca. Because of what they are."

The ground suddenly felt unsteady under my feets. Luca's mother. Alive. A prisoner. All this time. "Does he know?"

"He doesn't, but he will the second he sees her, or smells her." Zayne's face was grim.

"And when he does, that shock you just felt? That's nothing. It will break him wide open. His control, his power, everything will spiral. And the Kindred will be right there to catch the pieces."

A new kind of fear, cold and slick, filled my heart. It wasn't just about rescue anymore. It was about containment. About reaching him before his own heart broke him apart.

"We have to go now."

"It's a trap Rafe, and you thoughtlessly want to fall into it." Zayne warned, but he was already shrugging off his pack.

"You're leaking blood and bond-scent. You'll lead every hunter straight to him."

From his pack, he pulled a jar of foul-smelling paste. "Scent mask. It'll block everything. Your trail. Your emotions. Your bond." When he saw my protest, he smiled gently but it seemed eerie.

"You'll still feel him, but it'll be very faint, like listening through a wall. It's the only way we can get close."

I stood rigid as he smeared the cold, greasy stuff on my neck, my pulse points, over my wounds. The vibrant world of scent died around me.

The pine, the earth, the water all muted. Worse, the brilliant, guiding thread of the bond faded to a faint sound.

I felt blind.

"Stay close, step where I step. We don't speak unless we have to." Zayne's orders were sharp and short. He moved into the trees, like a shadow among shadows.

The journey was silent, every snap of a twig was a threat.

The muffled bond was a constant panic in my blood. I couldn't tell what he was feeling, only that he was feeling too much.

"Why didn't you tell him?" The question left my lips before I could stop it.

Zayne froze ahead of me, his shoulders tense he didn't turn. "Tell him what?" That his mother was alive in a hole because of what she was? That he was the same? "It would have been a death sentence." He hissed.

The only chance was to let him be weak, let him be overlooked, until I could find her and get her out, I faked my death to find her." He glanced back, his eyes weary and sad.

"But I failed, and now they have them both."

We reached the foot of the mountains. The entrance was a black tear in the rock, veiled by thorny growth, firelight licked the edges, casting long, dancing shadows.

We crouched behind a ridge of rock, my heart was thumping rapidly. The quiet bond in my chest gave a strange, fluttering sound. It felt like confusion. Then, her voice, thin, worn. But unmistakable.

"You will not touch him."

Then, came Luca's voice, not a shout but a broken frail sound. It sounded as both a plea and a prayer.

"Mom?"

The muffled bond shattered.

It didn't just return. It exploded. A flow of emotion joy, agony, bewilderment, and fury blasted through the bond link between us, it was so intense like a physical burn in my chest. I gasped, my hand flying to my throat.

Zayne grabbed my arm, his fingers digging in. "Rafe, don't."

But it was too late. The explosion of feeling was a signal my own wolf couldn't ignore. A low, protective growl vibrated in my throat before I could choke it back.

The murmur of voices in the tunnel stopped.

Complete silence from within.

Zayne's eyes widened. We were done for.

I shifted my weight, ready to spring toward the entrance, to run into the dark after that feeling.

But before I could turn, I felt the cold kiss of a silver blade pressed against the base of my skull.

LUCA'S POV

The cell was not what I thought it would be.

It was a round room, like a stone well, with a trail of moonlight slipping down from high above.

I woke up on a thin mattress, my body was still hurting from the dart, and my head felt thick with pain. But the bond in my chest was still there, a quiet signal linked to Rafe.

I pushed up to sit alright, when I heard a very familiar voice that I thought was dead.

"You're awake."

I scrambled back forcefully, scared that I was hallucinating, when she stepped into the light. She was skinny, her clothes hanging loose. Her hair was a mess of black and silver.

But her eyes... they were my eyes. Grey, and glowing faintly, eyes that I never forget anyway.

My breath seized, and my sight blurred with disbelief. "But you're dead...." I stammered.

Her smile was sad. "I know."

"Mom?" The word sounded strange in my mouth.

She nodded, a tear flowing through the dirt on her cheek, she didn't come closer.

"How?" I whispered.

"The rogues didn't kill me, they took me." She murmured.

"Cain let the pack think I was dead, it was easier for him." Her voice was flat, like she'd told this story too many times in her head.

"Why?"

She sat on a stool. "What do you smell on me, Luca?"

I breathed in. Beneath the dust and herbs, beneath the soft, familiar scent of her, was something else, something powerful. It was like my new scent, but stronger.

"You're an Omega!" I exclaimed shockstricken

"So are you." Her gaze locked knowingly on mine.

"But we're not the same as the others."

My skin went cold and rigid. "Caleb called me a Lunar Omega."

"It's an old word that means your wolf is touched by the moon in a different way." She snorted.

Your power isn't about fighting, it's about... feeling and connecting."

"You can feel the bonds between wolves, sometimes, if you feel something strong enough, you can change them." She explained quietly.

The forest flashed in my mind. The wolf flying back. My scream.

"I did that?"

"Your fear for Rafe woke it up." she said softly.

The door bolt slammed open.

Caleb stood there, two big rogues behind him, a bruise colored his jaw. He looked at me, then my mother, and smiled.

"Talking about the family curse?"

I stood up roughly, putting myself between him and her. A low growl brewing in my throat.

Caleb laughed arrogantly. "Still got some fight omega! Good." He walked in, his smell of leather and arrogance filling the room.

"Let's talk. My father's world is ending. I'm going to take his place, I could use someone like you." He prodded proudly.

"Use me how?"

"You have power, I have a plan. Together we could tear it all down."

You wouldn't be a nobody Omega, you'd be at my side. You could fix everything."

It was a lie. I could see it in his eyes. He didn't want to fix anything. He just wanted my power for himself.

My mother spoke from behind me, her voice hard. "He'll drain you dry and leave you in a ditch."

Caleb's smile vanished. He turned his Alpha command on her, his voice like a whip. "Shut up, witch."

She flinched like she'd been hit, going pale.

Rage, clean and sharp, shot through me. I stepped right up to him. "Get out."

He stared, surprised, then he smirked. "Fine but tomorrow, the rogues are putting you through a test. A Moon Trial."

If you pass, you're their precious prophecy. If you fail..." He leaned close, his breath on my face. "They give you to me and guess what pretty boy, you don't need to be conscious to be useful."

He left. The bolt slid shut.

I turned to my mother. She looked frail, shaking.

"The trial." she said, her voice urgent and worried.

"They'll force your power out, right now it's wild and panicked. To pass, you have to control it. You have to find the calm inside it."

"How?" My voice cracked.

"It's tied to what connects you. What you feel deepest." Her eyes dropped to my chest, where the bond lies.

"Right now that's him, that bond is your anchor. I can try to show you how to use it. But it's dangerous. If you lose focus..."

She didn't finish. She didn't need to.

"Show me." I said.

She placed her cool hands on my temples. "Close your eyes. Breathe. Don't reach for the power. Reach for him."

I did. I shut out the cell, the fear, my mother's face. I focused on the bond. On the feeling of Rafe.

The power inside me stirred, but softly. Like it was listening.

"Good." she whispered.

"Now, gently, ask it to show you."

I didn't ask. I just thought of Rafe. A silver light began to glow behind my eyelids. It was warm. Safe.

And then I saw him.

Rafe. In a dark cell, chained to a wall. His face was bloody, one eye swollen shut. But he was fighting, straining against the metal, roaring my name.

The vision sharpened. I saw a rogue guard outside his door, laughing. I saw the corridor. I saw the path from my cell to his. A left, then a right, then down a set of wet stone stairs.

It was a map. The bond was showing me exactly where he was.

My eyes flew open. The silver glow was in the room now, clinging to my skin.

My mother gasped, pulling her hands back like she'd been burned. "You found the connection... but it's a two-way street. If you can see him...."

I tried seeing if I could connect with Rafe, perhaps I could send him a telepathic message. But I was met with a dead end. Silence, the bond was silent, everything faded, I couldn't even see Rafe anymore.

It was all silent.....

The silence was the worst part.

Since I was held down by the rogues, the bond had been a comfort in my chest. Warm. Alive. A steady beat of Rafe, Rafe, Rafe.

Now, it is gone.

Not quiet. Gone.

A hollow, cold vacuum where his presence had been. It felt like someone had reached into my ribs and ripped out my heart, my lungs, everything that kept me breathing.

I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I sat on the mattress, my hands pressed to the center of my chest, trying to feel something, anything.

"Luca." My mother's voice sound desperate amd distant.

"Luca, Luca, please breathe." She pleaded nervously

But I couldn't, my body had forgotten how to breath, all it wanted was Rafe.

"The bond." I finally choked out. My voice sounded strained and fragile.

"It's... empty." I cried tears pouring down, my eyes like petals.

Her face, already pale, went sheet-white, she understood what that meant, bonds don't just go quiet.

They break for two reasons death, or a severing so violent it might as well be death.

"No," she said, sharp. Firm. She grabbed my shoulders. "Listen to me. You are a Lunar Omega. Your bond is not a normal one. It's stronger. Deeper. They cannot break it so easily."

"They just did!" The words tore out of me, raw and furious.

"Or they blocked it." she insisted, her fingers digging into my arms.

"Wolfsbane. Silver cuffs. Magic. There are ways to mute a bond, to make it go dormant. It would feel like this, like a void." She explained.

"You're lying to make me feel better." I resorted, scared of being hopeful.

"I am telling you what I know." she said her grey eyes holding mine, blazing with a fierceness that belied her frail body.

"If they wanted him dead, they would have done it quietly. That cry was a message. For you."

"Caleb will be back."