KAEL'S POV

I should have stayed in my realm. The council warned me, the Oracle warned me, even my wolf snarled at the risk, but none of it mattered. Not when her scent... warm vanilla, soft jasmine, and something ancient called to the deepest part of me.

I buried my destined mate years ago, sworn never to claim a mate. I built my reign on blood, shadow, control, and solitude. And yet there she stood, fragile yet defiant, marked as mine by the moon itself.

I had been watching her for seven moons, slipping through the thin points between realms, stepping into her world only when necessary. The portals were unstable, thin as glass, easy to shatter if used too often. But for her, I opened them anyway. I always would. Tonight, she finally saw me.

I stood across the road, cloaked in shadows, watching her hurry down the dim street. Her aura shimmered faintly, her power waking far earlier than expected. That alone terrified me more than any enemy.

My wolf pushed forward in my mind, restless, possessive.

Mine.

Her eyes lifted. The moment they landed on me, everything inside me froze.

She wasn't supposed to see me this soon. Humans glanced past shadows, they blinked, dismissed, rationalised. But she... she looked directly at me, as if her soul recognized me before her mind could. The golden heat in my eyes flickered, betraying my presence.

She whispered, "Can I help you?"

Help me?

If only she knew the reason I stood there, silent and unmoving, was because several creatures in my realm had already sensed her existence. They felt my bond ignite. They felt my claim. And they wanted her dead before the bond was fully sealed.

I tilted my head, studying her, heart pulling, wolf roaring, the mate bond tightening around my chest like a chain. Her fear rippled through the air-sharp, trembling, but beneath it... curiosity. Recognition.

Just as she stepped closer, a dark ripple brushed against my senses.

Shadow beasts. Too near.

I didn't have time to linger. With a single swipe of my hand, I tore open a portal beside me, a swirling rip of silver and black mist-and stepped through just as she blinked. The human street vanished. The scent of iron and forest rushed into my lungs.

"Back in my realm." I landed on the moss-covered stone floor of my throne hall. My Beta, Rowan, waited with tense eyes.

"You crossed again," he said. "Kael, this is reckless."

"I don't care." My voice came out deeper than intended; the wolf was too close to the surface. Rowan swallowed. "Word is spreading. The moment your eyes glowed, every creature who followed the Shadow Queen felt it. They know you found your mate."

The Shadow Queen, powerful enough to challenge me, ruthless enough to kill Amara without hesitation.

"I told you," I growled. "No one touches her."

"But she's human," Rowan whispered. "No defences here or there."

Exactly why I watched her, from the shadows. Anywhere danger crept, I would be there.

Tonight, when she fell asleep at her desk, I slipped through the veil and stood beside her window, cloaked in darkness, just watching her breathe. My wolf calmed only when I knew she was safe.

I shouldn't have let myself get that close, but the bond pulled like gravity.

Mine.

She dreamed of me again, pulled into the echo of my world. I felt it. Our souls brushed like sparks in the dark. That was when I almost lost control. My hand hovered near her cheek and, when she startled awake, eyes wide with fear... I vanished before she could turn.

Now, pacing the length of the throne room, I dragged a hand through my hair. The beast under my skin mirrored my movements, massive and rumbling. If I shifted now, I'd tear the stones from the floor.

"She saw me," I muttered.

"Already?" Rowan froze.

I nodded. "Her power is awakening earlier than predicted."

My wolf growled low, a warning, a promise.

"Then I'll watch her even closer," I said.

"Kael, if the council finds out"

"I am the king," I snapped. "Let them try."

A long silence passed.

"You know what happens when a mate bond snaps into place," Rowan said quietly. "You'll be uncontrollable, possessive. Ruthless."

I bared my teeth in a humourless smile.

"I already am."

Torches flickered, shadows curled at my feet. Something crossed into her world, hunting. My vision sharpened, eyes burning gold.

"I have to go," I growled, opening a swirling portal back to her realm. Rowan grabbed my arm.

"Take warriors with you!"

"No," I snarled. "If they see her... if they even look at her" My voice dropped to a growl that made the air shiver. "I will kill them myself."

The portal expanded, silver winds whipping around me. Her scent brushed my senses again, jasmine, warmth, fear. The bond pulsed hard. She needs me. Without another word, I stepped through.

Back to her world. Back to the shadows surrounding her window. And may the moon goddess help anyone who tries to take her.

AMARA’S POV

I woke up Friday morning, trying to pretend yesterday never happened. No glowing eyes. No strange man watching me. No cold, heavy ripple in the air, like danger was breathing down my neck.

It had all been… stress. That’s what I kept telling myself. Work blurred into a haze; I forced smiles, answered emails, laughed at jokes I didn’t find funny. Yet my stomach twisted with every shadow that crossed my desk, and my nerves hummed just beneath the surface.

By the end of the day, my friends had noticed. Talia, Mira, and Jade always noticed everything.

“Amara, you look like a zombie,” Talia texted first. I rolled my eyes, ignoring the tremor in my fingers as I typed back.

By six, we were on FaceTime, grinning, fussing like nothing was wrong.

“Okay, what are you wearing tonight?” Mira asked. “We can’t let you show up like a dead fish.”

“I don’t even feel like myself,” I admitted.

“Exactly why we’re saving you,” Jade said. “Tonight is fun. Tomorrow, existential dread. Deal?”

“Deal,” I laughed, feeling slightly lighter.

Talia held up a sparkly top to the camera. “You need something like this. Not drab, okay?”

“Sequins? Really?”

“Yes, really,” she said, laughing. “You’re going to shine. Literally.”

We debated shoes, hairstyles, makeup, and joked about office gossip. For the first time all day, laughter eased the tension knotting my chest. I almost felt normal.

The club was loud, flashing, overwhelming. Lights bounced across faces, bodies pressed together, music vibrating in my chest. I let myself forget for a few minutes. I danced, laughed… and felt alive again.

Then someone handed me a drink. Sweet. Fruity. Harmless, or so I thought. I sipped it, and the room tilted. My limbs grew heavy, my heart slowed, my vision wobbled.

“Guys… I… I need the bathroom…” I murmured.

“We’ll be right here!” Talia called. The hallway stretched endlessly before me. My fingers trembled on the door handle. Something wasn’t right.

A man’s hand grabbed me.

“Easy, sweetheart. I’ll help you,” he said. His smile wasn’t kind. He dragged me toward a darker corner. My hands flailed, my voice rose, but my body wouldn’t obey. Panic shredded the fog in my mind.

Then… something shifted. A low growl rolled through the hall.

The man froze.

A figure emerged from the darkness, impossibly fast, radiating power. His golden eyes glowed faintly, cutting through the dim light.

“He… he saved me,” I whispered, bewildered.

In seconds, the attacker was thrown back, screaming, swallowed by the shadows. The figure turned to me.

“Amara,” he said softly, almost a whisper. “You’re safe now.”

My hands shook, my heart raced. Voices echoed down the hallway.

“Amara? Where are you?” My friends appeared, worry etched across their faces.

I pointed toward the shadows. “H‑he… he saved me… that man… the one who stalks me…”

But there was nothing. Just an empty hall.

“Amara, you’re drunk,” Jade said, almost laughing at how fragile I looked.

“Probably scared yourself,” Mira added gently.

“There’s no one here,” Talia insisted. My protest died on my lips.

They guided me toward the exit, but just before I fully stumbled away, I caught a glimpse of him again-half in shadow, half in moonlight, watching me. Then he vanished.

I had no idea I had just been saved from something far worse than what was coming.

AMARA'S POV

The darkness pressed against my eyelids long before the nightmare began.

It felt different this time-too real, too close.

Like someone was standing right behind me in the shadows.

I couldn't see him, but I felt him.

A presence.

Warm.

Eyes I couldn't see still managed to hold me in place, freezing me like a statue. A hot breath skimmed the back of my neck, sending a violent shiver down my spine.

I tried to turn. Tried to scream.

Nothing moved.

Voice slipped through the shadows, soft but impossible to ignore.

My name.

"Amara..."

The sound curled around me like smoke, like something I should have run from... but my heart reacted before my mind could. It drew toward the voice, toward the warmth that hovered inches from my skin.

Not touching me.

Just close enough to steal my breath.

Then the darkness swallowed everything whole.

I jolted awake with a gasp, chest rising and falling too fast. My room was silent, but I didn't feel alone.

My sheets were tangled around my legs, my chest heaving as if, I had sprinted through a forest. The room was silent. Too silent. The kind of silence that made my ears ring.

But I didn't feel alone.

My skin tingled, like the warmth from that breath still clung to me. I pressed a hand over my neck but felt nothing.

"Why do I feel like you're here?" I whispered to the empty room.

No answer came from the dark corners.

Nothing answered.

My breath hitched. I yanked the covers up to my chin and curled in on myself.

I was talking to myself now, and I feel like I am going crazy.

I didn't want nightmares. I didn't want shadows whispering my name. I didn't want something unseen hovering around me.

But deep down...

I wasn't scared of him.

Not the way anyone should've been.

That voice... something about it felt familiar in a way that made no sense. My body reacted to it before my brain could catch up, like I already knew him somehow.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

And in that moment I drifted to sleep.

The next morning I woke up stiff, the kind that makes your body remind you it existed all night

The memory of the dream was still there, the weight of those unseen eyes, the way my name had rolled across the dark as it belonged to someone else.

I found my way into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, tied my hair back, and had the fastest bath I have had in years.

I got dressed quickly, grabbed my bag, and headed for the door.

My hand froze on the handle.

A white envelope lay on the floor, half-slid under the door, perfectly centred as if someone had placed it there with intention.

I stared at it, heartbeat switching from fast to frantic.

I hadn't heard a knock, yet... it was there.

I crouched slowly, every instinct screaming at me to leave it alone. But my fingers reached for it like I was compelled.

The envelope was warm, like someone had been holding it seconds before.

A cold wave crawled up my spine.

I flipped it over.

No name.

No address.

No stamp.

Nothing.

Just an envelope that felt wrong in my hands.

I should've thrown it away. Burned it.

Instead, I tore it open with shaking fingers.

Something light slid out and floated to the ground.

A photograph.

My breath stilled in my chest.

It was me.

I was standing at the bus stop yesterday morning. Backpack slung over my shoulder. Earphones in. Checking the time on my phone.

Taken from behind.

Up close.

Too close.

My fingers trembled as I picked it up.

This wasn't someone zooming in from far away.

This was someone standing right next to me.

Watching.

The envelope wasn't empty. A small folded note sat inside. I pulled it out with stiff fingers and opened it.

One sentence.

Written in thick, dark ink.

"You are not alone."

The room tilted slightly, a soft ringing filling my ears. I clutched the photo harder, my knuckles slightly whitening.

No one else had been near me at the bus stop.

I would have noticed.

I would have felt that something was wrong.

The whisper from the night slid back into my mind like a shadow curling under a door.

Amara...

I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting the rush of fear. But underneath that fear, something else throbbed, something warm, unwelcome.

Recognition.

Whoever had taken this picture... whoever slid this envelope to my door... whoever whispered my name in the dream...

I could feel them now.

Not physically.

But close.

A soft pulse of warmth brushed my shoulder again, so faint I almost doubted it.

Almost.

I opened my eyes, breath trembling.

"Who are you?" I whispered.

Silence answered.

But I felt it, the same pull from the dream tightening around me like a thread.

I dropped the photo, stepped back from the door, and pressed my hand against my chest, trying to steady my heart.

Whatever this was...

It hadn't started this morning.

And it wasn't ending today.