The next morning came too bright, too quiet.

Luna hadn't slept. Her mind replayed the night before-Kael's touch, the way the moonlight made her skin glow, the memory that shouldn't exist.

When she looked at her wrist again, the mark was different-darker, sharper, like ink burned into her flesh.

It pulsed once. Then again.

A knock shattered the silence.

A woman entered-tall, poised, wearing a sleek black suit. "I'm Mara," she said. "The Alpha asked me to make sure you eat."

"Eat?" Luna repeated, blinking. "I'm not a prisoner."

Mara gave a small, knowing smile. "Of course not." She set the tray down-coffee, fruit, toast-and added, "If you need fresh air, the southern path is unguarded. He didn't forbid it... technically."

Before Luna could ask what that meant, the woman was gone.

The woods felt alive.

The air was crisp, filled with the hum of unseen energy. Luna followed the narrow path until the compound disappeared behind her.

Every instinct said she shouldn't be there.

And yet... something called to her.

A rustle.

She turned sharply.

"Kael?"

No answer.

Then a figure stepped out of the trees-broad shoulders, dark jacket, eyes the color of molten gold. His presence was familiar, unsettlingly so.

"Hello, Luna."

Her breath caught. "Do I know you?"

"Not anymore," he said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "But you did. Before he erased me from your memory."

"Who are you?"

"Riven." He stepped closer, the scent of smoke and iron thick in the air. "Kael's brother."

Her mind stuttered. "Kael has a brother?"

"He doesn't talk about me. I wonder why." His gaze drifted to her wrist. "Ah. So the mark still binds you."

"You know about this?"

"I made it," he said softly. "Before Kael stole you from me."

The ground tilted beneath her. "That's not possible."

Riven's expression darkened. "You were mine first, Luna. You just don't remember."

He reached for her hand. The moment his skin brushed hers, the mark burned. A sharp flash hit her mind-Riven's face, Kael's roar, a fight under the same moon that had haunted her dreams.

She staggered back. "Stop-"

He caught her wrist, grip firm but not cruel. "He told you I cursed you, didn't he? That I was the villain. Ask him what he did to earn that curse."

"I-" she began, but footsteps crashed through the trees.

Kael.

His eyes flared gold, fangs bared, power rolling off him like heat. "Step away from her."

Riven smiled slowly. "Still territorial, brother."

Luna's pulse raced. The air between them crackled like static. "Kael-what is he talking about?"

Kael didn't look at her. "Get inside, Luna."

Riven chuckled. "He can't protect you from the truth forever."

The two men stood there-mirrors of fury, pain, and something far older than she could understand. The mark on her wrist throbbed violently, pulling toward both of them.

Luna's voice trembled. "Why does it feel like I belong to both of you?"

Neither answered.

The wind howled through the trees, and for the first time, she realized the real danger wasn't the curse-

It was remembering what had really happened the night she lost her memories.

The forest had gone still. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.

Kael and Riven stood on opposite ends of the clearing-two predators locked in silence.

Luna could feel it, the pull between them, like gravity fighting itself. The air shimmered faintly, charged with the remnants of something ancient and dangerous.

Her voice broke the silence.

"Tell me the truth. Both of you."

Kael's jaw tensed. Riven's eyes gleamed with dark amusement.

Kael spoke first, his tone sharp. "You shouldn't have come here, Luna."

"Too late," she said, stepping between them. "You both keep talking about curses and bonds-then tell me what really happened."

Riven smirked. "He won't, because it makes him the villain in this story."

Kael's eyes flashed gold. "Don't push me, Riven."

"I think I already did," Riven murmured.

Lightning cracked in the distance. The scent of ozone filled the air.

"Enough!" Luna snapped. "I don't care about your feud. I just want to know who I am."

The mark on her wrist pulsed again-once, twice-then flared bright gold, forcing both men to look at her. The energy hummed in her veins, alive and angry.

Kael's gaze softened. "You were everything, Luna. My Luna. Until he-"

Riven cut him off. "Until she chose me first."

The words landed like a strike.

Kael's breath hitched. "That's not how it happened."

"Then tell her," Riven taunted.

Kael's eyes met hers. "You were part of my pack. We trained together, fought side by side. You were strong, reckless, alive. I loved that about you." He hesitated. "But he wanted you too."

"I didn't want her," Riven said, his voice low. "I needed her. You both did. That's why the Moon chose her to bear the dual mark."

"The what?" Luna asked.

Riven's expression softened just a fraction. "The mark of two Alphas. A balance the Moon rarely allows."

"She couldn't survive it," Kael said bitterly. "The bond tore her apart."

Luna's chest ached. "So you fought over me?"

"Not for you," Riven said. "For what you represented. Power. Unity. The chance to merge two packs that had been at war for generations."

Kael's voice turned cold. "And she paid the price for our ambition."

Her knees weakened. "I died?"

Kael caught her before she fell. "Almost. You stopped breathing under that moon. When the bond broke, your memories went with it."

Riven's eyes flickered with something almost like regret. "I tried to save you. He thought I cursed you."

"You didn't deny it," Kael growled.

"Would you have listened if I did?"

Luna looked between them-two men bound by blood and guilt, both telling fragments of a shattered truth.

"So which one of you is lying?" she whispered.

Kael's hand cupped her cheek. "I would never hurt you."

Riven's voice came from behind her, soft but certain. "He already did."

Thunder split the sky. The mark on her wrist burned brighter, as if responding to both voices, both hearts.

Her head spun. She tore herself free and stumbled back. "I need to think."

Kael reached for her. "Luna-"

But she was already running, the forest swallowing her whole.

Behind her, she heard Riven's low voice. "She'll remember everything soon. And when she does..."

He glanced at his brother.

"...let's see which of us she chooses."

Rain began to fall again-soft at first, then relentless.

Luna didn't stop running until her legs gave out. She collapsed beside an old stone ruin at the forest's edge, chest heaving, clothes soaked through.

She pressed her back against the wall and closed her eyes. Breathe. Just breathe.

But her pulse wouldn't slow. The mark on her wrist glowed faintly through the rain, pulsing like a heartbeat that wasn't hers.

Then-like glass breaking inside her mind-the memories began to return.

Flashes.

A full moon over the same forest.

Kael, bare-chested, kneeling before her. "If we complete the bond, our packs will never fight again."

Riven standing behind him, jaw tight. "This isn't what she wants."

"I can choose for myself," she'd said.

Kael had looked at her then, eyes full of fire. "Choose me."

But when she looked at Riven, she saw something different. Not power-peace. "We could stop this war," he'd whispered. "If we stand together, not as mates, but as equals."

And that's when the Moon had appeared-its light so bright it burned.

Two Alphas. One Luna.

A bond forged in unity, then broken by jealousy.

The pain returned with it-the moment everything went wrong. Kael, blinded by rage, had attacked his brother. Luna had tried to stop him. The Moon had punished them all.

Her body had failed first.

Her last memory was Kael holding her lifeless form and Riven's voice breaking as he begged the Moon to bring her back.

Then-nothing.

Luna gasped, gripping her chest as tears mixed with rain.

That's what happened.

She'd loved them both, but not the same way.

Kael had been her fire.

Riven, her calm.

Together, they'd broken something sacred.

The wind shifted. She felt him before she saw him.

"Luna."

Kael stood a few feet away, drenched, his expression unreadable. "I felt the bond stir. You remember."

She nodded slowly. "All of it."

He took a hesitant step forward. "Then you know why I did what I did."

Her voice trembled. "You killed the bond."

"I had to." His eyes burned with pain. "The Moon chose you for both of us, but I couldn't share you. I wasn't built for that. I tried to break the connection before it destroyed you."

"And it did," she whispered. "I died, Kael."

His voice broke. "And I've been dying every day since."

The confession hit her like a wave. He looked wrecked-haunted by his own choices, by the love that had consumed them all.

"I can't undo the past," he said. "But I can protect you now. From Riven. From the Moon. From anything that wants to claim you again."

Luna stepped closer, so close she could feel his breath. "And if I don't want protection?"

His eyes darkened. "Then tell me what you want."

She hesitated. Her pulse stuttered. Every instinct screamed don't, but her heart whispered stay.

Her fingers brushed his chest, right over his heart. "I want the truth. No more lies."

Kael's hands came up slowly, one resting on her waist, the other tangling in her wet hair. "Then I'll give you everything-" he whispered, "-even if it destroys me."

The world narrowed to that moment. The rain, the scent of him, the heat that shouldn't exist between two people bound by so much pain.

But before their lips met, the air shifted again-cold, sharp, wrong.

A voice echoed through the clearing.

"Too late for confessions, brother."

Riven stepped out of the shadows, eyes glowing gold. "The Moon's chosen her again. But this time... she won't survive both of us."