Page 10 of Moon Fated

Nathan twisted violently. Since when do you care who I?—

My teeth sank into his shoulder, the taste of blood spurring me on. He bucked, managing to throw me off, but I landed on my feet, ready for the next attack.

We circled each other, his amber eyes filled with hate and fury. He lunged first, aiming for my throat, but I was faster. I dodged and snapped at his hind leg, feeling the satisfying crunch of bone. He howled in pain, but the fight wasn’t over.

Nathan’s wolf was massive, all muscle and rage, but he was sloppy, driven by rage rather than strategy. There was plenty of that to go around.

He came at me again, and that time I let him get close. Too close. He thought he had me, jaws wide to crush my neck, but I dropped low and launched myself upward, catching him off guard. My claws raked across his belly, sending him crashing to the ground with a yelp.

I pounced, pinning him beneath me. His eyes were wild, desperate, but he couldn’t shake me off. I bared my teeth, my wolf’s growl a deep, rumbling threat.

Yield. Asshole, I growled.

Nathan struggled, his pride fighting against the inevitable. I pressed down harder, my claws digging into his flesh. He whimpered, the sound so pathetic, I wanted to put him out of his misery. But we were only seventeen. He’d been my best friend growing up, and then something had changed. He’d grown distant. Defiant.

I stepped back, my body still tense, ready for any trick. But Nathan remained on the ground, defeated. I shifted back to human form, standing tall over him. Overpowering human females will never make you alpha. Get the hell out of here.

Those were the words that echoed in my head. I thought they’d help him. Make him want to be better. Instead, they’d been the fuel for his challenge.

Nathan’s reign didn’t last long. His cruelty bred dissent, and it wasn’t long before whispers of rebellion started circulating. Fueled by the desire to restore order and justice, I gathered my most trusted pack members. We trained in secret, planning every detail meticulously, but never had the chance to put our plan into action.

Nathan had his own secrets. In the middle of the night, he and half our pack left. Went north. In their stories, I was the dissenter. The rebel. Nathan, their savior.

The air fryer dinged, and I grabbed a plate. Had Evelyn gone willingly? Had she been his mate? My wolf’s hackles rose at the thoughts, a mixture of protectiveness and something deeper stirring within me.

I slapped the meat on the plate, grabbed a fork and steak knife, and stalked back to the table. My phone stared up at me as I shoved the first bite into my mouth and chewed. I swallowed and picked it up.

Maybe there was one more phone call I needed to make.

Chapter

Five

Evelyn

Late afternoon sunlight filtered through the gauzy curtains, making the bed look like something straight out of heaven. I blinked, my heart quickening with an urgency that jolted me fully awake. I swung my legs over the edge, the floorboards cool under my bare feet. The silence of the room pressed in on me, and I flipped over my phone to check the time.

Four o’clock. What the hell was wrong with me? I’d wasted hours I could’ve been searching for more clues, and now the day was nearly over.

I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of the dagger resting on the nightstand and shivered. The metal was cold no matter how long I held it, and it felt like air from a freezer was snaking up my arm as I strode toward the door. My wolf rumbled deep within me.

She sensed it, too. Of course, she did. I stopped with my hand on the brass door knob and closed my eyes.

“Just for a minute,” I whispered, then drew a deep breath and allowed my wolf to lift closer to the surface. I couldn’t do this without her, but the idea of letting her loose sent ice slipping down my spine.

If humans were unpredictable and erratic after experiencing trauma, a wolf was a wildfire. I’d tried to let her out shortly after arriving in Seattle, but after she caught sight of movement and nearly killed a man out walking with his dog, I had to lock her down. She was too volatile. And I was too much of an emotional mess to take the reins.

We’d settled into homeostasis for a time, but the past six months, she hadn’t been thrilled about our arrangement. I couldn’t blame her, but while I felt plenty of guilt over locking her up, I couldn’t risk losing control again.

That was before Callista went missing. Now we were going to have to figure out how to work together.

As my wolf ascended, I gritted my teeth at the torrent of sensation. My senses sharpened in a snap. The smells of the world became more pronounced, more nuanced. Tears stung my eyes as I tried to settle my breathing while my black-and-white world exploded into color.

"Easy," I murmured, striving for control. Embracing my full shifter abilities meant unleashing my wolf, and the thought made my knees knock. The beast within me was no longer just a part of my identity. She was a liability. A wild card I couldn’t afford to play recklessly.

As she surged forward, the memory of that night flashed through my mind—a blur of fur and fangs, and Nathan's eyes, darkened with something I couldn't decipher. Betrayal or protection? The line had blurred, and my trust had shattered along with it. He had wounded us both, yet it was my wolf who bore the deeper scar, the one that festered and threatened to drive her into a frenzy.

I shook my head, trying to dislodge the image, but another took its place. Rowan Steele. Alpha. What? Why was she focusing on him? Sure, I’d thought about him a couple of times since seeing him yesterday and…fine, yes, he had appeared in my dreams last night, but that was normal, wasn’t it? Seeing someone from my childhood after years apart was bound to mess with me. But why was she paying attention?

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