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Peace never lasts.

Not for people like me.

The bond with Kael was still fresh-my mark barely healed, the memory of his touch still warm on my skin-when it started.

Little things, at first.

Unfamiliar scents near the southern ridge.

Movement just outside the training fields.

A shift in the wind that didn't feel like wind at all-just eyes.

Watching.

Waiting.

At first, I thought I was being paranoid.

But Mira wasn't so sure.

"We found wolf tracks this morning," she said, her tone clipped as we walked the perimeter. "They're circling the territory. Testing our boundaries."

"Rogues?" I asked, heart skipping.

"No," she said grimly. "Too clean. Too calculated."

I already knew.

Ashmoon.

?

Kael confirmed it that night in the war room.

"They've sent scouts," he said, pointing to a map riddled with scent markers and pinpricks of crimson ink. "Not an invasion. Yet."

I stood by the door, arms crossed, trying not to tremble.

"Do they know I'm here?" I asked.

Kael didn't answer right away.

Mira did.

"They knew the moment you crossed the border. You think Ashmoon just lets one of their omegas disappear without tracking her?"

I flinched. "I'm not theirs."

"No," Kael said softly, "you're not."

He stepped away from the map and came toward me. "But they don't see it that way. Especially Jace."

Just hearing his name made my pulse spike.

"What does he want?" I asked, my voice cold.

Kael's jaw clenched. "You."

"No," I whispered. "He rejected me. He left me."

"Doesn't matter," Mira said. "He's Alpha-born. They're possessive by nature. Now that he's realized what he lost, he'll fight to get it back."

"But it's not about me," I muttered. "It's about pride."

"Exactly."

?

That night, I couldn't sleep.

Every creak in the trees sounded like a footstep. Every breeze across my mark felt like a memory I didn't want.

Kael sat beside me on the porch, silent.

"What if I brought danger here?" I asked. "What if this bond costs you everything?"

He shook his head. "You didn't bring danger, Luna. Danger was already coming. You just gave us something to fight for."

I looked at him-this Alpha who chose me when I didn't know how to choose myself.

And I knew then...

Whatever came next, we'd face it together.

Even if it meant facing him.