Chapter 5: The Edge of Fate
Kael stood at the edge of the lake, moonlight casting his reflection across the still water. His pack remained behind him, silent and waiting. The air carried the weight of something unsaid. The stillness felt like a lull before a storm, heavy with things unsaid, truths unspoken.
He'd told them nothing.
Not about the girl. Not about the fire. Not about the name that haunted his dreams—Selene.
Her presence lingered on the edge of his mind, like a whisper he could almost catch. Each night she came to him in dreams cloaked in fire and light, her green eyes burning brighter than the moon, her voice as real as the forest breeze. And when he woke, he still felt her.
"Alpha," Lioren approached, quiet. "The scouts reported a glow in the eastern woods. Magic. Fire."
Kael didn't flinch. "I know."
Lioren hesitated. "You saw her again, didn't you?"
Kael said nothing at first. He let the silence speak for him. The wolf in him paced, agitated and longing. He had never felt anything like this connection. It gnawed at his instincts. The pack felt it too—the tension rising in the land, the shift in energy.
He was changing. Or maybe, being drawn back to something he had always been.
"She's close," Kael said finally. "I can feel her."
Lioren frowned. "You think she's your mate?"
"I don't think," Kael growled. "I know."
The Beta stepped back, worry flickering in his eyes. "She's a witch."
"She's mine."
The silence that followed was heavy. Charged. A few of the younger wolves glanced at each other, whispers echoing low between trees. None dared speak it aloud, but all had heard the rumors—of an Alpha touched by prophecy, fated to unite with the enemy.
Wolves and witches had spilled too much blood to speak of mates. It was unheard of. An impossibility. A curse.
But Kael believed in what the Moon Goddess had shown him.
She hadn't made mistakes.
Only fates.
He turned away from the lake and began walking. Lioren followed without another word. They moved in silence until they reached the edge of the eastern woods, where the trees whispered of secrets and the wind carried scents of flame.
The darkness of the forest wrapped around them like a shroud, and yet Kael walked with certainty. As though the shadows bent to him, as though they, too, waited for what was to come.
Then Kael stopped.
The scent.
Lavender. Fire. Her.
She had been here.
He knelt, pressing his hand to the earth. The energy that rose up was like a heartbeat—wild and untamed. The same pulse from his dreams. The ground felt warm, almost alive, as though it remembered her touch.
It pulsed beneath his palm.
She was calling to him, even without realizing it.
"Soon," he whispered.
The howl of a lone wolf echoed behind them, mournful and long. It carried through the trees like a song of mourning—and of hope.
Kael closed his eyes, his heart beating in sync with the forest. Every leaf, every branch, every grain of soil seemed to hum with magic. With her magic. And it stirred something old in him. Something forgotten.
And he knew—the edge of fate wasn't a future event.
It was now.
And it had teeth.
Lioren broke the silence, his voice low and unsure. "The council won't approve of this, Kael. If they find out you're seeking her—"
"They already suspect something," Kael said. "But they can't stop it. Not now."
He rose, wiping dirt from his palms. His eyes were locked on the trees ahead, a path forming in his mind that wasn't guided by logic, but by instinct. The wolf within him had chosen, and Kael had no intention of resisting it.
"Do you believe in destiny?" he asked suddenly.
Lioren blinked. "I believe in blood and survival."
Kael nodded. "Then believe this: she's the key. To ending the curse. To breaking the war cycle. I can feel it."
They continued deeper into the woods, and as the trees thickened around them, a stillness settled over the land. Not silence—no, the forest was never truly silent—but a charged anticipation, like the world was holding its breath. The very air shimmered with expectancy.
The wolves following behind shifted restlessly. They sensed it too.
Kael stopped at a ridge overlooking a wide ravine. Beyond it lay the old ruins—forgotten temples said to be where the Moon Goddess once walked among mortals. The stone towers, long crumbled, still exhaled the breath of ancient magic.
"We'll make camp here," he said. "At dawn, I cross alone."
Lioren looked stricken. "Alone? That's suicide."
"No. It's destiny."
His tone brokered no argument. Lioren bowed his head.
The pack moved to set up camp, but Kael remained at the edge of the ridge, silver eyes reflecting the stars above. He stood still as stone, the wind tugging gently at his dark hair.
His dreams had led him this far.
And he was ready to follow them into fire.
Into fate.
Into her.