I drifted after my mate until we reached an old dwelling at the edge of the woods.
It was the house he once lived in before our bond was sealed beneath the full moon.
Strange… I had never known he still kept it.
Not until I died.
Not until my soul was already slipping between worlds did I learn that another woman had been living there all along.
Virelia Bloodwyn.
His former mate.
The one he once called his lost, everlasting love.
Three moons ago, she had been taken by rogue wolves who dealt in forbidden powders. Aldric had been the one who rescued her from their grasp. Since then… he never truly let her go.
And I… I never knew he was still coming here.
A sharp ache twisted through what remained of my spirit.
So this was where he vanished to on the nights he did not return to our den. Not for duty. Not for war.
But for her.
He arrived faster than any wolf should have been able to run, nearly breaking through the door as his voice called out into the quiet house.
“Virelia?”
The only other time I had heard that kind of fear in his voice… was the night his father’s life was taken by a rogue blade.
Inside, she was curled by the hearth, small and trembling like a wounded fawn.
The moment she heard him, she rose and threw herself into his arms.
And he caught her.
Stiff at first… then slowly, he held her.
One hand moved through her hair, steadying her like she was something fragile and precious.
“It’s alright,” he murmured. “I’m here now. No one will touch you.”
Virelia clung to him, tears soaking into his cloak.
“You were gone so long… I thought they’d come back for me,” she whispered.
“I was at the council hall,” Aldric said softly. “The elders brought the remains from the sewer tunnels. I had to see the truth myself.”
At that, Virelia’s grip loosened slightly.
“The case?” she asked carefully.
“Yes,” he answered. “The victim was pregnant. It looks like revenge. But we still cannot name her.”
“A pregnant she-wolf…” she whispered. “How cruel…”
Her voice trembled.
But her eyes… lingered too long on his.
Too curious.
Too calm.
Aldric did not notice.
He rarely noticed anything when she was near.
“The murderer cut her womb open,” he continued quietly, as if speaking to ease his own mind, “took the pup, and left something unnatural behind. We believe it is tied to those rogues from three moons past.”
Virelia gasped. “Have you found them?”
“Not yet,” he said, brow furrowing. “But if they’ve returned… they may target you again. Stay within these walls. Do not wander.”
“I will,” she said immediately, soft and obedient.
Then, as if carefully stepping over a blade, she tilted her head.
“Jay… does your mate not object to this? You come here often… to keep me safe. Does she not resent it?”
At the mention of me… something in him changed.
The warmth in his expression froze.
A shadow passed through his gaze.
“If it weren’t for her,” he said coldly, “my father would still be alive.”
Silence followed.
Then he exhaled and turned away, as if closing a wound that still bled.
“Enough of this. Rest.”
But Virelia reached for his sleeve again.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
His voice softened instantly.
“Don’t be,” he said. “I will stay until you sleep.”
And so he did.
I hovered near the doorway as he sat beside her bed, speaking in low tones meant to soothe nightmares.
The same voice that once called me his Luna… now belonged to someone else’s comfort.
The same hands that once held my face beneath the moonstone vow… now brushed her fear away like it was sacred.
And I finally understood.
I had never truly stood beside him.
Only behind him.
Always behind her shadow.
But Aldric…
The woman you are protecting so fiercely…
Is not as fragile as you believe.
