Vex

The letter wasn’t on paper. It was carved into the charred bark of a dying tree—deliberate, raw, etched with something he hadn’t felt in years. “I found the sky beyond your fire. It no longer burns me.” Vex, Alpha of the Cinderhowl Pack, clenched his fists until his claws drew blood. His breath steamed in the cold wind sweeping the blackened ridge. The message was from Serai—the girl he’d cast out under a blood moon. His once-mate. His always-regret. She hadn’t just left. He’d forced her to. The prophecy had twisted their bond into a threat. Two stars cannot burn in the same sky, the Seer had warned. So he chose duty over destiny. Pack over passion. Four years later, his soul still bore the scorch marks. His wolf, once the fiercest in the highlands, whimpered every time her name passed through his thoughts. “She found another pack,” he murmured. “Another sky…” He’d lain with others—warriors, healers, even the High Priestess’s daughter. None silenced her flame in him. And now this cursed tree, tainted with her scent, mocked him. Elder Rourke, blind and ancient, touched the message. “She speaks in truthbinding,” he said. “Her soul’s awakened.” Vex growled. “So someone else marked her?” “No,” Rourke said. “Worse. She marked herself.” That meant the bond was broken—by her own will. “You shouldn’t have cast her out,” Rourke rasped. “You weren’t just mates. You were twinsouls. That doesn’t fade. It turns to war.” A howl rose from the Frostwilds—her new domain. “I’m going to find her,” Vex said. “To bring her back?” “No,” he growled. “To see what I turned her into.”