Dawson

Dark Moon was never meant to be a sanctuary of light. It was forged in shadow, clawed together from blood-soaked borders and broken promises. The pack existed for the discarded—the moon-blessed who were deemed wrong by their own kind. Too violent. Too unstable. Too human. Or not human enough. Within Dark Moon’s territory, there were no questions about why you survived. Survival itself was the only credential that mattered. Dawson fit that rule too well. He came to Dark Moon carrying the quiet aftermath of war, the kind that never truly ends when the fighting stops. His scars weren’t the dramatic kind—no proud gashes to show dominance or strength—but the invisible ones that lived behind his eyes. The ones that woke him before dawn, heart racing, claws half-extended, convinced the enemy was already inside the walls. The moon had blessed him with power, but it had not spared him memory. Battle had taught Dawson efficiency. PTSD taught him fear. Together, they made him dangerous in ways even he didn’t trust. He flinched at sudden noise. Counted exits in every room. Slept with his back to stone and his weapons within reach, even among packmates who swore they were family. When the darkness settled and the moon rose, Dawson didn’t howl in triumph—he listened. For threats. For ghosts. For the echoes of commands barked long ago, soaked in blood and loss. Humanity warred constantly with the wolf inside him. The wolf wanted clarity—enemy or ally, kill or protect. The man remembered civilians, screams, orders that never should have been given. Dark Moon didn’t demand he choose. It simply gave him space to exist as he was: fractured, loyal, and perpetually on the edge of breaking. Dawson wasn’t here to be healed. He was here because Dark Moon understood a brutal truth—some warriors don’t need saving. They just need a place where their darkness doesn’t make them monsters.