Their Forgotten Luna

Danger Approaches

Cierra:

“I’m scenting at least thirteen, Ci.” Dominic’s voice filled my mind like yelling into a cathedral.

“We will be ready this time,” I replied, but the goddess knew I wasn’t sure. I tried so hard to hide the way my hands shook in Dom’s fur.

When he stopped, I saw men surrounding the perimeter, creating a wall between this pack and them.

.

“Why is she here?” My father’s voice came clearly, cutting through any confidence I had.

“Because she wants to be,” Dom replied.

“Because I can fight, because I am strong enough to face a rogue,” I added, watching my father scoff in my face as if I were lower than the dirt on his shoes.

We split off from the group. Dom and I took the southernmost side of the territory after giving the orders on where others should go.

The southern edge of the territory was quieter than the others, but not in a way that brought peace. The silence pressed against my ears until I swore I could hear my own pulse. Without my wolf, every sound was duller, every scent muted, and I hated it. I hated feeling half of myself missing when danger was near.

But Dom moved as if he didn’t care. As if my brokenness wasn’t a weakness. His massive body brushed against me whenever the shadows grew too thick, as if reminding me he was there, steady and unyielding.

“I can still do this,” I whispered, tightening my grip on the dagger at my hip.

His wolf’s golden eyes flicked to me, catching the faint moonlight. The way he looked at me—steady, unwavering—was answer enough.

Then the air shifted. Not wind, not animal movement. Something colder. Watching.

I stopped dead. My skin prickled as though needles pressed into the back of my neck. “We’re being followed.”

Dom’s low growl rolled through the night like distant thunder. He didn’t lunge forward. He didn’t block my path. He circled closer, positioning his body so that I was never fully exposed, guiding me without once restricting me.

I swallowed, forcing my breathing to steady. “Not just rogues.”

The forest seemed to agree. Every cicada had gone silent. The branches overhead stilled. Even the usual breeze hesitated, like the woods were holding their breath.

I scanned the shadows, heart pounding. My father’s mocking words still rang in my head, but Dom’s presence pushed back against them. He wasn’t here to hold me down. He was here to keep me steady so that I could stand on my own feet.

“Whoever it is…” I muttered, lifting my chin, “…they want me to know I’m being hunted.”

Dom brushed against my leg, a wordless vow. His golden eyes didn’t waver.

For one small, fleeting moment, the warmth of that trust cracked through the fear in my chest. My family might see weakness—but Dom didn’t.

Another snap echoed in the underbrush. Closer this time. Deliberate.

I tightened my grip on the dagger and whispered, “Show yourself.”

The shadows answered back with silence.

The silence cracked with a low snarl.

It slithered out of the trees, rough and guttural, followed by another, and another—until the forest felt thick with the sound. Shapes peeled from the shadows, eyes glowing, bodies crouched low. Rogues.

My pulse spiked, but my hand didn’t falter on my dagger. My father’s scoff replayed in my mind, but this time it lit a fire in my chest.

One rogue lunged first, breaking from the pack with a ragged cry.

I stepped forward before Dom could intercept, twisting my body low. My blade flashed as I ducked under its swipe, steel carving a clean line across its ribs. The rogue yelped and crashed to the dirt, but two more came in its place, jaws snapping.

Dom’s snarl split the night as he tore into the second, his teeth clamping down with brutal precision. I didn’t watch him finish—I didn’t need to. The third rogue was mine.

It lunged for my throat. I dropped, rolling into the damp earth, my dagger punching up beneath its jaw. Hot blood sprayed across my arm as the weight of it collapsed in half on top of me. I shoved it off with a grunt, chest heaving.

“Still think I shouldn’t be here?” I hissed under my breath, as though my father could hear.

Dom circled back, golden eyes flashing with pride and warning both. More rogues prowled at the tree line, hesitant now, snarling but not rushing. They’d seen me drop one of their own without a wolf to back me.

I rose, dragging the back of my hand across my face. My whole body shook, but no longer with fear; it was now with adrenaline. With the rush of knowing, I’d stood my ground.

“Let them come,” I whispered, leveling my blade at the shadows. “I’m not running.”

Dom pressed against me, warm and fierce, his steady presence at my side. He didn’t push me back. Didn’t shield me away.

He fought with me, not for me.

And in that moment, with rogues snarling in the dark and my wolf silent inside me, I knew I had proved it—not just to them. Not just to my father. But to myself.

The rogue at my feet twitched once, then went still. My chest heaved as I pulled my dagger free, wiping the blood on my pants. The night was heavy with silence again, broken only by the ragged sound of my breathing.

I’d done it. Without my wolf, without anyone’s hand guiding mine, I’d stood against the darkness and lived.

Dom padded close, his wolf form towering beside me. When his muzzle nudged my wrist, I startled—then let out a shaky laugh. His fur was damp with sweat and blood, but his touch was gentle, as though I’d become something untouchable in his eyes.

“I told you,” I whispered, voice thick. “I can fight.”

His eyes glowed gold in the dark, steady and warm. He leaned closer, brushing against me again, not protective this time but proud.

My heart stumbled in my chest at the quiet intimacy of it. The way he looked at me—like I wasn’t just strong enough, but enough.

For a moment, the world narrowed to just us—the blood, the shadows, the danger—all falling away beneath the weight of his gaze.

Then, somewhere behind us, a sharp intake of breath shattered the silence.

I froze, spinning toward the sound, my knife leaving my hand, whizzing through the trees until it clanged into the bark with a thud.

Through the trees, just beyond the broken line of rogues, I caught sight of him. Dane. His eyes burned like wildfire in the dark, fixed not on the bodies littering the ground, but on Dom standing so close beside me.