Page 128 of Moonlit Fate

“Dreams,” he finally confessed. “Old memories.”

“Share them with me,” I urged.

“I can’t,” he protested. “I don’t want to burden?—”

“Listen,” I cut in, firm but gentle. “You’ve never been a burden. You never will be. This bond… I feel what you do. I know that no one person should have to shoulder this alone. Let me help you, Atticus. Let me take some of this weight and make it lighter for you.”

He trembled as he spoke, and each word that spilled from his lips was filled with raw anguish. “It’s...my father. My mother.”

I braced for what was coming.

“He killed her. My father killed my mother, and I... I couldn’t stop him.” He might as well have punched me in the gut. My heart twisted sharply, and I knew it was Atticus’s pain.

I gasped. “Oh, Atticus.” I struggled to find words that didn’t exist. “I can’t even begin to imagine...”

“He was supposed to protect us,” he said, his voice breaking. “He took me hunting. That night, he became a monster. I was just a kid, scared and alone. He tried to kill me, but, my powers saved me. I shrouded myself in shadows, creating a barrier he couldn’t get through. He got so angry.”

My eyes burned with tears I desperately tried to keep at bay.

“My mother, sensing something was wrong, came after us. He was furious that I’d thwarted him, that she’d protect me over him. He lost it. Killed her. It should have been me, Aria, not my mom.”

My tears spilled over at the same moment his did. His pain was mine, and I wished I could take it all.

“That’s what this bond is for. We’re supposed to feel each other,” I said. “It’s there so we don’t have to shoulder such things alone, so we can ease each other’s pain.”

He took a shuddering breath, and the tension slowly left his body. “With you, I’m calm. At peace. Always have been.”

I squeezed his hand tighter. “Then let’s not fight it.”

I stayed with him, running my fingers through his soft hair and stroking his back. His heavy eyelids slowly fluttered closed, weighed down by sleep. Lying here, so close to him, was torture. I waited until he fell asleep again, this time without any dreams plaguing him, before I slipped out of the bed and his room. The communal area was empty; the others were probably asleep. I stepped outside, my breath misting in the night air. The forest was dark, but I knew every twist and turn back to Silver Claw territory. With Atticus’s warmth lingering on my skin, I headed home.

I didn’t hear or sense anything until they emerged from the shadows of the undergrowth. It happened so fast I didn’t have time to react. Four figures, faces obscured with grotesque masks that seemed to writhe and contort in the dim light, moved toward me with predatory speed. The world narrowed to the menacing quartet closing in on me, creating in impenetrable circle. The crunch of leaves underfoot was the only sound as they encircled me, their silence more terrifying than any scream could ever be. The unmistakable scent of shifters filled the air, but some distorted magic kept me from identifying them or their pack.

“Who are you? What do you want?” I asked, glancing around to find an escape point.

“You have outlived your usefulness. You must die,” one spat out.

My pulse quickened, terror clashing with anger. “Who are you?” I demanded again, but my voice betrayed my panic. Could I shift fast enough to get away? They were so close I felt their breath on my skin. I was outnumbered. I couldn’t attack, couldn’t shift with them on top of me like me.

“It doesn’t matter who we are,” one answered.

“Only why we’re here,” said another.

They began to chant in a language I didn’t recognize, their voices growing louder as they crowded me. The air took on an electric charge, and my magic surged forth. Power clawed its way to the surface, wild and unyielding. It scared me as much as these four masked shifters did. Outnumbered, I braced myself as they closed in on me.

Out of nowhere, the sky cracked open. Lightning splintered the dark, and a torrent of rain lashed down. As they grabbed me, their nails digging into my skin, another figure appeared, her white hair a signal light in the overwhelming dark. With a gust of wind, the figures stumbled, the circle temporarily broken.

“Run!” the strange woman shouted.

My feet were rooted to the spot for a split second.

“Are you deaf? I said go!” she yelled again, her voice snapping me out of my trance.

I turned and ran.

The forest closed in around me, branches whipping against my skin as if urging me forward. I could hear the men, grunting, the sounds of their struggle punctuating the night, but with each step, those sounds grew fainter. The rain plastered my hair to my face, mud sucking at my boots, but I didn’t stop.

Shadows played tricks on my eyes, every rustle of leaves sounding like pursuit. It was just me, tearing through the underbrush, desperate to put distance between myself and the murderers I’d left behind.

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