Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

Quinn's POV

She had no idea.

I watched her from the edge of the bonfire circle, pretending I was paying attention to what the women's head leader was saying. The drums had started their low, rhythmic beat ancient, raw, and her smile faltered for just a second.

She felt it.

The first sign always came like that, a shift in the air, a pressure beneath the skin, like the drums itself was whispering in a tongue she didn’t yet understand.

Most outsiders don’t get this far. But she wasn’t just anyone. She was a special breed.

She moved through the crowd with a kind of ease, the type that feels like it wasn't someone's first time attending Duskwood’s festival, laughing with the others like she knew them, wearing the woven crown of ash leaves I gave her, like it meant nothing. But I saw the twitch in her fingers, the way her pupils dilated too wide. Her senses were starting to sharpen. The moon was pulling on her blood.

I should have stopped her. Warned her.

She wasn't supposed to be here in the first place. This wasn't just a normal festival she thought it was. But, I couldn't.

Because deep down, part of me needed her to feel it. To know what she really was. It was her destiny, and it has been written before she was born.

Tonight wasn’t just a celebration. It was a calling.

And she had already started to answer.

LIA’S POV:

I woke to the sound of my heartbeat, very loud, unrelenting, not normal. My hearing was sharper. My skin tingles. The scent of pine and earth flooded my senses like never before. Was it the weather? Something just didn't feel right.

I staggered to the bathroom, my legs were wobbling.

I wanted to use the shower but decided against it. Got into the bathtub and laid there for minutes before getting out.

Splashing cold water on my face before reaching out for the towel. I was frozen at the image of myself in the mirror.

There, on my left shoulder, where the skin has always been bare, was a mark of an intricate crescent moon, ringed with delicate, almost tribal designs.

I ran a finger over it. It didn’t hurt. It almost hummed.

“What the hell?” I whispered.

By the time I got to Quinn’s bookstore, I was pale and sweating. She took one look at her and locked the door behind her.

“I need answers,” I said in a commanding tone.

She only nodded and led me to a small room in the back.

The air was thick with sage and dust. Old books, worn, handwritten, lined the shelves. Only now do I realize how blind I've been since I came to this bookstore because I never noticed there was a smaller room.

“Let me guess,” Quinn said softly. “You’re hearing things no one else hears. Smelling things others can’t. You feel like the moon is pulling you apart from the inside.”

I swallowed. “Yes.”

“And the mark?” she gestured.

I pulled down her shirt slightly to reveal it.

I sighed. “Then it’s true. You’re Moonbound.”

“What does that even mean?”

She hesitated, then handed me a book. “It means you’re tied to a werewolf. Fated. It’s rare. And irreversible. I can't tell you everything right now because you won't understand, but with time, you will.

“No,” I said, stepping back. “That can’t be right. I’m human.”

Did she take something before coming or am I the one hallucinating?

Her eyes were sympathetic. “Not anymore.”

—

That night, I sat on the porch again, staring at the dark forest

Quinn's words echoed in my head.

I couldn't remember the last time I had a good night's rest since I came to Duskwood.

Suddenly, the air was thick with electricity, an unseen force pulling at me.

I stepped outside, the wind cool against my skin, the forest stretching before me like a living breathing thing.

I should have gone back inside. Should have listened to my mom's warning.

But something inside me was calling.

Before I knew it, I was walking towards the woods, I could hear my heartbeat pounding.

A snap of a twig.

I froze.

The wind shifted, carrying a scent I shouldn't have been able to recognize.

But I did.

Edgar.

I turned slowly and there he was, standing at the edge of the tree.

His expression was unreadable, his golden eyes were glowing too.

"Do you ever listen?" He murmured.

“What's happening to me?” I demanded.

“You shouldn’t be out here.” Ignoring my question.

“Just tell me the truth and stop running around in circles! I screamed, my voice echoing through the forest.

He studied me for a long time, then said quietly, “You’re not just Moonbound. You’re mine. And if other people find out about it, you'll be in danger. Nobody else should know you're my destined mate.”

My breath caught.

The truth is bitter I guess, for some reason I wanted it to not be bitter right now.

“I never asked for this,” I whispered.

“Neither did I,” he replied, turning away. “But fate doesn’t care what we want.”