Bonus Chapter

Bonus Chapter
Daniel’s POV

I watched them all happen. But from a distance.

Richard’s wedding? I was there. When Ivy gave birth, I was there. But always in the shadows.

I couldn’t get myself to be happy with them. Was I happy for them? Yes. I wasn’t becoming a monster…well, not the kind they should fear. 

I didn’t feel the same anymore.

My heart…my soul…it all feels empty. Like I had been drained of how to feel anything else aside from hatred and anger. I could recognize joy when I saw it. I could even understand it, in theory.

But to feel it? To stand there and laugh with them, celebrate victories, pretend all the scars were gone?

No.

The anger, the pain, the rage in my heart still burned fresher and hotter than the flames that reduced my clan to ash.

It can’t end like this.

It can’t end without me having my revenge.

I needed closure. I needed blood. I needed answers. I needed the moon goddess to stop playing her cosmic games long enough to explain why she watched everything I loved burn and still expected me to worship her.

How she could let me lose so much in one day and not even have the decency to put me in the place to get revenge myself.

I hated her.
  I hated everything and everyone.

Today…like most days for the past months…I wandered the woods after spending hours at the ruins of my old clan. Picking through charred timber and stone for pieces of my past, as if touching them would make the memories hurt less.

The king and Ivy probably thought I traveled to some far away country or decided to leave everything behind and start anew somewhere hidden. But that wasn’t the case. 

I stayed back. Visiting my old clan…trying to find something to hold on to…something that would make it bearable.

It never worked. But I kept doing it.

I was walking past the old oak when I heard it. 

A cry. Soft. Human.

I turned away immediately.

Not my business.

Humans cried all the time. They cried over everything…bills, breakups, broken nails, breakups again. Weak creatures with glass hearts and loud mouths.

I heard things every day wandering through these woods. Humans venting, teenagers pranking each other, horny adults rutting like animals. Disgusting, pointless sounds. None of it ever mattered.

But then… it hit my nose.

A scent.

Weak. Soft. Not forgettable.

Something warm. Soft. Addictive. Like fresh rain after a drought, threaded with something exotic and sharp beneath it…something that made my wolf lift his head and snarl in hunger.

“Mate.”

The word tore from my mouth before I could stop it. My wolf surged forward, teeth bared, already choosing.

I scoffed, not bothering to hide the disgust twisting through me.

That’s it? That’s the goddess’s answer to my dilemma?

A mate? A human-fucking-mate?

“That’s your solution?” I snapped at the empty sky. “How about you answer my damn questions instead of giving me a companion I never asked for?”

The forest answered with wind. Leaves rattling in mock applause. Silence pressing down like a taunt.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought. Fucking silence. That’s what you’re good at!”

I turned away.

Ignore it, Daniel.

It’ll go away once you ignore it.

There was no room left in me for anything except hate. Hate was fuel. Hate kept me sharp. Hate made sense.

I took one step.

Pain struck like a blade through my ribs…white-hot, violating, ripping through my core. My wolf snarled and shoved against me, enraged.

Not emotional pain.

Bond pain.

The mate was in danger.

A growl ripped out of me, deeper than breath, and I ran. Branches tore at my skin, earth cracked under my feet, instincts taking over. I didn’t choose the direction. The bond dragged me like a leash.

I broke through trees into a cliffside clearing.

And I saw it.

Three men.

One girl.

The redhead lay on the rocky ground, clothes torn, skin scraped raw, eyes wide with terror. Her voice was hoarse from screaming, but she still clawed backward toward the edge of the cliff like she’d rather die than let them touch her.

One of them grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back. Hard. Her spine hit the ground with a sickening crack.

Her scream wasn’t loud…but it hit me like a blade, straight through the chest. I staggered, clutching my heart as if someone had shoved a burning iron through it.

My wolf howled, furious.

They noticed me.

“Hey, champ!” one of them called out. “There’s nothing to see here. Move along and you won’t get hurt.”

The others laughed, like this was a joke. Like she was a prop. Like I wasn’t already seconds from tearing them apart.

I cracked my shoulders once, slow, deliberate. “I don’t have time for cheap antics,” I said, voice flat. “Leave. Now. And maybe I’ll let you walk away with only a few broken bones.”

The first man barked a laugh. “You’re outnumbered, genius. Three against one. Be smart…walk away before we drag you into the party and have fun with you too.”

The others hooted, slapping each other like idiots celebrating a joke.

I sighed.

“Last warning.”

I rolled my neck until it popped.

“Ohhh look at him,” the tallest one said, smirking like he was performing for a crowd. “He’s got that lost puppy stare. Buddy, are you sure you’re in the right forest? Mommy knows you’re out this late?"

The others snickered.

“Run along now,” another chimed in, flicking his fingers like shooing a stray dog. “Before your family finishes dinner. It would be a shame if they licked the plates clean before you got home. No scraps left for the little runt.”

I didn’t answer.

“He doesn’t have a family,” the first one mocked in a fake-sad voice. “Awww. You hear that, boys? Poor orphan mutt has no home to go back to.”

“Well, that’s sweet,” the third said brightly. “We don’t mind sending you to go meet them. You can even tell us how they died so we can do it the same way. Make it a sentimental reunion.”

I didn’t blink. Didn’t breathe.

Something snapped. Then I moved.

It wasn’t a fight. They were too slow for that. Too human. Too weak.

The first one never saw me coming…one swipe and his throat opened like butter. His body hit the ground before the others even reacted.

The second tried to run. I grabbed him by the spine and ripped. The scream that tore out of him was short…cut off when I smashed his skull into the rocks.

The third got a punch to the ribs hard enough to cave them in, then I used his own knife to silence him permanently.

It was fast. Bloody. Efficient.

I didn’t even shift. I didn't need to. Weaklings didn’t deserve claws or fangs. My bare hands were enough.

I didn’t just kill them because they touched my mate.

I killed them because I was angry at the goddess…and they were convenient.

When it was done, three bodies lay on the earth, bent at angles bones don’t bend. The ground was soaked with blood. Some of it was drying on my skin already.

I spat.

Then I looked at her.

My mate.

She was staring at me…not in fear, but in awe. Like I was some kind of hero from her comic books. Eyes wide. Breath shaking. Heart racing.

My wolf wanted to go to her. Claim her. Mark her. Drag her close and make sure nothing ever hurts her again.

I shut it all down.

There was no point getting excited about the goddess’s cheap excuse for balance. I would not be bribed with fate-bonds and warm skin and doe-eyed admiration.

I turned to leave.

But she ran after me.

“Wait…please…can I buy you?” she asked, voice trembling, and I stopped mid-step.

My eyebrow lifted.

“…What?”