The Border of No Return
“If you’re going to kill me, then do it now.”
The girl stood barefoot on the edge of the cursed woods, her arms scratched, her lips trembling—not with fear, but with something colder. Something already broken inside her.
Kael watched from the shadows, his golden eyes narrowing. She had crossed the line. No one crossed the line. And lived.The scent hit him first—iron and moonlight. Her blood. It called to him like a song written for wolves.She stepped deeper.
“I said do it.” Her voice cracked, but she didn’t flinch. “I’m not afraid.”
She was lying. He could smell that too.
Kael stalked silently through the fog, his wolf simmering just under the surface. It clawed at his bones, howling at the scent of the girl, demanding blood or something worse. He stepped into the moonlight. Her breath caught. She took a step back.
So she was afraid. Good.
He moved like shadow and wind, tall and ragged, shirt open, scars like lightning burned across his chest. Gold eyes glowing. Hair damp from rain. And when he stopped only a few feet from her, the world fell silent. Even the trees held their breath.
“Name,” he growled.
She swallowed. “Lyra.”
“Why are you here, Lyra?”
She didn’t answer.
He could smell salt. She’d been crying. Not recently—days ago. Maybe longer. He stepped closer, and she didn’t move.
“Did you lose a bet?” he asked coldly. “Or are you just stupid?”
“I’m here because I want to die.”
Silence.
Even his wolf paused.
Kael blinked once. Slowly. He’d heard many things in his cursed years, but not that. Lyra lifted her chin. “I heard what you are. A monster. Cursed. I thought… maybe you’d be the one to finally finish it.”
Her voice trembled at the edges, but there was truth in it. Not a plea. Not fear. Just… resignation.
He hated that.
“You think I’m a mercy kill?”
“I think you’re dangerous,” she said. “And I think that’s exactly what I need.”
Kael stepped forward again. She didn’t run. He inhaled slowly. Her scent was strange. Not fully wolf. Not fully human. She was marked by the moon, but not in the way others were. No power pulsed from her, no shift under her skin—but something ancient whispered through her blood.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said low. “No one comes here. Not unless they want to disappear.”
“I know.”
“No one leaves either.”
“I don’t want to leave.”
The way she said it—calm, hollow—it sent a ripple of something unwanted through his chest. Kael clenched his fists. She didn’t move.
He hated this girl. He hated that she didn’t flinch. He hated that her voice was familiar in a way that made his bones ache.
“I don’t kill girls,” he said, turning away.
“I’m not a girl,” she whispered. “I’m a curse.”
He froze.
She didn’t even seem to realize what she’d said, but the words echoed like thunder in his skull. The wind shifted. And the moon peeked through the clouds.
His wolf stirred violently. Something wasn’t right. Lyra’s knees buckled. He caught her before she hit the ground. Her skin was cold. Fevered. His hands burned just touching her.
And then he saw it.
A mark on her collarbone—half-hidden by dirt and bruises. A silvery spiral burned into her flesh. The moon’s mark. The same as his.
Kael’s heart thundered once. No. No, it couldn’t be.
“You’re not supposed to have that,” he said hoarsely. “No one is.”
Lyra blinked up at him. “I’m not supposed to exist.”
And then she passed out.
---
Kael carried her in silence, the cursed forest swallowing them both. The girl had come seeking death. But she had brought something else with her. A prophecy. A bloodline. A curse that would change everything.
---
As Kael lays her in the old stone cell beneath his fortress, her skin glows faintly under the moonlight. The same glow that burns across his chest when he shifts. And far above them, the moon weeps.