Rejected by Moonlight: Second Moon, Second Chance

The sound of hooves drifted away. The quiet of dawn swallowed it. Their echo left Lila's ears buzzing with a hollow silence. She knelt beside Kade in the blood-drenched clearing. Her hands grew slick with his blood. It seeped around the silver bolt lodged deep in his ribs. It stained her fingers red. His gray eyes flickered, dim with pain. They barely stayed open. His breaths came shallow and uneven. Each one sliced into her heart like a blade. The hunters hadn't returned. Their retreat felt like a fleeting gift she couldn't trust. That silence hung heavy, like a storm waiting to break. Tears rolled down her face, hot and quiet. They dripped onto his torn shirt. She whispered his name. Her voice trembled with raw need. "Kade, stay with me. Please."

He grunted. His hand wrapped around her wrist. His grip felt faint but fierce, refusing to let go. His voice scraped out, rough and broken. Blood stained his lips. "Not… giving up yet," he said. Those words held her together, fragile but real. They acted as a thread against the panic rising in her throat. She'd lost Tom to hunters once. She'd watched him die on a forest floor like this. Now Kade, her rogue protector, her wall against the dark, was fading too. Her chest throbbed with an empty ache. Guilt and sorrow tore at her. She pressed harder on the bolt. Her shaky hands worked desperate to stop the bleeding. She willed him to stay, to cling to life with her.

Mist shimmered through the forest. It softened the dawn's golden light. It wove through the pines, a gentle glow that clashed with the slaughter around them. Three hunters lay dead in the dirt. Their blood pooled in dark, glassy patches. Their weapons glinted useless in the grass, abandoned in defeat. Lila's rock rested nearby. It marked with the blood of the man she'd hit. It stood as proof of the fighter she'd become in this brutal night. Her shoulder ached. Jaxon's claw marks burned under Kade's bandage. She pushed the pain aside. Her world shrank to Kade beneath her hands. She couldn't lose him, not after he'd taken that bolt for her, not after he'd fought back from the river.

A rustle pierced the quiet, soft but steady. It stirred the mist. Lila's head jerked up. Her breath snagged in her chest. Her green eyes scanned the haze. She hunted for the hunters' return. She braced for the sound of hooves, still echoing in her mind. But this wasn't hooves. It sounded quieter, a predator's careful step she knew too well. Her gut sank. Dread weighed her down like a cold stone. The mist shifted. It parted to reveal three wolves stepping from the trees. Jaxon's pack stared at her. Amber eyes glowed with hate. Fur bristled in the faint light. Leading them stood Tara, silver-gray and sleek, her sister, her betrayer.

Lila's heart stopped. Betrayal stabbed through her like a knife. Tara's muzzle twisted into a sneer. Her gaze locked onto Lila with icy triumph. It cut deeper than any wound she'd ever felt. "You're a hard one to kill, sister," Tara said. She shifted to human form as she spoke. She stood tall and lean. Her leather vest clung tight. Blonde hair tangled with twigs. Her face wore a mask of scorn, cold and tough. "But Jaxon's done waiting. You and that abomination end here."

The words struck hard. They sparked a blaze in Lila's chest. Rage surged through her, hot and fierce. It pulsed in her veins. Tara had betrayed her, sold her secret to Jaxon. She'd turned their bond into a weapon. Memories flooded back, nights under blankets, whispering dreams of escape. Tara's laugh, once a comfort, now a betrayal. "You're his now," Lila spat. Her voice shook with anger and pain. She stood. Her body screamed in protest, but she faced her sister head-on. "His mate, his tool. What happened to family, Tara?"

Tara laughed. The sound rang harsh and brittle through the trees. "Family? You threw that away when you laid with a human," she sneered. She stepped closer. Her boots crunched on the blood-wet leaves, steady and mocking. "You were never strong enough for him, for us. Jaxon's my alpha now, and I'm his queen. You're just a stain he wants gone."

Lila's fists tightened. Her nails cut into her palms. Blood welled up. It mixed with Kade's on her hands. "You're dead to me," she said. Her voice stayed low and fierce. A growl rose from deep within her, born from shattered trust. She'd loved Tara, leaned on her. Now that love bled out as betrayal. Her sister's words wounded her, but they sharpened something too, a fierce will, a mother's drive to shield the life Jaxon despised, the child Tara mocked.

Kade shifted beneath her. He groaned as he forced himself up. He braced one arm on the ground. The other clutched his ribs. Blood dripped steady. It pooled under him, dark and thick. His gray eyes burned with a fire that matched hers. They refused to break. "She's not alone," he rasped. His voice sounded rough with pain. He glared at Tara. A predator's vow shone in his stare. "You want her? You go through me."

Tara's sneer wavered. A flash of doubt crossed her face. The two wolves behind her growled. Their fur spiked with tension. One stood massive and black. Its muzzle scarred from old fights. The other, a lean brown female, limped, a grim reminder of the scout Lila had killed. "You're half-dead already, rogue," Tara said. She steadied herself with a smirk. She waved a hand at her packmates. Her confidence returned. "Finish them. Jaxon wants her head, and his."

The wolves charged. A storm of claws and fangs tore toward them. Lila's heart leapt. It lodged in her throat. She dove for the machete the dead hunter had dropped. Her fingers wrapped around its worn handle. The black wolf rushed Kade. Jaws snapped close to his flesh. He rolled aside, barely dodging. His movements slowed, heavy with blood loss. The brown wolf came for her. Its limp vanished in its rage. She swung the machete with a scream. The blade carved a shallow cut across its shoulder. It yelped. It pulled back, but circled again. Its amber eyes blazed with fury.

"Kade!" she yelled. Her voice cracked as she swung once more. The machete shook in her hands, unsteady but firm. She wasn't a warrior, not like him, not like Tara, but she fought with everything left in her. The baby's life fueled her. It drove each strike. The brown wolf lunged. Its teeth scraped her calf. It drew a sharp sting of blood. She stumbled. Pain seared through her leg, but she slashed downward. The blade clipped its ear. Blood sprayed as it howled in anger.

Kade wrestled the black wolf. His hands clawed at its throat. Blood soaked his side. The bolt dragged him toward collapse with every move. He yelled, a sound of pure defiance. He slammed his elbow into the wolf's muzzle. The blow stunned it. It gave him a breath. Tara watched, arms crossed. Her smirk twisted like a knife in Lila's gut. "You're pathetic," she taunted. Her voice dripped with spite. "Both of you. Jaxon will have your corpse by noon."

Lila's fury erupted. A wild scream tore from her core. She charged the brown wolf. The machete swung down hard. It sliced into the beast's flank. A deep gash spilled blood onto the ground. She didn't stop. Her arms burned as she struck again. Tears blurred her sight. Rage and grief drove her until the wolf fell. Its cries faded to nothing. Her chest heaved. Her hands stayed slick with blood, trembling around the machete. She turned to Tara. Her voice rasped a ragged snarl of defiance. "You don't get to decide who lives."

Tara's smirk vanished. Her eyes narrowed to slits. She stepped forward. Claws slid out from her fingers, sharp and ready. Before she could attack, Kade's fight ended with a crunch. He twisted the black wolf's neck. He broke it with a brutal snap that rang out. He dropped to his knees. Blood pooled beneath him. His gray eyes dimmed as they met hers. "Run," he rasped. His voice sounded faint. His body swayed as he fought to stay up.

Lila's heart broke. A sob burst free as she let the machete fall. She rushed to him. Her hands pressed to his chest, slippery with his blood. Tears streaked down her face. They fell onto him. "No," she said. Her voice sounded fierce and desperate. "I'm not leaving you, not again." He'd saved her, bled for her. She wouldn't leave him to Tara's mercy, or her lack of it.

Tara's laugh sliced through her pain, cold and cutting. "Touching," she sneered. Her tone mocked as she shifted back to wolf form. Her silver-gray fur gleamed in the dawn, a predator ready to kill. "But you're both done," she said. She stalked closer. The dead wolves framed a bloody scene behind her. Her eyes promised a cruel, slow death.

Lila stood. She stepped in front of Kade. Her hands stayed empty, but her will felt like iron. Tara's betrayal had carved a wound deeper than flesh, but it had shaped her too, a mother, a fighter, a survivor. As Tara leapt, Lila braced herself. Her heart hammered with a vow. She'd fight to her last breath, for Kade, for her baby, for the chance slipping away in the dawn's light.