Bound By The Moon: The Eternal Bond - Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Hours earlier,
The sun had barely dipped below the horizon, its dying light painting the sky in streaks of rust and gold. But Aiden wasn’t watching the sunset—he was watching the perimeter.
From the top balcony of the packhouse, he scanned the treeline, every sense sharp, every muscle coiled. The air was too still, the silence too deep. Something was wrong.
Behind him, Jessy leaned lazily against the railing, arms crossed. “You’ve been staring at trees for an hour. Expecting them to wave back?”
Aiden didn’t answer. His jaw clenched. “It’s too quiet.”
Jessy stepped closer, her gaze softening. “Maybe it’s just… calm.”
He shook his head slowly, the weight in his gut growing heavier by the second. “No. This isn’t calm. It’s the silence before a storm.”
Before she could reply, a soldier burst from the treeline, blood splattered across his chest, eyes wide with panic. He stumbled through the gates, barely upright.
“Gamma Aiden!” he gasped. “Northeast ridge—attack! Rogues—dozens—armed!”
Aiden surged forward, catching the soldier before he fell. “Where’s your squad?”
“Holding—barely. It was an ambush. No warning!”
Aiden opened the mind link instantly.
Ryker. Northeast ridge. Ambush. Armed rogues. Reinforcements now.
Ryker replied immediately in an urgent tone.
On it. Rounding up fighters. I'll Find the Alpha. Hold the line.
Aiden turned, his expression carved from stone. “Jessy—gear. Now.”
She didn’t smirk this time. No witty remarks. Just a silent nod as she reached behind her and drew twin daggers with a familiar hiss. “Let’s go.”
They sprinted down the wooden steps as alarm bells began to toll, the metallic clang echoing like war drums across the pack grounds. Warriors spilled from buildings—some half-shifted, others still buckling on armor—as the call to battle spread like wildfire.
By the time they reached the northeast ridge, it had already begun.
The trees were ablaze, firelight casting frantic shadows across torn ground. The acrid scent of smoke mixed with iron-heavy blood filled the air. Wolves tore into each other mid-air—fangs bared, claws flashing. Warriors in human form clashed with axes and swords, their cries of pain drowned beneath the thunder of chaos.
Aiden shifted mid-run, his wolf form a blur of muscle, power, and fury. He launched into a rogue pinning one of their younger guards, his claws ripping into flesh, flinging the enemy aside with bone-snapping force.
Jessy was a phantom beside him, her daggers flashing like lightning. She dropped two rogues before her boots even touched dirt, every movement precise, lethal. Her eyes burned with focused rage—beautiful, deadly.
Aiden shoved back-to-back with her. “Center line’s cracking!”
“Then we hold it,” Jessy snapped, twisting to slit the throat of a rogue behind him.
The young warriors holding the center were faltering. Fear gleamed in their eyes—some barely out of training.
Aiden bellowed, voice echoing through the mind link and open air:
“No ground! You fall back, we lose everything!”
A hulking rogue lunged at him—a brute with a rusted axe. Aiden caught the downswing with his claws, pain sparking up his arm as metal met bone. He twisted, slamming the rogue into a tree. He didn’t stop until bones crunched and the body went limp.
From the corner of his eye, a blur of fur darted toward Jessy’s back.
Aiden moved on instinct. He tackled the beast mid-leap, teeth sinking deep into the rogue’s neck. They rolled across the dirt. Dust and blood filled the air until Aiden pinned the rogue and twisted—ending it in a final, brutal motion.
Jessy turned, panting. “Thanks.”
He nodded, already scanning again.
Screams tore through the air. A she-wolf collapsed beside her mate’s fallen body, desperately trying to drag him to safety. A rogue tackled her mid-sob.
Aiden charged, claws tearing the attacker off. “Go!” he ordered. She fled, tears streaking through soot and blood.
Jessy’s voice rang beside him. “They’re boxing us in.”
Aiden’s mind raced. He watched the flanking rogues tighten their formation, herding them inward like prey.
“Then we break the box.” He raised his bloodied hand. “Delta squad—on me! Right flank. Push now!”
Six warriors responded without hesitation, slamming into the rogue line like a wrecking ball. Aiden fought like a beast possessed—ripping, slashing, shielding. Every movement was a promise: Not one more falls. Not on my watch.
One of his men screamed as a blade pierced his shoulder. Aiden took the rogue down with a savage swipe, then dragged the wounded warrior to his feet.
“You with me?”
“Still breathing,” the man growled, clutching his wound.
The push worked. The rogue line buckled—slightly.
Then came the howl, it was Ryker.
Aiden felt the shift before he saw it—the wave of reinforcements crashing into the fray like a living storm. Ryker’s massive wolf form led the charge, fangs dripping, eyes blazing with vengeance. Behind him came warriors, guards, even healers with weapons drawn and fury in their hearts.
The tide turned.
Jessy moved like wind, her daggers carving a bloody path. Aiden fought at her side until blood soaked his fur, his breath coming in ragged gasps. One by one, the rogues fell or fled.
The battle didn’t end—it collapsed. The last of the enemy broke into the woods, chased by vengeful howls that echoed for miles.
And then—silence.
Not peace. Just silence.
The field was littered with bodies. Fires crackled. The wounded moaned. Smoke hung low, thick and heavy like grief.
Aiden shifted back, chest rising and falling. Blood clung to his hands, black in the firelight. His body ached, but his mind stayed sharp—alert.
Jessy leaned against a tree, blood on her cheek, eyes wild. “Is it over?”
Aiden looked at her. Then at the forest. Then at the broken ground littered with the fallen.
“No,” he said quietly.
His eyes narrowed, his voice barely a whisper.
“It’s just beginning.”