Bound By Blood And Fate

ARC I: The Enemy’s Daughter

The border forest was too silent. Mira Nightshade sensed the danger deep in her bones before she saw any sign of it. The birds had stopped singing, and even the wind seemed to pause. Her fingers clenched tightly around the hilt of her blade. “Hold,” she whispered.

The Nightshade patrol moved cautiously behind her, their boots crunching on frost-covered leaves. The pale gray sky peeked through the trees, signaling that dawn was near. This land had always been dangerous, but today the air felt especially wrong, tense and watchful.

Mira lifted her hand. Suddenly, the first arrow hit the tree right next to her head with a sharp crack, sinking deep into the bark. Splinters flew just inches from her face. She didn’t scream or flinch because fear had been erased from her long ago “Ambush!” someone shouted.

The forest erupted into chaos. Silverfang warriors appeared like flashes of silver, emerging swiftly from the shadows. They moved with precision and speed, not like a random raiding party, but like a team trained for a single mission.

This was no accident, Mira turned, her blade already in hand, guided by instinct. Steel clashed as she blocked a strike aimed at her throat. She kicked her attacker away and twisted just in time to avoid another wolf lunging for her legs.

They had gone too far. Her chest tightened as she realized that this was a trap.“Fall back!” Mira shouted. “Form up! But the Silverfangs were already cutting them off. A Nightshade wolf went down to her right with a cry of pain. Blood sprayed across snow-dusted leaves. The sharp scent burned Mira’s nose.

She swung her blade low, feeling it cut into flesh and hearing a howl. She didn’t look back because looking back meant death. “Mira!” her cousin shouted. “We’re surrounded!”Before she could respond, the air shifted. A wave of power swept through the clearing, not magic, not force but something else like authority. 

Every wolf froze for a moment, and that brief pause was all it took, something hit her hard from behind. She slammed to the ground, breath knocked from her lungs. Pain flared across her back as she rolled instinctively and came up swinging.

Her blade froze in midair as golden eyes met hers. The Silverfang warrior before her didn’t attack. He stood still, chest heaving, eyes wide not wild or cruel, but intense, as if witnessing something unbelievable. Something inside her chest broke. 

A sharp, burning pain spread through her. Mira gasped and dropped to one knee, fingers clawing at her breast as heat flooded her veins. Her wolf screamed inside her skull, not in rage but in shock. No..No, no...

The scent hit her suddenly like ash and frost, cold mountain air, blood, and something ancient. Mate. Her wolf howled in fear. The Silverfang warrior stumbled backward, leaning against a tree for support. His breath was ragged, and his eyes were wide with shock. “Mira Nightshade,” he said, his voice rough. Hearing her name from him felt like a violation, rage surged through her pain. 

Without hesitation, Mira lunged forward. She slammed into him with all her strength, blade flashing for his throat. He reacted just in time, catching her wrist and twisting hard. Her knife fell into the leaves.

“Don’t touch me!” she snarled. “I don’t want this either,” he said through clenched teeth. “But it’s already done."

Silver-fang warriors surged into the clearing, weapons raised high. The howls of Nightshade wolves echoed as they retreated. Outnumbered and trapped, Mira kicked fiercely, striking a warrior in the ribs. He grunted but mistakenly pulled her closer. Suddenly, the bond ignited, intense, harsh, and overpowering causing her to scream. 

“Enough!” a commanding voice thundered through the forest. Every Silverfang wolf froze. A path cleared through the trees, and Alpha Ryker Silverfang stepped into the clearing like a living storm.

Mira had seen him from afar on ridgelines, across battlefields but never this close. He was taller than she expected, broader, his presence pressing down on her instincts until her wolf wanted to kneel and tear his throat out at the same time. His gaze found her, and the bond detonated.

Mira collapsed. Her lungs locked. Her heart slammed wildly as pain and heat crashed over her senses. Across the clearing, Ryker went rigid, one hand clutching his chest, a sound ripping from him that was half-snarl, half-disbelief.

“No,” he whispered. Silence fell, the warrior holding Mira released her at once, backing away as if burned.“Alpha…” someone said. “She’s...”

“I know what she is,” Ryker snapped, his eyes never leaving Mira. She forced herself upright, legs shaking. Fury burned hotter than fear, " she said hoarsely.“Kill me,” she said hoarsely. “Or let me go.”

Ryker stared at her as if she had handed him a blade.“You are Mira Nightshade,” he said slowly. “Daughter of Alpha Corvin.”

She lifted her chin. “And you are my enemy.”Something flickered in his eyes like pain, maybe but it vanished under iron control.

“Bind her.”Cold iron snapped around her wrists. She fought until her hands dragged away, teeth bared, lungs burning. As they hauled her deeper into Silverfang land, Mira twisted to look back at the forest.

Smoke already curled above the trees. Father will come, she told herself, and he will burn this place to the ground. The bond pulsed between her and Ryker with every step. Weeks, her wolf whispered, weeks of agony if she rejected him, weeks until death.

Silverfang territory rose from the mountains like a fortress carved by cruel gods. Stone walls, Iron gates, and towers etched with runes older than memory. Wolves lined the paths as Mira was dragged through the gates, everyone was silent, and staring.

Hatred burned in their eyes, and curiosity too. The Alpha’s hall swallowed sound. They forced her to her knees at the center of the chamber. Chains bit into her skin. Elders stood along the walls, watching her like a verdict waiting to be spoken.

Ryker stood before her. Up close, he was worse, not handsome but dangerous. “State your name,” an elder demanded.

“Mira Nightshade.” A hiss rippled through the hall.

“State your crime.”She met their gaze. “Existing.”

Ryker’s jaw tightened.“She was captured during an armed incursion,” the elder continued.

“I was defending my border,” Mira snapped. “One you’ve violated for three generations.”

Snarls answered her.“Enough,” Ryker said. Silence fell.

“The Moon Goddess has spoken,” an elder said. “The bond is undeniable.”

Mira laughed, sharp and broken. “Your goddess has a sick sense of humor.”

A low growl rolled from Ryker’s chest. " You will show respect..." “I will show no respect,” Mira said coldly. “Not to you. Not to him. Not to a fate that binds me to my grandmother’s murderer.”

The hall went still. Ryker’s face hardened. “My pack did not kill your grandmother.”

“Liar.” “That is what you were taught,” he said. “Not what happened.” The bond pulsed, it was uneasy, and questioning.

“I will never accept you,” Mira said. “I would rather die.” Shock rippled through the hall. Ryker inhaled slowly.“Then you do not understand the stakes.”

“I do,” she said. “If I accept you, my father will kill me. If I reject you, your laws will.”

“Yes.”

“Then I choose death.” The hall erupted. Ryker moved fast, gripping her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. The bond flared painfully bright.

“You do not get to make that choice alone,” he said. She yanked free. “Watch me.” The oldest seer stepped forward. “Thirty days,” she croaked. “If the bond is denied, rejection sickness begins.” With pain. Madness, and death.

Ryker looked at Mira like a wound he could not close.“You will stay here,” he said. “Under my protection.”

"Your protection?" she laughed bitterly. “From what?”

“From your pack.” The truth of it hit harder than chains, and a distant howl echoed through the mountain. Nightshade.

Mira’s blood ran cold. Ryker turned sharply toward the sound.“They’ve come for you,” he said. And the bond pulsed sharply and mercilessly as fate tightened its grip. Nightshade war howls rose outside the gates, fierce and familiar. Mira rushed to the window, chains rattling. Torches burned along the border, and blades flashed in the dark. Her brother’s howl cut through the noise, raw and desperate.

Ryker moved beside her, jaw tight. “If they cross the gate, I cannot stop my wolves.”

Mira turned to him, heart pounding. “Then stop the war. Let me go.” Before he could answer, a guard burst in, pale and shaking “Alpha… the Nightshade leader demands blood.”

The bond surged violently. Ryker went still.“He demands you, Mira.” And the gates began to open as fate whispered its first true threat.

The gates closed at dawn.Mira heard the iron grind shut from deep inside the mountain, the sound echoing through stone halls like a final judgment. It settled in her chest, heavy and cold.

She stood alone in the chamber they had locked her in. The room was carved straight from the mountain with bare stone walls, a narrow bed, a single window cut high and thin, no warmth, no comfort, it felt like a cage.

Her wrists were free now, but she could still feel the ghost of the chains.

Outside, Silverfang territory stirred back to life. The sounds were distant but constant—boots on stone, voices carrying orders, the low sound of a pack that had survived another night of near war.

Nightshade howls had faded before sunrise. They had not breached the gate, her brother had lived. That relief should have steadied her. Instead, it twisted painfully in her chest because she was still here, and because of him.

The bond stirred without warning, a sharp pull that tighten