Chapter 4

Kieran Lucian’s POV

The courtyard of the Dark Moon Pack was already bubbling before sunrise.

Warriors moved between rows of weapons, checking blades, tightening armor, and preparing for the battle we had spent years waiting for. The air smelled of steel. Everywhere I looked, I saw familiar faces……men and women who had spent years carrying the same hatred I did.

But my mind wasn't entirely on war.

It was on her. Sienna.

I could still remember the way she had looked at me beneath the moonlight. The softness in her voice when she told me her name. The way my wolf had reacted the moment she touched me.

For the first time in years, something other than revenge had managed to occupy my thoughts.

“Thinking about your mystery woman again?”

I looked up to see Lucas leaning against one of the stone pillars, a grin spreading across his face.

Damian stood beside him, already dressed for battle. “He has been staring into space for the last ten minutes.”

“I haven't.”

Lucas laughed. “You absolutely have.”

I rolled my eyes. “We're going to war, and you're both worried about my love life?”

“You chased a woman through a masquerade ball last night,” Lucas said. “Of course we're worried.”

I ignored him and reached for my sword.

Damian's expression softened with curiosity. “At least tell us her name.”

I hesitated for a moment. “Sienna.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow. “And?”

I looked at him. “She’s my mate.”

The grin disappeared from his face. Damian stared at me for a second before nodding slowly. “That explains a lot.”

“I don't know anything else about her,” I admitted. “She only gave me her first name.”

Lucas opened his mouth, probably preparing another joke, but I turned away. “Enough. We have a war to win.”

The courtyard immediately became quieter. I looked at the warriors gathered before me.

For years, we had prepared for this day.

Years ago, Darius Valerius had attacked our pack without mercy. My home had burned. My family had been slaughtered. Fathers had died protecting their children. Mothers had been ripped from their sons. Brothers and sisters had disappeared beneath the bloodshed.

I had survived. But surviving didn't mean I forgot.

I stepped forward. “Today isn't about glory,” I said, my voice carrying across the courtyard. “It isn't about territory. It's about the people we lost.”

The warriors listened in silence. “Darius Valerius took our families from us. He thought that destroying our homes would destroy us with them. He was wrong.”

A low growl moved through the crowd. “We survived him. We grew stronger because of him. And today, we finish what he started.”

The warriors raised their weapons.

“For our families!” I shouted.

“For our families!” they roared back.

I drew my sword.

“No mercy.”

“No mercy!”

“No survivors!”

The courtyard erupted. Moments later, the gates opened, and hundreds of Dark Moon warriors moved toward Darius Valerius's territory.

I rode at the front, my wolf restless beneath my skin. The forest swallowed us as we advanced. Then the first watchtower appeared between the trees.

I raised my hand. Everyone stopped. The rogue guards hadn't seen us yet.

I lowered my hand. The attack began. The first wave crashed through the outer defenses before the rogues could organize. Warriors poured into the compound from every direction, forcing Darius's men away from the gates and deeper into the territory.

The sound of steel against steel filled the air. Wolves tore through the battlefield, but I wasn't interested in the battle itself.

I wanted Darius. “Find him!” I shouted.

Damian nodded and disappeared into the chaos with several warriors.

I pushed forward, following the path toward the mansion.

Every few seconds, another rogue tried to stop me, but my attention remained fixed ahead. I didn't need to slaughter the entire pack. My warriors could handle them.

I needed their leader. Darius had built this place believing nobody could touch him. Today, I wanted him to understand exactly how wrong he had been.

The mansion came into view, and then I saw movement near the entrance.

Darius.

He stood surrounded by several guards, his face twisted with fury as he watched his territory collapse around him.

Our eyes met. For one second, neither of us moved, then he turned and ran.

“Coward!” I roared.

I chased him. Darius disappeared through the mansion doors, his guards scrambling behind him. I followed, but the sound of fighting continued around me as warriors pushed deeper into the compound.

Inside the mansion, panic had replaced the silence. As I ran somewhere deeper inside the mansion, another sound broke through the chaos. I heard someone call a name..

“Sienna!” I stopped.

My entire body went still.

Sienna. My heart slammed against my ribs.

No. It couldn't be.

I turned toward the sound. Darius's voice echoed again, louder this time.

“Sienna, get up! We have to leave!”

The blood drained from my face. I knew that voice. I had spent years imagining the face of the man responsible for my family's deaths.

Darius Valerius And now he was calling for my mate. I moved toward the voice, my steps quickening Then I heard hurried footsteps.

A door opened somewhere ahead. I rounded the corner.

Darius appeared, dragging a young woman by the wrist. She was frightened, confused, and dressed in a nightgown, her hair falling messily around her shoulders.

I barely looked at her at first. My eyes were on Darius until she pulled against his grip. “Father, what's happening?”

My breath caught. That voice. I knew that voice. I had heard it whisper my name and I had felt those lips against mine.

Slowly, she turned. Our eyes met.

Emerald. The same emerald eyes that had haunted my thoughts since the masquerade. The same woman my wolf had claimed the moment she walked into that ballroom.

Sienna. My mate.

She stared at me, confusion flickering across her beautiful face. And then I looked at the man who was already running away from the scene

Darius Valerius. Her father.

The truth hit me with such force that I almost forgot how to breathe.

Sienna Valerius.

The woman chosen by the Moon Goddess to be mine was the daughter of the man I had sworn to destroy.