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Mark by the Moon
Blood speaks louder beneath a full moon. In the ancient realm of Lunaris, where the stars are hunted as omens and the moon governs all life, werewolves do not lurk in shadows. They rule. The highland Silverfangs trace their bloodline back to the Moonborn, said to be the first creatures kissed by lunar magic. Noble, disciplined, and cold as the stone halls they inhabit, their legacy is law. The Nightmane packs-feral, untamed, exiled centuries ago-roam the deep woods beyond the borderlands, legends in the minds of children and terrors in the songs of elders. Kaela Raventhorn, heir to the Silverfangs, was born under a Crimson Moon, a rare celestial event whispered to mark destiny or doom. At seventeen, she claimed her first shift-seamlessly, painlessly-earning the envy and fear of her packmates. Now, at twenty-one, she wears her crown of responsibility with quiet defiance. She does what's expected: leads hunts, settles disputes, and prepares for her betrothal to Darian Vale, the future Warden of the North. But there is a restlessness inside her-a howl that no duty can quiet. When Kaela crosses into the forbidden wilds one night chasing a phantom scent, she stumbles upon a half-dead werewolf-his fur midnight-black, his eyes ember-red. A Nightmane. An enemy. She should have left him. But something about him draws her in. Something in the shape of his pain. His name is Riven, and he carries stories Kaela was never meant to hear: stories of betrayal, of secrets buried beneath Silverfang altars, of a pact broken in blood. And of her father's death... not as noble sacrifice, but as execution. --- "We were born of the same moon," Riven says. "But you've lived under lies." --- As Kaela nurses him back to life in a hidden cavern beneath the Blackroot Mountains, their bond deepens. It begins in stolen glances and quiet conversations. In questions no Silverfang would dare ask. In the way his voice settles the chaos in her chest. But love, in Lunaris, is never without consequence. Darian notices the shift in her-how her laughter dims in his presence, how she no longer flinches when he speaks of war. He begins to suspect. And Darian, beloved and golden, has never handled rejection well. What Kaela doesn't know is that Darian has been hiding truths of his own. That he knew her father's fate. That he struck the first blow. Betrayal comes swiftly. It arrives in a whisper: her mother's journal, found hidden beneath the hearthstone, speaks of a bloodmark that ties Kaela to the Nightmanes through her grandmother's forbidden love. A love that cost a war. A love that has been scrubbed from Silverfang history. It arrives in a letter: her arranged bond to Darian was sealed in desperation, not alliance. A pact forged to cover up a crime. It arrives in the moonlight: Riven, surrounded by Silverfang warriors, bleeding in chains, thrown at her feet like prey. And Kaela must choose. --- "Will you fight for the truth," her mother once asked her, "even if it ruins everything you love?" --- What began as duty will end in fire. Torn between the mate chosen for her and the mate fate has gifted her, Kaela must unravel the lies that bind her. To claim her future, she'll have to burn her past-and embrace the part of her blood that howls in the wild. But vengeance has a cost. And the moon never forgets. Marked by the Moon is a tale of forbidden love, shattered legacies, and the war between who we're told to be and who we truly are. In a world where love can be a weapon and betrayal runs in the blood, Kaela must decide: What will she protect-her pack, her heart, or her revenge?