Eclipse Book 2: After Glow
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Kelsie Tate
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15.2K
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29
Danielle has built walls around her heart, convinced love is a weakness after losing her mate. She throws herself into her role as a warrior, standing strong at her father’s side, yet the emptiness inside lingers. Then Michael, a steady and patient pack doctor, arrives with his daughter, tending not only to the pack’s wounds but to something stirring inside her. Their bond is unexpected, irresistible, and unrelenting. Danielle resists, telling herself it’s a cruel twist of fate—but sparks flare, walls crumble, and she begins to realize that sometimes the heart knows what the mind refuses to see.
Chapter 1
The wind rolled across the field in long, cold breaths, carrying with it the scent of pine, damp earth, and wolves. The grass rippled as the wind passed.
Danielle stood at the front of her battalion, her paws planted firmly against the frozen earth. Forty wolves stood behind her in a silent line, their fur bristling, eyes glowing faintly in the dim gray light of the early morning.
Each exhale puffed into the air like smoke. The scent of tension hung thick around them—fear, determination, and the sharp electric edge of impending violence.
Across the wide clearing, another line of wolves gathered in the shadow of trees. The enemy pack. The pack they had been called to destroy.
Danielle lifted her head slightly, her ears twitching as distant growls carried across the field. Her muscles were coiled tight beneath her thick, tawny coat, ready to spring the moment the command was given.
The pack behind her trusted her to lead. She could feel their focus on her. But despite the battle looming only moments away, her attention drifted.
Because she felt him. Talon.
The mate bond pulsed warm and alive inside her chest, a steady presence in the storm of emotions around her. Her gray-blue eyes scanned the neighboring squads until she spotted him. Even among dozens of wolves, she would have recognized him instantly.
Talon’s wolf stood larger than the rest of his squadron, his fur a deep black that seemed to swallow the pale morning light. His posture was relaxed in a way that made him seem almost amused by the entire situation, tail flicking lazily behind him as he stood at the front of his own squad.
As if sensing her gaze, his head turned. Their eyes met across the battlefield. The bond between them flared. His voice slipped easily into her mind.
Careful, Commander. You’re staring.
Danielle snorted softly, her tail flicking once. I’m observing the battlefield.
Right, Talon replied dryly. Try to keep it professional, or I’ll have to file a harassment report when we get back.
Despite herself, her ears twitched with amusement. Focus on your squad, she told him.
I am focused, he said lazily. My focus just happens to be on your backside.
She flattened her ears in mock annoyance. You’re impossible.
Talon stretched his front legs slowly, as if he had all the time in the world instead of standing moments from a brutal pack battle. You love me.
That is highly debatable.
You mated me. That seems like solid evidence.
Danielle huffed, her breath coming out in a puff of warm air. Behind her, one of her warriors shifted nervously, claws scraping against the frozen dirt. Across the field, the enemy wolves were beginning to move into formation. Their snarls carried faintly on the wind.
Talon’s voice softened slightly inside her mind. You look fierce today.
She flicked her tail. I always look fierce.
True, he admitted. But today you look especially terrifying.
Danielle allowed herself one more glance toward him. His dark wolf stood tall at the front of his squad, shoulders broad, head lifted confidently. Even from the distance, she could see the playful glint in his bright amber eyes.
He looked fearless. But through their bond, she could feel the same tension she carried. The anticipation. The instinctive readiness that came before battle.
A deep howl suddenly filled the air, echoing across the clearing. Danielle’s entire battalion stiffened. The time had come.
Across the field, Talon’s squad shifted, paws digging into the earth as they prepared to charge. Danielle’s chest tightened, and she reached for him through the bond.
Talon.
Yeah?
Don’t do anything stupid.
There was a pause. Then amusement rippled through the bond. Define stupid.
Talon…
Relax, he said gently. I always survive.
Her tail stilled. Stay alive, she said quietly.
This time, his reply carried none of its usual teasing. Warmth flooded the bond between them. Always.
Danielle’s ears tipped forward as she watched him step slightly ahead of his squad. Then his voice returned to her mind. Soft, certain. Hey.
What?
I love you.
The words settled deep in her chest. Her heart pounded once, hard. I love you too, she answered.
Another howl shattered the stillness. The enemy pack surged forward in a wave of snapping teeth and flying fur.
Danielle dropped low to the ground, muscles bunching.
“Now!” The command echoed through the mind-link of their pack leaders.
Her battalion exploded forward. Snow and dirt flew beneath pounding paws as dozens of wolves launched into the charge.
Across the clearing, Talon’s squad collided with the first wave of enemies. Danielle caught one last glimpse of his black wolf leaping straight into the fray—powerful and fearless. Then the battlefield swallowed him.
The impact came seconds later. An enemy wolf slammed into Danielle from the side with a vicious snarl. She twisted midair, claws raking across his shoulder as they crashed into the frozen ground.
The world dissolved into chaos. Growls. Snapping jaws. The heavy thud of bodies colliding.
Danielle moved through the battle like a storm. She dodged one attacker and lunged at another, her teeth flashing as she drove him backward. But even as she fought, her mind searched desperately for one presence.
Talon?
The bond crackled faintly through the noise of battle. Another enemy lunged. Danielle spun, her claws tearing across his flank before she shoved him away.
The clearing had become a blur of wolves tearing past one another in a violent frenzy. A bloodbath. Dust and snow filled the air.
Danielle leaped over a fallen enemy and scanned the battlefield. For a split second, she caught sight of Talon’s dark wolf fighting near the center of the clearing—but another wave of combatants crashed between them, and he vanished once more.
She breathed deeply and steadied herself. This was not their first battle, nor the last. She trusted him to do his job and come home to her—just as he trusted her to do the same. The roar of battle continued, and she pressed forward, striking down each enemy that dared to come against her.
The battle did not end in a single moment, but in a slow, terrible quiet. but with a slow, terrible quiet. Snarls faded. The clash of bodies stopped. One by one, the surviving wolves of Danielle’s pack pulled back from the last of their enemies, leaving the clearing littered with the aftermath of the fight.
Danielle stood at the center of it all, sides heaving, her tawny fur matted with dirt and streaked with blood that wasn’t hers. The enemy pack had retreated, having suffered too many losses to continue.
They had won. But the victory felt hollow, as it always did. Taking lives, even the lives of those who had brought it on themselves, never felt good.
Something inside her twisted sharply, a cold unease curling through her chest. She lifted her head, scanning the battlefield.
Wolves were shifting back into human form around the clearing, helping the injured, checking on fallen packmates. She shifted with them. Voices murmured in exhausted relief.
“We have taken minimal losses, Commander,” one of her squadron said from behind her.
She nodded absently, barely hearing the words. Her heart was pounding too fast. Her eyes searched the field.
Where was he?
She reached for him through the mate bond. Silence. Her stomach dropped.
Talon should have been here by now, making some stupid joke about how heroic he’d been, or how she owed him dinner for making more kills. He should have been beside her. Laughing, smirking, flirting.
Danielle began moving across the battlefield, weaving between warriors and bodies alike. “Talon?” she called hoarsely.
No answer. Her pulse climbed higher.
She checked near the place she had last seen his squad fighting. A few wolves from his team were there, some injured, some helping each other stand. But Talon wasn’t among them.
“Where is Commander Talon?” she demanded.
One of the warriors shook his head, confusion clouding his face. “I… I thought he was with you.”
A cold spike of fear drove straight through her chest. Danielle pushed past them and kept searching. The battlefield suddenly felt too large, too quiet. Every second without him made the dread inside her grow heavier, suffocating.
Talon! she called again through the bond, her mind reaching desperately for the warm, teasing presence that had always been there.
Nothing answered. Her breathing became ragged.
No. No, no, no.
He promised. Always.
She broke into a run. Her boots pounded across the frozen ground as she scanned every fallen body, every cluster of warriors helping the wounded.
“Talon!” she shouted.
Heads turned toward her. But none of them were his. Her vision blurred as panic clawed its way up her throat.
Then a voice cut across the clearing. “Commander!”
Danielle turned sharply.
One of her warriors stood near the far edge of the battlefield, his face pale, his eyes wide. He raised a shaking hand and pointed down toward the ground beside him.
Her heart stopped.
For a moment, she couldn’t move. Some instinct inside her already knew. The dread she had been fighting all morning crashed over her in a crushing wave.
“No,” she whispered.
Then she ran. Hard, as fast as her legs would carry her. The world blurred around her as she sprinted across the clearing, her breath tearing from her lungs.
The warrior stepped aside as she reached him. And Danielle saw him.
Talon lay on the ground, half in the frost-bitten grass. Blood soaked the earth beneath him. So much blood. His chest rose in shallow, uneven breaths, each one weaker than the last. A deep wound tore across his side, the gash wide and dark, the bleeding relentless.
Danielle dropped to her knees beside him so fast the impact cracked through her bones.
“Talon!”
His eyes fluttered open at the sound of her voice. For a moment, they were unfocused. Then they found her. Even now—broken, pale, dying—he managed the faintest hint of that familiar crooked smile.
“Hey,” he rasped.
The sight shattered something inside her. Her hands pressed desperately against the wound, trying to stop the blood that kept spilling through her fingers.
“No,” she choked. “No, no, no—you stay with me, Talon. Stay here with me.”
Talon sucked in a shallow breath, his face tightening with pain. “Looks…worse than it is,” he murmured weakly.
“Don’t you dare make jokes right now!” she cried, tears spilling down her face. Her hands trembled as she tried to hold him together. “I told you not to do anything stupid!” she sobbed.
His eyes softened. “We both knew I wouldn’t listen,” he whispered. Another shaking breath rattled in his chest. “Sorry.”
The word broke her.
“Don’t apologize.” She gasped. “Just hold on. The healers are coming. You’re going to be just fine—”
But even as she said it, she felt the truth through their bond. It was fading. Like a candle burning down to nothing.
Talon’s gaze stayed locked on her face, as if he was memorizing every detail. “Danielle, I don’t want to leave you,” he said quietly.
Her tears fell onto his chest. “Then don’t leave me,” she begged.
His hand twitched weakly, and she grabbed it instantly, clutching it between both of hers.
“I told you,” he breathed, “I’d always survive.”
“You promised,” she cried.
His smile trembled. “Guess…I broke that one.”
A wet, broken sound escaped her throat.
“We didn’t have enough time,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”
Danielle shook her head violently. “No, no, we have years. Talon, we have our whole lives—”
His breathing was growing slower, more labored.
“You can’t leave me, Talon,” she sobbed. “We have so much we need to do.”
“I love you,” he murmured.
Her vision blurred completely now. “I love you too,” she cried, her heart threatening to shatter into a million pieces.
His fingers tightened faintly around hers. For one last moment. Then the warmth in the bond between them flickered—and went out.
Talon’s hand went still.
“Talon?” she whispered.
No answer. The silence was unbearable.
“Talon.” Her voice cracked.
When the truth finally crashed over her, Danielle pulled his lifeless body into her arms and held him against her chest. A scream tore from her throat, raw and broken, echoing across the battlefield as she rocked back and forth with him in her arms.
Tears soaked into his blood-stained skin as she clung to him desperately, as if holding him tight enough might bring him back.
But he didn’t move.
And Danielle’s sobs carried across the quiet field long after the battle was over.
