Fated by Moon and Sea

Chapter Eleven: A Familiar Stranger

Chapter Eleven: A Familiar Stranger

Isaiah POV:

The air feels thick, pressing down on my chest as Savannah steps into the room. The moment she crosses the threshold, her scent wraps around me—lavender and sea breeze, clean and light—but beneath it is something impossible. Alicia.

My breath catches. Alicia’s scent should’ve died with her, and yet here it is, faint but unmistakable, mixed with Savannah’s. My wolf stirs, a low growl rumbling at the back of my mind. There’s no logic to this. Alicia had no siblings and no hidden family. And yet this girl—this stranger—smells like her.

And then the bond hits me like a freight train.

My wolf surges forward, snarling in recognition. Mate. Savannah is our second chance, mate. I feel it coil deep inside me, burning hot and fast, setting every nerve on fire. My heart races, my muscles tense. It’s instant—raw and overwhelming—like my soul just slammed into hers, demanding I claim her.

But there’s no response from her. Nothing.

My heart pounds harder, and I clench my fists at my sides, trying to stay in control. She doesn’t feel it. She doesn’t even seem aware of it. I can feel my wolf growl louder in frustration, and it takes everything in me not to let the sound slip out. She isn’t eighteen yet.

The realization makes me stiffen. That’s why the bond hasn’t fully settled for her. Siren or not, the mate bond waits until maturity. It’s barely ignited in me, but for her, it hasn’t sparked at all. And that makes my wolf restless, clawing at the walls of my mind, furious that we’ve found her but can’t claim her yet.

And it gets worse.

She’s not just any girl. Savannah is the crown princess of Aetherium—royalty from another realm, already set to be mated to Prince Orion, the next ruler of Aetherium. I’ve heard the rumours. Orion is the closest thing their kind has to a destined mate, chosen by the alignment of their voices. If her voice called to him, she belonged to him.

So what the f**k is happening?

I feel my chest rumble with a growl before I can stop it. Josiah shifts beside me, catching the sound, but he doesn’t react. He’s good at that—holding it all in, pretending we have everything under control. But I know he feels the same thing. This girl standing in front of us isn’t just some royal visitor. She’s ours.

But she isn’t. Not yet. Not fully.

The air between us thickens with tension, but Savannah holds her ground. Her sea-green eyes flick between Josiah and me, cautious but steady, like she’s sizing us up. She doesn’t seem intimidated—if anything, she looks curious. And that only makes it worse.

I force the growl down, burying it deep where it can’t escape again, and clear my throat. “Savannah of Aetherium,” I say, my voice low and rough. There’s a flicker of something in her expression when I say her name, but I can’t place what it is.

“I’ve come to offer my condolences and pay my respects,” she says, her voice smooth and melodic.

Her scent brushes against me again, and my wolf snarls inside my head, pissed that she doesn’t feel the pull like I do. She’s so close, and yet completely out of reach.

Josiah takes a step forward, his emerald-green eyes narrowing. “And why,” he asks, his voice laced with quiet authority, “would the Crown Princess of Aetherium feel the need to come here, to Lunaris, for such a purpose when we have never met?”

Savannah meets his gaze without hesitation. “I felt it was necessary,” she replies carefully. “As a gesture of goodwill and respect for a life lost.”

My wolf snarls again, frustrated by the cool formality in her tone. She doesn’t understand what’s happening—doesn’t know that everything between us just shifted the moment she walked through that door.

I exchange a glance with Josiah. He’s struggling too, though you’d never know it from the way he stands, arms folded, face blank. But I can feel the same storm raging inside him, the same question burning in his mind—What the hell are we supposed to do now?

“Very well,” Josiah says at last, though his expression remains hard. “But know this, Savannah of Aetherium: you are in our territory now. Our rules apply here.”

She nods, her gaze steady. “I understand. I have no intention of disrespecting your laws or customs.”

Her words are calm and deliberate. There’s no trace of fear, no hesitation. And it pisses me off how much I admire that about her.

I glance at Josiah again, and he gives me a subtle nod. We’ve already decided—we’ll play this carefully. Savannah might not know what she is to us yet, but it won’t stay that way forever.

Without another word, we turn and walk away, leaving her standing there with that maddening scent of lavender sea breeze—and Alicia—hanging in the air between us.

And as we move, I can’t stop the thought from running through my head.

What the hell are we going to do with a siren princess, set to be mated to another, when she was destined to be ours all along?

Josiah POV:

Isaiah and I walk away from Savannah, her scent still lingering in the air—lavender and sea breeze, with that impossible thread of Alicia tangled beneath it. Every step away from her feels like dragging myself through quicksand. My wolf claws at me, snarling, pissed that we’re leaving her behind. He knows exactly what she is.

But I don’t want to acknowledge it.

We’re halfway down the corridor before Isaiah breaks the silence, his jaw tight as he mutters, “She doesn’t even know.”

I exhale sharply through my nose, rubbing the back of my neck. “Of course, she doesn’t.” The words come out more bitter than I intended. “She’s not even eighteen yet. She’s got no clue what’s coming.”

Isaiah casts me a sideways glance, frustration and uncertainty flickering in his green eyes. “But we know.”

Yeah. We know. Savannah is our second chance mate—whether we want her or not. The bond is already there, humming between us like a live wire, just waiting to ignite. My wolf is practically howling in my head, demanding we turn back, demanding we claim her. I’ve never felt him this restless. Not even with Alicia.

Alicia.

The name alone makes my chest ache. She was supposed to be it—my one and only. When she died, part of me died with her. I’ve spent every day since clawing my way through grief, trying to make sense of a world without her. And now, fate has the audacity to throw Savannah in my path, acting like one broken heart can be replaced with another.

I want to scream. I want to punch a hole through the nearest wall. But I keep walking, fists clenched at my sides, forcing each step forward.

“She smells like her,” I mutter the words like poison on my tongue. “Why the f**k does she smell like Alicia?”

Isaiah lets out a low growl under his breath. “I don’t know. But it’s there.”

It doesn’t make sense. Alicia was an only child—no siblings, no family outside of us. There’s no logical reason Savannah should carry even a trace of her scent. And yet, there it is, woven into the lavender and salt air that clings to her skin. It’s maddening.

And it’s not just her scent. She’s a siren princess—a royal from Aetherium, set to be mated to Orion, their crown prince. A siren mate isn’t like one of ours. Their bonds aren’t fated—they’re chosen, tied through their voices and auras. From what I know, Orion believes Savannah’s voice calls to him, binding them together.

So what the hell is she doing here, triggering a mate bond with us?

I grind my teeth, frustration building with every unanswered question. If Savannah is truly ours, fate must be playing a sick joke. She belongs to another man—hell, to another realm. And even if she didn’t, how am I supposed to accept her? How am I supposed to just move on and embrace her when Alicia was supposed to be my forever?

“She’s not Alicia,” I mutter under my breath, more to myself than to Isaiah. The words feel sharp like glass scraping against my throat.

“I know,” Isaiah says quietly. His voice is low, rough with something I recognize too well—guilt. He’s feeling it too, the impossible pull between what we had with Alicia and what fate is demanding from us now.

We reach the far end of the corridor, and Isaiah leans against the stone wall, running a hand through his thick black hair, the same as mine. His shoulders are tense, and I know he’s wrestling with the same storm brewing in my chest.

“This is f****d,” he mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Tell me about it.” I lean back against the opposite wall, closing my eyes for a second, trying to block out the whirlwind of emotions. It doesn’t help. Savannah’s scent is still stuck in my head, and my wolf is pacing relentlessly in the back of my mind, clawing to get out, to go back to her.

“She’s not even eighteen,” I say again, as if that’ll make the situation any easier to swallow. “She doesn’t feel the bond yet. But we do.”

Isaiah exhales slowly, frustration lacing every breath. “And she’s set to be mated to Orion.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “So what the hell do we do with that?”

He doesn’t answer. Because there’s no answer. We’re trapped—caught between the ghost of what we lost and the impossible reality of what’s standing right in front of us.

My wolf growls again, low and persistent, and I grip the back of my neck, trying to keep him under control. He doesn’t care about the complications. All he knows is that we found our mate, and she’s here, and every second we’re not with her feels like agony.

“She doesn’t belong to us,” I say, trying to convince myself more than Isaiah. “She’s Aetherium’s princess. She’s promised to someone else.”

“And yet,” Isaiah murmurs, his voice dark, “she’s ours.”

I open my eyes and look at him, feeling the weight of his words settle between us. That’s the brutal truth, isn’t it? No matter what the circumstances are, no matter how wrong it feels, Savannah belongs to us.

But how the hell are we supposed to accept her? How do we let go of Alicia—of everything we lost—and start over?

“I can’t do this,” I whisper, the admission tearing out of me before I can stop it.

Isaiah’s gaze sharpens, and for a moment, I see the same pain reflected in his eyes. “Neither can I,” he admits quietly. “But it doesn’t matter, does it? The bond is there. Whether we want it or not.”

I laugh bitterly, shaking my head. “Fate’s a real b***h, huh?”

Isaiah huffs a humourless laugh, running a hand through his hair again. “Yeah. It really is.”

We stand there for a moment, lost in the mess fate has thrown at us. There’s no easy way forward. No way to undo what’s been set in motion. Savannah is ours—whether we like it or not—and now we have to figure out what the hell to do about it.

“Do you think she’ll choose him?” I ask quietly, the words tasting like acid on my tongue. “Or will she feel the bond when she turns eighteen?”

Isaiah doesn’t answer right away. He stares down the corridor, his jaw tight. “I don’t know. But either way... it’s going to hurt.”

And that’s the truth, isn’t it? No matter what happens—whether Savannah chooses Orion or us—someone’s going to get hurt.

I clench my fists, pushing off the wall, trying to steady myself. “We need to be careful,” I say, more to myself than to Isaiah. “We can’t... we can’t let her in. Not until we know what this is.”

Isaiah nods, though there’s a flicker of doubt in his eyes. “Agreed.”

But deep down, I know it’s a losing battle. The bond is already there, tangled around us, pulling us closer with every second. And the worst part? I can already feel myself slipping—already feel my heart cracking open for her, even though I swore it never would again.

Savannah doesn’t know it yet. But she’s about to tear our world apart.