Lyra’s words dripped with false sweetness, but her body pressed closer against Jace’s, her head resting against his chest as if she already wore my mark.

“Lyra,” Jace murmured, brushing her arm as if she were made of glass, “stop teasing. The wound on your back hasn’t healed, and now you’ve twisted your ankle again.”

His hand slid down to steady her wrist, his eyes cutting coldly toward me.

“If you can’t stand having Lyra rest here, Seris,” he said, voice low and threatening, “then you can find somewhere else to stay. The Crescent Inn takes guests.”

My fingers curled. “No need,” I replied evenly. “She can stay. Let her heal… right here.”

I turned and climbed the staircase, forcing my trembling legs to carry me upward. Behind me, I could feel their shared breath, hear the pulse of their hearts beating in one rhythm.

---

Later, the door to my chamber creaked open.

Lyra entered without knocking, the scent of her perfume — foxglove and wolfbane — thick in the air.

“My dear sister,” she cooed, leaning against the doorframe. “I heard you’ve been trying to conceive Alpha Jace’s pup for two years. All those rituals, the healers, the blood tonics… how exhausting.”

Her tone shifted, a blade hidden beneath silk.

“Too bad,” she sneered, “you’ll never give birth to anyone’s pup. Not when you don’t even have a womb anymore.”

The words sliced through me. “What did you say?”

Lyra’s eyes glinted with amusement. “Do you even know why your parents were taken that night of your Moon Ceremony?”

A chill swept through my body. “What do you mean?”

She stepped closer, the click of her heels echoing like bone against stone. “Because you came of age. Because your organs matured. They wanted you compliant — ready to donate. At first, only one of your sacred wolf kidneys was needed. But Jace…” She smiled slowly, cruelly. “He didn’t want you bearing his heir. He married you only to keep your body close, so he could harvest what I needed.”

My vision blurred. “You’re lying. We share blood — we’re sisters.”

“Sisters?” Lyra’s face twisted in fury. “Who told you that lie?”

She leaned in, her whisper colder than moonlight. “You’re not my sister, Seris. You’re nothing but a blood vessel Father and Mother raised beside me — a living reservoir. My personal blood bank. They called you their adopted daughter, but you were my property. A replacement heart waiting to be carved open.”

Her laughter rang like a curse. “And now that my health’s restored, we don’t need you anymore. That’s why Jace poisoned you — slow, steady doses disguised as ‘medicine.’ How does it taste, hmm? Sweet? Metallic?”

I froze, realization crashing over me.

So that was why he’d always insisted the steward watch me drink.

Why he dismissed my protests as “hormonal weakness.”

Lyra tilted my chin upward, nails digging into my skin. “Every month you drank your death a little deeper. Jace kept you close so you’d never run. You were just… convenient.”

Then her voice dropped to a whisper, almost tender. “Do you ever wonder why you wake with bruises on your arms? Those aren’t accidents, darling. Jace drains your blood while you sleep, mixing it into my tonics so my wolf stays strong.”

The world shattered. My wolf inside me whimpered — wounded, furious, desperate.

Before I could move, Lyra slapped herself, a sharp crack splitting the silence.

She stumbled backward, clutching her stomach.

“Ah!” she screamed. “Sister, please don’t hurt me! My pup — the Alpha’s heir — please, have mercy!”

Jace burst through the door in seconds, eyes blazing. He didn’t hesitate.

His boot slammed into my chest, knocking me to the ground.

“Seris!” he roared. “I never thought you’d fall so low. Lyra’s carrying my heir, and you dare raise a hand against her?!”

I gasped, struggling for breath. “I can’t bear a child because of you! Because you—”

His expression flickered—just for a heartbeat—before guilt turned to rage.

Then Lyra whimpered again, clutching her belly, and his resolve hardened.

Without another word, he swept her into his arms and carried her away.

The sound of the door slamming echoed through the hollow corridors of our home—

the place I once believed was my sanctuary.

---

My last hope burned to ash.

I reached for my communicator crystal, the one I’d sealed years ago with a blood rune only I could break.

As it lit with blue fire, a familiar voice answered on the other end.

“Seris?”

“I’ll take the mission,” I said, voice steady despite the tremor in my hands. “The one you offered me years ago—the Bloodmoon Rebellion.”

A pause, then a low, approving growl. “Are you certain, Luna? Once you step on this path, there’s no turning back.”

My eyes turned silver.

“I lost everything once,” I whispered. “This time, I’ll take it all back.”

Two days later.

The date was set.

I’d packed everything that still smelled of me — silks, rings, the old moonstone comb Jace once gave me — into a single trunk.

“Throw it all out,” I told the steward. “Burn it if you must.”

He hesitated. “Does the Alpha know?”

A bitter smile curved my lips. “Tell him the Luna is cleansing her den. He won’t care.”

When the last box left, I stood in the empty chamber.

The walls still hummed faintly with our old bond — the scent of his wolf, the echo of broken vows.

I felt nothing.

---

That was when the rune-crystal rang.

My adoptive mother’s voice thundered through the channel, sharp as silver.

“Come home. Tonight. No excuses.”

A pause, then a hiss:

“If you’re not here before sundown, you’ll regret it.”

The connection snapped.

I stared at the dying glow of the rune. Of course — this was about Lyra.

---

By dusk, I stood before the gates of the Highmoon Manor — my so-called family’s estate.

The heavy oak doors opened, and the first thing that greeted me was a flying goblet.

It struck my forehead.

Warm blood trickled down my face.

I bent, picked up the shattered silver cup, and placed it calmly on the table before my parents.

“Father. Mother.”

Lyra whimpered theatrically, clutching Jace’s arm. “Alpha, she’s terrifying… she’s bleeding!”

But her eyes glittered with triumph.

My mother’s face twisted. “So this is how you behave now that you’ve married into a powerful pack? You dare raise your hand against your sister?”

Her voice dripped venom. “We should’ve drowned you at birth, abomination!”

I swallowed hard. “Am I truly your daughter?”

The question barely left my lips before her hand cracked across my face.

My weakened wolf couldn’t hold me steady — I fell.

For a heartbeat, Jace’s expression flickered — something almost human passed across it — but Lyra’s soft gasp pulled his gaze away.

“Seris,” she said sweetly, “Mother didn’t even use much strength. Why fall so dramatically?”

Jace’s eyes cooled to ice.

“She’s right. Don’t exaggerate, Seris.”

My mother sneered. “Exactly. You’re always pretending to be the victim. You trying to blackmail us now, Luna Thorn?”

I didn’t answer.

I simply stood, wiping the blood from my mouth.

My father rose, slamming his cane against the marble floor.

“Kneel,” he barked. “Apologize to Lyra.”

I stared at him. “For what?”

The cane struck again — this time my leg.

Pain shot up my thigh, but I bit it back.

“Kneel,” he repeated coldly. “And beg forgiveness for trying to harm the Alpha’s unborn heir.”

Unborn… heir.

The words echoed, hollow and cruel.

I turned to Jace, voice trembling. “Do you believe them too?”

He didn’t even look at me. “Just apologize, Seris. End this quietly.”

Something inside me broke — cleanly, irrevocably.

Mother’s contempt, Father’s rage, Jace’s indifference — all of it blurred into a single void.

“Fine,” I whispered. “I’ll apologize.”

---

Lyra’s lips curved. She shot Mother a glance.

My mother instantly snatched two crystal goblets and smashed them to shards at my feet.

“Kneel here,” she said. “Show some sincerity.”

I stared at the glittering fragments. “Are you truly my mother?”

For a second, fear flickered behind her eyes — then hatred swallowed it.

She raised her hand to strike again.

This time, I caught her wrist mid-air.

Our gazes locked.

“You—how dare you touch me!” she hissed. “You see? She’s attacking her own mother! Everyone, look at this monster!”

Father moved, cane raised.

But I released her arm before he could strike.

When I looked at him again, my voice was cold and steady.

“Tell me, Father. Should I also learn from Lyra — seduce my sister’s mate to survive?”

The hall froze.

Lyra gasped, feigning fragility, clutching her belly.

“Please, stop… I don’t want to argue. I just want her to stop cursing my pup…”

Jace instantly wrapped his arms around her, growling low.

“Seris,” he warned, “your words are dangerous. Enough.”

The sight of him — the man who once swore before the Moon Goddess that his wolf and mine were bound forever — holding her like that…

It hollowed me out.

Father sneered. “You’ve become rabid, girl.”

Maybe I had.

Because at that moment, I felt my wolf stir deep within, snarling for the first time in years.

The air shimmered faintly; the light bent.

I took a step forward, my voice low and even.

“I’ll kneel when the Moon herself commands me.”

Lyra’s face was full of sorrow. She swayed on her feet, nearly collapsing, and Jace caught her just in time.

He frowned at me. “Seris, that joke went too far.”

“When you’ve done something wrong, you should apologize. Why are you still insulting Lyra?”

I looked at the man who had once sworn eternal vows to me beneath the Moon Goddess’s light — now holding another woman in his arms, defending her as if she were the one worth protecting.

A hollow ache spread through my chest.

“Seris, I don’t need your apology anymore,” Lyra suddenly said.

She took a trembling step forward, pretending to kneel.

“I only beg you — for the sake of the child in my womb — please stop using the shadow-binding curse. Don’t curse my baby anymore.”

The moment Lyra uttered the words “shadow-binding curse,” the air in the great hall froze.

Jace was the first to snarl.

“Seris!” His voice echoed like thunder, his wolf aura flaring against the walls.

“I never imagined you’d sink so low. What has Lyra ever done to you that you’d try to curse her unborn heir with dark witchcraft?!”

My mother—once the proud Luna of the Highmoon bloodline—lifted her voice, trembling with theatrical outrage.

“Seris, you wicked little beast! I raised you, fed you, clothed you, and this is how you repay me—by using forbidden blood magic on your sister? Have you no conscience left?”

Father’s tone was colder, heavier.

“Enough deceit. Seris, you’ve disappointed me for the last time. Speak—what do you have to say for yourself?”

I laughed, the sound hollow. “Would you even believe me if I did?”

A flicker of fury darkened his eyes. In the next breath his silver-tipped cane shot forward, striking the back of my knees.

My body folded before I could stop it.

Glass shards bit through my skin; blood pooled instantly on the marble floor.

The pain was blinding.

Before I could rise, another hand forced my head down—hard.

My forehead met the ground with a brutal crack.

For a heartbeat there was nothing but ringing silence.

When my vision cleared, I saw him—Jace Thorn, my husband, my Alpha—calmly wiping his hand with a scented cloth, eyes as indifferent as winter stone.

“This,” he said coolly, “is how a Luna shows remorse. You should thank me. And you’ll undo whatever vile curse you cast on Lyra. If she or the pup suffers, I’ll end you myself.”

I clenched my fists until the claws beneath my skin scraped bone.

“I said—I did nothing.”

“Please, stop fighting.” Lyra’s voice quivered prettily as she leaned into him, eyes shimmering with tears.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean it, Alpha. She’s just… hurt. Let’s forgive her, yes?”

Her soft plea sounded merciful, but every word pushed me deeper into the pit she’d dug.

Even my wolf whimpered, bound and half-asleep beneath my skin.

---

I looked around the hall—at my parents, at the man I’d nearly died for—and realized I was nothing more than a convenient tool wrapped in flesh.

When Father was ill, it was I who fetched healers.

When Mother collapsed, it was I who offered my own blood for transfusion.

When Jace’s company faced ruin, it was I who brokered deals, drank till my stomach bled, smiled till my jaw locked.

And Lyra—she took and took, always smiling sweetly while stealing what was mine.

Something inside me cracked.

A stillness, colder than any rage, settled in its place.

This house… this pack… was never mine.

They all stared as though at a traitor, not a daughter, not a mate.

“Well?” I said softly, meeting Lyra’s gleaming eyes. “Are you satisfied now?”

Jace scowled. “Watch your tone. Lyra is pure-hearted. She’s done nothing to deserve this venom. You’ve become jealous, Seris—and our pack has no place for jealous women.”

My lips curved. “Then it’s a good thing I stopped caring about your pack.”

His jaw tightened. He hadn’t expected defiance; the obedient Luna he’d trained to heel had finally bared her teeth.

Father cleared his throat, trying to regain control. “Enough. This is a family matter, not a spectacle. Sit. Eat. Pretend to be civil.”

In other words: pretend none of this happened.

---

We moved to the dining hall.

Jace sat beside Lyra, their shoulders brushing as though it were natural.

I sat across from them, silent.

When Jace caught my gaze, guilt flickered in his eyes—but before he could speak, Lyra laughed lightly.

“Dear sister, my mate is abroad on business,” she said sweetly. “He and Jace are close friends, so Jace offered to look after me. You don’t mind, do you?”

There was no mate abroad; we all knew that.

It was just another dagger she wanted to twist.

Jace nodded in agreement. “Yes, Seris. I’m only fulfilling my duty as a brother in arms. Lyra’s still injured. She needs care.”

I smiled faintly, though my wolf’s growl echoed behind my ribs.

“So when you carried her in your arms, tended her wounds, whispered her name in our house—was that duty too?”

Before Jace could answer, Mother slammed her hand against the table.

“Shut your mouth! Insolent girl!”

Her claws extended as she yanked me by the collar, throwing me to the floor.

“If not for Lyra’s forgiving heart, you’d be exiled already!”

Blood filled my mouth.

I looked up—at the feast spread across the table. Every dish carried Lyra’s scent; not one bore the spices I loved.

Even here, I was erased.

---

Inside, something ancient stirred.

A pulse beneath my scars.

The scent of blood, the gleam of moonlight on glass—

my wolf’s voice rose again, whispering:

Enough.

The air thickened; the temperature dropped.

Mother’s voice wavered. “What—what’s happening to your eyes?”

I lifted my head slowly.

Reflections of silver fire danced across my vision.

For the first time in years, the chains around my wolf cracked.