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.

None of them noticed.

Or rather — none of them cared.

Father’s voice rumbled across the hall.

“Enough. Jace and Lyra return to the Highmoon lands once in a century and you still manage to poison the air with your bitterness. Must you shame us every time, Seris?”

His words landed like stones.

I met his gaze across the table, feeling the last threads of hope burn away.

So yes — it was me he blamed. Always me.

Who really made this house a grave?

“Sit down and eat,” Father ordered.

Mother said nothing, but her eyes glittered with the hatred of a she-wolf ready to bite her own cub.

Across the table, Jace’s attention never strayed from Lyra. Not once.

Halfway through the meal he seemed to remember I existed.

He reached across the dishes, dropped a plump river-shrimp into my bowl.

A gesture of peace — or guilt.

I didn’t touch it. I lifted another spoonful of plain rice instead.

Lyra’s painted lips curved. “Sister, why don’t you eat what the Alpha offered you? Are you upset because he’s sitting beside me?”

She giggled softly. “If it helps, he can sit next to you instead. I’d hate for jealousy to ruin your appetite.”

She rose half-way, feigning contrition. “Let me kneel and apologize—”

Jace’s hand caught her wrist before her knees touched the ground.

His eyes flashed cold toward me. “Seris, will you never stop? Must Lyra grovel before you for you to be satisfied?”

From behind his shoulder Lyra smiled, the wolf-mark on her collarbone glowing faintly in triumph.

I lowered my eyes. “I haven’t said a word. Every sound in this room comes from you.”

That silenced him. For a heartbeat. Then Lyra gasped, clutching her chest.

“Ah— my heart hurts … Alpha …”

Jace froze, and every scrap of doubt fled his face.

He swept her into his arms and stormed from the hall, leaving me alone with their echoes.

Mother hissed, “Look what you’ve done. Curse-bringer! I should never have kept you alive!”

I exhaled, steady. “Then let’s end it. You and I — no more mother, no more daughter.”

She choked on her fury, pointing a shaking finger at me, too angry to speak.

Father’s cane struck the floor. “Enough, Seris. This isn’t the time for childish rebellion.”

Childish.

He still thought I could be cowed by his voice.

---

When I finally left the manor, the night air bit like frost.

I didn’t go to a healer. The gashes on my knees and palms still bled, but I welcomed the pain.

It reminded me I was still alive.

I returned to the villa — that mockery of a home Jace once promised we’d share.

The scent of him lingered in the drapes, warm spice and cedar, but it no longer felt safe.

I packed every belonging that bore my scent. Dresses, rings, old gifts.

The silks that once fluttered around his claws, the blankets we’d shared under the lunar frost.

All of it went into black bags.

What could be reused, I sent to the orphan-dens beyond the northern ridge.

What couldn’t — I burned.

Only then did I remember: we were still bonded in the laws of the pack.

Our mating vow was written in blood, unbroken.

Not for long.

---

I booked a room at a neutral inn, then went straight to the healers’ tower in the central packlands.

Jace had claimed Lyra needed “urgent treatment.”

The corridors smelled of disinfectant and wolfbane.

When the elevator doors opened, familiar voices drifted down the hall.

“… Follow the script exactly,” Lyra was saying, her tone low but sharp. “When Jace arrives, you’ll tell him my wolf-heart is failing — that only a transplant from Seris can save me.”

My pulse stopped.

Wolf-heart transplant …

The healer stammered. “M-Miss Lyra, your lunar heart is perfectly sound. To extract another wolf’s core is— it’s forbidden. The Council—”

Lyra cut him off. “You’ll do as you’re told. And you’ll be well compensated.”

He hesitated. “But… we don’t even have records of this Seris Thorn’s compatibility. The resonance levels, the core-flow — none of it’s tested. If anyone finds out—”

“Then you’ll have bigger problems than Council law,” Lyra snapped. “Just prepare the chamber. When the Alpha arrives, he’ll sign the consent rune.”

The healer swallowed hard. “If this surfaces, both of us could be executed.”

Lyra’s laugh was soft, deadly. “Only if there’s a witness.”

---

In the shadows of the corridor, I pressed record on my comm-crystal.

Her words etched themselves into the memory stone, each syllable gleaming like ice.

My wolf stirred beneath my skin, growling for the first time since the surgeries years ago.

She wants your heart, it whispered. Let her try.

The lights overhead flickered. The moon beyond the glass burned blood-red.

For the first time, I didn’t flinch from its pull.