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.

Lyra’s voice sharpened like a blade drawn under moonlight.

“Shut up,” she hissed at the trembling healer. “You’ll do exactly as written in that scroll. The ritual happens tonight. Afterward, you’ll get your payment — and your silence.”

The conversation ended there.

I shrank back into the shadows beside the elevator, waiting until their footsteps faded before slipping out.

Every instinct screamed at me to keep moving, to leave before the scent of my fear betrayed me.

When I reached the ward, Jace’s voice floated out through the half-open door.

“Lyra, what’s this nonsense about your heart being unstable? The healers said your aura’s collapsing—what’s going on?”

Lyra looked pale, fragile, her skin glistening with cold sweat that I knew she’d conjured for effect.

“I don’t know… the healer said there’s something wrong with my wolf-heart. He can’t find the cause. Could it be… Sister?”

She broke off mid-sentence, covering her mouth as if she’d said too much.

Her wide eyes filled with feigned horror. “No, that’s impossible. Seris would never do this to me…”

Jace’s expression hardened with pain and anger. He drew her close, his hands trembling over her shoulders.

“Don’t think about it, Lyra. I’ll stay with you — always.”

Their embrace, framed by the sterile glow of the healing runes, was almost poetic.

If I hadn’t known the truth, perhaps I’d still have believed it.

I felt a cold laugh rise in my throat.

It burned like silver.

---

“Ma’am?” a healer at the desk startled me out of my thoughts. “Are you here to see the patient?”

The sound made both Jace and Lyra turn.

Jace’s face darkened instantly. “What are you doing here?”

I stepped forward, calm and deliberate. “Delivering a scroll.”

He frowned. “At a time like this? Can’t you tell it’s not appropriate?”

“I tried sending it through your steward,” I said evenly, producing the parchment from my satchel.

“It’s about Lyra’s Silverfang expansion charter. The courier said it had to be sealed by your hand tonight, or the deal lapses.”

I let a pause stretch between us. “If you don’t want it, I can burn it right now.”

I reached for the parchment, tearing the seal with my claws.

“Wait!” Lyra’s reaction was immediate — too fast. She nearly leapt from the bed before Jace caught her.

“Please, Sister, don’t!” she gasped, tears springing to her eyes. “This treaty took months to negotiate. It’s all for Jace — for our pack!”

Her voice cracked perfectly at the edges, like a trained actress hitting her cue.

“Please, don’t ruin everything again… If you want me gone, I’ll leave the country, I swear. Just don’t destroy his future!”

“Seris!” Jace’s roar shook the glass walls. “Give it to me!”

I walked toward him, my heartbeat steady.

The parchment trembled in my hand — not from fear, but from the magic pulsing beneath its surface.

I handed it over.

Hidden among the alliance scrolls was another document, inked in dark blood — a Severing Oath, the ancient form of divorce among Alphas.

Jace, blinded by Lyra’s tears, didn’t even glance at it. He signed the rune seal in one swift motion, pressing his claw through both documents.

Then he threw me a look of pure disgust. “Now get out. Don’t stain her recovery with your presence.”

The rune on the parchment glowed red, sank into the page — and with that single mark, our bond began to unravel.

Relief coursed through me like fire through veins.

“It’s done,” I said softly. “You should’ve signed it years ago.”

I turned and walked out before my knees gave way.

Outside, the night wind tore through the corridors, and I sent the alliance scroll back to Jace’s steward through a messenger hawk.

He’d never know he’d just signed away his Luna.

---

That night, I returned to my inn, booked a flight to the outer territories where the Bloodmoon Rebellion waited.

I was ready to disappear.

But before dawn, my comm-crystal flared with a new message.

From Lyra.

I tapped it once.

A video projection filled the dark room — flickering gold, humid air thick with the sounds of breath and water.

For a heartbeat I didn’t understand what I was seeing. Then I heard her voice.

“Jace… Jace, Lyra wants to bear your pup. Please?”

His laugh was low, indulgent. “Of course, little moon. Any child of yours would be perfect.”

“But what about her?” Lyra asked in mock innocence. “She keeps trying to conceive for you…”

Jace’s voice darkened, cruel amusement twisting his words.

“She’ll never carry my blood. Her womb’s as dead as her wolf. Every egg she produces either goes down the drain or finds its way into a stray mutt’s belly.”

Lyra giggled, breathy. “Then she’s really useless, isn’t she?”

“Utterly,” he said. “You’re the only one worthy of my lineage.”

The crystal dimmed. Silence fell.

---

For a long moment, I couldn’t move.

Then the laughter broke out of me — quiet, cracked, unhinged.

In that instant, the last thread of my humanity snapped.

The bond between us — Luna and Alpha — shattered completely.

I looked into the mirror across the room.

The reflection that stared back at me wasn’t human anymore.

My wolf’s eyes gleamed, silver like liquid moonfire.

The magic that had been chained for years surged through my veins, wild and furious.

They took my blood.

They took my womb.

They took my love.

Now, I would take their hearts.