Lunara’s POV

When I called his nickname—Alpha—his tense shoulders eased immediately, mistaking my calm for surrender.

His golden eyes softened, the wolf in him momentarily soothed. He crossed the room with that confident grace only Alpha-blooded males carried. He leaned down to kiss me.

I turned my face slightly. His lips brushed my cheek instead of my mouth.

“I’m exhausted,” I murmured, wrapping the fur-lined blanket tighter around my frame. “It’s been a long day.”

Kael’s expression tensed. The Alpha in him didn’t like rejection, not even this subtle. But he forced a smile, masking his annoyance. “Of course. You should rest, Luna.”

But then came the buzz. His enchanted wrist comm glowed faintly, and when he looked at it, the tension in his shoulders vanished. His entire being lit up as he typed a response.

As soon as he finished, he rose from the bed and began pulling on his leather armor and cloak in haste.

“An urgent matter at the Council Hall,” he said without meeting my eyes, fastening the wolf-etched clasp at his neck.

“Of course,” I said coolly, my voice devoid of emotion. “Take your time.”

Kael paused. He turned, confused. Once upon a time, I would’ve pressed for answers, clung to his arm, begged him to stay. I would’ve cried, demanded to know why he always had emergencies at nightfall.

But now, I invited him to go.His comm buzzed again, and his moment of hesitation melted into movement. He slipped out of the room without further explanation.

“I love you,” he muttered as he left.

“And I hate you,” I whispered, the ache in my chest turning sharp.

~

By dawn, the sun filtered through the enchanted windows, warming the cold side of the bed he never returned to.He hadn’t come back.

I didn’t need to guess where he was. His scent was already fading, overwritten by Ashira’s overly sweet perfume that clung to his clothes these days.

Still, it didn’t bother me.I dressed in silence, donning a long, hooded cloak to conceal my identity, and made my way through the back tunnels of the packhouse to avoid notice. The Moonveil Grove Healing Den was a place of secrecy, protected by mists and oaths. It catered to she-wolves who needed help, but not judgment.

I sat on a healer’s stone bed, cold beneath my palms, while the incense of memory moss burned nearby.

“Are you certain?” the healer asked softly. Her wolf spirit flickered behind her eyes—ancient, wise, and patient.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the words clung to my throat. My hand drifted to my lower stomach. My unborn pup stirred faintly, just a whisper of life.

I remembered Ethan—his laughter echoing through the den, his tiny claws gripping my fingers, his first shift under the full moon. I remembered the way he’d whispered “Mommy” into my fur as we cuddled during stormy nights.

Tears burned behind my eyes. No. I couldn’t do this.

“I… I changed my mind,” I breathed, voice cracking. “I can’t go through with it.”

The healer nodded. “Then you won’t. Take your time. The forest waits for no one, but your heart deserves patience.”

This pup—this second chance—was mine. A bond of blood and spirit. Not even betrayal could steal that from me again.

I left the den through the garden path, heart heavy yet whole. But as I rounded the stone corridor leading past the Moon Blessing Wing, I heard laughter. Familiar. Too familiar.

My body tensed.Then I saw them.Kael and Ashira.They strolled out of the maternity hall, entwined like vines under the moon. His hand was firmly on the small of her back, his mouth at her ear. She giggled like a shy omega.

Her hand rested on her belly.I froze.

She was pregnant.Before I could shift into mist and vanish, their eyes caught mine. Ashira’s face was drained of color.

“Lunara!” she hurried toward me, her aura fraying with false concern. “I—I was here for a check-up. Kael just—”

“Don't apologize, Ashira,” Kael cut her off gently, sliding his arm protectively around her. His eyes sparkled—not with guilt, but pride. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

I smiled coldly. “He’s right. You’ve done nothing wrong, Ashira.”

They blinked, startled. I used to weep, rage, accuse. I used to beg Kael to stop seeing her. And every time, he gaslit me, made me doubt myself.

“She’s your sister,” he would say. “She’s mated, and I’m yours. You're being paranoid, Luna.”

Now, I gave them nothing but silence and a smile sharp as claws.

Kael shifted awkwardly. “We’ll talk at home. Let me escort Ashira back to her den.”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Please. Take your time.”

I brushed past them, my wolf holding her head high.

“Oh, and congratulations on your pregnancy, Ashira,” I called over my shoulder, voice like frost on a blade.

Their expressions crumbled behind me.

~

Kael returned home unusually early.

“You’re early,” I said, lounging on the fur-strewn chaise, my face buried in an old lunar history scroll.

“Yes,” he replied. “I finished at the Council early. I rushed home to see my beautiful mate.”

He bent to kiss me. Again, I turned my head, letting his lips graze my cheek.

He paused. Watched me. Sensed the shift.

“I think we need time together,” he said softly. “I’ll take leave from my Alpha duties. Just us. Some time to reconnect.”

I kept my voice neutral. “You’ve been busy. I understand.”

His brow furrowed, clearly rattled. This wasn’t me. I would’ve pounced on that offer. I would’ve wept with joy at his attention.

But now, my heart was stone, and my wolf was silent.

“What’s going on, Lunara?” he asked, stepping closer. “Why are you acting this way?”

I didn’t answer.Not yet.Not until I was ready to tear the entire pack down around him.

Chapter 4

Lunara’s POV

My eyes were still on the ancient tome as I muttered, “Nothing.”

“Is this about what you saw at the Healing Den?” Kael’s tone sharpened. “You saw Ashira and I together, didn’t you?”

He folded his arms, voice thick with frustration. “I’ve explained this, Lunara. Ashira and I—”

I cut him off before he could continue weaving lies. “I said I’m fine.” I didn’t look up. “You and Ashira are so close now, practically sharing a den. Good for you. Now can I please read in peace? This text on ancient Luna lineages is getting very interesting.”

His jaw ticked with irritation, and I could feel the Alpha in him bristling. Without another word, he stormed into the bathing chamber, the door slamming shut behind him.

I tossed the book aside and stood up, my limbs trembling from the tension. I padded barefoot to the kitchen hollow, needing water—anything to cool the storm rising inside me.

Leaning against the carved stone counter, I tried to breathe evenly, tried not to feel.

Then I heard his boots.Heavy. Deliberate. Each step echoing through the quiet of our den like a warning.

“You’ve been off all day,” Kael growled, entering behind me. “If something’s wrong, just spit it out.”

I turned to face him, arms folded, cloak swaying slightly. “I already told you—I’m fine. No need to fuss over me. Why don’t you go back to the maternity wing? Ashira could probably use some extra care… and attention.”

His golden eyes gleamed with anger. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I shrugged, pushing past him. “It means you seem more invested in her well-being than your mate’s.”

“You’re being ridiculous, Lunara!” he snapped. “Ashira is your older sister, and you’re acting like some petty omega in heat. You need to stop this jealousy—”

“I’m not jealous.” My voice was ice. “You two deserve each other.”

Something in him snapped.He growled—deep, low, not quite human—and shoved me. Hard.

I staggered, my back slamming into the corner of the stone counter with a sickening thud. Pain exploded through my spine and lower stomach. I gasped sharply as my knees buckled and I collapsed to the floor, instinctively curling around my belly.

“No…” I whispered. My wolf whimpered deep inside me, terrified.

Kael stood over me, breathing heavily. “I have Council duties. Don’t wait up.”

His voice was flat. Emotionless. He didn’t even look back as he yanked open the door and vanished into the night.

The moment it slammed shut, a pain unlike anything I’d felt before tore through my body.I lay on the floor, the cold stone biting into my skin, and a warm wetness pooled beneath me. My heart dropped.

Blood.“No… no, please no…” My voice cracked as my trembling hand reached down and came away stained crimson.

The air shifted violently with panic and grief.I fumbled for my comm crystal, hands shaking. I barely had enough strength to whisper the activation word before Kael’s name lit up in the glyph runes.

It rang once. Twice.Then he answered.

“Kael—” I choked, tears already falling.

“Don’t call me again until you’re done acting like a child,” he snapped, and the light went dead.

I stared at the glowing shard in disbelief. My fingers tightened. “No…”

I tried again. Nothing. His line was dead.

Gritting my teeth, I activated the emergency runes instead. “Moonveil Guard… emergency,” I rasped.

The pain became unbearable. My vision dimmed. My body went limp.I can’t lose this pup. Not again. Not like this.

As the shadows closed in, one thought burned in my mind:If I survive this… Kael will pay in blood.

And then—darkness.

~

When I woke, the scent of wolfsbane and healing salves filled my senses. I was lying on a bed of moon-thread linens. My limbs were heavy, my soul even heavier.

A female healer stood beside me, her aura calm but sorrowful.

“Luna Winslow,” she said softly. “You’re awake.”

I blinked slowly, heart pounding in my chest as memories returned like a flood. The kitchen. The fall. The blood.

“My pup…” I croaked. My hands moved to my stomach. It felt empty. Too empty.

The healer’s eyes glistened. She took my hand. “I’m so sorry… the injury was too severe. You lost the pup.”

A scream tore from my throat before I could stop it. The walls trembled with my anguish. I wailed, sobbing so hard it felt like my soul was breaking apart.

My son—gone. My unborn pup—gone. All because of the male who once vowed to protect me.

I cried until I could cry no more.Then I lay silent.Wishing I hadn’t survived.Wishing the spirits of the forest had claimed me too.

The door creaked open.Footsteps. Slow. Deliberate.I didn’t even glance up.

“Lunara,” a voice called, deep and cool like ice.

My eyes fluttered open. A tall figure stood beside me, his silver armor still dusted with battle ash. His eyes—cold gray—stared down at me with something unreadable.

Killian Romano.Ashira’s mate.The male she had been betraying me—and him—with.

I didn’t have the strength to speak.He sat beside me without invitation.

“I heard,” he said simply. “I’m sorry.”

His words rang hollow in my ears. Seeing him only reminded me more of her. Of everything I’d lost.

“Ashira’s not here,” I rasped, my voice dry and cracked. “You don’t need to keep pretending.”

His jaw tensed. A snarl ghosted over his lips.

“I’m not here for that cheating whore,” he said darkly.

I blinked, surprised. “You know?”

He nodded once. “Since last moon. You?”

“This week.”

A pause passed between us. An eerie silence, filled only by the hum of protective runes.

“That’s why I’m here,” Killian finally said, his gaze meeting mine with quiet intensity.

I furrowed my brow. “Why?”

“I have a proposition,” he said, voice steady. “How would you like to have revenge?”

My heart stuttered.And for the first time since the pain began, I felt something flicker to life again inside me.Hope.

Chapter 5

Lunara’s POV

“Revenge?” I asked, my voice hoarse, throat dry as ash. My heart pounded—not from fear, but from something darker, colder.

Killian’s silver eyes gleamed beneath the torchlight of the Healing Den’s side chamber, where he’d requested to speak with me alone. He took a slow seat beside me on the bench carved into the stone wall, his aura crackling with restrained power.

“Yes. Revenge.” His voice was smooth, but dangerous—like a wolf hiding blood on its muzzle. “You’ve been betrayed, Lunara. Not just by a mate, but by your own blood. The two people who should’ve protected you most... they need to bleed for what they’ve done.”

A chill danced down my spine—and yet, that whisper of vengeance stirred something alive in me. Something primal. My wolf shifted restlessly beneath my skin, not in fear… but in agreement.

I pushed myself upright, wincing from the bruised muscles still recovering from the fall. “So… you want revenge on Ashira?”

Killian’s lips twisted into a smile, but his eyes remained dead and unreadable. “I gave her everything. Status. Loyalty. A future. And she spat in my face, crawling into bed with Kael like a snake in heat. So yes—I want revenge. She may be your sister, but—”

“I don’t care,” I said, cutting him off.

Killian blinked, surprised.I meant it. Whatever bond of blood existed between Ashira and me… it had been severed the moment she touched my mate. The ache in my chest pulsed, but I forced it down.

“Why did you reach out to me?” I asked, voice low.

His smile grew—cruel, calculating. “Because I don’t want all the fun to myself. You, Lunara, will be the key piece of my plan. My wild card.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

He leaned in, his voice a whisper that slithered into my ear. “Marry me.”

I stared at him like he’d grown a second head. “You want me to what?”

~

Two days later, I stepped out of the Moonveil Healing Grove, wrapped in a charcoal cloak. The moons were high, casting silver light over the sacred forest. A low-ranking scout escorted me back to the village gates, and from there I shifted halfway to the outer dens before shifting back and calling a carriage wolf.

I hadn’t heard from Kael. Not a message via rune crystal, not a whisper of his scent at my bedside. He hadn’t even asked if I’d survived.

I stared out the open window as the wind swept through my hair. My fingers tightened around the piece of parchment Killian had given me—the runes of his personal communication glyph scrawled neatly.

I want revenge… but not another prison, I’d told him.

He had simply smirked. “Then make it your kind of war, Luna.”

When I arrived home, Kael’s scent hit me first.But it wasn’t alone.Ashira’s saccharine perfume laced with heat told me all I needed to know. My stomach clenched. My claws itched beneath my skin.

Her sleek black carriage sat outside. So this was how it was.I moved silently through the corridor of our den, every step deliberate, guided by the sounds I’d once known intimately. Breathy moans. Growls. Pleasured gasps.

I stopped just before the entrance to our shared bedchamber—my sanctuary, my womb of memories—and the door was ajar.

They were there.Kael had Ashira pinned to the furs, her neck bared in submission as his mouth devoured hers. His hands explored her body with a hunger he hadn’t shown me in moons. Their robes and cloaks lay strewn like the aftermath of a wild rut.

I had known. But seeing it… feeling their betrayal in flesh and scent…It broke something in me.

“Oh, gods, I missed this,” Kael groaned.

Ashira giggled, stroking his back. “I hope my little sister isn’t keeping you too pent-up.”

“She’s never satisfied me—not like you do,” he murmured. “When I take High Council control, we’ll rule together, love.”

My chest caved.My hands trembled as I pulled out my crystal. I pressed the surface and activated its silent recording runes. The glowing glyphs flickered as I captured their rutting betrayal in high clarity.

Once done, I turned, numb and silent, and stalked toward the outer chambers. I grabbed Kael’s sigil-etched saddlebag and keys from the wall peg and strode outside into the wind.

I climbed into his personal carriage wolf, whispered the command, and let it sprint into the darkness.

My fingers hovered over the crystal. I attached the images, burned into rune-light, and sent them to the only wolf who’d looked me in the eye and told me the truth.

To: Killian RomanoI accept your offer.The reply came almost instantly:Killian: Good. I’ll be in touch soon. You and I… we’re going to have so much fun, Luna.

A bitter smile curved my lips. It felt like I’d signed a soul pact with the dark spirits of the forest—but I didn’t care.

Let the shadows come. Let them devour what was left of me.I would rise, not as the broken mate… but as the storm.

~

By twilight, I was walking into the heart of Ironfang—Killian’s territory, neutral and feared. The lawhouse was built from obsidian stone, standing bold amidst the rest of the trading den.

A young fae-born wolf looked up from the front desk. “Good evening. How may we assist?”

“I’m here to see Jonathan Hayes. Tell him… Killian Romano sent me.”

The receptionist’s eyes widened, and she quickly nodded. “Of course. One moment.”

Moments later, I was led through a thick stone corridor into a rune-guarded chamber, where a sharply dressed male stood waiting.

“Luna Winslow,” he greeted with a respectful nod. “It’s an honor. Please, sit. How can I serve?”

My voice was cold steel. “I want a formal severing from my mate. His name is Kael Thorne.”