A brutal cramp ripped through my stomach.

Black blood filled my mouth.

Daisy started yelling about the healer, but I grabbed her wrist.

"Take me home."

I wasn't dying in a room that smelled like antiseptic. I wasn't letting the pack see me like this.

I tried to stay awake so she wouldn't panic.

The pain won.

Everything went dark.

Through the haze, I heard her screaming into the phone.

"Eric, you bastard! Wherever you are, get back here now!"

She took me home.

By the time Eric showed up, the healer had already pumped me full of painkillers and left. Daisy was gone too.

I lay there alone, swallowed by a heavy black robe, curled into myself.

The silver poison had sunk into my marrow. I was all bone, my face the only thing swollen from the toxins.

"What stunt are you pulling now? Daisy says you're dying? You look fine to me."

The door swung open. Eric walked in, frowning, staring at me like I was trash.

My throat was too dry to answer.

Velda slipped in behind him, holding a basket of berries.

Before I could speak, she said softly, "Zara, are you not feeling well? Did you maybe eat too much lately? Gaining weight can mess with your stomach. I picked sour berries for you. They help."

So he brought her to watch me embarrass myself.

"What's with that look?" Eric snapped. "Velda came to be nice. You can't even say thank you? Since when are you this rude?"

I looked at him, voice hoarse. "Your manners include bringing a side she-wolf to humiliate your Mate?"

He faltered, then glanced over me.

The loose black robe swallowed my body. All anyone could see was my swollen, pale face.

"Look at you." He turned away like even staring at me was gross. "Eating all day, puffed up like a pig. Not a trace of Luna grace left."

He never tried lifting the robe.

One look and he'd see it wasn't fat. Just bones.

"Done?" My voice stayed even. "Then leave."

His chest rose and fell. He pointed at me. "Zara, don't test me."

Velda grabbed his arm, voice shaking. "Eric, don't blame Zara. It's my fault. If she doesn't like me, I'll go."

"You're not going anywhere." He yanked her back, fury snapping in his voice. "I'm the Alpha of this pack! What is she next to me?"

His phone lit up. The Elder Council.

He paused, let go of Velda, and stepped out onto the balcony.

The second Eric stepped out, Velda dropped the act.

She walked to my bed, looked down at me, then leaned close to my ear.

"Zara, you know what Eric says about you when you're not around?"

She smiled, smug. "He says my waist's slimmer than yours ever was. Soft like water. This is what a she-wolf's supposed to feel like."

"And he also said..." Her voice dipped, venom-slow. "Every time he touches you, it's torture. Being with a fat pig makes him sick."

I went still.

Every soft memory twisted into blades, shredding what was left of my pride.

"Oh, you didn't know?" She straightened, brow lifting. "He didn't come earlier because we were busy. On that white bear pelt. So soft..."

I gagged.

"Oh no, Zara, why are you throwing up?" She gasped, fake concern dripping off every word as she grabbed a fruit knife. "Too much fat upsetting your stomach? I'll peel a berry for you. You love sweets, right?"

She made a show of peeling it.

Then the knife tip slashed straight for the back of my hand.

Before, I would've dodged a cheap move like that without thinking.

Now the silver poison had slowed me down.

I tried to pull back. Too late. The blade sliced across the back of my hand. Black blood welled up.

"Ah!" Velda screamed first. She grabbed her stomach and dropped to the floor. "Zara, why did you shove me? If you don't want fruit, fine—but you can't push my stomach!"

"Stop!"

Eric walked in right then, fresh off the call with the Elder Council.

He saw her on the ground. Thought I'd gone for her stomach.

He rushed over and slapped me across the face. Hard.

Velda threw herself into his arms, sobbing. "It hurts... Eric, is Zara trying to kill our pup?"

He held her tight and looked at me like he wanted me dead. "Zara, you're hopeless! Velda peeled fruit for you out of kindness, and you attack the pup she's carrying?

"You're just jealous! You can't carry a pup, so you go after someone who can!"

My cheek burned.

I looked up at the wolf who once swore he'd protect me.

I wanted to explain. I didn't do it. I wanted to tell him I was dying.

But those eyes held nothing but disgust.

And just like that—I knew.

It didn't matter.

With the last of my strength, I shouted, "Get out!"

"Fine. Very fine."

He scooped Velda into his arms and walked out.

At the door, he paused. "Zara, this is your official warning. Touch Velda again and I'll ask the Elder Council to strip you of your Luna title. A she-wolf who can't control her own body, who lives off jealousy and attacks her pack, doesn't deserve to be Luna."

Their footsteps faded.

The door shut.

I swallowed the blood climbing up my throat.

The ache in my eyes went flat. Empty.

After Eric left, the pain—body and soul—made me want it to end.

I moved on instinct toward the pack's hot spring. The healer had mixed medicine into the water. It dulled the hurt.

Before, whenever I got injured, Eric would carry me there himself.

This time, a spear cut across my path.

Ron.

He was still a pup when I pulled him from a pile of corpses. I taught him to hunt. To fight. Raised him like my own.

He followed Eric and me when we built Moonveil.

Now he was the Alpha's guard captain.

"Sorry, Luna. Go back." He wouldn't meet my eyes. "Alpha's orders. The warm spring belongs to Velda now."

"Velda's?" I pressed my hand to my aching stomach. "She's not hurt. Why does she need it?"

"Her skin's delicate. Alpha wants her bathing there." His voice went flat. "He said you're thick-skinned. Greasy. You'd mess up the water."

"I'm injured..." I looked at the wolf who used to cry over a scratch on my hand when he was just a pup. "Let me soak a little. I won't tell him."

Ron frowned, already over it.

Velda's convoy rolled up in the distance.

He shoved me, like I was nothing.

"Leave. You don't belong here. Move, or I'll make you."

I wasn't ready. I stumbled and hit the ground.

My knees slammed into stone. Pain shot up fast.

Ron didn't even look back. He rushed toward Velda's convoy like he'd been waiting for it.

That's when it clicked.

In this pack—after Eric switched up—

I ranked lower than a stray.

Right then, I had no one.

In the days after, everything I ate came back up.

My stomach emptied until there was nothing left. Not even bile. So I stopped eating.

With what little money I had left, I contacted the Witch and booked the Moonreturn Rite for after my death.

I called Daisy too. Told her when I died, she was to take my body back to Stormcrown Pack.

Even dead, I wasn't staying on Eric's land. I didn't want him anywhere near where I'd rest.

While I could still stand, I went into the human town and took a portrait at a photography studio.

Proof I'd existed.

The day I picked it up, I ran into Eric and Velda outside the mall.

Velda had designer bags hooked over her arm, pressed into his side.

Eric looked at me and frowned, eyes cold. "Zara, hauling that fat body around just to follow me—don't you get tired?"

I pulled my coat tighter.

No fight left in me. I turned to walk away.

"Who said you could go?"

He grabbed me.

We struggled. The kraft envelope slipped from my hands.

The photo slid out.

My face stared back—gray. Empty.

Eric glanced down and ground it under his shoe.

"New stunt? Cursing yourself to death now?" His voice was ice. "You'll do anything for my attention."

I looked at my portrait, smeared into the dirt. My voice shook. "Move your foot."

"What, you addicted to playing victim?"

He pressed harder, then flicked it into the filthy drain beside us.

"Zara, last warning. Don't pull this crap again."

He slid an arm around Velda and walked off.

She hung back half a step.

When she passed me, she leaned in, voice low enough for only me to hear.

"Cute death portrait. But..."

Her eyes dragged over my swollen face. "At your size, better order an extra-large urn."

She laughed and caught up to him.

I stood there, watching my photo float in the dirty water.

That's exactly how I existed in his heart.

Back in Moonveil territory, I curled up on the couch.

I remembered a hunt years ago. A branch scratched me. Barely anything.

Eric almost wiped out a rogue den over it.

He wouldn't eat. Stayed up all night guarding me, licking the cut like I'd shatter.

Now I'm dying.

And he still thinks I'm faking it.

My phone lit up, snapping me out of it.

A video from Velda.

Eric kissing her. Then a string of intimate bed photos.

I scrolled past, face blank.

Then the next picture loaded.

A hidden cave. Its entrance was overgrown with Moongrass we had planted with our own hands.

Our den. The place we survived.

Before we had territory. When other wolves drove us out, that cave carried us through every winter.

Velda sent a message:

[It's mine now.]

I ran out of Moonveil territory like I'd lost it.

By the time I reached the cave, wolves were already ripping it apart.

"Stop! What are you doing?!"

I rushed them. Too late.

The carved marks on the stone wall—our heights as pups, the tallies from our first hunts—

Gone.

Every piece of my past with Eric smashed to dust.

This was the last clean place in my heart.

Now it was ruined.

Something in me snapped.

I grabbed a stick and swung at them. "Get out! All of you, get out!"

My eyes burned red. I threw everything I had into it.

"Oh my Moon Goddess... Luna's lost it." The wolves backed up, whispering.

"Zara, what are you doing?"

I hadn't even noticed when Eric got there. He stood behind me, watching like I was a headache.

"Why are you destroying this place?" I pointed at the rubble. Tears finally fell. "Do you even know what this cave means to me—"

"Velda is with pup. She needs somewhere absolutely quiet." His voice was flat, like we were talking about a storage shed. "The healer said this cave gathers moonlight. It's good for nurturing a pup."

"There are tons of luxury houses in the territory! Why this cave?!" I roared. "This was our home. Our past!"

He didn't explain.

"Isn't it just a broken den?"

Disgust flickered in his eyes.

"Zara, you're overreacting. As Luna, you should think about the she-wolves. Pups are our future. You're being selfish."

Selfish?

I looked at him.

Almost dying at his side was selfish. Losing my womb for him was selfish. Wanting to keep the last piece of us was selfish.

I cried. Then I started laughing.

"Fine." I nodded and wiped my face. "Take it. From now on, whatever you want—I won't interfere."

I turned and walked away.

Back at the house, I pulled out everything that was ours.

Wedding photos from the human world. Matching mugs. Couple pajamas.

I dumped it all into the fireplace.

If he didn't care about our past, neither would I.

The flames climbed, devoured it all.

When the last piece turned to ash, I called the witch.

"I want to forcefully sever my mate bond."