ASTERIA’S POV

The pain hits me again, sharp and sudden, like claws tearing at my insides. I grip the edge of the dresser to steady myself, forcing my breathing to slow. It feels like fire burning through my veins, something darker and more insidious than any wound from battle. But I’ve grown used to it. It’s been like this for years, creeping in slowly at first, but now... now it’s unbearable.

I glance at my reflection. Pale skin, sunken eyes, a shadow of the Luna I’m supposed to be. I’ve told myself the lie for so long—that these are just the effects of war, remnants of the battle with Malakai’s forces. But deep down, I know better.

This is no ordinary wound.

I bite down on my lip, suppressing the groan threatening to escape. I can’t let anyone hear me, especially not Claude. He wouldn’t care. In fact, knowing him, he might enjoy seeing me broken. The thought alone tightens the knot in my stomach.

The door swings open, and I scramble to compose myself, straightening up with a sharp intake of breath. Claude enters the room without so much as a glance in my direction. Mara trails behind him, of course.

“Luna,” Mara sneers, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. “You look pale. Perhaps you should sit this one out. Again.”

I swallow the bile rising in my throat. “I’m fine,” I say through clenched teeth. The words are almost mechanical now, automatic. I’ve repeated them so often they’ve lost meaning.

Claude, as always, remains silent. His cold indifference is far more cutting than anything Mara could say. He steps past me, heading toward the large window that overlooks the training grounds. His back is turned to me, but I can feel the weight of his unspoken judgment.

“You don’t look fine, Luna,” Mara continues, her voice playful as she perches herself on the edge of Claude’s desk. “You’re slipping, you know. The pack’s starting to notice.”

I meet her gaze, forcing my voice to stay calm. “I’m still Luna of this pack, Mara. Don’t forget that.”

She smiles, a wicked curl of her lips. “For now.”

The taunt hits harder than I’d like to admit. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. The curse has been eating away at me, slowly draining my strength, my power—everything that once made me who I am. I can barely shift anymore without feeling like my body is being ripped apart from the inside.

But I can’t let them see that. Not Mara, not Claude, not anyone.

The truth is, I’m running out of time.

When the door finally clicks shut behind them, I allow myself a single moment of weakness. I lean against the dresser again, gasping for air, my body trembling from the strain of holding everything in. Blood pools in my mouth, and I spit it into the handkerchief I keep hidden in my sleeve. The sight of it—dark, thick—makes my stomach churn, but it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.

The curse is doing exactly what Malakai intended. It’s breaking me, bit by bit, day by day. I remember the moment he cast it, the glint of his red eyes as he whispered ancient words, the feel of cold magic wrapping around me like a chain. He wanted to make sure that Glasswood, my home, would never rise again. And by weakening me, he’s succeeding.

Claude doesn’t even know. He thinks my deterioration is due to my own weakness, not some malicious spell cast by our greatest enemy. And why would he care? In his mind, I deserve this for rejecting our bond, for choosing my pack over him all those years ago.

I wipe the blood from my lips, straightening my spine. I can’t afford to wallow in despair. I’m still the daughter of an Alpha, even if that title means nothing here. I owe it to my pack, to my father’s memory, to fight—no matter the cost. I won’t let Malakai’s curse steal my birthright.

ASTERIA’S POV

Days passed, I sat in the Luna’s office, staring at the stack of reports I hadn’t touched all morning. The words blurred together on the page, my mind too clouded to focus. Mara had been relentless lately, finding every possible way to undercut my authority in front of the pack. And Claude… he didn’t care. Why would he? He never did.

The familiar creak of the door opening caught my attention. I didn’t need to look up to know it was Mara. Her scent, sickly sweet and overwhelming, filled the room before she even spoke.

“Luna,” she purred, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

I gritted my teeth. The title she used was meant to mock me, not respect me. She knew just as well as I did that Claude had stripped me of any real power in this pack.

“What do you want, Mara?” I asked, keeping my voice steady, though my patience was hanging by a thread.

She slithered closer, her fingers grazing the edge of the desk. “I just thought you should know... some of the pack members are questioning your leadership. You’ve been... distant.” Her eyes glinted with malice, though she pretended to be concerned. “And we can’t have a Luna who’s too weak to perform her duties, can we?”

I set the report down, my hands tightening into fists in my lap. She was baiting me, as usual. I should’ve ignored her, but the constant jabs were becoming unbearable. Mara had spent months planting seeds of doubt among the pack, whispering that I wasn’t fit to lead, that I wasn’t worthy of the title of Luna. All while flaunting her closeness with Claude.

“Is there something specific you’re getting at?” I asked coldly.

Mara gave a dramatic sigh, pacing around the room like a predator circling its prey. “It’s just that the pack needs a strong leader—someone they can look up to. Someone who’s always present. You’ve been… absent lately. Perhaps it’s time you stepped aside.”

There it was, the real reason she was here. She wanted me out of the way. And she was getting bolder by the day.

I stood from my chair, my body shaking with suppressed rage. “You’ve made it clear you think you’d be a better Luna, Mara. But that’s not your choice to make.”

She smirked, taking another step closer. “Maybe not mine. But Alpha Claude’s?”

That name—his name—was like a trigger. The man who was supposed to be my mate, the Alpha I had once rejected, now took pleasure in my misery. I had sacrificed everything for my pack, and yet here I was, mocked and belittled in my own home. And Claude—he—allowed it.

Before I could respond, Mara suddenly gasped, stumbling back as if I had struck her. Her hand flew to her cheek, eyes wide in mock horror.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, her voice high-pitched and trembling. “How could you, Luna?”

I blinked, completely taken aback. “What?”

“You… you hit me!” she cried, her hand still clutching her face, as if nursing an invisible wound.

A cold chill ran down my spine. I hadn’t even moved. I hadn’t laid a finger on her.

“Mara, I didn’t—”

The door flew open, and Claude stormed in, his face set in stone. His eyes flicked between me and Mara, narrowing as they settled on me.

“What’s going on here?” he demanded, his voice sharp.

Mara immediately ran to him, throwing herself into his arms. “Luna,” she whimpered, “she hit me. I only came to help, and she—she attacked me!”

I stood frozen in place, my heart pounding in my chest. “That’s not true. I didn’t touch her.”

Claude’s gaze turned icy as he looked at me, disbelief and disgust swirling in his eyes. “Again, Asteria?”

I felt the ground shift beneath me, the weight of his accusation crashing down like a hammer. “Alpha, I swear, she’s lying.”

But his expression didn’t change. He pulled Mara closer, his fingers brushing her hair as if comforting her. “Why would she lie, Asteria? Mara has never caused trouble in this pack. You, on the other hand…”

The knot in my chest tightened, making it hard to breathe. Of course, he’d believe her. He always did. It didn’t matter what I said or did; in Claude’s eyes, I was always the villain. Always wrong.

“I didn’t touch her,” I repeated, my voice quieter this time, though the rage simmered beneath the surface. “You know I wouldn’t.”

His eyes flicked to mine, and for a split second, I thought I saw hesitation, a flicker of doubt. But it vanished as quickly as it came.

“Apologize to Mara,” he said flatly.

I stared at him, the room spinning around me. Apologize? To her? After everything she’d done to me? After all the nights I spent in this pack, alone and abandoned by my own mate while Mara flaunted herself around him? Now he wanted me to apologize?

“No,” I said, the word slipping from my mouth before I could stop it.

Claude’s face hardened. “What did you say?”

“I said no,” I repeated, louder this time. “I won’t apologize for something I didn’t do. And I won’t let you humiliate me any longer.”

The air in the room crackled with tension, the final barrier between us shattered. For the first time, I stood tall, refusing to back down.

I’d rather leave than lower myself to that woman.

ASTERIA’S POV

The sting of Claude’s betrayal still clung to me as I left the Snowriver Pack behind.

Yes, I left.

His words, the cruelty in his gaze as he sided with Mara yet again, replayed in my mind. How many times had I endured his torment, hoping for a sliver of change? I had sacrificed everything for this pack, for him, but it was clear now—there was no saving us. He was lost to his own hatred, and I was a fool for thinking he would ever see past it.

As I stepped beyond the Snowriver borders, the suffocating weight I’d carried for so long lifted just slightly. But my body still ached, and my wolf—she was weaker than ever. The curse was tightening its grip, slowly draining the life from me, and I was running out of time.

Claude’s rejection had been the final straw, the push I needed to do what I should’ve done long ago: seek answers, real answers. I wasn’t going to let Malakai win. Not after everything. If Claude couldn’t see my worth, I would find someone who could.

That’s why I returned to Glasswood.

The woods greeted me with the familiar scent of pine and moss, a bittersweet comfort in a place that used to be home. The air here was different—colder, crisper, as if the land itself was mourning what we had lost. I hadn’t been back since the war, since I had left behind my title as the Alpha’s daughter to fight for my people. But now, I came seeking something more than memories.

I needed to break this curse.

My footsteps were silent as I walked through the hollowed ruins of Glasswood’s main hall. It had been abandoned for years, left to rot after the war. The silence was deafening, reminding me of all the voices we’d lost—friends, family, pack members who’d died in the chaos. I swallowed the grief that bubbled up, pushing it down. I had to focus.

There was only one place that might hold the answers I sought: the library. My mother had always spoken of our family’s ancient texts, the secrets buried within them, passed down through generations. She had once been a formidable healer, powerful in her own right, but I hadn’t understood just how deep her knowledge went until now.

I stepped into the library, the scent of old books and forgotten history filling my senses. Dust covered the shelves, and cobwebs hung from the corners, but I didn’t care. Somewhere in here was the key to my survival.

I ran my fingers along the spines of the books, searching, until I found it—a small, leather-bound journal, hidden behind rows of thicker tomes. My mother’s journal.

As I opened the fragile pages, her voice came back to me, soft and steady, like it had been when she’d taught me about our pack’s history. I could almost hear her now, guiding me through the ancient knowledge of our bloodline.

"The Moonstone Shrine... capable of healing even the darkest magic..."_

I read the passage again, my heart racing. The Moonstone Shrine wasn’t just a myth. It was real, and it could save me. But the journal also spoke of a guardian—Atticus, the Alpha of the Moonshadow Pack. My breath caught in my throat at the name. I hadn’t thought of him in years.

Atticus and I had grown up together, back when we were both young and reckless, before responsibility had weighed us down. He had been strong even then, but kind, full if life and ambition. After his father’s death, everything had changed. He’d become even cold, brutal even, ruling his pack with a firm hand and earning a reputation as a tyrant.

But if there was any chance that Atticus still remembered the bond we once shared, I had to try. I had no other options. I tucked the journal into my bag, steeling myself for what lay ahead.

The Moonstone Shrine was my last hope, and to get there, I needed to face Atticus.