RISE OF THE LUNA

id the

ually s

nox, reject

the tether between us unraveled

for that sentence-every hour, every br

t ready for

he way her scent would recoil like she'd just ripped o

for the silence

n't ready for the empt

re long aft

bond to snap back into place and whisper jus

it d

mean

had le

made

much of a coward

to admit w

pectations of a pack that had ne

nes don't mix

ust be of

d the cou

over the Alpha title in name, if not yet in ceremony. H

lo

fa

my senses that night like something I'd b

ark like I needed something solid to keep from collapsing. My

been

all

ut

ded her. I had

the bond

one silent the moment she spoke the rejectio

it hurt

right words-cold, calculated, cruel-it would be enough to drive her to it. To

hadn't

words, her eyes had been full

point

that to gut me more th

ng my back rest against the tree trunk.

was stil

cho of her voice replaying over

you, Dam

ds were

didn't br

rought

her from a life of scrutiny, of cruelty from pack elders who would never see h

the

otecting

t would've tak

I thought loving

d

e without feeling the loss

inct-like maybe if I held there long enough, I could sto

it

said

tched he

t there. Could've been min

ke the pain had sunk deeper into my bones, hiding

did

he one that never stop

did

et he

legacy o

you have

, brushing dir

learing look

hing el

t

my f

ver hope I'd once held

s said. That was what the elders preached. Once the words were spoke

it d

nses still reached for her like a

ht-standing there with her chin raise

tremble in her fingers

ered, honey and wildflowers, even after

d've ch

I di

, I didn't know

r look at me again without seeing the man w

ate, the lights

of the main house. The pack was likely asleep, unaware that the

't go

teps slow but steady. My wolf itched beneath my sk

my shirt and sh

of it was

ting earth, of wind in my lungs-it dull

ra

a

a

narrowed to instinct and breath and th

I couldn't ou

he t

expected

I could

ach

d hadn't been one

t more than I

ed her withou

she wa

med me with open

the patrol line when no one was watching-though t

irl who h

dared to be mate

oke those words and s

lace where I learned that love could be commanded and severed in the same breath. Aw

es blurred, the bramble caught in my hair, and still I r

You'll reject me. Y

i

n't lo

as hell did

iar. Wilder. No pack markings. No patrols. Just untam

d into unc

I th

've know

unwashed fur, blood, earth. Feralit

gu

ven that

ra

nd a twig snappe

answered made m

ned s

fully shifted. Not fully human. That dangerous in-be

voice was low, hoarse. "Silver Hollow, huh?

n't s

aller, with a cruel mouth and a blade she spun

r. Cold

an the rest, arms crossed, expression unreadab

n

I could tell-he was the spi

ed me in

he said, no

odd

m wh

said. "And a mate who told me to th

s face. A twitch in the jaw.

said. "From S

nother step

n't k

wed. Then he t

-strays don't do pity. If you want to ea

afraid

. "Good. Because here, it's the o

hrough Silver Hol

lls that never arrived at the training hall. By noon, it was Maura who raised the alarm, pounding on every

's g

cracked through the stillnes

was

would she go? How would she survive? But then someone checked her room-empty. Someone else found he

isbelief turned into

he main hall when Marcus delivered the repor

one. No signs of struggle. S

jaw tensed.

es

h unspoken tension. Then Damon turned away,

ely. "You didn't expect

said n

ehind closed doors, to mourn the bond in private but stay where it

'd walk

mission. Wi

of Silver Hollow buz

the council table stirred uncomfortably, shifting parchments and speaking in low voices about the implicati

quietly. "That the bond didn't matter? That S

e of us," another mutter

t wasn'

She had known every servant's name. Had helped patch the younger warriors' tunics wh

e. But she had, in the deep

she wa

k within a day. Crying and c

weren't

ispered, eyes red-rimmed. "Sh

didn't

ne where the shadows deepened into blue. He couldn't feel the bond anymore-not the wa

in

cke

on the verge o

his eyes a

heard was

rtbeat that no longer