Chapter 2

The moment I stepped back into my room, I realized how foreign the space had become.

Once, it had been full of life. Every morning, Kael would set my favorite tea on the nightstand—a rare silver needle white tea he had to travel a hundred miles to a mountain valley to find.

Kieran would light the fireplace at dusk, adjusting the heat to the exact temperature I liked, then lean against me and read aloud.

But now…

I looked around. Clothes lay scattered across the floor. The bed was a wreck. Unopened letters piled high on the desk. The fireplace held nothing but cold ash, and the air smelled stale.

No one took care of any of this for me anymore.

I sank down on the edge of the bed and wrapped my arms around myself. The two scars on my neck ached faintly, like two dead serpents gnawing at my soul.

Memories rushed in like a tide.

It had started three months ago, when Sera first arrived at the pack. She had a five-year-old son named Finn, a body covered in scars, and a pair of eyes that were exhausted but fierce.

Her husband had lost a power struggle and been killed by the new Alpha. She'd fled with her child.

"She just needs a safe haven," my father had told me. "As a healer, she can be useful to the pack."

I hadn't objected. I thought I was generous enough, kind enough.

I never imagined that within a single month, everything would change.

Sera truly was exceptional. She cured long-standing ailments for several key members of the Elder Council. She taught the children how to identify herbs in the forest. She never troubled anyone, always solving her problems quietly on her own.

"Look at Sera," people in the pack started to say. "Raising a child alone, no mate, and she still has her life together."

"Not like *some* she-wolves—two Alpha mates and still never satisfied, throwing tantrums left and right."

Those words found their way to my ears, and I went crying to Kael.

"How can they say that about me?" I sobbed. "I just… I just want you two to spend more time with me."

Kael held me, but his gaze had already lost that old focus. "Elara, don't you think you're being a little… oversensitive about Sera?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I stared at him.

"She's just a she-wolf who needs help," Kael said. "And honestly, you leave everything for us to handle and never try doing things on your own. Maybe you could learn from her. Try being a little more independent."

That was the first time Kael told me I should "learn from another she-wolf."

After that, things spiraled out of control like an avalanche.

Kael started coming home later and later, claiming he was helping Sera repair her cottage—the little place was falling apart. Kieran began visiting her frequently too, saying he was helping her adjust to pack life.

And me?

I became hysterical. A caged animal. I'd stay up deep into the night waiting for them, demanding to know why they reeked of another she-wolf. I'd cry. I'd rage. I'd threaten.

"If you dare betray me, I'll have my father drive her out of the pack!"

That was the most foolish thing I ever said.

Because the very next day, Kael severed our mate bond.

The pain… I can't even put it into words. It felt like someone had wrapped silver chains around your soul and ripped them apart in one vicious pull.

You could hear the scream rising from some place deep inside yourself, feel your blood boiling in your veins, watch the entire world shatter into fragments before your eyes.

I lay in bed for three solid days, burning with fever, slipping in and out of consciousness.

When I finally woke, Kieran was sitting at my bedside, his eyes red and swollen.

"I'm sorry," he said, holding my hand. "I'm so sorry, Elara. I didn't know it would hurt this much…"

"Then don't leave me." I was crying. "Kieran, please don't leave me."

He was silent for a long time. Finally, all he said was: "I'll stay."

But what stayed was only a shell.

He stopped gathering the things I loved. He stopped sharing his thoughts with me. He stopped loving me the way he once had—wholly, completely. He was just… fulfilling an obligation. Like tending to a fragile patient.

Until last night, when I caught Sera's scent all over him.

The pain and the fury finally broke the dam.

"You're going to leave me too, aren't you?" I demanded. "You think she's better than me too?"

"Elara—"

"Don't explain!" I screamed. "You're just like Kael! You both think I'm nothing but dead weight! A spoiled, useless she-wolf!"

Something shifted in his eyes then.

Guilt turned into something that looked almost like… relief.

"Maybe," he said slowly, "maybe you're right."

Then he raised his hand and pressed it to the mark on my neck.

"No—" I tried to fight him, but his strength far outmatched mine.

The pain hit again, worse this time—because it was the second time. I screamed. I convulsed. I felt my soul tear clean in half.

When it was over, Kieran was gone from the room.

He left me alone, thrashing in the wreckage of my own soul.

Now, sitting in this disheveled room, I made a decision.

I would go to them.

One last time.

If they turned me away—if they had truly, irrevocably chosen Sera—then I would let go for good. I would go to the Blood Kin, leave this place and all its agonizing memories, and never come back.

But before that, I'd fight for them one final time.

I got to my feet, pulled myself together quickly. A clean dress. Hair brushed smooth. I even spritzed a bit of perfume on my wrists—a gift Kael had given me once. He'd said the scent of lily of the valley suited me.

Then I walked out, heading for Sera's cottage.

Sera lived on the western side of the manor, in a small standalone stone house. It had originally been a tool shed, but my father had it renovated as temporary housing for her.

I hadn't even reached the door when I heard voices inside.

Kael and Kieran.

"Did you go see her today?" That was Kael—low, serious.

"Just ran into her by chance." Kieran's reply. "She went to see the Alpha King."

My footsteps halted. They were talking about me.

"How did she look?" Kael asked.

A beat of silence. Then Kieran said: "Not good."

"Going soft?" Kael's voice sharpened. "If you're going soft, walk out now. Kieran, we've been over this. If we're going to lead this pack as dual Alphas, if we're going to carry it into the future, we need a Luna who is truly strong. Not a she-wolf whose only skills are crying and clinging."

"I know." Kieran sounded tired. "I just… worry she might do something to Sera again. Last time she nearly got Sera expelled from the pack."

"If she tries that again, I won't hold back," Kael said, his tone glacial. "Sera is the kind of asset this pack needs. And Elara… she needs to learn what responsibility means. What sacrifice means."

I stood outside that door, and the entire world came crashing down around me.

So this was what they really thought.

I wasn't strong enough. Wasn't independent enough. Wasn't *worthy* of being their Luna.

And Sera—the outsider—was their idea of the perfect mate.

Grief, rage, humiliation—it all churned together, igniting into a blaze inside my chest.

I turned to leave—and then a child's furious shriek split the air.

"You bad wolf! Don't you dare hurt my mommy!"

Then I saw water flying toward me, and a piercing hiss tore itself from my throat.