I Loved You.You Destroyed Me

I was Ethan's mate. Luna of the pack. The most insignificant she-wolf on these lands.

The day the vampires attacked, I shifted despite being heavily pregnant and sprinted through the forest, dragging Ethan back from the overlook at Spectacle Ridge.

I thought I had done the right thing.

The territory held. The wolves of our pack survived.

But a she-wolf named Lucy — Ethan's old friend, his long-lost light who had only recently returned to the pack — was seized in the chaos by a handful of fleeing vampires. They dragged her into the woods and tore her apart.

Ethan hunted down every last one of them. Then he locked himself in his room.

When he came out, he never spoke Lucy's name again.

Not until the day I gave birth.

Ethan came to the birthing room, took one look at the small, newly arrived pup, and dragged us both — the infant and my broken body — into the forest.

He forced me to drink a suppressant that blocked my shift. He threw me and the pup into a cage.

*"You conspired with the vampires. You had her killed."*

*"This is the price you pay."*

My pleas meant nothing. I fought with everything I had and still couldn't protect my child.

We died together.

When I opened my eyes again, time had been remade. I was back at the morning of the vampire attack.

This time, no one would hurt me or my child.

……

Elder Norman came stumbling in.

This white-haired old wolf — in all my years I had only seen that expression on his face once before, the night his mate nearly died in a difficult labor.

His face looked exactly the same now: ashen, yet holding together by sheer will.

"Ella," he wheezed, his words stripped to their bones. "Vampires at the border. Not a single guard at their post."

I already knew. Still, I asked: "The armory?"

Norman's mate had just circled the entire territory and come back. She stood in the doorway, her voice trembling beneath a thin veneer of calm. "The armory keys have vanished, Luna."

The silence hit the room like a stone dropped into still water.

The she-wolves gathered at the entrance — some clutching pups, some with half-washed laundry still in their hands — watched the confusion on each other's faces slowly twist into fear, like cloth being pulled apart at the seams.

Norman lowered his voice and asked again: "Where did they go?"

He meant the pack's beta guards. That unit, responsible for patrolling the borders and keeping the pack safe, should have been in position by now, armed and ready. Instead, their scent had vanished from the territory entirely.

I was the only one who knew the answer.

I set down what I was holding and spoke slowly. "Ethan took them."

"To Spectacle Ridge." I paused. "To watch the star-tide with Lucy."

The star-tide was a wonder granted by the Moon Goddess — every hundred years, a tidal nebula gathered above a particular mountain peak, staining the entire sky a flowing silver-blue.

Spectacle Ridge was the perfect place to witness it.

Romantic.

Yes. Very romantic.

"Outrageous." Norman's brow furrowed. His voice dropped low, but it carried a weight no one could ignore. "The werewolf council issued a clear warning weeks ago — vampires have been attacking packs near the borders with increasing frequency. Our own borders have shown signs of movement. This is *precisely* when patrols need to be reinforced. And he takes the entire guard unit and abandons the territory?"

No one answered.

The she-wolves began to mutter curses at Lucy. They said she had no shame, pulling all those guards away with her. They said she hadn't stopped stirring trouble since she came back, always circling the Alpha — no one knew what tricks she was using.

Before anyone finished, a low, muffled detonation rolled in from the border.

The ground shivered beneath their feet, like something vast and dormant turning over in its sleep.

Norman's gaze sharpened instantly. He turned and strode to the doorway, calling out a sharp command. Moments later, someone came sprinting back, breathless, and silenced the room with a single sentence:

"The vampires brought explosives. They're blowing through the stone wall at the main gate."

Norman drew a long breath. He did not flinch.

"The elder wolves who remain will reinforce the wall — buy every minute you can." His voice was steady as bedrock. "The injured, all she-wolves, and all pups are to retreat to the underground caverns immediately. Once inside, no one comes out until they hear a pack member's howl. Not for any reason."

The crowd began to move. Pups' cries were quickly muffled; mothers wrapped their children in furs and moved with their heads down toward the cavern entrance.

Norman found me in the crowd. His gaze settled on me and stayed there.

"Ella," he said. "You're the fastest among us, and you know the back-mountain trail. Go and bring Ethan back."