Maya’s Point Of View
The words hit me like a slap. The mist around us seemed to freeze in place. I just stared at Dal, blinking, my breath hitching in my throat as I tried to make sense of what I had just heard.
A ball. Next week. The Alpha revealing his Luna. To the entire Aethoria.My mind reeled, staggering under the weight of it.
Wait… Wait, wait, wait.
Kaden was back. Kaden, the man I had loved with every breath in my body. The man whose absence had carved a hollowed-out ache inside my chest so deep it sometimes felt like I wouldn’t survive it. The man whose name had been the only thing keeping me tethered to the ground during the darkest nights.
And now… Now he was back, and his first act was to announce his Luna? Not just to the pack… no, that would have been bad enough, but to the whole of Aethoria? The entire kingdom?
"How?" I whispered hoarsely, almost to myself. "How is that possible?"
The air grew heavy, pressing down on me until it felt like I was drowning in it. I swayed
