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A Healer's Heart, Not a Luna's Crown
A Healer's Heart, Not a Luna's Crown
Author: Zoey

Chapter 1

Author: Zoey
Ella's POV

Kyle Locke's tone turned coaxing.

"The moonstone carries too much power. If you wear it, it'll stir up your wolf. Besides, the fang pendant was always meant for you."

He said it like it was obvious, like I'd been fighting over something that had never belonged to me in the first place.

I lifted my chin and looked him straight in the eye. "So I only deserve the ordinary one?"

He blinked, caught off guard for half a second, then laughed, a little helpless, the way you'd laugh at a kid throwing a tantrum.

"All right, don't get worked up. If you don't like this pendant, we'll go pick something else out at the jeweler's."

That was the moment my heart finally sank all the way down.

I stood up and pushed the fang pendant back across the table.

"Don't bother. Give it all to Serafina. Kyle, let's call off the engagement."

Kyle must have thought I was just being petulant, because he reached out to pat my head.

"Ella, don't go around saying we're calling off the engagement. The bonding ceremony is in seven days. The whole pack's already been informed about it. What would everyone think if we called it off now?"

Serafina Voss slid the moonstone collar back toward me.

"Take it, Ella. You're about to bond with Kyle. Don't make things hard for him in front of the pack over something this small."

Kyle stopped her before she could finish, pushing the collar back in front of her instead.

"That one was made for you. Ella's a Healer. Herbs and daily care are all she needs. The moonstone's power would just be wasted on her."

So there had never been a choice to begin with. The most precious things had always been set aside for Serafina from the start.

I pulled my hand back and turned to walk away.

Kyle sighed, tired, and followed after me. "Fine, we'll go to the jeweler's. Pick whatever you want. Happy now?"

We'd just reached the shopping district downstairs when Serafina stopped at a perfume counter.

"I want to try that cedarwood scent. It might come in handy for tonight's dinner."

Kyle nodded without even thinking about it. "Try that one first, then. Ella, wait here."

Serafina tried on scent after scent and couldn't decide, so Kyle just bought both and shoved the one she hadn't picked into my hands.

"Here, take it. You get one too. Happy now?"

I didn't take it.

I didn't want anything that was someone else's leftovers.

"I'm going to my father tonight. I'm going to ask him to call off both the engagement and the bonding ceremony."

Kyle's hand froze halfway through the air, and the smile finally dropped from his face.

"Ella. That's enough."

That same night, Kyle called my parents in.

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  • A Healer's Heart, Not a Luna's Crown   Chapter 10

    I became the Deep Valley pack's deputy chief Healer, took on two apprentices of my own, and most of the remedies in the clinic were ones I'd revised and improved myself.Ryan still came by the clinic often, sometimes because one of his men had been hurt, sometimes just to drop off berries from the hills, or a rare seed for some herb or other.He never said anything particularly sweet. He'd just quietly bring me hot soup while I stayed up late mixing remedies, or bring back copies of old medical texts he'd picked up on patrol.Most of all, the way he looked at me held nothing but honest, genuine admiration.When autumn came, the Deep Valley pack was hit by a small outbreak of wolfsbane sickness. A number of the young cubs fell ill, running fevers that wouldn't break.I spent three days and nights straight tending to them with my apprentices, mixing remedies, running needles, doing everything I could to bring the fevers down, never once sitting still.When the last cub's fever fina

  • A Healer's Heart, Not a Luna's Crown   Chapter 9

    Serafina came without an escort, holding a plain umbrella by herself, her chin, always held so high, tipped down just slightly now.She carried a wooden box in her arms. Inside it was the moonstone collar."Ella."She stepped into the clinic, her voice hoarser than I'd ever heard it."I'm sorry. I always took whatever I wanted from you, always thought it was mine by right. I told myself it was because I carry the Silver Wolf bloodline, that I deserved the best of everything, and I never once thought about how you felt."She pushed the box toward me."Take this back. It should have been yours all along."I glanced at the moonstone. It glowed warm and soft inside the box, beautiful, the kind of thing I used to stand in front of a shop window staring at as a child, too afraid to even say I wanted it.But now, it felt like it belonged to some distant world."I don't need it."I pushed the box back toward her. "I'm a Healer. I can settle my wolf just fine with herbs and needles.

  • A Healer's Heart, Not a Luna's Crown   Chapter 8

    My parents followed Kyle's trail to find me.My father's face was dark enough to wring water from. My mother stood beside him, her elegant dress speckled with mud, her face twisted with an anger and disdain she couldn't hide.The moment they stepped into the clinic, my mother spoke first."Ella! You have some nerve! Running off without a word, making the Locke family tear apart the entire Calentral Territory looking for you! You've dragged our family's name through the mud!"My father slammed his cane against the stone floor, the sound echoing dully. He fixed his eyes on me."Enough of this nonsense. Come home with us. The ceremony fell apart, but the engagement still stands. Kyle said he'll give you a proper ceremony once you're back. Don't be ungrateful."I set down the herbs in my hands and wiped them off carefully."Go back? Go back to being Serafina's shadow?"I looked at the two of them."On the day of the ceremony, everyone went to cheer on Serafina's rite and left me s

  • A Healer's Heart, Not a Luna's Crown   Chapter 7

    Ella's POVI'd been here three months now.Lila had set up my own healing room, on the east side of the pack's clinic, with a window that looked out over the herb fields. In the early mornings I could watch dew drip down the leaves of the plants below.Every day I woke before dawn to mix remedies, make my rounds, and tend to the wounds of any patrol members who'd been hurt. In the evenings I sat by the window sorting through preions, teaching the pack's young cubs to identify herbs.Here, no one knew I was the second daughter of the Voss family. No one looked down on me.The young men on the patrol team would bow their heads to thank me whenever I healed a festering wolf-spirit wound. The pack elders would quietly leave dried fruit from their own harvest at my door. Even the pack's Alpha greeted me with courtesy as a healer.For the first time, I truly felt it: my skills, my presence, actually meant something.That evening, the patrol team came rushing in carrying someone. Leadi

  • A Healer's Heart, Not a Luna's Crown   Chapter 6

    Third-Person POVHalf the side wall of the reception hall had collapsed. The chandelier lay shattered across the marble floor, and the moonflower arch tilted to one side, its petals scattered everywhere, mixed with wolf fur and blood.The guards were counting the wounded. Pack members clutched their throats, coughing, holding each other up. Amid all the noise, one voice was missing, the one voice Kyle knew better than any other.Marcus ran over, clutching a wolf fang pendant."Alpha, we found this on the hide-bound guest register. Miss Voss... isn't here. We've done a full count. The ones with minor injuries are in the side room, the badly wounded were sent to the clinic. She's not among them."Kyle took the pendant from him.It was plain bone, not even finely polished, the one he'd once decided was good enough for Ella.It sat quiet in his palm now, no warmth left in it, not a trace of a wolf stirring.This hadn't been lost in the blast. She'd left it here before the explosion

  • A Healer's Heart, Not a Luna's Crown   Chapter 5

    I opened the door and found Kyle standing there."Ella, Serafina's Moonlight Rite only happens once in a lifetime. It starts at ten."I looked at him. "So?""Let's move the bonding ceremony to the evening. We can skip the formal part and go straight to the reception."Kyle walked into my room, his expression carrying that same air of taking it for granted."Ella, you're always the reasonable one. You'll agree to this, right?"I looked at him and suddenly thought back to when I was a kid.I'd once placed first in a Healer's examination, and my parents had gone to watch Serafina's Moonlight performance instead. Kyle had said he'd come. In the end, he went to Serafina too.I'd stood alone on that stage, watching everyone else's parents in the crowd.I understood then. All those years, I'd really been alone the whole time."Fine," I said. "Move it to the evening."It worked out well, actually. It saved me from having to find another excuse to stall.He clearly relaxed once I ag

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