Se connecterMy mate bond with Alpha Ronan of the Blackthorne Pack had failed thirty-two times. I thought the Moon Goddess did not bless us. I thought if I endured a little longer, loved him a little harder, the next time would finally work. Until the thirty-third rite. Then the fire swallowed me whole. When I woke in the healers’ hall, my body was broken, my Moonborn Core was damaged. Only then did I hear Ronan speaking to his Beta outside the door. “If you love Selene that much, then sever the claim with Elara. The Blackthorne Pack can silence any rumor. Why keep staging accidents?” “She almost died,” his Beta said. “Ten years ago, the Alpha of Nightvale and his mate died saving me. This bond is how I repay that debt.” “I never wanted Nightvale’s bloodline chained to mine.” “The woman I love is Selene.” That was when I finally understood. The Moon Goddess had never rejected us. Ronan had. He saw my parents’ sacrifice as a chain around his neck. He saw Nightvale’s Moonborn bloodline as a cage built to trap him. And he would never know— the fire he arranged had already taken the child I carried. The true black-core heir Blackthorne had waited generations for. If Ronan hated this bond so much, I would give him what he wanted. I would sever the claim myself.
Voir plusElisa sent me to a secluded healers’ hall, hidden far from prying eyes.After Ronan forced that much wolfsbane draught down my throat, my body nearly gave out completely. It did not only damage the body. It struck my wolf again, hard enough that I might not have survived it.If Elisa had not reached me in time, I would have died.I still remember that day. The woman who had always seemed unshakable knelt before me at last. She wept as she apologized to me, and to my dead parents.By then, it no longer mattered much.What would kill me had never changed. The silver taint spreading through the mind was still there, buried deep, waiting. The healers did what they could, but they never lied to me. I was running out of time.The only thing I could not let go of was my father’s family signet bracelet.It had shattered.I gathered every fragment and kept them in a velvet box beside my bed. No matter how carefully I fit the pieces together, it never became whole again.Neither did we.Three mo
When Ronan returned to the healers’ hall, Selene was waiting for him.The moment she saw him, her scent softened. “I knew you wouldn’t leave me.”She reached for him.Ronan stepped aside.Her smile faltered.He looked at her with a coldness she had never seen before. “Did Elara really force you to swallow that wolfsbane draught?”Selene forced out a shaky breath. “Of course she did. She’s jealous. She wanted to ruin—”“I checked,” Ronan cut in.His voice was flat. Worse than anger.“You and Elara were never alone. The healers confirmed the dose in your blood was nowhere near fatal. Your scent is far too steady for someone who almost died.”He looked at her stomach.“And there was never a child.”Selene’s face went white.“You weren’t trying to die,” he said. “You were performing.”“Ronan, no. I only did it because I love you. I couldn’t bear seeing you complete the mate bond with her—”“Enough.”He did not shout. He did not need to.“Everything I gave you is being taken back. The house
Ronan used everything Blackthorne had.More wolves. More channels. More money. Every shadow network in the city.Still, he found nothing.No trail.No report.No sign of Elara at all.It was as if she had never existed.In the end, he went to Elisa.The study was warm. The fire was steady.He stepped inside and felt cold anyway.For one stupid second, he caught himself searching the air for Elara’s scent.There was nothing.Not even a trace.“Mother.” His voice came out tighter than he meant. “Do you know where Elara is?”“She’s gone. I can’t find her.”Elisa looked up at him.Her face did not change.“You can stop looking.”“I already severed the claim on behalf of Blackthorne.”“From this point on, she has nothing to do with you.”Ronan went still.Something dropped inside his chest.Hard.“What?”He took a step forward.“You had no right.”“That was a vow I made to the Moon.”Elisa held his gaze.There was no anger in her eyes.Only disappointment.The kind that had gone past rage a
It was only after the private healer confirmed Selene was out of danger that Ronan began to calm down.And the moment he did, another thought hit him hard.He had forced half a bottle of wolfsbane draught down Elara’s throat.That much was enough to destroy a wolf already hanging by a thread.And Elara was exactly that.Her wolf had never recovered from the fire. Her core had been unstable ever since. Even her scent had begun to weaken.That had not been punishment.That had been lethal.Ronan went still.A second ago, fear and fury had burned everything else out of him. Now that his head was clear, he finally understood what he had done.He had not taught her a lesson.He had taken someone already half broken and shoved her the rest of the way toward death.All the blood drained from his face.He pushed past the people around him and strode out of the healers’ hall.Nearly two hours had passed since Selene had been brought in.Two hours.More than enough time for half a bottle of wolf






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