Chapter 1 - The Fracture

Evelynn POV

The bond snapped sharp beneath my skin - a violent, invisible whip of pain that tore straight through my chest.

I staggered. The air vanished from my lungs. My hand pressed hard over my heart, as if I could hold the tether in place by sheer will.

It used to hum - soft, steady, ever-present - my mate’s soul braided into mine, a melody of belonging that never stopped playing. Now that song had gone wrong. Discordant. Broken.

Dying.

"He’s slipping away," my wolf whispered, voice low and trembling. "Do something. Find him."

"Find him?" The thought was a knife. "And what, beg him to stay while the Goddess herself turns her face from us?"

She growled inside me, furious and scared. "He’s ours."

"Was."

The silence that followed wasn’t empty - it was screaming. Every instinct, every thread of me, rebelled against the hollow void where his presence used to be. I felt it unravel - thread by thread, note by note - until I stood in the middle of my chamber with tears burning my throat and a terrible truth clawing at my ribs.

If the pack ever sensed this… if they saw that the bond between Alpha and Luna was splintering… everything we’d built would crumble.

A Luna with a broken bond was a Luna unfit to lead.

So I straightened. Breathed once. Twice. Forced my trembling body to still. My wolf snarled and paced, begging to hunt, to find, to fight, but I caged her, locked her behind my ribs with all the other things I couldn’t afford to feel.

"Later." I promised her. "We’ll scream later. Right now, we survive the day."

I smoothed the front of my gown, wiped the ghost of pain from my lips, and turned toward the door.

Time to perform.

The packhouse was alive, as it always was at dusk. Too alive.

Laughter spilled from the kitchens; the clang of steel echoed from the courtyard where warriors trained beneath a blood-colored sky. The scent of roasted meat and earth and sweat filled the air. To them, it was home - to me, tonight, it felt like a world I no longer belonged to.

Everywhere I walked, wolves paused mid-step. Bowed. Whispered, “Luna.”

Their respect should have steadied me. Instead, it only reminded me how fragile my crown really was.

Smile, I told myself. They cannot know. Not yet.

I returned each greeting with warmth I didn’t feel - a touch to a shoulder, a word of praise, a gentle nod. I played my role perfectly, even as my wolf whimpered beneath my skin, pressing against the edges of my restraint.

"He’s far. Too far. I can’t scent him."

"Good." I lied. "He’s on patrol. That’s all."

But the bond pulsed once, weakly, and I felt the truth burning in that flicker of connection.

He wasn’t on patrol. He was somewhere else. Doing something he shouldn’t.

“Luna!”

Maren’s voice broke through the haze. She rushed toward me, her braid half undone, a scroll clutched tight in her hand. “The council awaits you. They need your approval for the festival plans.”

I smiled - not kindly, but precisely. “Then let’s not keep them waiting.”

We walked together, her steps hurried, mine deliberate. She chattered about preparations - lambs for the feast, honey mead shortages, arguments over the hunt. I nodded in all the right places, though I barely heard her. My wolf’s low growl echoed in the back of my mind like thunder before a storm.

"He’s hiding something."

"Enough."

"You feel it too."

"Enough!"

Her silence was heavy, resentful. But she was right. The absence in our bond wasn’t distance - it was deceit.

The council chamber doors opened with a groan.

Conversations halted. Dozens of eyes turned toward me as I stepped inside, every gaze laced with reverence - or scrutiny. The elders and betas rose from their seats in unison.

But my eyes went straight to the Alpha’s chair beside mine.

Empty.

Again.

One of the younger betas muttered, not quietly enough. “The Alpha dishonors us.”

My wolf bristled, lips curling in a silent snarl. "Let me tear his throat for that."

"No." I kept my voice smooth. “The Alpha’s duties keep him occupied,” I said, settling gracefully into my chair. “And mine keep me here.”

A few heads bowed lower. Guilt, or fear - both worked in my favor.

“Shall we begin?”

The meeting stretched for hours - the endless back-and-forth of politics and pride. The young warriors wanted blood and spectacle; the elders fretted over omens and propriety.

I listened. Guided. Smiled when I had to. Every word I spoke was measured, deliberate, calculated to sound like care instead of command.

When tempers flared, I doused them with charm. When voices rose, I met them with a single look that cut them clean.

By the time the final decision was made, the council was at ease again. United. Believing they had chosen their own path, when in truth, I had chosen it for them.

An elder leaned toward me as they dispersed. “Without you, Luna, we would be lost. The Alpha may be our sword, but you are our compass.”

I smiled. “Every pack needs both.”

Inside, the words tasted like ash. Every pack needs both… but what happens when the sword goes missing?

Later, I slipped into the gardens, craving silence.

The night air was heavy with roses - red, wild, overgrown. Their scent clung to my skin as I moved among them. The moon hung high above, silver and pitiless, spilling light across the stone paths.

"He should be here," I thought. "He should feel me breaking."

"He doesn’t care." My wolf’s voice was sharper now, cold with truth. Changed.

“Luna.”

I turned, startled.

Alric stood a few steps away, the torchlight carving hard lines into his face. His dark hair was tied back, his armor dusted with dirt and blood from training. His eyes met mine and didn’t flinch.

He bowed, but not low enough. “The Alpha will not return tonight.”

I felt my pulse spike. “Where is he?”

“He said he was patrolling the southern borders.” A pause. “Alone.”

There was something in his tone - disgust, maybe pity. Or maybe he knew exactly where my mate had gone and wouldn’t say.

My wolf’s growl trembled through me. He’s lying. They both are.

I know.

I lifted my chin. “Thank you, Alric. That will be all.”

He hesitated, gaze lingering - too bold for a subordinate. “If you ever need-”

“I won’t.” My words came out sharper than intended, but I didn’t soften them. “Good night, warrior.”

He bowed again, jaw tight, and disappeared into the shadows.

I stayed there long after he left, staring at the roses until they blurred red against the gray. The bond pulsed weakly again - a fading heartbeat.

He’s fading. Or betraying.

Either way, something in me cracked for the final time.

By the time I reached my chambers, the candles had burned low. His side of the bed was untouched, the sheets cold. His scent - once strong enough to drown me - had thinned to a ghost.

I sat before the mirror, staring at the reflection of a woman who looked whole and regal, even as the edges of her soul bled.

A Luna in black silk, hair like flame, eyes like frost.

They see a queen, I thought. Not a woman breaking.

“I deserve more,” I whispered.

My wolf pressed close, her voice a rumble of promise. "Then take it."

I met my own gaze in the glass. The woman there didn’t argue.

And soon, neither would anyone else.