No Crystal Left to Crush, Alpha

Seven days before the alliance dinner between my Silver Moon Pack and the Gray Mist Pack, I, the Silver Moon Luna, was attacked by rogues.

The silver wounds hadn’t fully healed by the day of the dinner, but my attendance was mandatory.

What I didn’t expect was for Zephyr to bring his childhood friend, the omega Chloe.

She rarely attended these events, but tonight she managed to “accidentally” spill red wine all over the Gray Mist Alpha’s suit.

By the time I tuned back in, Alpha Marcus was standing there, his face like stone.

Chloe stood beside him, clutching an empty wine glass, tears welling in her eyes.

“I slipped…” she trembled. “I didn’t mean to…”

Marcus’s expression was as dark as a sky before a storm.

The suit was worth fifty thousand dollars, but more importantly, this was a public humiliation in front of two entire packs.

Yet Zephyr didn’t care about our ally. He rushed straight to Chloe’s side, anxiously checking her arm.

“Chloe, are you hurt? Did the glass cut you?”

Then, his icy gaze fell on me.

“Elysia, go apologize to Alpha Marcus.”

I stared at my Alpha in shock. A sharp pain lanced through my chest, more intense than any silver poison.

Marcus dabbed at his suit, his anger making his aura suffocatingly heavy.

“So, the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack makes his Luna take the blame. While the real culprit hides so well in your arms.”

Tears streamed down Chloe’s face as she burrowed deeper into Zephyr’s embrace, as if she were the one who had been wronged.

Zephyr held her protectively and used his Alpha command on me.

“Apologize. Now! What are you standing there for? Go pour Alpha Marcus a drink. We can’t let this jeopardize our alliance, no matter what!”

He didn’t remember the silver poison still coursing through my veins. He didn’t remember that alcohol could be fatal for me right now.

Or maybe he just didn’t care if I lived or died.

Chloe shot me a triumphant, taunting look.

She knew Zephyr would throw me to the wolves.

She knew my Alpha would protect her, leaving her completely unscathed.

Of course I didn’t want to pay for her stupidity.

But Zephyr suddenly leaned in, his hot breath brushing against the back of my neck.

His voice was a low, commanding whisper. “Crush a crystal.”

My mind drifted back ten years.

When our wolves first recognized each other as fated mates, his pack was nothing, a footnote in the werewolf world.

My parents immediately ordered me to reject him.

But Zephyr begged me, his eyes red-rimmed, swearing his wolf would only ever crave mine. He refused to give up.

He worked to strengthen his pack, proving his power again and again, kneeling before me to declare his love.

For sixty-six straight full moons, he planned grand courtship rituals outside my family’s estate.

Seas of flowers, fireworks, vows sworn under the moonlight.

The entire werewolf world buzzed with tales of this Alpha’s devotion to his fated mate.

Finally, on the sixty-seventh full moon, I agreed.

“I swear, I will only love Elysia for the rest of my life,” he’d said, gripping my hand with trembling excitement. “If I ever betray you, may the Moon Goddess strip me of my power, may my wolf’s soul shatter and die…”

“Don’t say it,” I’d whispered, silencing his vow with a kiss, my heart hammering against my ribs.

I had to admit it. The raw obsession and possession in his eyes thrilled me. I said yes.

On our bonding night, as our souls and bodies merged into one, I brought out the pouch with sixty-six moonlight crystals.

“These sixty-six crystals are for the sixty-six times I can forgive you,” I told him, looking him in the eye. “But if they run out, I’m leaving.”

“They’ll never run out,” he growled, pushing me back onto the bed, his eyes blazing like burning stars. “My wolf and my body will only ever crave you. I will never hurt you.”

Then he kissed me, wild and possessive.

For three whole years, he locked that pouch in his safe like it was a holy relic, terrified I’d crush a crystal in a moment of anger.

Until Chloe came back.

In a single year, I had been forced to crush sixty-three of them.

This would be the sixty-fourth.

I twisted the cap off a bottle of whiskey and threw my head back, swallowing the burning liquid.

It felt like lava scorching its way down my throat. The silver poison and alcohol mixed, and a wave of agony crashed over me.

“Alpha Marcus, I am so sorry for this accident.”

He gave me a long look, then just shook his head, letting it go.

I forced a smile, but when I turned, I saw Zephyr gently dabbing at a wine stain on Chloe’s cheek with a silk handkerchief.

He was so careful, like she was the most precious doll in the world.

And I had just nearly died for her mistake.

“Elysia, you look awful,” Chloe said, her voice dripping with perfect, fake innocence. “Shouldn’t you sit down and rest?”

Such a lie.

She knew damn well I was injured. She knew I couldn’t drink.

The searing pain from my wound began to spread. My face drained of color, and my wolf let out a pained whimper.

But I just closed my eyes, fighting back the urge to cry.

He only has two chances left. Just hold on.

When the dinner ended, I followed behind Zephyr, desperate to just go home.

But he was helping a limping Chloe walk toward me.

“Elysia, Chloe twisted her ankle,” he explained, his brow furrowed with worry. “I need to take her to the pack hospital to get it checked out. You can drive yourself home.”

Chloe again. Another one of her “accidents.”

Before, I would have questioned him. I would have argued, demanded to know why I was always the one being sacrificed.

But now, I just looked at his concerned face, at her pitiful act.

And for the first time, I just nodded.

“Okay.”

The tension instantly vanished from Zephyr’s face, replaced by a flicker of relief, even a small smile.

“Be careful on your way back.”