Chapter 2

After the fire died, Iris developed a fever. She curled beneath the blankets, her face burning while her body shook with cold. I cooled her skin with wet cloths, but her temperature continued to rise and the presence of her sleeping wolf grew weaker.

I called for the pack healer through the mind-link and learned that Ethan had taken both the senior healer and the emergency medicine chest to Vivian’s rooms in the east wing.

Vivian opened the door after I knocked several times. Cora sat beside a warm fire eating honey cake, still wrapped in Iris’s silver-blue cloak, while Ethan repaired a silver wolf toy at her feet.

“Iris has a high fever,” I said. “I need the healer and the carriage.”

Ethan did not put down the toy. “Cora’s wolf nearly lost control. She still needs to be watched.”

“She can eat and speak normally. Iris is barely conscious.”

Vivian offered to send the healer with me, but Ethan refused. He said Cora could relapse at any moment. When I asked only for the carriage, his expression hardened.

“Do you have to turn this into another argument?

Wolf fever is common, and you used to be a healer. Lower her temperature until I finish here.”

I left without answering. Back in our room, I wrapped Iris in a heavy cloak and carried her out of Alpha House.

Rain covered the stone path to the healing lodge. Halfway there, Iris opened her eyes and asked whether her father was coming.

“No.”

“Is Cora very sick?”

“She is already better.”

Iris fell silent against my shoulder.

The night healer examined her as soon as we arrived. Her fever had begun weakening her wolf, and any further delay could affect her first shift. The lodge had no moonwater draught left because the last vial had been placed in Ethan’s emergency chest for Cora.

A nearby apothecary had another vial, but it required payment in moon silver. Ethan controlled the private vault at Alpha House, and I did not have enough moon coins with me.

I removed the moon-silver bracelet from my wrist.

My mother had fastened it there on the day of my mating ceremony. She told me that even a Luna should keep something of her own, because one day it might give her the power to choose.

The healer sent the bracelet to the apothecary. After Iris received the draught, her fever slowly fell, and her wolf’s pulse stabilized shortly before dawn.

Ethan arrived the next morning. Fear crossed his face when he touched Iris’s forehead.

“How did it become this serious?”

Iris watched him for a moment. “Mom told you.”

His hand went still. He promised to take her to the northern training grounds after she recovered and have the kitchen prepare her favorite moonberry pie.

Iris looked at my bare wrist. “Mom pawned Grandmother’s bracelet for my medicine. Will you get it back?”

Ethan’s guilt deepened. “I will redeem it today.”

Vivian soon entered carrying a purse of moon coins. With tears in her eyes, she apologized for keeping Ethan and the healer, then offered to return the money she had borrowed from the Alpha House fund. The purse held less than half the amount needed to recover my bracelet.

Ethan pushed it back to her. “Cora needs equipment for the academy. Keep it. I will handle the bracelet.”

“But it belonged to Mara’s mother,” Vivian said.

“She is angry now. She will calm down once Iris recovers.”

He sounded certain that my disappointment would fade as it always had. A new gift and another apology would keep me in Alpha House, fulfilling my duties as his Luna.

I did not tell him that this time was different.

While Iris slept that afternoon, I visited the Pack Council office. Three years earlier, Northvale Pack had offered me a permanent healer position. Ethan had just become Alpha and asked me to stay beside him, so I had declined.

The elder responsible for transfers found my old records. Northvale still needed an experienced healer, although I would have to renew my license. The position included private quarters, and the pack could help Iris apply to its academy.

Northvale’s local academy would allow Iris to continue her training, though it lacked the royal academy’s prestige.

The transfer could be completed in seven days.

“Send the application,” I said.

Before returning to the lodge, I contacted my aunt in Northvale through a communication crystal and told her I wanted to bring Iris there.

“Then come,” she replied. “My house is small, but there will always be room for both of you.”

Iris was awake when I returned. She studied the council document in my hand and asked what it was.

“The first paper we need for our new home.”

“A home without Dad?”

“Yes.”

She folded the document carefully and held it against her chest.

“Then it will be warmer than this one.”