Liora's POV Two guards flanked me, one on either side, each gripping my arms like I might run. I didn't. If I wanted to, I couldn't.Aldric walked ahead of us, silent. And in his hand, crumpled but unmistakable, was the napkin. The napkin with the message—You deserve better. He doesn't see you.He had asked me about it when I opened the door. Who sent it? How did I get it? Since when I've been receiving messages from someone other than him? And I couldn't give him any answers. My lips were only part but no words came through. He had said it like I was seeing someone.My throat went dry. How did he get it? My eyes flicked from the napkin to his clenched jaw. Did Seraphina see it? Did someone else go through my things? Was it even him who found it?I had no answers. Just questions clawing at the inside of my head.The hallway curved toward the big hall where the party was still ongoing but not like when it started. Music still played faintly in the distance—soft but with fading notes
Liora's POV The scent led me here; and now, a whisper? The moment I heard the whisper, I walked faster. I was too curious to let it slide. And I was hoping, stupidly, that I was wrong. The corridor narrowed as I turned left. Dim lanterns flickered on the stone walls. My heels barely made a sound. I soon paused near a wooden door creaked open just enough. And I heard it again, breathless sounds leaked through. Soft, rhythmic, hushed laughter between moans.I stood frozen outside, my heart rattling against my ribs.Don't go inBut my hand touched the edge of the door anyway. And when I got inside, the scene burned itself into me. He was shirtless, and his jeans were barely zipped and his belt undone. His hair was messy like someone had clawed their hands through it. Seraphina sat on the edge of the stone table, her legs slightly parted and her red velvet dress pushed above her thighs. One sleeve had slid down her arm, exposing her bare shoulder. Her boots were already gone.She leaned
Liora's POV The night came faster than I wanted. The cold still clung to me, even after I shut the apartment door behind me. I hadn't realized how long I'd walked after the bar—maybe hoping the night would swallow me up before the party found me again. It didn't. Instead, I found myself sitting at the edge of my bed, staring down at the napkin the bartender had given me. I had asked who gave it to him.“Found it at the doorstep of the backyard and it spelled your name.” That was his only response.I understood the message clearly. But—“You always look so pale before a party,” I was startled as the words caught me off guard. I immediately slipped the napkin into my coat pocket.“Hello.” Seraphina said again, standing at the doorstep. Her hands were full—one with a garment bag, and the other with a steaming cup of something too herbal to taste good.“Oh gosh! That smells disgusting,” I muttered, dragging myself off the bed.“Good. Your senses are working just fine.”She dropped the
Liora's POV “I need a Luna who doesn't need fixing.” “You think being my mate makes you special? It doesn't.”Maybe he hadn't meant to say it out loud. But he did. Those words kept ringing in my ears, like they were stuck with me, even when I tried to burn them out with whiskey. Those words made me realize a bond could exist without love and a heart could keep beating even when it cracked.I stared down at the glass in my hand, the rim smudged from how long I'd been holding it. The whiskey had gone warm, even bitter. But I kept drinking it anyway. Not because I liked it, but because it felt like punishment in a glass. A fitting way to end a day of being the Luna everyone whispered about but no one respected.The bar wasn't unfamiliar—it had once been the place I snuck away to when I needed to feel normal again—like a common she-wolf. Not as Luna, but just Liora.It sat tucked into a quieter part of Ravenswood, a little distant from my pack, Scarvalley territory, a place already seem