The Alpha's Plump Luna

[RHIANNON]Cold earth pressed against my palms.My mouth tasted like copper and shame. Everything ached—bones still screaming from the shift that hadn't completed, muscles torn and reforming wrong, lungs dragging air like I'd been underwater too long.The forest spun in fractured pieces above me. Moonlight. Branches. Shadows that moved wrong.Then the scent hit.Cedarwood and storm. Ozone mixed with something warm and solid and impossibly grounding.My eyes snapped open.Someone was kneeling beside me. Close. Too close. A man—no, an Alpha. I could feel the power radiating off him even through the haze of pain. Dark hair with silver threading through it caught the moonlight. Storm-grey eyes watched me with an intensity that made my chest constrict.'Move,' Nyx whimpered, but she sounded far away. Distant and weak.Mortification crashed over me in waves.He'd seen me. Seen me broken and collapsed and struggling through a shift like some newly turned wolf who couldn't control her own bod

[RHIANNON]The healing room smelled like dried lavender and something sharper—antiseptic mixed with mountain herbs. I'd woken up three days ago in this bed, my body aching in places I didn't know could ache, and every time I opened my eyes, the grey-haired healer was there."You need to eat something." She'd introduced herself as Mira on that first morning, her voice gentle but firm in a way that reminded me of the grandmother I'd lost years ago. "Your body can't heal on air alone."I'd forced down the broth she offered, even though my stomach twisted with anxiety. Every kindness felt like charity. Every gentle touch felt like pity.Three days of Mira checking my bones, applying salves that smelled like moonflower, and telling me in that patient voice that the shift trauma would heal. That my body just needed time.Time. Like I had any right to take up space here while I recovered from being someone else's garbage.The rejection bond still ached—a constant throb beneath my ribs that s

[RHIANNON]My body screamed when I woke the next morning.Every muscle ached from yesterday's training—shoulders burning, thighs trembling even lying still, hands stiff from gripping the staff too hard for too long. Even my legs felt like they'd been beaten with the same staff I'd wielded. Red marks decorated my wrists that looked like fresh scars.I welcomed the pain. Physical hurt was clean. Manageable. Better than the confusion twisting through my chest every time I remembered Kael's expression from the arena.Not anger. Something softer that I refused to examine because hope was more dangerous than rejection.'He wanted to help,' Nyx insisted, pacing restlessly. 'Let him.'"He didn't help. He just watched." I pushed myself out of bed, ignoring the way my legs protested. "Like everyone else."The pack grounds were quieter this early. Dawn hadn't broken yet, just grey pre-light that made everything look washed out and cold.I should have rested. Should have listened to my body beggi

[KAEL]The journey to Bloodstone territory took three hours at full speed. Three hours of Saen prowling beneath my skin, demanding blood. Three hours of remembering Rhiannon's scars, her broken shift, and the way she'd flinched from my touch like she expected cruelty.Emrys drove while I forced myself to breathe evenly. To think strategically instead of letting rage dictate my actions.Bloodstone's pack house rose from the valley like a monument to old money and older arrogance. Guards at the gate recognized Crescent Moon's vehicles immediately, tension rippling through their formation."Alpha Kael." The lead guard dipped his head respectfully. "We weren't expecting—""I'm here to see Laziel." My tone left no room for negotiation. "Now."They exchanged glances. Smart enough not to refuse an Alpha on official business but clearly uncomfortable with the request.Ten minutes later, I stood in Bloodstone's main hall. The packhouse was smaller than Crescent Moon's, more ornate in a way tha