Chapter 3

Kaelira POV

The corridor felt longer than it ever had.

Each step echoed too loudly against the marble floors, as if the walls themselves wanted to announce my humiliation.

Luna.

Barren Luna.

Weak Luna.

The words weren’t spoken outright, but I heard them anyway. The guards straightened without bowing. On the way, two maids paused mid-whisper as I passed, a also warrior quickly looked down when our eyes met.

I kept my spine straight.

If they wanted to see a fracture, they would have to carve it out of me.

The doors to Darius’s office had barely shut behind me when the air shifted. My lungs burned as if I’d run miles instead of standing perfectly still while my husband discussed “alternatives” to secure an heir.

Alternatives.

My fingers curled into my palms until crescent marks dug into my skin.

He hadn’t raised his voice.

He hadn’t needed to.

“You know what the pack requires,” he had said, not looking at me, gaze fixed on reports scattered across his desk. “Stability.”

Stability had a name now.

Seraphine.

I walked past a cluster of council aides. One of them muttered, “If the Luna cannot provide.”

I didn’t slow down.

If I did, I might have turned.

And if I turned, I might have bared my teeth.

By the time I reached my chambers, the mask had fused to my face so tightly I wasn’t sure where it ended and I began.

Maelin opened the door before I touched it.

Her eyes searched mine quickly, sharp and assessing. “You were in there longer than usual.”

“I stayed until he was done speaking.” I stepped inside.

Serenya rose from the window seat, skirts rustling softly. Unlike the others in this pack, she didn’t look at me with pity or calculation. She looked at me like I was still whole.

That almost broke me more than the whispers had.

“He called the council again?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And nothing.” I removed my gloves slowly, placing them on the vanity with deliberate care. “They’re concerned about the future.”

Maelin’s jaw tightened. “The future has a name.”

I met her gaze in the mirror. “Say it.”

“Seraphine.”

The name slid into the room like smoke.

Serenya moved closer. “It’s more than talk now, Kaelira. The elders have been visiting the west wing.”

“Visiting,” I repeated softly.

Maelin crossed her arms. “Gamma Laura has been encouraging it.”

Of course she had.

Laura Veyne never moved openly. She preferred the elegance of suggestion. A tilted head. A thoughtful hum. A carefully placed question that sounded harmless.

“She’s been questioning your judgment in closed meetings,” Maelin continued. “Saying grief has made you distant. That your wolf’s silence is… concerning.”

My chest tightened at that.

“My wolf is not her concern.”

Maelin hesitated. “She’s framing it as the pack’s concern.”

Serenya stepped between us gently. “What exactly is she saying?”

“That Luna should embody strength. Fertility. Power.” Maelin’s eyes flicked to my abdomen before she could stop herself. “She’s been reminding the elders that Seraphine carries pure northern blood. That she’s… unclaimed.”

Unclaimed.

Like territory waiting for conquest.

A slow heat crept up my throat, but my voice stayed level. “And Darius?”

“He hasn’t denied it,” Maelin said.

That hurt more than any whisper.

I walked toward the balcony doors and pushed them open. Cold air rushed in, biting against my skin.

Months ago, my wolf would have surged at the scent of the forest. The pine. The earth. The distant musk of warriors training.

Now.. Nothing.

Just a hollow space where she used to breathe.

I pressed my hand to my chest.

For weeks, there had been only stillness. A numb, heavy silence like something buried too deep to reach.

But now.

A flicker.

Faint.

Like claws scraping against stone.

I inhaled sharply.

Serenya noticed. “What is it?”

“I felt… something.”

Not outside. Not foreign.

Inside.

A low, warning growl echoed faintly in my ribs.

But there.

My fingers trembled against my collarbone.

Maelin stepped closer. “The healer warned you.”

“Yes.” My throat tightened. “She said the bond was suffocating her.”

The words had haunted me since.

Unnatural strain.

Suppressed instinct.

Poisoned tether.

I hadn’t understood it then.

I was beginning to now.

Serenya’s voice dropped. “Maelin. Tell her the rest.”

Maelin’s expression shifted. Careful.

“There are whispers,” she said slowly. “About the alliance between your father and the late Alpha Magnus.”

My stomach twisted.

“Go on.”

“It wasn’t just political.”

My heartbeat picked up.

“They say,” Maelin continued, “that something was performed the night the treaty was signed. Something binding. Not recognized by the old laws.”

Serenya added quietly, “An enforced mate tether.”

I stared at them.

“No,” I said automatically.

But memories surfaced. Fragments I had ignored.

The ceremony had felt wrong. Heavy. Like chains instead of silk.

My wolf had howled that night.

Not in joy.

In protest.

“The massacre happened weeks later,” Maelin whispered. “Your mother’s Crescent bloodline… wiped out.”

The air thinned.

“You think the alliance was a cover,” I said slowly. “To control what remained.”

“To control you,” Serenya corrected gently.

My knees felt weak.

All these years, I had blamed myself.

My body.

My failure to produce an heir.

But what if..

What if this bond had never been natural?

What if it had been forced into place like a blade shoved between ribs?

My wolf stirred again. Stronger this time. A flash of teeth in the dark.

Not submission.

Resentment.

Anger.

I welcomed it.

“I won’t be replaced,” I said quietly.

Neither of them responded immediately.

“I won’t stand aside while they parade her through my halls,” I continued. “If there was manipulation in the past, I will find it.”

Serenya’s eyes darkened. “Digging into this could reopen wounds the council buried on purpose.”

“I’m already bleeding.”

Maelin exhaled slowly. “There are records in the old archives. Restricted. Laura oversees access.”

Of course she did.

A silence settled between us, thick with implication.

Serenya touched my arm. “If you pursue this, they will see you as a threat.”

I turned to face her fully.

“Perhaps it’s time they did.”

They left me alone an hour later.

The chamber felt different in their absence.

Quieter.

Heavier.

I walked to the small chest at the foot of my bed and opened it carefully.

Inside, wrapped in faded silk, lay the only thing I had from my mother.

A silver pendant shaped like a crescent moon.

I lifted it.

The metal was cool against my palm.

“Tell me what they did,” I whispered.

The room didn’t answer.

But my wolf did.

A sudden surge exploded behind my eyes..

Blood.

So much blood.

A field torn apart by fire.

Crescent banners burning.

Screams.

And in the distance, a figure running into the trees.

Tall.

Broad-shouldered.

Not wearing Ironfang colors.

My breath hitched.

Recognition clawed at my chest.

My wolf lunged toward the image..

Then it vanished.

I staggered back, the pendant slipping from my fingers and clattering against the floor.

My heart pounded violently.

“That wasn't a memory,” I breathed.

It felt like something buried deep inside my blood had just cracked open.

A knock echoed sharply at the door.

Three firm raps.

Controlled.

Deliberate.

I didn’t need to ask who it was.

Maelin’s voice drifted faintly from beyond. “My Lady… Gamma Laura requests an audience.”

Of course she did.

I bent, picking up the pendant, closing my fist around it.

Another knock.

Louder this time.

“Luna Vale,” Laura’s smooth voice carried through the wood. “I believe we need to discuss the pack’s future.”

My wolf growled.

Not weak.

Not silent.

Low and rising.

I lifted my chin.

“Let her in.”