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Under a New Moon
Under a New Moon
Author: Redleaves

Chapter 1

Author: Redleaves
Evening fell, and Kane came back to the estate. He walked in with his brows relaxed, clearly in a good mood.

"Would've been easier if you'd done this from the start." His voice even softened, rare as it was. "You behave, and I won't be stingy with you. Here. The Moonspring Pass."

Moonspring—our pack's healing sanctuary. And back then, the only way to save our pup.

He set the pass in front of me. "Next month's Moon Prayer Ceremony, I'll put you back in charge of it."

I dropped my gaze and didn't reach for it.

Kane took it as me still sulking. He explained, with forced patience:

"Suspending your Moonspring access, that was my call. Selena was just following orders. You've got no reason to take it out on her. You barged into the council chamber playing the Luna card, tried to make her skip protocol. Of course I had to remind you of the rules."

He reached out and patted my head, like he was soothing a pet that had finally been tamed.

"But since you've owned up to it, this is over."

I didn't flinch. Didn't argue.

If Kane had just let me speak three days ago, maybe I'd still be enduring all this for the pup in my belly.

But he didn't.

All those tears I'd shed in the council chamber meant nothing next to Selena's soft, measured defense.

"The Luna's just got some irregular fetal heartbeat, and she wants to bypass every approval step to get into the Moonspring? The spring's monthly allocation is limited. As Beta, I can't break the rules just because of her title."

I braced myself against the council table, the cramping in my belly tightening with every wave, and tried to finish the healer's diagnosis.

"Kane, the healer said the pup's heartbeat is already..."

"Enough."

He cut me off, frowning.

"Every time Selena rejects your request, you blow it up like it's life or death?"

Selena dropped her eyes, her voice soft, wounded.

"Alpha, I'm not trying to make things hard for the Luna. If I bend the rules because of who she is, the pack will only think you're playing favorites."

Whatever patience Kane had left, that killed it.

"Do what Selena says."

For seven years, every time I questioned Selena's decisions, that was the answer I got.

I was the Luna in name only. No real power. My schedule, my gowns, my guards, even my access to the Moonspring, all went through Selena first.

And she always found something new to smile about.

"You forgot to specify the prayer time, please resubmit, Luna."

"This gown isn't right for today's event, please reapply."

"The guard count doesn't match the latest plan, please adjust and come back."

Every request, she would sit on until the last second. Then smile sweetly while I scrambled, flustered, desperate.

And when something went wrong, Kane would blame my poor time management and praise Selena for never slipping up.

This time was no different.

The healer told me my pup's heartbeat was fading fast. To save him, I had to get into the Moonspring immediately.

But Selena just smiled and pushed the application back across the table.

"Luna, your format is wrong. I can't sign off on this, I'm afraid."

I kept revising. She kept rejecting.

Finally, clutching my cramping stomach, I begged her to let me through, I would fix the paperwork after.

She ordered the guards to close the Moonspring gates.

"Sorry, Luna." Her eyes curved into crescents. "The Moonspring belongs to the whole pack. Everyone has to follow the rules. As Beta, I have to be responsible to the pack. Please understand."

And I ran out of time.

By the time she finally signed off, blood was already soaking between my thighs.

The pup was gone.

That night, I couldn't even scream. It felt like a blade carving open my chest over and over again.

"What gown are you wearing for next month's Moon Prayer?"

Kane's voice pulled me back to the present.

I looked at his eager expression. Inside, I laughed, silent and cold.

He didn't know. None of this could hold me anymore.

Three hours. That was all.

"Whatever. Anything works." I said flatly.

Kane seemed caught off guard. He studied me for a moment, a small frown forming.

"My Luna is still pouting, huh?" He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "How about I come pick one out with you?"

I was about to turn him down when the butler rushed in.

"Alpha, Luna. Beta Selena is here to see you."
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  • Under a New Moon   Chapter 10

    Three years later, I became the High Priestess of the Moon Temple. This position wasn't given to me by anyone's charity. It was earned, vote by vote, from every member of the Moon Temple.I had a new life now. Each day, I presided over the Moon Prayer ceremonies, taught young priestesses, and reviewed aid applications sent in from various packs. The Alphas of every major pack had to suppress their auras and bow their heads to me when they came.Over those three years, I heard fragments of rumors about Kane. He seemed to be doing poorly. Word had it he'd drowned himself in alcohol, made one bad call after another on major decisions. The Blackwood Elder Council still took his orders on the surface, but behind closed doors, they'd begun questioning whether he was fit to lead the pack.I let those rumors pass in one ear and out the other. I had more important matters to attend to now.Until the day before Blackwood was set to hold a new Alpha election, I received their formal notice. Along

  • Under a New Moon   Chapter 9

    Three days after the trial ended, Blackwood Pack's caravan stopped outside the Moon Temple again. Crystals, jewels, and the deeds to Kane's private lands filled the entire stone staircase before the temple. He even sent the key to his Alpha private vault, saying that if I was willing to return, everything in Blackwood would be mine to command.I had the attendants return everything. But I kept the Moonspring deed.I converted the Moonspring into a public facility. Any she-wolf carrying a healer's emergency stamp could soak in the Moonspring immediately, free of charge. The spirit of the pup who had been turned away at those gates became, in the end, a shelter for every pup to come.After the gifts were returned, Kane came himself. The guards said he stood outside the temple for days, from dusk until the moon set."Will you see him?" an attendant asked me.I turned a page of the prayer book."No."I never knew which day he finally gave up and left. And I didn't care.Three weeks later,

  • Under a New Moon   Chapter 8

    Three days later, the judgment bell of the Moon Temple tolled. Everyone surrendered their weapons, suppressed their auras, and walked into the judgment hall with bowed heads.Kane sat in the defendant's seat, his face dark as storm clouds gathering. I stood beside the High Priestess in my robes. From start to finish, I didn't look at him once.The High Priestess raised her moon staff. "The trial now begins." She swept her gaze across the hall. "Evelyn formally charges Selena Clark, Beta of Blackwood Pack, with abuse of authority, deliberate humiliation of the former Luna, and causing the death of her unborn pup."Guards stepped forward and laid out all the evidence. The Moonspring application stained with my blood was placed before everyone. I looked at that old form and felt nothing of the tearing pain from before. That blood had once been mine, had once belonged to the pup who never made it into this world. Now, they were just evidence.The judgment hall fell into dead silence."I wa

  • Under a New Moon   Chapter 7

    I woke up in the Moon Temple with moonlight falling across the bed. The High Priestess sat beside me and handed me a bowl of medicine."Your body is still weak. Focus on healing first. Everything else can wait."She didn't scold me for taking off my priestess robes seven years ago. She didn't ask why I'd only come back when I had nothing left. After I finished the medicine, she asked only one question."Evelyn, do you remember the priestess vows?"I was stunned for a moment, then lowered my head. "Of course."They were etched into my bones. How could I ever forget?The High Priestess nodded and had an attendant bring over a wooden box. Inside were the robes I'd brought back. They had already been cleaned, glowing faintly in the moonlight."You didn't throw them away." The High Priestess said. "But whether you can put them on again depends on whether you still have the right."Regaining the status of priestess was never simple. I went through the prayer book again and performed the full

  • Under a New Moon   Chapter 6

    Kane's POVKane didn't sleep that night.He sat in the bedroom, reaching for the silent mate bond again and again. No response. He told himself over and over that Evelyn was just using the Moon Temple to pressure him. If he didn't give in, she'd come back eventually.At dawn, Kane went to the council hall as usual. But the moment he stepped onto the stone steps, he sensed something off.The announcement board was surrounded by pack members. When they saw him, the murmuring stopped abruptly. Their eyes carried none of the usual reverence, only complicated evasiveness.Kane walked closer, frowning.On the board was the commendation Evelyn had written before she left. The one he'd asked her to write. The words looked like they'd been penned in blood, each one a dark red."Praise to Beta Selena for upholding protocol, repeatedly rejecting the Luna's application to soak in the Moonspring due to an unstable fetal heartbeat. First rejection: the Luna's Moonspring application did not specify t

  • Under a New Moon   Chapter 5

    Kane's POVKane returned to the estate in the dead of night. Before that, he'd been at Selena's residence the whole time.Selena had cut her finger on a silver dagger, a tiny gash that she claimed wouldn't stop bleeding. By the time Kane arrived, the bleeding had already stopped. But Selena acted like she'd been through something traumatic, clutching her hand repeatedly, her eyes red as she asked Kane if it would leave a scar.Kane found it irritating, but he kept his patience and soothed her himself. After all, Selena's brother had taken a fatal silver arrow for him. That debt, he couldn't forget.As for Evelyn, he assumed she'd have calmed down by now. Her talk of leaving was just empty threats. For seven years, every time she threw a fit, she'd end up bowing her head in the end. Even with red-rimmed eyes, she'd still prepare his hot soup and organize the documents he needed for the next day's council meeting.But this time, the estate was dark. Looked like Evelyn had gone to sleep.

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