All Chapters of Alpha’s Undoing:Marked but Moonless: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

It was another morning again as light spilled across the courtyards of Moonsun, carrying with it the hush of rumors that fluttered like restless wings between lips too eager to whisper. Zara felt it the moment she stepped out with a pail in her hands, her eyes clung to her like burrs, some wide with curiosity, others sharp with envy, and a few glimmering with fear they hadn’t yet learned how to hide. Every corner of the pack house hummed with unease, as if the very walls had learned her name and repeated it in low, conspiratorial tones. She walked steadily, her chin high, refusing to give them the satisfaction of faltering, though her palms tightened on the pail’s handle until the thin wood dug against her skin. The battle with Zan had changed something in the air, something unspoken but alive. She had crossed a threshold she could never step back from, and Moonsun knew it.Hunter’s warriors moved differently now too, their stares lingering longer than before, measuring her not as

The morning air was damp with the smell of pine and wet earth when Zara stepped out of the servants’ quarters with a bucket balanced in her hand. The courtyard was unusually quiet, the kind of silence that pressed on the chest before a storm. She noticed the warriors posted along the edges of the training yard; their stances were stiff, eyes sweeping the treeline as if shadows themselves had grown claws. Whispers rippled through the servants fetching water and bread, low enough to hide beneath the clang of armor but sharp enough to reach Zara’s ears. The rogues were moving again. Her grip on the bucket tightened. She didn’t need the words; the tension in the air told her. Something was circling the borders, something cunning enough to rattle even the most seasoned guards.By midday, the unease had thickened. Hunter’s voice carried across the yard, sharp commands that sent warriors scattering into formation. Zara stood at the edge, her hair plastered to her forehead with sweat, wa

The morning began differently today… There was a hushed weight that seemed to ripple through the halls of the Moonsun Packhouse, a quiet current that made even the servants walk slower, as if bracing for something unseen. Zara felt it the moment she stepped into the corridor, her bare feet brushing against the cool stone floor. Whispers slid along the walls like smoke, faint at first, then sharpening into murmurs that broke off whenever she turned a corner. She could feel eyes pressing into her back, not with disdain this time, but with something heavier, more like curiosity, and respect laced with unease. The night before had ended with blood and smoke on the border, and though she had not thrown a blade or torn flesh with claws, her voice and decisions had swayed warriors who might have otherwise faltered. In the dining hall, the weight of that restlessness became undeniable. Normally, she would take her place in silence, enduring sidelong looks from Daphne and the sharp, mocki

Zara's chest still ached from the memory of Hunter's proximity, his heat, the dominance in his gaze that had made her knees go weak. She had left on trembling legs, her hands gripping the edges of her cloak, trying to steady herself before anyone noticed the heat of fear or was it something else?—rising within her.She walked slowly through the corridors of the Moonsun pack house. The warriors and servants going about their routines kept their distance, their eyes flicking to her before quickly darting away. It was a subtle shift, but Zara noticed it, cataloging it as another piece of the puzzle that was her new reality.She paused outside the training yard. Through the open field, Zara saw warriors practicing their drills, the rhythmic pounding of feet against earth echoing off the walls. Normally, Zara would have kept her head low, avoided their gazes, slipped through the shadows unnoticed. But today… Today it was different. She felt the first pulse of something she hadn’t yet d

The sound of the outer doors opening made Hunter tense before he even recognized it.Eldric, the seer, had arrived. The guards' bow and retreat were barely audible over the drum of Hunter's pulse, but the seer's presence carried weight, a palpable sense of ancient power that filled the room. Eldric stepped into the room, his eyes scanning Hunter, as if he could read the exact moment he had lost control.“Alpha,” Eldric said in a calm voice.Hunter didn’t answer. His jaw was tight, the muscles clenching and unclenching. He had called for Eldric to undo something he shouldn’t have allowed to begin, to sever a connection that threatened to unravel everything he had worked for. But now that Eldric was here, standing in his chamber with that quiet certainty, Hunter wasn’t sure he wanted his help, or any of his truths.Eldric’s gaze swept over the room, lingering on the empty space where Zara had been yesterday. He didn’t need to be told, because he already knew. “She has been here,” he