All Chapters of THE BURNT FACE LUNA: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

TORMUND'S POVIt had been three days since I'd last looked at Kyla rotting in the dungeon. Three days of refusing to step foot down there, even though the damn mate bond kept clawing at my insides, dragging my thoughts toward her like some pathetic tether. I hated her. I hated her with everything in me. But the bond didn't care. It kept pulsing under my skin, whispering, Go to your mate.Screw that.I knew if I went down there, I'd be walking straight into whatever twisted trap she'd laid.Vivica and I had been shut away from the world, locked in a haze of sex, sweat, and trying to reclaim what was stolen from us. I kept telling myself this was right...she was right. But my body... my body wasn't fully there, not when I was bound to Kyla in the most primal, magical way a wolf can be. Still, I forced myself. I pushed through it. I had to condition myself to be with Vivica, to make things normal again, to pretend the bond didn't exist, that Kyla didn't exist.I grunted as I struggled wi

TORMUND'S POVThe car stopped in front of the Eclipses' house."Wow... so this is where my parents moved to," Vivica whispered, swallowing hard as her eyes swept the mansion through the tinted glass."The pain of losing you was too much for them," I explained gently. "They sold the old house and bought this one instead. Stay here, I'll go talk to them first."Her fingers twisted in her lap. "What will you say?""First," I sighed, "I'm going to have to grovel and apologize. The last time I was here, I accused your mother of something I now know she didn't do.""Alright," she breathed.I leaned in and kissed her cheek, then told the driver to watch over her. Stepping out, I closed the door behind me and walked toward the house.I barely made it two steps up the walkway when the front doors flew open."You have some nerve, Alpha Tormund," Albert snarled as he stormed out. "The last time you came here, you disrespected me, my wife, and our home. And now you show up thinking you can bring

KYLA'S POVI was lying in a pool of my own mess.My body felt like it had forgotten how to be strong, and my limbs were heavy in a way that scared me. I hadn't eaten in... I didn't know how long. Time didn't move down here the way it did above ground. There were no windows, no light, no sounds that marked day from night. Just cold stone, damp air, and the slow decay of hope.I dragged my hand over my stomach, cradling it instinctively."It's okay, little one," I whispered, though my voice came out cracked and dry. "I won't let them kill us. I promise. I'll get us out of here." Even as I said it, I didn't know how.The sound of footsteps made my eyes flutter open, and pain shot through my skull as the cold air burned them. A shadow stretched across the bars, followed by laughter."Well look at that," a voice said with open mockery. "She's still alive."Another voice answered, quieter but tense. "Did you feed her?"There was a pause, and then a careless shrug I could hear in the tone.

KYLA'S POVThe shower room was small, cold, and tiled in dull gray, but it might as well have been a palace compared to the dungeon. Dr. Mendez helped me walk inside and then quietly shut the door behind her, giving me privacy but staying close enough that I wasn't completely alone."Take your time," she said softly. "I'll be right outside."The door clicked shut.I stood there for a moment, just breathing, because even standing upright felt like an accomplishment. My legs trembled as I reached for the wall, and when I turned the water on, the pipes screamed before hot water finally spilled from the showerhead.The steam hit my face, and that was all it took.I sank to the floor fully clothed and broke down. My sobs came fast and ugly, tearing out of my chest like they had been waiting for permission. I pressed my hands to my mouth, but it didn't help. The sound bounced off the tile and filled the room, and I cried harder because no one was telling me to shut up. No one was hurting m

LOWELL'S POVI have faced war, betrayal, and the slow rot of kingdoms collapsing from the inside out, yet very few things have ever made my blood burn the way it did listening to Alpha Tormund speak to his own Luna.I stayed hidden behind the curtain, my breathing controlled, my pulse steady, because that was what kings learned to do long before they learned how to rule. You observe first. You listen. You let a man reveal himself in his own words before you decide whether he deserves mercy or ruin.And Tormund revealed himself completely.He spoke to Kyla like she was refuse dragged in from the mud, like she was not marked, not bound, not carrying the future of his line inside her body, and even if the rumors were true, even if she had lied, schemed, or clawed her way into his life, there were lines an Alpha did not cross unless he was prepared to lose the respect of the land itself.I understood anger. I understood betrayal. I understood the humiliation of discovering you had been pl