All Chapters of Moonbound: The Alpha's Claim: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The summons arrived at noon. It was delivered in the traditional manner—by a runner carrying a sealed vellum slip. It was sealed with the old crescent-and-claw mark pressed deeply into the wax. Roland read it once, then slowed down for a second pass. Damien watched as his father's expression visibly darkened. He asked, "What is it?"Roland exhaled through his nose. “A formal petition.”Elena looked up from where she sat near the window. “From who?”Roland met her eyes. “From Mona.”The room went still.“She’s not challenging you,” Roland continued carefully. “Not directly. She’s invoking the Right of Inquiry.”Elena’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know what that is.”“That’s because it hasn’t been used in over a century,” Gail said, entering quietly. “It’s what wolves do when they can’t accuse—but they can’t stay silent either.”Damien straightened. “Say it plainly.”Roland folded the petition and set it on the desk. “She’s demanding that the pack formally question Elena’s authority.”Elen

The manor changed in a choreographed performance. Elena watched it happen from the second-floor gallery. Guards shifted in staggered pairs, servants rerouted without being told, and doors closed softly behind important conversations. No one ran or whispered loudly. The whole estate moved like a body protecting a wound. Somehow, worse than any panic, no one even looked at her. If anyone glanced at her, their gazes moved quickly away. Their eyes refused to linger, as if attention itself had become dangerous. Lyra rose up gently, her presence pressing against the back of Elena's ribs. ...they are learning to hold their instincts...because they don't trust them around you...Elena’s fingers tightened around the railing. The wood was smooth from years of hands gripping it during news, grief, and celebration. She wondered how many times Roland had stood here and watched a future he couldn’t stop.Damien appeared beside her without sound and leaned his shoulder lightly against the wall. He

The training ring was already lit when Elena arrived. Roland stood there with his hands clasped behind his back, not looking at her yet. Gail traced faint symbols along the outer boundary, reinforcing wards that hummed too softly to hear. Damien remained near the entrance, present in the exact way she had begun to understand mattered most.No one spoke, and for once, the silence didn’t feel like pressure. It felt like space. Elena stepped into the ring on her own. The moment her foot crossed the inner line, something inside her shifted. It was like a piece of herself finally finding the place it had always been meant to rest.Lyra stirred, slow and awake. …not survival…becoming…Elena exhaled. Roland finally looked at her“Today,” he said quietly, “we stop teaching you what your power is not.”Her pulse quickened. “And start teaching what it is?”Roland nodded once. “Yes.”Gail finished the last ward and stepped back. The air sealed—not tight, but contained, like closing a door agains

Elena felt the wards go quiet at the same moment Lyra sprang to her feet. ...wrong...too quiet... She warned.Across the courtyard, Damien’s head snapped toward the eastern wall, eyes flashing blue-gold as instinct overtook thought.“Inside,” he ordered softly, already stepping in front of her.Elena didn’t move. The quiet wasn’t empty. It was listening. A single rose petal drifted loose from the garden hedge and touched the stone at her feet. Black spread through it like ink in water.Damien’s breath caught. “Elena—now.”The wards screamed. Light flared along the manor walls, silver lines igniting one after another, and then something struck them from within. The eastern gate exploded inward in a storm of splintered wood and shattered iron. Guards were already moving before the debris hit the ground, shifting mid-stride, claws tearing through gloves as wolves burst forward to meet the breach.Smoke poured through the opening. Unlike fire smoke, it burned colder and was almost alive.

Elena did not remember falling asleep. One minute, she was watching the slow drift of starlight across the ceiling while listening to the quiet rhythm of Damien’s breathing beside her. She was trying to convince her mind that stillness meant safety. The next minute, she was standing somewhere other than her room.There was no shock, no jolt of fear. Instead, there was only the quiet, disorienting certainty of wrongness. The air felt older here. It wasn't cold. It was as if it had been untouched by warmth, as if it were a place the living had forgotten how to reach. Stone stretched in every direction, dimly lit by a glow that had no visible source. The light wasn’t white or gold but almost like memory fading at the edges. Elena didn’t move at first. She already knew where she was.…below… Lyra whispered softly. …deep below…She was in the cellar, except this wasn’t the physical chamber sealed beneath the manor. This was something between. It was a space made of distance, silence, and