All Chapters of The Chubby Shadow Luna: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Emara Dell POVMoon Rite Amphitheater, Nightfall RangeThe amphitheater glowed like a throat about to swallow us whole.Torches burned along the carved stone walls of the mountain, and their flames hissed in the cold. Snow drifted lazily through the gaps overhead, catching the red shine of the full moon. The entire pack stood in rows, waiting to be blessed with fates that would shape the rest of our lives.Roles. Ranks. Mates. My stomach churned. Rowan bumped my shoulder lightly. “You’re breathing like you’re about to pass out,” he whispered, his pale hair glittering with frost.“I might,” I muttered.“You won’t. If you drop, I’ll catch you. Gracefully. Like a gay woodland sprite.”Despite everything, a soft laugh escaped me. But the anxiety didn’t lift.Alpha Corvin Draxen stood at the center of the amphitheater, commanding and cold in a way only he could be. The moon painted his sharp features in silver and shadow. His dark hair fell over his forehead. His jaw was locked tight as he

Rowan Vale POVDawn, Stocks CourtyardI knew she was gone before I even reached the courtyard.I felt it. Some instincts don’t whisper. They don’t nudge. They detonate. By the time I sprinted across the frost-coated stones, my lungs were burning and my heart was a screaming, frantic thing in my chest.“Emara...Emara...please....”I skidded to a stop. The stocks were empty. Completely. Horrifyingly. Empty.The blankets I wrapped around her were shredded. The snow was trampled. And streaks of frozen blood led toward the treeline like the mountain itself was pointing at her fate. My breath punched out of me in a sound that wasn’t human.“NO!”I fell to my knees, and my hands were shaking so violently I nearly face-planted into the snow. I pressed my palm to the bloodstain, desperate to pretend it wasn’t hers.It was hers. I knew her scent as well as my own heartbeat.And tangled through it....Beta Veega and his filthy daughter Lyrina. My stomach turned to stone.“Emara…” My voice cracke

Emara Dell POVThe Next Morning I woke up to the smell of something heavenly.A sizzle. A crackle. A muttered curse that sounded like Rowan burning himself.I groaned and rubbed my eyes, stretching under the thick blankets. Everything hurt in a deep, sore, satisfying way. The kind of pain that said I had died, resurrected, walked across half a mountain, and used magic for the first time.“Rise and shine, my resurrected queen!” Rowan announced.I blinked at him.He was holding a pan of scrambled eggs like he was presenting treasure to a monarch. Berries were piled in a wooden bowl next to him, and he was wearing an apron made of…a torn blanket?“What are you wearing?” I said.“We don’t shame domestic couture in this household,” he sniffed.I laughed and sat up. “You look ridiculous.”“You’re welcome.”We took our plates outside to the tiny porch we’d fixed yesterday. Morning sunlight broke through the trees, reflecting off the silver protection wards humming around the cabin.The eggs

Emara Dell POVThe Cabin, DawnI woke with a jolt, like someone had grabbed my soul and yanked.Heat rushed through my chest, bright and urgent, and my breath fogged in the cold air as I pushed myself upright. My heart wasn’t beating normally. It was answering something. A call. A pull. A promise.Rowan, tangled in blankets, sat up instantly.“What? What’s happening? Did the stew go bad? Am I dying again? Because I swear...”“Someone’s coming,” I whispered.The words weren’t mine. They came from deeper. From Morana.“He is here.” Her voice rolled through my bones like a storm. “Go.”My hands shook as I shoved my feet into my boots and threw a cloak over my shoulders, stumbling toward the cabin door. Shadowfire flickered along my fingertips, reacting to the bond pounding against my ribs.When I stepped outside, the world stopped. Snow drifted softly through the trees. The morning light hit the clearing in a perfect, pale glow. And he stood at the treeline.Tall. Broad. Bare-chested des

Emara Dell POV The Small Packhouse, Reborn By late morning, the abandoned packhouse didn’t feel abandoned at all. Fenric lifted a fallen support beam like it weighed nothing, Rowan followed behind him flicking silver magic everywhere like glitter, and I used shadowfire to mend the cracked stone and rotten wood. We worked like a strange, magical little construction crew. “Do not play with the nails,” I warned Rowan as they floated in a sparkling spiral. He grinned at me. “You gave me power, Emara. You made this mistake yourself.” “My mistake,” I muttered, “was not putting you under supervision.” Fenric passed behind me, grazing my lower back with his hand. “You two are chaos,” he rumbled, pleased. “I approve.” He said it like he approved of kissing, sparring, sleeping in my bed, and probably eating my soul just to taste it. He was impossible. And gods help me… I adored him. As shadowfire swept over the walls, the wood brightened and straightened, warm and honey-colored again