All Chapters of The Rejected Luna's Dark Gift: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The war room felt too small with everyone packed inside. Kieran spread maps across the table. Red marks showed where the rogue army was moving. Blue marks showed our defenses. There was way more red than blue. "Two hundred fighters," Zarek said, counting on his fingers. "Against three hundred rogues minimum. We're screwed." "We're strategic," Kieran corrected. "We know this land. They don't. We use that." "And we have Dian," Rowan added. Every head turned toward me. I wanted to disappear. "What good is an empath against three hundred rogues?" Nola asked. Not mean. Just practical. "She can sense where they're concentrating. Where they're weak. She can push fear into their ranks. Break their formation." Rowan looked at me. "Right?" My mouth went dry. "I've never tried using my gift on that many wolves at once." "You pushed calm into a whole dining hall when Vesper tried to poison herself," Castor said. He'd come in behind me. "That was fifty wolves easy." "That was different. I

The war horns wouldn't stop.So I ran outside. Wolves everywhere, moving to positions. Shouting. The smell of fear thick in the air. Thea grabbed me. "Infirmary. Now. We need you there until the fighting starts." "But I should—" "You should stay alive. Come on." She dragged me toward the healer's cottage. Other healers were already there. Setting up beds. Preparing for the wounded that would come. Because people were definitely going to get hurt. Going to die.I helped lay out bandages with shaking hands. The bond pulsed constantly now. Kael was still alive. Still hidden. But barely. Outside, the sounds of battle started. Howls. Snarling. Metal hitting metal. Screams. My hands moved faster. More bandages. More supplies. Anything to stay busy. The first wounded arrived ten minutes later. A young wolf. Gash across his chest. Not fatal but bleeding bad. "Lay him here," Thea ordered. I helped. Pressed cloth against the wound while Thea worked. The wolf's pain hit me even through my

The infirmary smelled like blood and healing herbs. I sat on a cot watching Thea work on the wounded. My hands wouldn't stop shaking. The bond hummed constantly now, a warm presence in my chest that I couldn't ignore even if I wanted to.Kael was three beds away. Rowan had just finished wrapping his ribs. The mate bond had sped up his healing but he still needed rest, still needed proper care for wounds that should have killed him.Every few minutes our eyes would meet across the room. Neither of us knew what to say. What do you say to someone you just bound yourself to forever while still not sure if you even forgive them?"Stop staring at each other and get some rest," Thea said without looking up from the wolf she was stitching. "Both of you are useless to me exhausted."I lay back but sleep felt impossible. My mind kept replaying everything. Draven's attack. Kael nearly dying. The moment I'd accepted the bond and felt it snap into place like it had been waiting my whole life.No g

My mind replayed Castor's face when he walked away. The bond with Kael hummed constantly in my chest, a warm presence I couldn't ignore even when I wanted to. and In a few hours we'd leave for Shadowcrest.Back to the pack that exiled me. Back to wolves who called me cursed and unwanted. Back to the place where Kael had looked at me with disgust and told everyone I wasn't good enough. My stomach twisted.The bond pulsed and I felt Kael stirring in the room next door. He was awake too, probably feeling my anxiety bleeding through our connection. Great. No privacy even in my own head anymore. A knock interrupted my spiraling thoughts."It's me," Thea's voice called.I opened the door. She stood there with a bag slung over her shoulder and that look on her face that said she was about to give me advice whether I wanted it or not."Come to lecture me about going back to Shadowcrest?" I asked."Come to make sure you're not falling apart." She walked past me into the room. "Sit. Let me chec

"They're here."The shout jolted me awake before dawn fully broke. I shot up in bed, heart already racing as the war horns blasted through Frostgale. ATTACK.My hands shook as I threw on clothes, fingers fumbling with laces and buttons that suddenly felt impossible to manage. The bond flared hot and urgent in my chest as Kael's panic bled through our connection. He was already awake, already moving, already preparing for whatever hell was about to break loose. This can't be happening. Not now. Not when we're supposed to leave today.But the horns didn't lie and neither did the screaming that started echoing from the eastern border. Rogues. Had to be. Draven must have regrouped faster than anyone expected, must have been watching and waiting for the perfect moment to strike again.I burst out of my room and nearly collided with Thea racing down the hallway with her healer's bag already packed. Her face was set in grim determination, that look she got when she knew people were going to