All Chapters of The moon goddess chose wrong: twice: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

EnzoThe pack house felt too quiet and too empty, it felt like the walls themselves were holding their breath. Everyone was avoiding me like I was a ticking time bomb. I sat in the war room, elbows braced on the heavy table, staring at the map of our territory until the lines became blurred. Red pins marked every search party I had sent out. Blue pins marked the river where Nina’s scent had vanished. Almost two days had crawled by since that moment at the water’s edge, hours of howling into the night, of warriors combing every inch of forest, of me pacing grooves into the floorboards while my wolf clawed at my insides demanding we find our mate.She was out there somewhere hurt and alone because of my stupidity.Max had tried to drag me to eat something. I had snarled at him until he left, I didn't mean it. I just wanted to find Nina. Now, the only sound was the low crackle of the fireplace, and the warriors telling me through mind-link that there was no update. With time, I would ha

EnzoThe pack house had gone quiet after midnight, the kind of quiet that presses against your eardrums and makes every creak feel like a warning. I hadn’t slept I couldn't not with all that was bothering me.Not with Nina lying in the guest suite two doors down, breathing the same air as me but feeling a thousand miles away, I had posted two silent warriors outside her door not to guard her from outsiders, but to make sure she didn’t slip away again back to Crestmoon.She hadn’t tried, they reported what they knew and heard, she showered and had eaten the soup the kitchen sent up, thanked them again in that soft, careful voice she used with everybody but me, and then curled under the blankets like a wounded animal waiting for the next blow.But I could feel her through the bond.Not words or images. Just… pain and anxiety something was wrong with her. A low, constant thrum of fear and guilt and something darker, she felt lost and wounded, I tried to ignore it, I didn't want to pry

CassieI waited until the clock struck four, when even the night guards grew drowsy and Enzo remained locked away in her room playing nurse. Then I slipped out through the old servant’s passage behind the laundry wing—the one I’d used many times before for secret rendezvous. The rain had eased into a cold drizzle, perfect cover. I shifted into my sleek brown wolf form the moment I cleared the outer wall, paws eating up the ground as I raced through the trees with single-minded purpose.The journey took nearly two hours of hard running. I had to shift into my wolf.The swamp swallowed me whole the moment I crossed the invisible line between neutral territory and Celeste's domain. Mud was tucked to my paw and the air grew thick with the rotten smell of blood and burnt herbs that made my wolf gag. I didn’t slow down, My sleek brown fur was already matted with rain and sweat from the two-hour sprint, but the fire in my chest burned hotter than any exhaustion I needed to do this to get wh

NinaThe pack house corridors looked endless at this hour, my bare feet against the cold floor, each step sending tiny shocks up my legs. I carried the empty soup bowl from earlier still warm from the broth Enzo had insisted I finish toward the distant kitchen. The house felt different in the dark, bigger, quieter.Every creak of the old wood made me glance over my shoulder, half-expecting Cassie’s manicured claws to reach out from the dark.I should have worn slippers. Or at least a robe over the lacy nightie the healer had left folded on the dresser. The silk was thin, midnight blue, clinging to my skin like a second shadow. The hem barely stopped mid-thigh, the neckline dipping low enough to reveal the soft swell of my breasts. I hadn’t thought anyone would be awake. I hadn’t thought he would be awake.But there he was.Enzo stood at the massive island in the center of the kitchen, back to me, lit only by the faint blue glow of the refrigerator light he had left open. He was Shirtl

NinaThe image burned behind my eyes like acid.Enzo is on his back. Cassie straddled him naked, her breasts bouncing as she was on top of him. He was enjoying it. I saw it, from how he held her so tight and how he was staring at her. His hands gripped her thighs, The groan that tore from his throat as he filled her. The wet, obscene sound of their bodies joining.I couldn’t breathe.My chest caved in, ribs cracking under the weight of betrayal. The mate bond that wasn't strong was fading and I felt a thousand pains.Tears blurred my eyes as I walked down the hallway, but I didn’t stop, I ran and I kept running.Bare feet slapped against cold marble. The cloth I had thrown on after the healer’s visit tangled around my thighs. I didn’t care. I shoved through the side door, the one that led straight into the forest behind the pack house, and plunged into the trees.Branches whipped my face. Roots tried to trip me. I didn’t slow down. My lungs burned, but the pain in my heart was worse