All Chapters of The Alpha Who Lost the Moon: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Kael’s POVThe safe house is buried deep in Silverclaw territory, hidden beneath ancient pines where moonlight barely reaches.I carry Nyra through the threshold, her body limp in my arms, head resting against my chest. Too still. Too quiet.The Council will have my head for this. Defying direct orders. Harboring their target. Choosing her over everything I've built.I don't care.Mira appears from the shadows, her warrior's face tight with concern. "How bad?""Bad." I move past her toward the bedroom. "She used too much power. The bond corruption is spreading.""Kael. . .""Lock the perimeter. No one gets in.""The Council will send more. . .""Let them try." I kick the door open. "Anyone who comes for her goes through me first."Mira doesn't argue. Just nods and disappears.I lay Nyra on the bed as gently as I can. She doesn't stir. Her breathing is shallow, labored. Blood still stains her temple where one of the assassins grazed her.My hands shake as I reach for the medical suppli

Kael’s POVShe's staring at me.Clearheaded now. The fever broken. But weak enough that sitting up takes visible effort.I haven't moved from beside her. Haven't slept. Can't remember the last time I closed my eyes for more than a few seconds.Every time I tried, I'd feel the bond flicker. Hear her breath catch. And I'd jolt awake, terrified she was slipping away again.Nyra looks down at herself. At the torn shirt. The bandages. The lunar scars tracing silver across her collarbone and down her ribs.I watch her face. Waiting for her to cover them. To hide what the ruins made her.She doesn't.She just looks at them. Then at me. Like she's daring me to say something. To recoil. To confirm what she already believes about herself.That she's a monster."They're beautiful," I say.Her eyes narrow. "Don't lie to me.""I'm not." I reach out slowly. Give her time to pull away. When she doesn't, my fingers trace one of the scars. Silver light pulses beneath my touch. "They're proof you survi

Mira's POVI find him in the hallway outside her door.Standing there like a man who has forgotten what sleep is. Like a man who has finally found the thing he lost and doesn't trust himself to move in case it disappears.Kael Draven — my alpha, the most controlled person I have ever known — looks undone.This is bad."How long have you been hiding her here?" I keep my voice low. My jaw is tight and I hate that it is, because I want to be angry and instead I'm just afraid.Kael turns to look at me. His dark eyes are steadier than I expected. That steadiness scares me more than anything else would have."Long enough.""That's not an answer.""It's the only one I have right now."I press my fingers to my temple. Don't shout. Don't shout. "Kael. You're harboring a woman the Council has flagged as a political threat. Inside pack territory. Without telling your beta." I drop my hand. "Do you understand what that looks like?""Yes.""You're abandoning your pack for a rejected mate." The wor

Nyra's POVThe river is cold.I don't hesitate at the bank. I step in, feel the water rise to my waist, and keep moving. Kael follows without being asked.Of course he does. That's the thing I'm still adjusting to. The man who once turned away from me now follows me into rivers in the dark without flinching.I don't know what to do with that yet.We reach the other side. The moment my feet touch Shadowpine ground, something changes. Not outside. Inside. Like a key finding a lock I forgot I was carrying.The forest knows me.It starts subtly. A branch overhead shifts without wind, tilting just slightly to let moonlight through. Then another. And another. A path opens ahead of us, not wide, not obvious, but there. Like the forest is parting its own curtain.Kael goes still beside me.I feel his gaze before I turn to look at him. He's watching the trees move with an expression that I can only describe as undone. Kael Draven, who controls a room by simply standing in it, who carries autho

Nyra's POVThey arrive at dawn.I hear them before I see them — the organized sound of wolves taking positions around the ruins perimeter, measured and deliberate. Not rushing. Not shouting. Just settling in with the patience of people who believe they have already won.I stand at the edge of the stone and watch them through the tree line.Kael comes to stand beside me. He looks out at the shapes moving through the distant shadows, jaw set, shoulders straight.Even now, even cornered, Kael Draven carries himself like a man who hasn't yet admitted he's trapped."They won't enter," I say."How do you know?""Because they're afraid of what I am." I keep my voice level. "And they should be."He's quiet for a moment. "Then we wait them out.""They're counting on us running out of supplies first." I turn away from the tree line and walk back toward the shelter of the ruins interior. "So we don't run out."The first day is mostly silence.We eat carefully, divide what we have, say little. Ka