Alle Kapitel von Shadows Of The Rejected Luna: Kapitel 51 – Kapitel 60

~GENEVIEVE’S POV~The air inside this pack clinic felt thick and suffocating as if something heavy and unseen was pressing down on my lungs and making every breath a quiet struggle.I leaned back against the cold, whitewashed stone wall, trying to steady myself, but my fingers curled into the mortar instead, gripping so tightly until my nails began to ache. I had told my handmaid I was just feeling weak from the Northern heat, a lie and a flimsy excuse, I was surprised she didn't see through it. She just accepted it without question. But now, standing here now in the small examination room, staring at nothing, I knew the truth had nothing to do with heat. The cold sweat gathering along my spine told a very different story.The door creaked open behind me.I didn’t turn immediately, but I knew who it was. The pack doctor, Heryn. Old, gentle, harmless Heryn, with the graying fur along his forearms and that soft, unguarded smile that made him seem incapable of cruelty.“Princess,” he s

~KAIROS’ POV~My head felt like it had been split open from the inside.I groaned, my throat was dry and rough, like I hadn’t had water in days. When I tried to open my eyes, the sunlight coming through the curtains hit too hard and too bright that I shut them again immediately, my head spinning.What the hell happened?The last thing I remembered was sitting in that chair. The voices in my head wouldn’t stop talking about the ruins, about Kael, about the crown. Then…..the door had opened. I remember the smell of lilies. A glass of wine that tasted like a Northern summer.After that… nothing clear.I shifted slightly, my body was heavy and slow to respond.And then I felt it. Someone else was in the bed.There was this warmth beside me. A soft breathing that wasn’t mine. For one brief, stupid second, a desperate, hungry hope hit me so hard it hurt.Elara.My chest tightened as I turned toward the warmth, reaching out without thinking, already expecting her—her hair, my fingers searchi

~GENEVIEVE’S POV~The door clicked shut behind me, and the quiet of the hallway disappeared.For a second, I just stood there with my back against it, listening to my own heartbeat..and then, I did something I hadn't done in weeks.I laughed.It slipped out before I could stop it. It was low at first, then grew into something fuller. Not loud, not wild… just satisfied.I walked over to my mirror and caught my reflection. My hair was still a mess and my eyes were still red from the tears I had forced out only minutes ago.“God… that was tiring,” I muttered, grabbing a cloth and wiping the dry tear tracks off my cheeks. "Who knew acting like a shamed maiden took so much energy?"I thought of the look on Kairos’s face, the raw, bleeding horror in his amber eyes when he realized I was in his bed. Shock. Horror. Guilt.Perfect.He really believed it.He actually believed he had betrayed his precious soulmate in a drunken stupor. It was almost too easy. A glass of wine, a few drops of a

~ELARA’S POV~ I sat on a broken stone step, my knees pulled up to my chest. I didn't feel like a powerful Shadow-wolf, didn't feel like a threat, instead I felt like a girl who had been hollowed out, bit by bit, until there was nothing left but the cold.I heard the horses.It sounded like a drum at a funeral. I didn't look up because I didn't want to see the black horses, I didn't want to see the royal crest.And most of all, I didn't want to see him."Elara."His voice was a wreck. It sounded like it had been dragged over broken glass. I kept my eyes on the dirt as I watched a small beetle struggle to climb over a blade of grass. It was easier to care about the beetle than to care about the man standing ten feet away."Go away, Kairos," I whispered. My voice was small. It didn't have the strength I wanted it to have. "Jace gave me your gold. I burned it. Isn't that enough for one day?"The grass made a sound, meaning he was moving closer. I could smell him, that scent of pine and r

~ELARA’S POV~“What did you just say?”The words felt heavy in my mouth. I gripped the edge of the door so hard the wood bit into my palm, but I wouldn't let my hands shake. Not in front of her.Genevieve didn't flinch. She just smiled—that sharp, polished smile of a woman who knew she had already won. She moved her hand, resting it almost tenderly over her flat stomach.“You heard me perfectly, Elara,” she whispered, her voice like silk over a blade. “I’m carrying the royal heir. The next King of the Eclipse Pack is growing right here. So, you can either accept that you’re just a guest in my palace, or you can get ready to cohabitate with the woman who is giving Kairos the one thing you never could, a future.”For a second, the room tilted. The fourteen-day countdown until their wedding had felt like a distant nightmare, but this? This was a death sentence for the tiny, stupid hope I’d been nursing since I returned.But I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing me bleed.I for