All Chapters of Luna's Reckoning : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Six vehicles. Regional council markings on every single one of them.I stood at the compound entrance beside Marcus and watched them roll through the gates one by one. The morning air was cold and sharp. Around us Marcus's wolves had gone very still in that way trained warriors do when they are not sure yet if something is a threat.The lead vehicle stopped.The door opened.Thomas Creek stepped out first. He was a broad man, mid fifties, silver hair cut close, wearing the formal dark jacket of a regional Alpha. He looked exactly like what he was. Someone who had spent decades being important and knew it.He looked at Marcus and nodded once. Polite. Careful.Then the passenger door of the same vehicle opened.And Dr. Cross stepped out.I felt Marcus go rigid beside me.Cross looked smaller than I imagined from everything I had heard about him. Thin, pale, gray hair going in several directions at once. He had a narrow face and small eyes behind thick glasses that made him look like som

Aria's POVThe handwriting on that page looked back at me like an accusation.I had stared at it so long the letters were starting to blur. Elena had gone quiet beside me. The kind of quiet that means even she did not know what to say and Elena always knew what to say.Marcus's handwriting. In the margin of Mira's oldest injury record. Written in small careful letters like someone who had not wanted to be noticed but had needed to leave a mark anyway."There has to be an explanation," I said."I know," Elena said. But her voice did not sound like she fully believed it.I folded the page carefully and held it against my chest."Where is Mira?" I asked."Her cabin," Elena said. "She found it twenty minutes ago and came straight to me.""Take me to her," I said.We walked quickly through the compound. The afternoon had turned gray and heavy with clouds sitting low over the pine trees. A few of Marcus's wolves nodded as we passed. One of them opened his mouth like he wanted to say somethi

Aria's POVMarcus's answer about the note stayed with me long after we left that meeting room.Five years. He had known about my situation for five years and had been quietly doing what little he could from a distance. Not because he had to. Not because of any law or obligation. Just because he saw something wrong and could not fully look away from it.I was still turning that over in my head the next morning when Dara came to walk me to the main building for the first formal trial preparation session.That was how my days worked now. Dara knocked at a specific time. We walked together with two guards ahead and one behind. I went where I was scheduled to go and came back when the session was done. No wandering. No solo walks across the compound. No pretending I was anything other than what I was.An accused wolf under protective custody four days away from the most important moment of her life.The meeting room was already full when we arrived. Marcus sat at the head of the table wit

Damien's POVI stared at what I had written on that paper.The scar through the left eyebrow.My hand was not moving anymore. The pen just sat there between my fingers doing nothing while my brain tried to catch up with what my gut already knew.I recognized that description."Beta Silvercrest," Colt said quietly. "Are you alright?"I set the pen down slowly."How certain are you about the scar?" I said."Completely," he said. "It was the first thing I noticed about his face."I stood up and walked to the window. Outside the compound was dark and quiet. Same torch at the gate. Same guard on his slow round.Six days ago I had been at Moonridge packing one bag into a regional council vehicle that Marcus Ashwood had sent for me. Four hours through pine forest and mountain roads thinking about every wrong choice I had ever made.I had come to Redwood territory believing I was finally doing the right thing. Finally choosing my daughter over everything else. Finally being the father I shou

Damien's POVDarkness swallowed everything.Not the normal darkness of a compound at night where your eyes adjust after a few seconds and shapes start forming out of the black. This was different. Every light source gone at exactly the same moment. Torches, cabin windows, gate lamps. All of it cut off like someone had reached up and switched off the moon.Garrett's hand was still on my arm."Do not move," he breathed. So quiet I felt the words more than heard them.I did not move.From somewhere near the southern fence came the sound of footsteps. Fast and light and deliberate. Moving with the kind of confidence that only comes from knowing exactly where you are going in the dark.More than one person.I counted four sets of footsteps before they spread out and became impossible to track individually."The guard who went down," I breathed. "Is he dead?""I do not know," Garrett said.A howl cut through the darkness from the northern watchtower. Short and urgent. The alert signal. Some