THE LUNA WHO CONQUERED DEATH のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 71 - チャプター 80

Marcus didn't come to work on Monday morning.Or Tuesday.On Wednesday, I went to his house myself.Sarah answered the door. She looked terribly gaunt, pale, barely able to stand. But she managed a weak smile."Alpha Sera. Marcus said, 'You'll come eventually.'""How are you feeling?""Like death warmed over." She laughed, then winced. "Sorry. Bad joke given your history.""Can I come in?"She stepped aside. The house was clean but felt empty somehow. Marcus sat at the kitchen table, staring at nothing, a cup of cold coffee in front of him."Marcus?"He looked up, and I saw the devastation in his eyes. "They found out what was wrong with Sarah.""That's good, right? Now they can treat it.""It's wolfsbane poisoning. Slow, deliberate, administered over months." Marcus's voice was flat. "Someone's been poisoning my mate."I sat down hard. "What? Who?""We don't know. Dr. Moira found traces in Sarah's system. Very small doses, probably in food or drink. Not enough to kill quickly, but en

Elena found Jacob and Miranda three weeks later.They were living in a small cabin two hundred miles north, using false names and working as farm laborers. Elena's contacts had tracked them through a series of cash transactions and finally spotted Miranda buying herbs at a local market."They're not hiding particularly well," Elena reported. "Either they're not as guilty as we think, or they're not very good at being fugitives.""Or they think they're far enough away and hidden enough that no one would find them," Marcus said. His voice was tight, controlled. "I want to confront them personally.""Not alone," I said firmly. "We go together. You, me, Adrian, and Elena. Plus security backup in case this goes wrong.""You think they'd attack us?""I think we don't take chances with people suspected of poisoning."We left at dawn the next morning. Luna wasn't happy about being left behind, but Katherine and Diana stayed at Crescent Moon to watch over her and the pack.The cabin was isolat

Nothing happened for ten days.Then, on the eleventh day, a new face appeared. A woman in her forties, claiming to be a traveling merchant selling herbal remedies. She set up a small stand in the pack market, friendly and unassuming."That's her," Elena confirmed after running facial recognition. "Sarah Blackwood. Different hair color, different name, but same person.""She came back," Marcus breathed. "She actually came back.""Don't approach yet. We watch, we wait, we catch her in the act." I activated security channels. "All units, suspect was identified. Sarah Blackwood posing as a merchant at market stand. Do not engage unless she makes a move."Sarah Reed walked through the market at her usual time. She stopped at various stalls, chatting with vendors, buying vegetables. Normal, routine, predictable.Sarah Blackwood watched her. Casual, subtle, but definitely watching.When Sarah Reed approached the herbal remedy stand, we tensed."Looking for anything specific?" Sarah Blackwood

The Coalition didn't force Stone's pack to reject her," Diana said. "That was traditional cruelty, not reform ideology.""If she'd never heard about omega equality, she would have accepted her place! She'd still be alive!" Sarah Blackwood was crying now. "You people fill their heads with impossible dreams, then act surprised when those dreams break people."Sarah Reed stood in the gallery."May I speak?"I nodded.Sarah Reed walked to face Sarah Blackwood directly."I'm sorry about your sister. I truly am. But I'm also an omega who mated a Beta. In a traditional pack, that would have been forbidden. I would have been forced to mate within my rank or remain alone.""Exactly my point. You should have accepted—""I would have killed myself." Sarah Reed's voice was quiet but firm. "If I'd been forced to give up Marcus, to mate someone I didn't love, to live under rules that said my feelings didn't matter, I would have ended my life just like your sister did."Sarah Blackwood stared at her

"People are less scared now," she observed during a family dinner. "Less worried that everything will fall apart. More confident we'll survive.""Do you feel more confident?" Adrian asked."I do. I'm not the Crimson Dawn anymore. I'll never reshape the world through overwhelming power as the prophecy suggested." Luna spoke matter-of-factly, without sadness. "But I'm reshaping it differently. Through teaching. Through showing that power can be distributed instead of concentrated. That's still important.""More important," I corrected. "Personal power fades. Knowledge spreads.""Exactly! I have ninety-three students now. They'll teach others. Those others will teach more. Eventually, thousands of wolves will know defensive techniques." Luna's eyes shone with excitement. "That's bigger than me being powerful. That's creating a movement."She was right. Luna's teaching program was becoming a movement. Other Coalition packs were requesting instructor training. Neutral packs were asking for