All Chapters of Curse of the Moon's Bride : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

I woke before dawn with the taste of unease still sitting heavy in my chest.Gray light filtered through the thin curtains, cold and weak against the walls of my room. For a moment, I stayed still beneath the blankets, staring at the ceiling while fragments of restless dreams slipped through my mind.Theron's face. The hesitation in his voice. The way he'd looked away when he admitted he was afraid.My fingers tightened around the carved wolf resting in my hand. I must have fallen asleep holding it again. Lately, it felt like the only solid thing left.The pack house had become a place of whispers and careful glances. Every smile carried doubt beneath it. Every silence felt loaded with meaning.I pushed the blankets aside and dressed quickly.By the time I reached the main hall, wolves were already gathering for breakfast. The room smelled of woodsmoke and warm bread, but the usual comfort felt distant now.Theron sat alone again near the far wall. Head lowered. Eating slowly from a w

The carved wolf was already in my hand when I woke.For a moment, I lay still beneath the blankets, staring at the faint gray light bleeding through the curtains. The pack house was quiet in that uneasy way it had been lately – too quiet to be peaceful. Somewhere downstairs, floorboards creaked softly.I rubbed my thumb over the little wooden wolf and tried to ignore the knot in my stomach.Today we hunted Corbin. Or whatever waited for us in the mountains.I pushed the blankets aside and dressed quickly – dark trousers, thick boots, a heavy jacket lined with fur. My blade settled against my hip with familiar weight.Outside, dawn air bit at my lungs.Kael, Grey, and Rina waited near the edge of the territory, their horses shifting restlessly beside them. Frost silvered the grass beneath our feet.No one smiled.Rina tightened the straps on her quiver. "Theron is stable," she said quietly. "But he still hasn't woken."Guilt twisted in my chest. We'd left him vulnerable. Someone had al

The first thing I saw when I stumbled out of the trees was Kael.Not the mountains behind him. Not the fading light bleeding gold across the snow. Just him.My knees nearly gave out."Selene."He reached me before I hit the ground, catching my arms hard enough to hurt. His hands moved over my shoulders, my face, my sides – searching for wounds with frantic precision."You're bleeding."I looked down at the blood crusted across my sleeves and shook my head weakly. "Not all of it is mine."Dust still coated my throat. Every breath scraped.Behind Kael, Grey and Rina burst through the trees. Grey's arm was wrapped in a rough bandage stained dark at the edges, but he was upright. Alive."We saw the grate break loose," Rina said, breathing hard. "We were trying to reach you."I grabbed Kael's wrist before he could ask another question."Nyra is still down there."His expression changed instantly."The shaft collapsed behind me," I said quickly. "She can't climb out alone."For one terrible

The study smelled like candle wax, ink, and exhaustion.Maps covered nearly every surface. Pins marked old meeting places. Symbols from Nyra's parchment had been copied onto scraps of paper and scattered across the desk like pieces of a puzzle none of us could fully solve.I stood at the center with my arms folded, trying to ignore the dull ache still lingering from the mine collapse."We need to make W believe the pack is crumbling," I said.Grey leaned against the wall near the door. "That won't be hard. Half the pack already suspects each other."No one laughed. Because he wasn't wrong.Kael rested both hands on the edge of the map table, shoulders tense. "Then we use that. Let the rumors spread. But control which ones."Rina nodded from beside the shelves. "People already think patrols are stretched thin. A little encouragement won't seem strange."Near the window, Drakon turned away from the gray morning outside. "My father's followers always responded to weakness. W will be no d

The gray light creeping through my window felt colder than usual.I woke with the carved wolf clutched against my chest so tightly my fingers ached. For a moment, I stayed still beneath the blankets, listening to the silence inside the pack house. No laughter in the halls. No clatter from the kitchens. Just quiet footsteps and distant voices kept low, as if speaking too loudly might summon disaster faster.Two days. Only two days until the full moon.I exhaled slowly and sat up. My muscles still protested from the mountains, from the mine, from everything that had happened since Nyra's capture. Bruises bloomed dark across my ribs. Thin scars crossed my hands where stone had scraped skin raw. But there wasn't time to feel any of it.I placed the carved wolf carefully on the windowsill. Then I dressed.---The training yard echoed with the sound of blades colliding when I stepped outside.Warriors moved in coordinated formations across the frost-covered ground while Kael stalked between