All Chapters of THE REJECTED LUNA’S RISE : Chapter 11 - Chapter 16

Lupus's POV The water tasted wrong. I noticed the difference before I fully understood why. There was a faint bitterness underneath the sweetness, subtle enough that a distracted man would have missed it completely. But I was not distracted anymore. I set the glass back down on the table without taking a sip. Angela did not notice. She was already facing the mirror, adjusting an earring and humming a low, satisfied tune. I watched her reflection in the glass, keeping my own expression completely blank. She has been feeding it to you for weeks, Kain whispered. Every single night. A little more each time. "I know," I murmured under my breath. You do not know. You are only just beginning to realize. He was right. Whenever I tried to reach for my instincts, I could feel a heavy fog. A thick, sluggish weight clung to the edge of every thought, a darkness that had not been there before Sera. Before I threw away the only good thing in my life. The memory of the night Sera w

Mason's POV The outpost reeked of old stone and older magic, the kind that settled at the back of the throat and refused to leave, no matter how often you swallowed. But I hadn’t waited for an invitation. The Council Leader believed I was handling business in Shadow territory before returning to collect my half of our bargain. Let the old bastard believe it. A man who announces his every move deserves to be robbed blind by the ones patient enough to watch him from the dark. Long before the guards brought her in, I’d claimed a narrow alcove carved into the wall above the circular chamber. From there, I overlooked the black relic pulsing in the center of the room like the heart of something long dead. I’d hidden here once before, memorizing patrol routes during my last visit. Tonight, I had another reason to watch. They dragged her in at last. Her wrists were still bound, her steps uneven as two guards dressed in ash-colored robes forced her forward. She looked exhau

Sera’s POV Mason’s blood was still wet on the floor when I let myself breathe again. I sat with my back against the wall, wrists raw inside the cuffs. No footsteps. No alarm. Whatever he did to the guards outside, he did it quietly. That wouldn’t last long. I flexed my fingers. Still nothing. No smoke. No heat. Just dead weight pressing against something under my skin that wanted to fight back and couldn’t. Think. Not feel. Think. The room was small. Just the chain bolted to the wall and dried blood by the door. I looked at the hinges. Old wood. Older than the newer stone further down the hall, the part they must have built just to hold someone like me. Old door. Maybe an old lock too. I dragged myself closer, chain rattling, and looked closely at the lock. Rust covered one side. Maybe that was a weak spot. If only I had something to use. I had nothing. What would Yara do, I thought, and it surprised me how fast that question came, like her voice already lives in m