All Chapters of The Substitute Luna’s Revenge: Chapter 71 - Chapter 78

Jace’s POVI chose a quiet corner of the territory for the meeting, far enough from the estate that no council member would think to follow. No warriors. Nothing that might frighten the man into silence before he’d said what he came to say.He arrived cautious, glancing around before settling across from me. “Same road, Alpha. Same morning you asked about.”“Tell me exactly what you saw. Not what you heard afterward. Only what you saw yourself.”“I was passing through early, before most of the estate would’ve stirred.” He kept his voice low. “Saw a young woman leaving. Fine clothes, moving fast but not frightened. Nobody is dragging her. Nobody followed that I could see at first.”“Injured? Distressed in any way?”“No, Alpha. Composed. Focused, like she already knew exactly where she meant to go.”I compared each detail against the timeline I’d built, and every answer he gave contradicted the story the entire pack had accepted without question.“Could you have mistaken someone else fo

Kenna’s POVI turned the object over and over in my palm, hoping some angle of it might explain how it had ended up hidden in my own drawer.The marking stared back at me no matter which way I held it, the same crescent, the same broken circle, the same jagged lines that had haunted every dream since the night I’d first seen that burning settlement. I searched my memory for any moment I might have encountered before. Nothing surfaced. And yet holding it felt disturbingly familiar, like my palm already knew the exact shape and weight of it before my mind caught up.“This isn’t decoration,” I whispered to the empty room, tracing the marking with one finger. It was too deliberate for that. Too precise. Whoever carved this had meant it to identify something, or someone.I thought about carrying it straight to Jace. I even reached for my cloak before stopping myself. What would I say — that I’d found an unexplained relic bearing the exact symbol from my dreams, hidden among my private bel

Kenna’s POVI caught up to him in the corridor outside his chambers, his steps still hurried from whatever had passed between him and Jace.“You recognized that relic,” I said, blocking his path before he could retreat any further. “You know exactly what it is.”“Kenna, this isn’t the time”“It’s never the time.” My voice cracked louder than I intended. “I’ve spent days having dreams I can’t explain, seeing a symbol I’ve never learned but somehow drew perfectly, holding a relic that burns beneath my skin and no one else’s. Everyone around me seems to know something about my own life except me. I’m tired of it.”He didn’t answer immediately, and I pressed harder, refusing to let this become another conversation that ended in silence.“You said it responded only to certain people. You looked terrified the moment Jace told you it reacted to me. Whatever you’re hiding, I deserve to know it.”“There are reasons things were kept hidden.”“From me. Always from me.” I stepped closer. “You kno

Jace’s POVI found the senior healer still tending the sick pups, exhaustion carved into her face after the accusation that had erupted through the nursery.“Walk me through everything,” I said. “The first symptoms, how fast they developed, anything the affected families share.”“They were healthy before this began, Alpha. No fever, no warning signs.” She rubbed her eyes. “Different parts of the territory. Different food sources, different routines. Nothing obvious connects them.”“Has anything like this happened before? In previous years?”She thought for a long moment. “Isolated cases, actually. I remember two or three occasions over the years, pups falling ill suddenly, no clear cause. But the families recovered, and we never saw a wider pattern, so nobody investigated further.”“Why not?”“Babcock deals with ordinary illness constantly, Alpha. Once the immediate danger passed, there was no reason to dig deeper into cases that were resolved on their own.”That answer didn’t satisfy