Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 20

That got a gasp out of me. "If I am carrying a pup, we need to get to the pack healer immediately because that would be deadly. My body hasn't even shifted yet."Unshifted she-wolves who carried high-ranking Alpha offspring faced severe body trauma, an unpredictable agony that required immediate lunar intervention.Lady Velastra seemed to weigh my words, staring into my eyes to read the raw truth beneath them. If only she knew, my brain was so foggy from the head blow that I could barely string three words together, let alone lie to an elder Luna."You say you have harbored feelings for Riven since you were a pup, so why not remain his bound Luna?" Velastra mused, resting her hands on the table."The blood oath at the Moon Oath Sanctum was total madness. No female wants this level of pack drama." I gestured blindly into the air between us. "I do not want to be dragged into the Thornevale family blood-feuds. Besides, you said there was a third document?""That is the post-nuptial prope

Torn—that word summarized how I felt about Axista. She was completely different from any she-wolf I had ever mated, especially Calista. Axista was passionate about her canvas art, totally unconcerned with her appearance or pack rank. She did not give a single shit about the Thornevale fortune or my Alpha Prime bloodline. I could not remember the last time a female had treated me like a normal male.I did not think taking her to the altar was a mistake. She was just not the type of female I ever envisioned beside me on the Luna throne. How was it that she and Calista were raised in the same Briarwyn pack hall and turned out so completely opposite?"I am going to get paint all over the Luna stones," she told me when I took her for a mid-day meal at Silver Pelt Atelier in Moonstone Passage and asked her what kind of mark ring she wanted since she refused the blood-diamond I originally offered her. "I do not need or want a gem."A few pack heralds had already snapped scrying images the se

Seven full moonrises passed, and not a single mind-link came from Riven. Maerla sent a quiet bird-message to confirm he hadn't stepped foot inside his Ironmoon Keep quarters since I fled.By the time the weekend shadow fell over the woods, my heart felt completely shredded.I sat at my timber workbench and wrote a formal resignation scroll to Corliss Draeven, the Chief Administrative Overseer of the Thornevale Relic Hall, with a copy to my immediate lead. I gave no two-week notice. The arrogant pack artisans had treated me like filth, and they didn't deserve my courtesy.I had enough silver coins stashed in my floorboards to survive two full moons, and Archivist Osric Fenmere had already sealed my freelance contract to restore ancient territory scrolls at the archive starting next week. I would survive. I would rebuild my coin purse and fund my master's application to the Exist Academy of Lunar Arts in Black Hollow Dominion.This entire Eclipse Moon disaster had taken so much from me.

The door crashed inward as Thessaly shoved her way inside, her sharp boots skidding against the floorboards before she dropped to her knees beside the pale, motionless she-wolf."Axista!" Thessaly's hands flew to her face, her breath hitching in panic. "She's frozen."Riven hit the timber floor beside them, his massive frame trembling as his claws tore through his gloves. "I don't know if her wolf is shattered, but she isn't answering the mind-link or responding when I shake her.""She has a pulse," he forced out, his throat tight with a strangling choke of fear."Mind-link Pack Healer Varek right now!" Thessaly cried, aggressively shaking her friend's frail shoulder.Calling the pack healers meant the high council and the broadsheets would feast on the scandal, but Riven didn't give a damn about political ruin. He slammed a broad palm against the base of her throat. "Is her chest moving?""Yes," Thessaly gasped.He clamped his broad hand over her small wrist, counting the faint, slug

"What is your issue with my bound Luna?" Riven growled the moment Iskar Venn stepped into his private study.She sank into the leather chair, her fingers twitching over her trousers. "Is something wrong, Alpha Riven?""Every time Axista tries to reach me through my study, you send her away. You tell her I am unavailable to my own wife."Her face went completely rigid, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Perhaps because your time was claimed by pack affairs.""I gave a direct command that Axista has complete access to my quarters and office. You never even reported her presence to me, Iskar. That is treason to your Alpha. She has done nothing to cross you, yet you treat her like a rogue outcast."He wanted to tear his own desk in half. Axista had been systematically degraded by his own inner court, and he had been too blind to notice her suffering until she collapsed.Iskar let out a harsh breath, her chin lifting defiantly. "How am I supposed to react? Calista is completely destroyed. Her h