The days that followed blurred together like watercolors in rain. I moved through the motions of being Luna attending council meetings where my voice was ignored, presiding over ceremonies where wolves barely acknowledged my presence, sitting at the high table while conversations flowed around me as though I were invisible.
But beneath the surface, something was fracturing.
The bond mark pulsed more frequently now, often when I least expected it. During breakfast, it would flicker against my wrist like a dying candle. In the middle of conversations, I would feel that familiar throb, that warning that made my stomach clench with dread. Each pulse felt like a countdown to something I couldn't name.
Kael's absences grew longer. Some nights he didn't return at all, and when he did, his scent was layered with unfamiliar traces pine from distant territories, the musk of other wolves, and something else. Something sweeter, more intimate that made my wolf pace restlessly within me.
I tried to push the suspicions away, but they clung to me like thorns.
"You look pale," Maris observed one afternoon as we walked through the gardens. The late autumn air was crisp, leaves crunching beneath our feet in shades of gold and crimson. She linked her arm through mine, her touch warm and reassuring. "Perhaps you should rest more."
"I rest plenty," I replied, though we both knew it was a lie. Sleep had become my enemy, bringing dreams of fire and betrayal that left me gasping and drenched in sweat.
"The pack notices these things, you know," she continued gently. "They see when their Luna is... struggling."
The words stung more than they should have. "What do you mean?"
Maris stopped walking, turning to face me with eyes full of what looked like genuine concern. "Selene, they whisper. About your distraction, your melancholy. Some wonder if you're... fit to lead."
My chest tightened. "And what do you tell them?"
"That you're going through a difficult time, but that you're strong." Her hand squeezed mine. "But perhaps it's time to consider that their doubts aren't entirely unfounded."
I pulled my arm free, staring at her. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that if you cannot carry the weight of being Luna, perhaps it would be kinder to yourself and to the pack to step aside."
The suggestion hit me like a physical blow. "Step aside?"
"Not permanently," she said quickly, though something flickered in her eyes. "Just until you've had time to heal, to find your strength again. Kael could choose a temporary Luna, someone to "
"Someone like who?" The question escaped before I could stop it.
Maris's lips curved in what might have been sympathy or something else entirely. "Someone who could bear the burden without breaking under it."
I turned away from her, my mind reeling. The woman I trusted most in this world was suggesting I abandon my position, my title, my purpose. And yet, part of me wondered if she was right. Maybe I was failing. Maybe the pack deserved better.
But then the bond mark pulsed again, stronger this time, and with it came a flash of clarity that cut through my self-doubt like lightning.
This wasn't about my weakness. This was about someone else's ambition.
"I won't step aside," I said firmly, turning back to face her. "I am Luna, chosen by the Moon Goddess herself. Whatever difficulties I'm facing, I'll overcome them."
For just a moment, Maris's mask slipped. I saw something cold and calculating flash across her features before the warmth returned. "Of course," she said smoothly. "I only want what's best for you, dear friend."
That night, unable to bear the emptiness of my chambers, I walked the corridors of the packhouse. The stone walls seemed to whisper with secrets, shadows dancing in the torchlight like specters of my fears.
I found myself outside Kael's study, drawn by the faint light seeping beneath the door. Voices drifted from within his voice, deep and familiar, and another. Feminine. Soft.
My heart hammered as I pressed closer to the door.
"...can't continue like this much longer," the female voice was saying. "She's growing suspicious."
"Let her suspect," Kael replied, his tone dismissive. "What can she do? She has no proof, no allies save you."
A bitter laugh. "And how long do you think that will last? She's not stupid, despite what you'd like to believe."
"She's weak," Kael said with such venom that I flinched. "Always has been. It's why this was so easy."
"Easy?" The woman's voice sharpened. "Nothing about this has been easy. Do you know how difficult it's been, pretending to care about her pathetic concerns? Listening to her whine about your distance, your coldness? Consoling her while you "
"While I what?" Kael's voice was dangerously quiet.
"While you prepared to cast her aside for me."
The words hit me like a physical blow. I stumbled backward from the door, my hand flying to my mouth to stifle the gasp that threatened to escape.
The female voice. I knew it now, recognized the cadence, the particular way she pronounced certain words.
Maris.
My dearest friend. My confidante. My betrayer.
The bond mark on my wrist flared with such intensity that I bit back a cry of pain. The connection between Kael and me already strained, already weakening shuddered like a bridge about to collapse.
I fled then, running through the corridors with tears streaming down my face, my breath coming in ragged sobs. Everything made sense now. The stolen secrets, the perfectly timed comfort, the way she always seemed to know exactly what to say to keep me dependent on her friendship.
She had been feeding my insecurities while nurturing Kael's contempt. She had been my shoulder to cry on while sharpening the blade that would cut me down.
In my chambers, I collapsed onto the bed, burying my face in the pillows to muffle my sobs. The bond mark continued to pulse, each throb a reminder of how completely I had been deceived.
But as the initial shock wore off, something else began to take its place. Not despair, though that still lingered. Not heartbreak, though my chest felt hollow.
Anger.
Pure, molten rage that started in my core and spread outward like wildfire.
They thought I was weak. They thought I would break under the weight of their betrayal, crumble into nothing so they could sweep away the pieces.
They were wrong.
I sat up, wiping the tears from my face with shaking hands. In the mirror across the room, I caught sight of my reflection disheveled, red-eyed, but not broken. Not yet.
The bond mark gave one final, violent pulse before falling still. In that moment, I felt something snap inside me, like a chain finally giving way under too much pressure.
The mate bond that had bound me to Kael, that had made me vulnerable to his moods and cruelties, was fracturing. And with each crack, I felt a strange sense of liberation creeping in.
Let them plot. Let them scheme and whisper and betray.
They had awakened something in me that they might come to regret.
I was no longer the naive Luna who begged for scraps of affection. I was no longer the girl who accepted humiliation with bowed head and silent tears.
I was something else now. Something harder.
Something dangerous.
The moon outside my window seemed brighter somehow, its light silver and sharp as a blade. I stood and walked to the window, pressing my palm against the cool glass.
"Let them come," I whispered to the night. "Let them try to break me."
The bond mark lay quiet against my wrist, but I could feel the power building beneath my skin, ancient and wild and hungry for justice.
My real story was only just beginning.