KIERAN'S POV
I can't breathe.
My knees hit the marble floor hard enough to crack bone, but I barely feel it. Luna's power—silver, impossible, devastating—crashes over me like a tidal wave, forcing my Alpha wolf into submission.
She was wolfless. Everyone knew it. I rejected her because she was weak, human, vulnerable.
But the woman standing in my ballroom, glowing like the moon itself, is the furthest thing from weak I've ever seen.
"Get up, Blackwood," Luna says, her voice cutting through the shocked silence. "You're embarrassing yourself."
The power recedes as quickly as it came. I can breathe again. Around me, wolves gasp and scramble to their feet, staring at Luna like she's a weapon that might detonate at any second.
She is. I can feel it thrumming beneath her skin.
"A True Luna," Marcus whispers beside me, his voice shaking. "Alpha, that's a True Luna. Born once every—"
"I know what she is." My voice comes out harsh. Raw.
Mine. She's mine.
My wolf is howling inside me, desperate and frantic. The mate bond—which I tried to sever five years ago, which should be dead—suddenly roars back to life with brutal intensity.
I feel Luna everywhere. Her heartbeat. Her anger. The lingering ghost of pain that never quite healed.
And I did that to her.
Dante Volkov helps Luna smooth down her dress like nothing happened, his hand proprietary on her lower back. The sight makes my vision go red.
"Well," Dante says, smirking at me. "That was fun. Luna, darling, remind me never to make you angry."
Darling. He called her darling.
My claws extend before I can stop them, cutting into my palms. Blood drips onto the floor—I'm already bleeding from the champagne glass I crushed when I first saw her.
Because seeing Luna walk into my house, more beautiful than any dream I've had in five years, wearing another man's ring... it broke something fundamental inside me.
"Alpha Volkov." I force the words out through gritted teeth. "Welcome to Blackwood Estate."
I have to be civil. I'm the host. This summit is crucial for both our packs. The rogue attacks are getting worse, more coordinated. We need this alliance.
But every instinct I have is screaming at me to rip Volkov's throat out and claim what's mine.
Dante's smile widens. He knows exactly what he's doing. "Thank you for the gracious invitation. Though I have to say, your welcome was a bit... cold. Wasn't it, wife?"
Wife.
The word is a knife between my ribs.
Luna's gray eyes—eyes I've seen in my dreams for five years—finally meet mine. There's no warmth in them. No recognition of what we were. Just ice-cold triumph.
She's showing me exactly what I lost.
"Alpha Blackwood," she says, her tone perfectly polite and completely empty. Like I'm a stranger. Like I didn't once hold her face in my hands and promise her forever before destroying us both.
"Luna." Her name tastes like blood and regret on my tongue.
Dante leans down and presses a kiss to her temple—slow, deliberate, marking his territory. Luna doesn't pull away. She lets him.
My wolf snarls. The sound rips out of me before I can stop it, echoing through the silent ballroom.
Several wolves flinch. Marcus puts a warning hand on my shoulder. "Alpha—"
"Don't touch her," I growl at Volkov, my voice barely human.
Dante raises an eyebrow. "Interesting. I didn't realize you still had opinions about who touches my wife, considering you rejected her quite publicly five years ago."
The room collectively holds its breath. Everyone knows our history. The entire supernatural world watched Kieran Blackwood reject his fated mate because she wasn't good enough.
Except she was always good enough. She was everything. And I was too much of a coward to see it.
"That was a mistake," I say, the admission tearing out of me.
Luna laughs. It's sharp and bitter and nothing like the soft laugh I remember. "A mistake? Is that what we're calling it?"
"Luna, please—"
"Don't." She holds up one elegant hand, and I notice it's shaking slightly. The only sign she's not as calm as she appears. "You don't get to 'please' me, Kieran. You lost that right when you told a thousand wolves I was worthless."
"I never said that—"
"You didn't have to. The rejection said it for you."
She's right. God, she's right. And I have no defense except the truth I've carried for five years like a stone around my neck.
"I was trying to protect you," I say quietly.
"By destroying me?" Luna's voice cracks, just for a second, before she rebuilds her walls. "Save your excuses. I'm not that broken girl anymore. I don't need your protection or your apologies."
Dante wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her close. "My wife is right. Whatever you two had is ancient history. She's moved on. Happily."
The mate bond pulses between Luna and me, giving away the lie. She feels it too—I can see it in the way her breath hitches, the way her pupils dilate when she looks at me.
The bond didn't break. It's stronger than ever.
"Have you?" I ask Luna directly, ignoring Volkov completely. "Moved on?"
For a heartbeat, something vulnerable flashes across her face. Then it's gone, replaced by cold fury.
"Completely."
Before I can call her on the obvious lie, Morgana appears at my elbow. She links her arm through mine possessively, her smile sweet and poisonous.
"Alpha, we need you for the welcome speech." She looks at Luna with false sympathy. "Hello again, Luna. Still causing drama, I see."
Luna's eyes narrow. "Morgana. Still desperate for scraps of attention?"
"Actually, Kieran and I have grown quite... close... over the years." Morgana presses against my side. "Haven't we?"
I carefully extract my arm. "Not now, Morgana."
But the damage is done. Luna's expression shutters completely. Whatever vulnerability I glimpsed is gone.
"Enjoy your party, Blackwood," she says. "We'll discuss the treaty tomorrow. When we're all more... civilized."
She turns to leave, Dante's hand on her back.
I can't let her walk away. Not again. Not after five years of searching for her, dreaming about her, regretting every word I said that night.
"Luna, wait—"
She stops. Looks back over her shoulder.
And I see it. The way her hand unconsciously moves to her stomach. A protective gesture. Familiar.
My wolf goes completely still.
"Is there something else, Alpha Blackwood?" Luna asks coldly.
Yes. A thousand things. Starting with: Why does the mate bond feel different? Stronger? Like there's something more connecting us than just the original tie?
But before I can speak, Marcus's phone buzzes. His face goes pale.
"Alpha," he says urgently. "We have a problem. The south border patrol just reported in. They found three more bodies. Rogues. But these ones have a message carved into them."
"What message?"
Marcus's voice drops to a horrified whisper. "They're coming for the True Luna."
Every wolf in the room looks at Luna.
And she smiles—sharp and dangerous.
"Good. Let them come."