Luna's POV
I couldn't hide it from Sage anymore.
She found me the next morning in the school bathroom, splashing cold water on my face to hide the fact that I'd cried all night. Through the mate bonds, I could feel all three brothers—Kael already working in his office, Ryland eating breakfast, Dante finishing a morning run.
They'd all slept peacefully while I suffered.
"That's it," Sage said, grabbing my arm. "You're telling me everything. Now."
So I did. I told her about trying to talk to Kael, about his cruel words, about how the bonds let me feel their disgust and hatred while they felt nothing at all.
"This doesn't make sense," Sage said, pacing the small bathroom. "Mate bonds don't work one way. That's not how the Moon Goddess designed them. Something's wrong."
"Everything's wrong," I said miserably.
"No, I mean magically wrong." Sage's eyes lit up with that look she got when solving puzzles. "Luna, what if someone did this on purpose? What if someone blocked their side of the bonds?"
Hope flickered in my chest, painful and dangerous. "Can that even be done?"
"I don't know. But I'm going to find out." Sage checked her watch. "The pack library is empty during lunch. Everyone will be in the cafeteria. I can sneak in and research."
"Sage, if you get caught—"
"I won't." She squeezed my hand. "You're my best friend. I'm not letting you suffer like this without trying to help."
Lunch period felt like it lasted forever. I sat alone at our usual table, pushing food around my plate while watching the clock. Through the bonds, I felt Ryland's enjoyment of his meal, Kael's impatience during a meeting, Dante's indifference to everything.
Finally, Sage burst through the cafeteria door, her bag bulging with books. Her face was pale but excited.
"I found something," she whispered urgently. "Meet me in the old storage room after school. And Luna? This is bigger than we thought."
The rest of the day crawled by. Every class felt endless. Finally, the bell rang and I raced to the storage room—a dusty space filled with broken furniture that nobody used anymore.
Sage was already there, surrounded by ancient books spread across the floor.
"Okay," she said, flipping open the oldest book. "I found references to something called Bond Severing. It's really old dark magic, forbidden for centuries."
My heart pounded. "What does it do?"
"It blocks one side of a mate bond." Sage pointed to faded text. "See? It says here: 'The severing cuts the thread from one wolf's awareness, leaving the bond flowing singular. The afflicted wolf feels naught, whilst their mate suffers the bond in full.'"
"That's exactly what's happening to me," I breathed. "I feel everything, but they feel nothing."
"There's more." Sage turned pages carefully. "Bond Severing requires three things: a dark witch, something personal from each wolf being blocked, and..." She paused, her finger tracing the words. "And the blood of the true mate."
My blood went cold. "My blood?"
"It says the spell needs the mate's blood to identify which bonds to sever. Luna, whoever did this had access to you. They took your blood somehow."
I thought back over the past years. How many times had I gotten hurt? How many mysterious cuts and bruises that I couldn't quite remember getting?
"Vivienne," I whispered. "She's been poisoning me for years. She could have taken my blood anytime."
"The Alpha's daughter?" Sage's eyes widened. "But why would she—" Then understanding dawned on her face. "Oh. She wants Kael for herself."
It made horrible sense. Vivienne had always acted like Kael belonged to her. She'd talked about being Luna of Shadowpeak since we were kids. If she knew somehow that I was Kael's fated mate...
"She blocked the bonds so they'd never know I was their mate," I said slowly. "She probably planned to kill me before the bonds could activate naturally."
"But your wolf came early," Sage added. "Your side of the bonds activated before she could stop it."
Through the mate bonds, I suddenly felt a spike of anger from Kael. Then Ryland's amusement. Then Dante's cold focus. They were all together somewhere, probably training.
They had no idea their mate was sitting in a dusty storage room, discovering that someone had cursed them.
"Can it be undone?" I asked desperately. "Is there a way to break the spell?"
Sage flipped through more pages, her brow furrowed. "There's a reversal ritual, but it's complicated. It requires..." She trailed off, her face going pale.
"What? What does it require?"
"The witch who cast the original spell has to undo it willingly, or..." Sage swallowed hard. "Or the true mate must become powerful enough to break the bonds and reforge them herself."
"How powerful?"
"Luna Wolf powerful," Sage read. "It says only a Luna Wolf—a wolf blessed by the Moon Goddess with special gifts—can manipulate mate bonds."
My silver wolf. Selene had called herself special, said we were blessed. Was this what she meant?
"Yes," Selene confirmed in my mind. "We're a Lunar Wolf. Given time and training, we could break the dark magic. But Luna... we're not strong enough yet. Not even close."
"How long?" I asked aloud. "How long until I'm strong enough?"
Sage looked at me confused—she couldn't hear my wolf. But Selene answered:
"Months. Maybe years. And we'd need a teacher, someone to train us in our gifts."
I didn't have months. Every day trapped here with the one-sided bonds was torture. Every moment feeling their emotions while they remained oblivious was killing me slowly.
"There's something else," Sage said quietly, pointing to a passage. "A warning. It says: 'Bond Severing leaves scars upon the soul. When broken, the severed bonds may rebound with vengeance, flooding the blocked wolves with all that was denied them. The pain of sudden awareness may drive them to madness.'"
"What does that mean?"
"It means if the spell breaks suddenly, all three of them will feel everything at once. Every emotion from you they've missed, every moment of the bond—it'll hit them all at the same time."
I imagined Kael, Ryland, and Dante suddenly feeling seven years of pain, three days of one-sided love, and the constant awareness of a mate they'd been tormenting.
"They'd feel everything they did to me," I whispered. "Through the bond."
"Yes." Sage closed the book. "It would destroy them."
Good, part of me thought viciously. Let them suffer like I have.
But another part—the part connected to them through golden threads—ached at the thought of them in pain.
"I need to get out of here," I said suddenly. "I can't stay and feel these bonds every day. I need to find someone who can train me, help me get strong enough to break the curse myself."
"Where would you go?"
Before I could answer, the storage room door flew open.
Vivienne stood in the doorway, her ice-blue eyes blazing with fury. Behind her stood two of her friends, blocking our escape.
"Well, well," Vivienne said softly, her gaze landing on the open books. "What do we have here? Little Luna playing detective?"
Through the mate bonds, I felt my three mates training far away, completely unaware their mate was in danger.
Sage stepped in front of me protectively. "We were just studying."
"Studying Bond Severing magic?" Vivienne's smile was sharp as knives. She walked closer, and I saw something dark swirling in her eyes—actual dark magic, corrupting her from the inside. "That's very specific research. Almost like someone knows they've been cursed."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, but my voice shook.
"Don't play dumb, Luna. It doesn't suit you." Vivienne picked up one of the books, then casually tossed it in a trash can. "You figured it out. That I blocked the mate bonds. That I've been planning this for years."
She admitted it. Just like that.
"Why?" I demanded. "Why curse them? Why curse me?"
"Because Kael is MINE!" Vivienne's composure cracked, revealing the obsession underneath. "I've loved him since we were children. I was supposed to be Luna of Shadowpeak. Then I found out about the mate bond prophecy—that he'd be bonded to some pathetic omega. So I fixed it."
"You can't fix fate," Sage said bravely.
"I can try." Vivienne pulled something from her pocket—a syringe filled with dark liquid. "And I can make sure Luna doesn't live long enough to break my spell."
She lunged forward.
I shoved Sage aside and tried to run, but Vivienne's friends grabbed my arms, holding me in place.
"This won't kill you instantly," Vivienne whispered, bringing the needle closer to my neck. "But in a few weeks, your organs will fail. And everyone will think it was just a weak omega's body giving out."
The needle pierced my skin.
Through the mate bonds, three golden threads burned in my chest, and I screamed one word in my mind:
HELP!