After a desperate Luna awakes

For ninety days, my wolf core burned like someone had poured molten lead into my chest.

I took a silver blade between my ribs to keep Evan breathing. When the rogue's dagger shattered my core, the pack doctors told me I might never shift again. They sent me to the secluded villa at the edge of the territory to recover in silence. Every sunrise brought bone-splitting agony as my wolf struggled to mend itself. I did not complain once. I pushed through the torment because I wanted to walk back into the Red Moon Pack on my own two feet.

I wanted to give my Alpha husband a surprise.

The corridor outside our master bedroom was quiet. I didn't announce my return. I didn't call Beta Marcus. I carried my small duffel bag down the hall, my heart hammering against my ribs with pure joy.

I turned the brass handle and pushed the door open.

"Evan?"

The word died in my throat.

The scent hit me first—heavy musk, sweat, and vanilla.

On our king-sized bed, sheets twisted around tangled limbs. Evan was completely bare from the waist up, his broad back glistening in the dim lamplight as he leaned over the figure beneath him.

The woman beneath him wore his oversized white dress shirt, unbuttoned halfway down her chest. Her bare legs were hooked around his waist.

It was Selena. My twenty-year-old sister.

On the nightstand right beside Evan's head sat my silver Luna crown. Its moonstone crest caught the pale light like a mocking eye.

Selena gasped, shoving Evan back just enough to peer past his shoulder. Her eyes widened, but the panic in them looked entirely rehearsed. She pulled the edges of Evan’s shirt together, shrinking into his chest.

"Sister?" Her voice shook with faux innocence. "Why are you back early?"

The room spun. My duffel bag slipped from my fingers, hitting the floorboards with a dull thud.

"What is this?" The words scraped past my teeth. "Evan, what are you doing?"

Evan didn't jump. He didn't scramble for cover. He rolled off Selena with an unhurried sigh, swinging his long legs over the side of the mattress. He grabbed his lounge pants from the floor, pulling them on before turning his face toward me. His jaw was rigid, his golden Alpha eyes cold and exhausted.

"Diana," he said flatly. "You should have called before leaving the villa."

"I should have called?" A bitter laugh tore from my chest. "To schedule an appointment to enter my own bedroom? In my own house?"

"It's not what you think," Selena whimpered from behind him, clutching his pillow to her chest. "Evan was grieving, Diana. He was so lonely."

"Shut your mouth, Selena," I snapped, taking two strides toward the bed. "Get out of my bed. Take off his shirt and get the hell out of my room."

"Don't speak to her like that," Evan stepped between us, his massive frame blocking my sister entirely. "She hasn't left this pack house in weeks. She's been taking care of everything while you were gone."

Before I could answer, a loud burst of cheers drifted through the open balcony doors from the courtyard below.

"Hail to the new Luna!" a male voice bellowed through a loudspeaker.

"To Alpha Evan and Luna Selena!" another chorus roared back, accompanied by the clinking of glasses and rowdy laughter. "A strong Luna for the Red Moon!"

I froze.

My gaze snapped back to the silver crown on the nightstand, then down to Selena's throat, where faint purple marks littered her pale skin.

"They're preparing a coronation," I whispered, the realization striking me harder than any rogue blade. "Downstairs. Right now."

Evan didn't deny it. "The pack needs a Luna, Diana. The border skirmishes are getting worse. The council demanded an intact wolf at my side to anchor the pack bond."

"An intact wolf?" My voice cracked. "My core was shattered because I jumped in front of a silver dagger meant for your throat! I bled for three months in that cabin so you could stay Alpha!"

"And I am grateful!" Evan's voice rose, sharp and cutting. "Do you think this was easy for me? Coming home every night to an empty den? Looking at an empty throne?"

"So you put my sister in it?"

"She stepped up!" Evan yelled back. "You weren't here! The elders said your core might never heal. A pack cannot follow a crippled Luna!"

"I am standing right here!" I yelled back, tears burning behind my eyelids, though I refused to let them spill. "I healed! I survived it for you!"

"You're too late, Diana," he muttered, running a rough hand through his dark hair. His voice dropped to a patronizing murmur. "Look at her. Look at Selena. She has your smile. She has your hair. When I look at her in the dark... it felt like having you back. I missed you so damn much that it drove me out of my mind. I only touched her because she reminded me of you."

The sheer audacity of his words sucked the air out of the room.

He took a step toward me, reaching out a hand as if to stroke my cheek. "We can still make this work. You can stay in the villa. I'll make sure you have everything you need. You'll always be my first love, Diana."

*Crack.*

The slap echoed through the master bedroom like thunder.

My palm struck his cheek with all the strength left in my repaired core. Evan's head snapped to the right, a bright crimson handprint blossoming instantly across his tan skin.

His eyes flared crimson with Alpha fury. "Diana—"

"So your way of missing me," I spat, trembling with pure disgust, "is fucking my sister?"

Evan rubbed his jaw, his teeth clenched tight. "Watch your tongue. I am still your Alpha."

"You are nothing to me."

I turned on my heel, refusing to breathe the same air for another second. The hallway was empty, the noise from the courtyard growing louder as the pack drank to their new Luna. My stomach churned. I had almost died for him. I had endured three months of solitary hell for a man who couldn't wait ninety days to replace me with my own blood.

I hurried toward the grand staircase, wanting nothing more than to walk out the front gates and leave this cursed territory behind.

Footsteps hurried after me.

"Sister! Diana, wait!"

I reached the top of the stairs and stopped, glaring over my shoulder.

Selena was running toward me barefoot, still wrapped in Evan's shirt, her face streaked with fresh tears.

"Diana, please don't leave like this!" Selena cried, reaching out with both hands. "You don't understand the pressure we were under! The elders made the choice, not Evan!"

"Don't touch me," I warned, stepping back onto the landing. "Stay away from me, Selena."

"I never wanted to hurt you!" she sobbed, closing the distance despite my warning. Her fingers brushed against the fabric of my jacket. "You have to believe me! I love you, Diana!"

"I said, don't touch me!"

I jerked my arm back to break her grip.

I didn't push her. My fingers didn't even brush her skin.

Yet Selena let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Her body twisted sideways, her bare feet slipping as she threw herself backward over the polished oak steps.

"Diana, no!" Evan roared from the bedroom doorway.

Selena tumbled down the wide spiral staircase like a ragdoll, bouncing hard against the mahogany banister before crashing into the marble foyer below.

Silence fell over the hall.

Evan rushed past me like a gale, his shoulder slamming into mine so hard I bruised against the wall. He flew down the stairs four at a time, dropping to his knees beside Selena's crumpled form.

"Selena!" Evan bellowed, gathering her into his arms.

Blood smeared across Selena's pale temple, staining the pristine marble floor. Several pack guards rushed into the foyer from the front entrance, their weapons drawn, eyes wide at the gruesome scene.

Evan cradled Selena's head, his hands trembling as he checked her pulse. "Call the medics! Now!"

Selena weakly cracked her eyes open. Through the blood running down her cheek, she lifted a trembling, bloodstained finger, pointing it straight up at me as I stood frozen on the landing.

"Sister..." Selena wept, coughing as pink foam touched her lips. "I know you hate me... but my baby... Evan's baby is innocent..."

Evan's head snapped up.

His eyes locked onto mine, burning with murderous Alpha rage.