After a desperate Luna awakes

The charred remains of the medical report drifted into the puddle between Evan's boots.

"You knew," I whispered.

Evan didn't flinch. He slipped his silver lighter back into his pocket, his face devoid of warmth.

"Does it really matter if she bought a vial of swine blood?" Evan asked, his voice chillingly calm.

"Does it matter?" I lunged against the iron bars, rattling the heavy metal until the bolts groaned. "She framed me for murder, Evan! She told the entire council I tried to slaughter your pup! And you stood there and watched them drag me into the dark!"

"Because you were already useless to me, Diana."

The words hit like cold steel shoved between my ribs.

Evan stepped closer, the shadows of the dungeon cutting sharp angles across his cheekbones. The gentle, protective husband who used to kiss my temples before dawn was completely gone.

"I waited three months," Evan said, his tone biting. "Three months sitting by a phone, hoping to hear that your shattered core had miraculously knit itself back together. But every doctor told me the same thing. You will never fight on the front lines again. You will never run with the pack hunt."

"I broke that core taking a blade for your life!"

"And I thanked you for it!" Evan barked, his patience finally snapping. "Do you think a pack survives on gratitude? The northern borders are collapsing. The rogues are circling our fences like vultures. I need a Luna who can shift, Diana. I need a Luna who can stand beside the Alpha in battle, not an invalid who needs someone to hold her upright every ten steps."

My hands slid down the bars.

The fever in my blood turned into absolute, hollow silence. Every sacrifice, every agonizing night spent choking down my own screams in that lonely cabin, washed away into nothingness.

"Is that all I was to you?" I asked quietly. "A weapon?"

"You were my partner," Evan said. "Until you broke. Selena is whole. Selena carries intact blood. She can give me strong heirs, and the elders respect strength."

He tapped the lock with a single brass key, swinging the cell door open. "Come upstairs. The council is waiting in the great hall. Sign the formal apology, surrender the Luna title to your sister, and I will let you live out your days in peace at the villa. I am doing you a mercy."

"A mercy."

I stepped out of the cell. My legs shook, but I refused to let him see me falter.

We climbed the stone steps to the main floor. The great hall was packed to the rafters. Elders in heavy ceremonial robes lined the high platform, while dozens of pack warriors stood shoulder to shoulder along the perimeter.

Standing right beside the high table was Selena.

She wasn't wearing Evan's oversized shirt anymore. She wore the ceremonial white Luna gown—embroidered with silver thread and moonstone crystals. My gown.

When Selena saw me, her lips curved into a tiny, mocking smirk. She stepped down from the dais before Evan could take his seat, closing the distance between us.

"You look terrible, sister," Selena murmured under her breath, loud enough only for the three of us to hear.

"You stole my clothes," I said flatly.

"Evan let me try it on two weeks ago," Selena whispered, leaning close to my ear. Her eyes shone with malicious triumph. "He couldn't even wait for you to heal. And do you want to know the most pathetic part? When he took me on your vanity desk, he kept whispering your name while he kissed my neck. He pretends he wanted you, but he was taking me."

Evan reached out, grabbing Selena’s wrist to pull her back. "That is enough, Selena."

He turned to me, his golden eyes flashing with a desperate, frantic intensity.

"Diana, don't listen to her," Evan insisted, lowering his voice. "I only ever loved you. I never stopped loving you. If you just accept your place, you can stay in my life. But I cannot rule beside a weakling! I can't afford to look weak!"

A sound bubbled up in my chest.

It wasn't a sob.

I laughed.

A clear, ringing laugh that echoed through the vaulted ceiling of the great hall. Elders frowned. Warriors shifted uncomfortably on their feet.

"You're laughing?" Evan's brow furrowed in utter bewilderment. "Diana, have you lost your mind?"

"No," I said, meeting his gaze with absolute clarity. "For the first time in three years, I see everything with perfect vision."

I turned my back on him and faced the high table.

"Elder Gregory!" I called out, my voice ringing across the hall.

The old wolf stiffened. "Speak, Diana. Have you come to beg for the Luna's forgiveness?"

"I have come to settle a debt."

Before anyone could guess my intention, I reached down to the belt of the nearest guard. With a swift flick of my wrist, I slid the silver ceremonial dagger from his scabbard.

Gasps tore through the hall. Five warriors drew their swords instantly.

"Diana, put that down!" Evan roared, lunging toward me.

"Stay back!"

I flipped the blade, pressing the razor-sharp silver edge straight into the center of my left palm.

"Diana, what are you doing?" Evan's face drained of all color.

"You told me you need an intact Luna," I said, staring directly into his widening eyes. "You said you couldn't afford to be tied to someone broken. So let me do you a favor, Alpha Evan."

"Stop!" Evan lunged forward. "Don't touch that bond!"

"By the blood of my ancestors and the light of the Moon Goddess," I recited loudly, my voice steady and cold, "I, Diana of the Red Moon, reject Alpha Evan as my mate."

I dragged the silver blade deep across my flesh.

Blood sprayed across the polished stone.

A sickening snap echoed inside my skull, like a thick iron chain shattering under unimaginable pressure.

The agony hit instantly.

A white-hot spike drove straight through my chest, severing the sacred tether that tied our souls together. It tore through my marrow, ripping the mate bond apart at the roots.

My knees hit the stone floor with a violent crack. Blood spilled from my lips.

Across from me, Evan collapsed just as hard.

He gripped his chest with both hands, letting out a strangled, agonized bellow that shook the chandeliers above. His Alpha aura violently imploded. The bond rejection tore through him, burning his wolf from the inside out.

"Diana!" Evan wheezed, vomiting blood onto the dais steps. Panic, raw and unhinged, twisted his face into a terrifying grimace. He dragged himself across the floor on his hands and knees, clawing at my jacket. "Stop it! Stop the severance! I don't agree! Diana, I command you as your Alpha, stop!"

I pulled my arm away from his trembling fingers.

The silver dagger clattered to the floor, slick with my blood.

"You aren't my Alpha anymore," I rasped, forcing myself to stand despite the blinding pain tearing through my core.

The elders stood frozen in horror. Selena backed away, shaking, clutching her throat as if she couldn't breathe.

Evan reached for my ankle, tears of pure terror spilling down his face. "Diana, please! You'll die out there without a pack! Your core can't survive alone!"

"From this day on," I said, wiping the red smear from my chin with the back of my hand, "I would rather be a packless stray than spend another second as your Luna."

I didn't look back.

I walked down the central aisle between rows of stunned, silent wolves. No one dared block my path.

I pushed through the heavy timber doors and stepped outside.

A torrential downpour had broken over the territory. Freezing sheets of rain slammed into my face, soaking my hair and washing the blood from my open palm.

Step by step, I marched away from the pack house.

Every movement felt like walking through broken glass. Without the pack bond to anchor my strength, my fever flared out of control. My vision blurred into swirling streaks of gray and dark green as I crossed the open fields toward the northern border.

My breath came in ragged, shallow gasps.

*Just ten more yards,* I told myself. *Just past the boundary stones.*

My boot caught on an exposed root.

The ground rushed up to meet me.

I crashed into the freezing mud, unable to lift my arms. The cold soaked through my clothes, seeping into my broken core until my fingers went completely numb. Darkness crept into the edges of my sight.

A low vibration rattled the mud beneath my cheek.

Through the heavy curtain of rain, a colossal shadow stepped through the border trees.

It was a wolf.

Massive, broad-shouldered, its fur black as midnight, with eyes that burned like molten silver. It prowled toward me with silent, terrifying authority.

The black wolf stopped inches from my face.

Bones cracked and shifted in the storm. The beast rose, transforming into a tall, broad-shouldered man clad in a dark military coat. He knelt beside me in the mud, brushing the wet hair away from my burning forehead.

Silver eyes locked onto mine.

Adrian.

The merciless Alpha of the Black Crown Pack.

He slid his arms beneath my knees and back, lifting me effortlessly against his chest as the storm raged around us.

"Found you," he murmured.