Moon's Curse: The Last Twin-Blooded Alphas

Johanna went looking for Elspeth Sage, the sorceress who lived alone on the border of the Northern Wolflands.

"I don't care what it costs me. Do whatever it takes to use the forbidden rites to help me break our mate bond," Johanna said.

Johanna traded her betrothal pendant and her future happiness in exchange for Elspeth's spell that forcibly broke the mate bond while also temporarily ensuring that Carlin wouldn't notice it had been broken.

With the lies and the betrayal, Johanna felt as if the entire Silverplume pack had taken her for a fool. There was no point in maintaining a bond built upon deceit and disloyalty.

Of course, there was a reason why Johanna didn't cut off ties publicly. She knew full well she was powerless. Even if she exposed Carlin, it would only make it harder for her to get away. The Silverplume pack wasn't going to let a wolf who knew that much about their secrets leave.

Once the mark had been removed, Johanna went along with the act. During the day, Carlin continued to behave as if he loved her desperately and refused to betray her, no matter what. He kept kneeling in the ancestral shrine, the punishment Maria had meted out, and spent his days repenting in front of his ancestors.

But once the sky turned dark, he would leave the shrine from a secret exit and sneak into Allison's room, where the two indulged in their lust.

Assuming that Johanna wouldn't notice a thing after having drunk the medicine that was supposed to cut off her ability to sense anything from her link with him, Carlin grew bolder in his illicit affair with Allison. He even mated with her right in the ancestral shrine for the thrill of it.

Johanna had truly loved Carlin. Naturally, it was hard for her to abandon all feelings for him at the drop of a hat. Thus, she found herself tailing them a couple of times.

She heard their moans.

"My darling."

"This is incredible!"

"Give me more, my Alpha."

The repulsive sounds rang all the more clearly in the dead of the night. They felt like blades stabbing deep into Johanna's heart. But simultaneously, it helped her finally lose all feelings for the heartless, cruel Carlin.

After putting up with it for a few months, Johanna finally got her chance to leave the Silverplume pack.

Allison was pregnant, and Maria publicly called it a blessing from the Moon Goddess. She claimed that following Uriel's death, the Moon Goddess couldn't bear to see the Silverplume pack lose its pureblood lineage. Therefore, she had allowed Uriel's spirit to take physical form at night, thereby giving Allison and the entire Silverplume pack this pup.

Johanna was also told this story, though she found it entirely laughable. She knew better than anyone else how the pup came to be.

She tried to see if Carlin felt even the slightest bit of remorse toward her.

"Carlin, ever since Uriel died and your mother suggested that you and Allison mate to carry on the pureblood lineage, I feel an intense pain every night. I've never heard of the Moon Goddess being so moved that she would allow a dead spirit to take physical form at night before. Is the pup actually yours?" Johanna asked.

"How could you even think that, Jo? Mother and the elders want me to do it to carry on the pack's glory, but haven't you seen the way I refused to comply with their wishes? I've chosen to stay loyal to you, even if it means spending all my time kneeling in the ancestral shrine in suffering. Yet here you are, accusing me of something like this. How could you say something this hurtful to me?" Carlin protested.

He looked genuinely saddened, as if Johanna were the heartless one making an outrageous claim—as if his love for her had been for nothing, for she didn't even trust him.

Johanna wanted to laugh. She couldn't be bothered to argue with him about it. Instead, she continued to plot her escape.

However, Carlin reached out and pulled her into his strong embrace, something he hadn't done in a long time now.

"Jo, since Allison is with pup now, Mother and the elders won't force us any longer. You could say that Allison has helped us get through this. Moreover, it won't be easy for her to raise the pup alone. We should help her out more.

"I hope you can forget all about the past. Once the pup is born, I hope you can treat her pup as if it were ours, just like I will."

Upon hearing that, Johanna's disappointment reached its limit, and so did her resolve. She had to leave this heartless place that caused her nothing but sorrow as quickly as possible.

This entire situation was a ridiculous mockery.