“Goodbye, Selene,” I said coldly, my voice low and steady.
She didn’t move. Her painted lips curved in a mocking smile, the kind of smile that made my blood boil.
I’d already received a text from the flight coordinator confirming my private jet was refueled and ready. I had no time for her games. Not tonight.
“What do you want?” I asked sharply.
Selene tilted her head, her golden eyes glinting with cruel amusement. “I want to see you cry,” she purred.
I gave a small, humorless laugh. “Too bad,” I said, dragging my suitcase past her. “That’s never going to happen.”
“Then take this for your fare,” she said sweetly, tossing a few silver coins—old pack currency—at my feet. They clattered against the marble floor, flashing coldly in the light.
Something inside me snapped.
Before I could think, my palm met her cheek with a resounding crack.
The room went still.
“How dare you?” I hissed, my wolf stirring beneath my skin, her rage mirroring mine.
Selene stumbled back, clutching her face. Then she screamed—loud and shrill enough to rattle the glass windows.
Her cry was perfectly timed, perfectly theatrical.
Within seconds, Liam burst into the infirmary, Aiden right behind him.
“What did you do, Clara?” Liam barked, his aura flaring with Alpha dominance. His gaze darted from Selene’s red cheek to my trembling hand.
I scoffed. “What did I do? You heard her scream, so you came running. But where were you when your son shot me with a silver arrow? Where were you when I bled out on your floor?”
“Bad woman!” Aiden growled, stepping protectively in front of Selene. “You hurt her!”
“It’s not her fault, Alpha,” Selene said quickly, tears glistening in her eyes. “I came to beg her to stay, but she refused. I—I offered her money to help her travel safely, and she struck me!” She sobbed into her hands. “Please, don’t punish her too harshly. She’s just… hurt.”
“Stop this act, Selene!” I shouted, fury rising. “Stop playing the goddess-damned victim!”
Liam’s eyes darkened. “No, you stop it, Clara!” he thundered, his Alpha command rippling through the air, making my wolf flinch. “I’ve tolerated your outbursts long enough. You will apologize to Selene—now.”
A bitter laugh escaped me. “Even if you were the last man left in this cursed realm, Liam Russo, I would never bow to you again.”
His expression hardened. “What’s that supposed to mean? You dare speak to me this way?”
“For eight years, you said you couldn’t father another child,” I said, my voice shaking with anger. “Eight years of lies, only for me to find out that your precious Selene carries your pup.”
The color drained from Liam’s face. He turned sharply toward Selene. “You told her?” His voice was low, dangerous.
Selene looked away, pretending to tremble. “I—I didn’t mean to—”
“We can talk about that later,” Liam said quickly, turning back to me. “Clara, don’t make this worse. Come home. We can resolve this like adults.”
I gave him a cold, mirthless smile. “In your dreams, Alpha.”
I pushed past him, ignoring the way his command pulled faintly at the edges of my will. My wolf wanted to bare her teeth, but I held her back. Not here. Not in front of them.
Behind me, his voice roared through the hall: “Clara! Don’t you walk away from me!”
But I didn’t stop.
I walked out of that cursed place, down the dim corridor smelling of herbs and wolfsbane, out into the icy dawn air where my freedom waited.
---
By the time I reached the Silvermoon airfield, my shoulder throbbed beneath its bandages. I checked in with the pack gatekeepers, flashing the seal of my old lineage—the mark of the Moonblood clan. They hesitated, but let me pass. The private jet awaited, engines purring like a patient beast.
Just as I was told to power down my phone, it vibrated.
Liam.
I should have ignored it. But some part of me—a foolish, lingering fragment of the woman I used to be—answered.
“What do you want, Liam?” I snapped.
His voice was calm, too calm. “I understand you’re upset about Selene’s pregnancy. Come home, Clara. Give me a child—my heir. I’ll add your name to my will, grant you a future with security, with purpose. It’s what you deserve.”
A hollow laugh escaped me. “Go to hell, Alpha.”
And I hung up. Permanently. Blocking his number before I could second-guess it.
---
The flight was long, crossing mountain ranges cloaked in fog and snow. I slept halfway through, my dreams filled with howling wolves and crimson moons.
When I finally awoke, the jet was landing. The world outside the window was a different one—cleaner, brighter, untouched by the Silvermoon’s shadows.
As I stepped into the arrivals hall, I spotted a tall man in a black suit holding a placard with my name: Clara Moonblood.
I approached him. His sharp gray eyes softened as he recognized me immediately. “Miss Moonblood, I’m Talon, your assigned guardian from the Moonblood estate.”
My throat tightened. It had been years since I’d heard that name spoken aloud.
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
He took my luggage and opened the door of a sleek black car. The interior smelled of leather and faint silver dust—an old protective charm against dark magic.
As we drove, the city gave way to hills, then to forest, and finally to a sprawling estate crowned by moonlight. Towers of pale stone gleamed like silver bones under the night sky.
“This was your mother’s ancestral home,” Talon said. “Your grandparents have awaited your return for a long time.”
When we stopped at the entrance, two elderly figures stood waiting—Lord and Lady Moonblood, the last of the royal wolfblood line, and my grandparents.
“Clara!” My grandmother’s voice trembled as she hurried forward, her silver hair flowing like frost. She enveloped me in a tight embrace. My grandfather followed, his presence stern yet warm.
“Welcome home, child,” he said, resting a hand on my shoulder. “You are of our blood—our heir, the next Alpha of the Moonblood Clan.”
Tears burned my eyes, but I swallowed them back. “Thank you for accepting me,” I whispered.
“Nonsense,” my grandmother said, smiling proudly. “Everything here already belongs to you. It always did. We were merely waiting for you to claim it.”
My grandfather nodded gravely. “You bear both the Silvermoon mark and the Moonblood crest. That makes you powerful, Clara. Stronger than you know. The Silvermoon Pack betrayed one of their own—and that mistake will soon cost them dearly.”
For the first time in years, I smiled—a slow, dangerous smile that felt like it belonged to someone new.
Because now, I was no longer the broken omega they cast aside.
I was the last descendant of the Moonblood line.
The rightful heir to a forgotten throne.
And the time for retribution had finally begun.
