Kelsey POV
I woke to the sharp sting of antiseptic clashing with the earthy scent of old sage.
My head throbbed with a dull, rhythmic ache, like a second heartbeat hammering against my skull. I blinked, trying to focus on the sterile white ceiling of the Pack Infirmary.
I was alone.
Usually, if a Luna is injured, the Alpha never leaves her side. He paces. He growls at nurses. He holds her hand until her eyelids flutter open.
But the chair beside my bed stood starkly empty. No jacket draped over the back. No lingering scent of pine and rain.
I tried to sit up, but vertigo tilted the world on its axis.
"Easy, child."
It was Martha, the head Healer. She was an elderly Omega with kind eyes and hands that always carried the soothing aroma of lavender. She gently pushed me back down against the pillows.
"You have a concussion," she whispered. "And you lost blood."
"Where is he?" I asked, my voice cracking like dry parchment. I hated myself for asking.
Martha looked away, refusing to meet my gaze. She busied herself with changing the IV bag, fiddling with the plastic tubing. "The Alpha... he is with Aria. She was in shock from the cold water. He hasn't left her room."
The confirmation hit me harder than the tree trunk had. He was comforting the woman who provoked me, while I lay here bleeding.
"He marked her, Martha," I whispered, the words tasting like ash. "He really did it."
Martha sighed, her face tightening with disapproval. "I know. The whole pack knows. It is... against our ways. To mark another while the first mate lives? It is cruel."
"He said I wasn't his mate anymore," I said, staring blankly at the wall. "He rejected me in everything but the formal words."
"Kelsey?"
The door swung open. It wasn't Bennett.
It was my parents.
My mother rushed to the bed, tears streaming down her face. My father, a stoic warrior who rarely showed emotion, looked like he wanted to tear the throat out of a god.
"Oh, my baby," Mom sobbed, stroking my hair. "We heard what happened at the lake. That... that monster."
"We are leaving," Dad said, his voice low and vibrating with suppressed rage. "I don't care about Pack Law. I don't care about loyalty. Bennett has dishonored you. We are taking you out of here."
I looked at them. They were my blood. My real support.
"I'm going to Paris," I told them. My voice was weak, but the decision was iron in my spine. "I have a contact. The Night Walkers."
Dad nodded, grim affirmation setting his jaw. "We know. We will help you get to the airport. But first... we have to get through today."
"What's today?" I asked.
Martha looked uncomfortable, shifting her weight. "The Alpha... he has ordered a gathering. A 'Welcome Ceremony' for Aria. He wants to officially introduce her as the Luna-elect."
"And he expects me to be there?" I laughed, a dry, humorless sound that scraped my throat.
"He sent a command," Dad growled. "He said all ranked members must witness the transition of power. If you don't go, he threatened to freeze your family's assets before you can leave."
He was holding my family hostage to humiliate me one last time.
"I'll go," I said. I swung my legs off the bed. The room tilted, but I grabbed my father's arm to anchor myself. "I'll go. And I will show him that he cannot break me."
*
Two hours later, I stood in the Pack Gathering Hall.
I wore a simple black dress—mourning attire for a celebration. I wore no jewelry. My face was pale, the bandage on my forehead stark white against my skin.
Bennett stood on the dais. Aria was next to him, wearing a white gown that looked less like a formal dress and more like a mockery of a wedding gown. She wore the Luna's necklace—my necklace.
Bennett looked at me. For a second, his eyes flickered to the bandage on my head. Was that guilt?
No. He looked away, turning his smile to Aria.
"Pack of the Blood Moon!" Bennett announced, his voice booming through the hall. "Today, we embrace the future. Aria carries the next generation of our strength!"
The pack cheered, but it was hollow. Many warriors looked at the floor, unable to meet their Alpha's eyes. They knew this was wrong.
Aria beamed, waving like a queen. She stepped forward to speak.
"I promise to be the mother this pack deserves," she said, her eyes locking on mine with predatory triumph. "Strong. Fertile. Loyal."
My mother squeezed my hand so hard her knuckles turned white.
"It's okay, Mom," I whispered. "Let them have their play. It's a tragedy, not a romance."
Bennett stepped forward to place a ceremonial wreath on Aria's head.
Just as he raised his hands, a siren wailed.
It was a sound that chilled every wolf to the bone. The perimeter alarm.
*Roooaaaarrrr!*
The howl didn't come from a pack wolf. It was dissonant, wild, hungry.
"Rogues!" Beta Mark shouted, bursting through the doors. "Breach at the North Gate! There are dozens of them!"
Chaos erupted.
Bennett dropped the wreath. His Alpha instincts kicked in.
"Warriors! To me!" he bellowed.
But his first move wasn't to lead the charge. It wasn't to check on the pack's safety.
He turned and tackled Aria, covering her body with his, shielding her from the imaginary threat in the hall.
"Get her to the safe room!" he screamed at his Gamma. "Protect the heir at all costs!"
He didn't even look in my direction.
I stood still in the middle of the panic, an island in the storm. My father stepped in front of me, growling, ready to rip apart any rogue that came near.
I watched Bennett dragging Aria away. And in that moment, amidst the sirens and the screaming, I felt the final shackle snap.
I turned to my father.
"Let's go," I said. "Now."
