My world crumbled the moment Nyra collapsed. One second, my daughter was racing across the moonlit shore behind our cliffside den, laughing as the waves chased her. The next, her small body crumpled as if the moon itself had snuffed out her strength.
“No!”
My voice tore from my chest as I bolted toward her—but someone beat me to it.
With the unnatural speed only an Alpha could wield, Brexon blurred across the clearing. One heartbeat he was standing by the fire pit, discussing warding boundaries with the sentries; the next, he was on his knees beside our daughter, lifting her effortlessly in his powerful arms.
“Little moon, can you hear me?”
His voice was rough, panicked—nothing like the cold, untouchable Alpha the kingdoms whispered about.
Nyra’s small fingers curled weakly into his shirt. “Daddy…”
Her voice strained, breath shallow, each inhale a battle.
“You’re safe. I’ve got you,” he murmured, jaw flexing hard as he held her closer. Then he barked toward me, “Call the healer. Now.”
I jolted from my frozen panic, fumbled for my crystal-comm communicator, and contacted Healer Romano.
“Nyra…Nyra just collapsed,” I choked out. “She can’t breathe.”
“Bring her to the Lunar Clinic. Do not waste a second.”
She had been laughing minutes ago. Spinning. Glowing with life. This cannot be real.
“But it doesn’t make sense. She was okay,” I whispered, fighting the rising terror. “Brexon, I swear she just—”
“Enough,” he snapped, carrying Nyra toward the waiting shadow carriage. His sentinels moved at once, opening the door as he slid in with our daughter held tightly against him.
I climbed in beside them, my trembling hand brushing Nyra’s pale cheek.
“Hang in there, Sweetheart. Mommy’s got you.”
Brexon didn’t say a word. His entire body was coiled tight as he held her close. His heartbeat was steady—controlled—yet I knew him too well. Beneath that ruthless calm, he was barely holding himself together.
The ride to the Lunar Clinic was suffocating. Every second stretched into a lifetime. By the time we arrived, the healers were already waiting. Brexon strode inside with the authority of an Alpha born to command, shouting orders the moment his feet crossed the threshold.
Healer Harlan intercepted us in the corridor, expression grim as he motioned for the healer's assistants to take Nyra.
“I want answers,” Brexon snapped, voice sharp as tempered silver. “What’s happening to my daughter?”
“It has begun,” Harlan exhaled heavily. “Just as I warned before. Her lunar core is destabilizing. If we don’t act soon—”
“Then do something,” Brexon snapped.
The healer hesitated. “She needs a blood-moon transfer. But her lunar signature is rare. Only one wolf in the pack matches her.”
My stomach twisted as Romano’s gaze shifted to Brexon.
“You, Alpha.”
Silence devoured the corridor.
Brexon’s expression didn’t change, but I felt the shift in his aura—the dangerous ripple that warned of an alpha pushed to the edge.
“Then take whatever you need,” I said quickly. “Just save her.”
Romano nodded, but before he could respond, the clinic doors swung open.
A she-wolf stepped inside. Tall. Elegant. Not a rogue—no rogue carried themselves with such poise. Her fur-lined cloak shimmered with enchantment, her heels clicking sharply on polished stone, but panic flickered across her face.
My breath caught.
Lyssa.
She was Brexon’s former mate. They had been bound for five cycles. She was meant to be his Luna, destined to lead the Silvermoon Howlers beside him. But she ran—vanished from the pack just before their bond fractured. Cycles later, I found Brexon, dragged him out of the agony of a broken mate-bond, and eventually became Luna of the Silvermoon Howlers.
I thought she came alone.
But she didn’t.
A boy clung to her hand. He looked Nyra’s age—pale, fragile, his energy flickering like a dying ember.
My heart sank.
Not now. Goddess, not now.
Romano stiffened. “This… complicates everything.”
“What is she doing here?” Brexon asked, gesturing at Lyssa. His voice was eerily calm.
Lyssa tightened her grip on the boy, hands shaking.
“Because… Orrin needs help. And Healer Harlan has been treating him.”
The air thickened, charged with tension and suppressed growls.
Harlan cleared his throat.
“Orrin shares the same lunar illness as Nyra. And Alpha… you’re the only viable match for him as well.”
The words hit like a blade to the gut.
“What?” Brexon’s voice dropped, low and lethal—his Alpha wolf clawing at the surface.
Harlan hesitated, then spoke the words that shattered the entire room.
“Orrin is your pup.”
Silence crashed over us—heavy, suffocating.
I stepped back, vision blurring. No. No, this couldn’t be happening.
Brexon’s entire body locked up. His jaw tightened, his knuckles whitening as his claws threatened to break through. “Is this some kind of sick joke?”
“I’m sorry,” Lyssa whispered. “I never wanted it to come out like this.”
“How long?” His tone was pure frost.
She inhaled shakily. “Eight cycles.”
I flinched. Nyra was eight.
Brexon’s breath hitched, sharp and dangerous. “And it never once crossed your mind to tell me?”
“I had to protect him.” Tears streamed down Lyssa’s cheeks.
A dark laugh slipped from Brexon—cold, empty, twisted at the edges. “Protecting him… from me?”
She shook her head, voice barely a whisper. “From my mate—my dead mate. If he had discovered Orrin wasn’t his bloodline, he would’ve ripped our throats out without hesitation.”
Harlan’s voice cut through the suffocating silence.
“Alpha… we’re out of time. Two pups are fading. Both need your blood.”
Two. The word sliced through me like claws through flesh.
Brexon’s face remained unreadable, a mask of steel, but his fists clenched at his sides, knuckles whitening.
Lyssa drew in a ragged breath. “I know I do not deserve to ask, but... please save him.”
I turned to Brexon—my Alpha, my mate, the father of my pup—my throat burning with every breath.
“Brexon… please.” The words scraped out, thin and trembling. “Save our little girl.”
His jaw tightened. His gaze flicked between the corridor where the healers had taken Nyra and the limp boy in Lyssa’s arms, pale and slipping away.
One choice.
Two failing heartbeats.
No path that spared them both.
And right then, the truth hit me with brutal clarity—
Even an Alpha can be torn apart.
