Freedom from Aldric remained a distant dream. I still had to endure another week tied to this bond, another week forced to play the Luna he still imagined to be.
We, once again, spent another night lying in the same bed, yet the warmth once used to feel like a moon-given blessing now felt hollow.
His touch no longer soothed me—it made my skin stiffen, haunted by the memory of those same hands tracing another she-wolf’s body.
The sleepiness did not overtake me. My mind kept replying the moment in the runestone lift, the effortless intimacy between him and Mirael and the unsettling calm of the pack wolves around them, as if their affair had been a rumor carried on the wind long before I saw it with my own eyes.
When dawn’s light filtered through the manor windows, Aldric woke me the same way he always did— lifting me effortlessly into his arms and carrying me to the bathing chamber, insisting we wash together beneath the enchanted hot-spring waters.
The routine once made me feel cherished, but now only left me nauseated.
I wondered, had he shared this routine with her, too? Whispered the same promises? Lay the same tender touch over her?
Aldric, blind to the way I had withdrawn, waved off my silence.
He had spent cycles pursuing me, ever since those first days when I refused to let him close.
In his eyes, my silence meant nothing more than another challenge to win me back. However, in mine, the bond had already rotted beyond repair.
Even our morning meals, once a quiet comfort, now felt stifling. Every smile looked practiced and every kiss tasted of deceit.
Soon after, he left for his Alpha duties and my crystal communicator vibrated — a reminder from the healer’s den about my appointment.
It might be the last time I ever visit to that place.
I brought a box of moon-glazed pastries for the pack healers who had supported me for cycles.
They had worked tirelessly to help me conceive, but now … I no longer wanted this pup tied to a mate who had given his heart to another.
“You never forget us, Luna Wolfsbane,” the healer said with a warm smile as she took the treats.
I gave a faint nod. “It’s nothing.”
Just as I turned to find a place to sit in the waiting cavern, my breath stopped. I spotted them —Aldric and Mirael.
The two of them stepped out of the birthing chamber together. Aldric’s hand resting protectively over her still-flat belly.
Mirael held a moon-blessed scroll, her name written across the etched cover.
I froze, a thousand questions racing through my mind. "Their cub? How? When?"
The irony was bitter. Aldric, the one who first brought me to this healer, now stood here with his mistress, as if I had never discovered it.
“So even the healer knows,” I whispered, bitterness curling in my chest. The pain struck deep, like a dozen silver claws.
Did his entire bloodline know, too?
Standing alone in the corridor, I wondered just how deep their deception ran. The Wolfsbane Clan, was the one who had brought Aldric into my life, yet even they had turned a blind eye.
I had never expected to be part of a powerful Alpha clan, the Wolfsbanes. I had simply been a young she-wolf fresh from the academy, training at the Wolfsbane Alliance to save moon-credits for my dream of becoming a beauty tale-teller.
I needed the moon-credits to support my tools, so I devoted myself entirely to my tasks, avoiding pack disputes.
But the Moon Goddess never let things stay simple.
On my first day, I found myself alone in the runestone lift with an elderly wolf who looked unwell. His right hand pressed against his chest and his left gripped his carved walking stick.
“Elder, are feeling unwell?” I asked quietly.
Before he could give me an answer, he collapsed. Panic shot through me as I hit the emergency rune and knelt beside him, performing the life-breath technique I had learned.
The basic life-breath technique I had learned from academy became a lifesaver. when the healers finally arrived, they told me my swift actions were the reason the elder still drew breath.
Only then was his identity revealed to me— Elder Kaizen Wolfsbane, the revered patriarch who established the entire Wolfsbane Alliance.
That single incident turned my quiet training into a storm of pack eyes and whispered praise. The Wolfsbane clan thanked me endlessly, but no one was more fervent, more constant, than Aldric.
His pursuit was relentless, like a wolf who had already chosen his mate.
At first, his attention felt more like pressure than affection. He took over burdensome duties, escorted me back through the moonlit woods in late hours and kept sending gifts to my den despite my repeated attempts to decline.
When my body gave in to exhaustion, Aldric appeared at my den, lifted me effortlessly and carried me straight to the healer's den.
I tried to stop him. “Alpha Wolfsbane, please. I didn’t save your elder for a reward or attention in return. I just simply did the right thing to do.”
His words caught me off guard. “You think that’s the reason I'm pursuing you? No,” he said, in a low yet firm voice low, his golden irises locked onto mine.
I furrowed my brows, confused and dazed. "I've seen you longer than you think." He, then, went on. "Back, in my last cycle at the academy, I saw you in the training court, but I never had the courage to talk to you and then, when you joined our alliance … it felt like fate giving me a second chance.”
“But ….” I faltered, with his words.
“You don’t have to fear how my family sees you.” He cut in with a calm and gentle voice. “They’ve already given their blessing. If you wished, we could complete the mating vows this very moment.”
I refused, trying to think clear-sighted. “No … that’s wouldn’t be appropriate, Alpha Wolfsbane. We haven’t had time to truly know each other.”
He offered a calm, earnest smile. “Then let me earn your trust. Two cycles—let the Moon Goddess witness my efforts. When I return with a formal pledge, you can decide whether I’m worthy or not. Until then, allow me to get close to you.”
Sensing the determination and honesty in his promise, I did not hesitate to nod.
For the first time, I felt cherished in a way I had only dreamed of beneath the silver glow of the moon.
Even so, doubt still lingered in me. I had grown up witnessing mates tear each other apart, leaving nothing behind but scars and sorrow.
However, those two cycles were enough to make me believe that perhaps—just perhaps—he was the fated one the Moon Goddess had chosen for me.
So, I said yes.
Our mating ceremony was everything he vowed—grand, magical, every eye fixed on us with awe and envy. He even claimed an entire moon-tower and inscribed in my name “Fortune Seraphina”.
The vows spread across territories and wolves I had never met praised me for “living the perfect Luna life.”
Yet they never saw the sacrifices buried beneath that perfection.
To protect his clan’s privacy, Aldric urged me to give up my dream of becoming a beauty tale-teller. He would not allow our daily life to appear in public except during official events.
I felt disheartened, at first, yet I convinced myself that his wishes were ultimately for the best.
Who would have thought I was wrong.
Back to the healer’s den, Mirael’s eyes met mine for a heartbeat and rather than acknowledge me, she curled her lips in a proud, mocking smile.
Is she mocking me?
