Pain was the first thing that greeted me when my eyes finally opened.
It seeped through my body like slow-burning moonfire—my arms aching dully, my leg screaming with sharp, vicious intensity. I tried to sit up on instinct, but a firm yet gentle hand pressed me back down.
“Easy,” a healer said, her voice calm and practiced. “You were caught in a collision near the eastern road. Your ankle is fractured, and the rest are minor wounds. Your wolf hasn’t recovered yet. Don’t move.”
A collision.
The word echoed hollowly.
And then everything rushed back—Thorne. Rionna. The glowing council parchment in her hands. My brothers laughing. The way my heart felt like it had been torn open. Running. The blare of a warning horn. White light.
The carriage.
I swallowed hard. “How long… have I been here?”
“Nearly a full day,” she replied, checking the rune-lit crystal beside my bed. Then she slowed, her expression softening. “There’s something else you need to know.”
My pulse spiked. “What is it?”
She paused only briefly. “You were carrying a pup. Just over two months along. I’m sorry—the impact severed the moon thread.”
The words didn’t register at first.
I stared at her. “A pup…?”
She nodded and gently squeezed my fingers.
“I didn’t know,” I whispered. “I really didn’t…”
My mind went eerily still, while something inside my chest shattered completely. In one night, I had lost everything I never even knew I had.
“Would you like me to summon someone from your pack?” the healer asked softly.
My thoughts drifted to Thorne—the Alpha who had claimed me in name only. Then to Arion and Axton, the brothers who once swore blood-oaths to protect me, who now laughed about discarding me.
But I couldn’t bear the emptiness.
“I… need my communicator,” I said hoarsely.
She placed it in my hand. The first name I called was Thorne’s.
No answer.
I tried again.
“The bond you seek is unreachable.”
Again.
Nothing.
The tears came fast and unbidden. He wasn’t coming. None of them were. Rionna had returned—and I had already been erased.
Later, the healer returned and placed a small basket on the table.
“Someone left this for you,” she said quietly. “Food, moon-lilies. He said he was a healer… the one who brought you in.”
I frowned. “A healer?”
She nodded. “He didn’t give his name. Just told me to make sure you rested.”
After she left, I stared at the basket. The scent of food turned my stomach. I pushed it aside and picked up my communicator, opening the pack network feed—desperate for anything. Guilt. Concern. Proof I still mattered.
That was when I saw it.
Images.
Recordings.
Arion. Axton. Thorne. Rionna.
Laughing beneath enchanted lights. Holding sugarfruit and festival bread. Standing before Silvercrest Palace like a perfect family unit.
The caption read:
“First outing as a true Alpha family. Long overdue.”
My chest locked painfully.
True family?
Then what had I been?
I cried until my vision burned, until my throat ached, until there was nothing left inside me but hollow exhaustion.
By morning, my communicator buzzed. It was Thorne.
I stared at the name before answering.
“Rayna!” His voice sounded sharp, almost frantic. “Why didn’t you say you were in the infirmary? Why didn’t you contact us properly?!”
Us, he said?
Before I could reply, the door opened.
Thorne entered, with Arion and Axton close behind, all three wearing carefully measured expressions of concern.
“We rushed over as soon as we heard,” Axton said, adjusting my pillow as if he’d always been there.
“I only noticed your missed call late last night,” Thorne added. “You should’ve kept trying.”
I looked at them quietly. “Where were you?”
“Council matters,” Thorne answered too quickly. “You know how it is.”
No, I don’t.
Because it was our bond anniversary.
Because you claimed my sister.
Because you replaced me without hesitation.
But I stayed silent.
“I’m here now,” he said more gently, brushing my hair back. “I won’t leave.”
I turned my face away. “I need the washroom.”
“You can’t walk,” he said at once. “I’ll carry you.”
He lifted me carefully, and for one dangerous moment, it felt like the past—like the Alpha I once loved hadn’t vanished.
Then the illusion broke.
Arion burst through the door.
“Thorne! Hurry!” he shouted. “Rionna collapsed!”
Thorne froze.
“What?”
“She fainted,” Arion repeated urgently.
And just like that, Thorne’s arms slackened.
He let go.
I fell hard onto the stone floor, my back slamming down, my injured ankle screaming in agony. But he didn’t look back. Not even once.
He ran out, already calling Rionna’s name.
Then what about me?
I curled inward, shaking, humiliated, shattered—until a different pair of arms carefully lifted me up.
I blinked through my tears and looked up.
Dark hair. Warm brown eyes.
“Ardyn…?” My voice barely carried.
The healer I once knew.
Ardyn Valemont.
The one who once stayed. The one who disappeared without explanation.
A faint smile touched his lips.
“Still finding ways to get hurt?” he murmured.
I couldn’t speak.
He brushed a loose strand of hair from my face.
Then, softly, sincerely, he said—
“Rayna… do you want to disappear with me?”
