ian

ck his vitals. Retreating to my study, I yanked at my tie, pacing like a caged beast

d like a curse. It was an irritating burr under my skin. The mate bon

freezing water, maybe even intentionally smashing her hand against the rocks, just to make Leo look like a monster and me like a tyrant. Sh

swept in. The suffocating scent of her heavy floral perfume masked the room's te

rchief as if the mere mention of Elara soiled her. "That woman is growing bolder by the day. Thr

another one of her pathetic tantrums," I sai

only heir to the Sterling bloodline. She has occupied the Luna's seat for three years, yet your bed remains barren. A

tened until the crystal g

ty, she must be disciplined. Send her to the Moon Altar in the Ancestral Hall. Let her kneel on t

meant for pack traitors. For a fleeting second, the image of Elara's deathly p

embered Leo's

of emotion, shutting down my wolf's pr

ra

. I was awkwardly trying to wrap a makeshift splint around my shattered right hand with my left,

oved backward into the room,

s head servant, marched in flanked by two massive pa

he Alpha and the Dowager Luna have decreed that for your malicious attempt to harm the young mast

self in front of me. "You can't! The Luna just fell into the freezing po

!" Fletch

eavy hand could strike

ill have your eyes

ing enforcer freeze mid-swing. Even Fletcher took an involuntary step back, startled by the sudden, suffocating a

ars with my numb, purple left hand. "Bring me my cloa

pointed that she couldn't enj

g frame, cradling my broken right hand against m

this was Julian's explicit permission. My husband, my fated mate,

room. The heavy mahogany doors were slightly ajar. Golden firelight spilled into the dar

scent of vanilla a

pond. Should I have my family's doctor look at it? I feel so terrible... She must

ul, delicate Omega who had recently returned from abroad, and the real reas

aning intimately against Julian's arm, her

Alpha aura softened completely. He reached out, g

t through the last remaining thread of my mate bond like a silver blade. "She broke her own hand just to play t

ent laugh tor

dignity for. The last, pathetic ember of love I held for Ju

stingly warm scene and walked straig

rced through my cloak, sinking into my marrow. I walked to the center of the Moon A

red hand pulsed with every heartbeat, but it was nothing

swallowed me. Let this ice freeze away the very last dro