the vengeful luna

chapter 2

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The first thing that hit me when I woke up was the sharp, relentless throbbing in my head. It was like someone had taken a jackhammer and was going to town inside my skull. My vision was all fuzzy at first, a blur of colors and shapes that didn’t make sense. But then, as things slowly came into focus, I saw Sandra’s face hovering above me, her expression twisted with worry. Around her, a small group of pack members stood awkwardly, whispering amongst themselves, their eyes darting nervously between me and each other.

“Morwenna, are you okay? You scared the hell out of me!” Sandra’s voice trembled as she reached out, her fingers cool against my forehead.

I blinked a few times, trying to shake off the lingering pain that clung to me like a bad hangover. “Yeah… yeah, I’m fine. I’m okay,” I mumbled, though even I could tell how unconvincing I sounded. The truth was, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. These strange, intense pains had been ambushing me lately, like some cruel joke from the universe. And every time I brought it up, the pack brushed it off, feeding me the same nonsense: it’s improper to go to the pack nurse before the wedding. Can you believe that? They were more worried about gossip than my well-being. The idea that people might think I had some sort of disease seemed to terrify them more than the fact that I was suffering.

It was ridiculous. Like, what was I supposed to do, just sit around and wait to drop dead? This pack—my pack—was slowly suffocating me, and the pressure was building to a point where I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep it together. But I was tired of hearing the same old excuses, so I swallowed my frustration and kept my thoughts to myself.

Sandra, bless her heart, was still fussing over me, checking my pulse like she was some kind of doctor. “Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe you should just rest. Tomorrow’s a big day, and the last thing you need is to be worn out.”

“I’m fine, really,” I insisted, even as a wave of dizziness tried to pull me back down. I gently pushed her hands away and sat up straighter. “But you know what? If I’m not supposed to see the pack nurse, then Dylan needs to know about this. It’s proper that he knows what’s going on with me, right?”

Sandra’s face went pale, and she quickly shook her head like I’d just suggested something crazy. “Morwenna, you can’t do that! You know it’s bad luck to see the groom the night before the mating ceremony. It’s tradition—”

I cut her off, my patience wearing thin. “Tradition? What kind of backward tradition is that? I’m not about to sit around and suffer in silence because of some old wives’ tale. I’m going to see Dylan, and that’s that.”

Before she could argue any further, I stood up, determined to ignore the dizziness that threatened to send me back to the floor. Sandra’s protests faded into the background as I made my way to the door, my mind set on finding Dylan. The cool evening air hit me like a slap in the face as I stepped outside, but I barely noticed. I was too focused on the whirlwind of emotions stirring inside me—frustration, fear, determination. The wind whipped through the trees, rustling the leaves in a way that made them sound like they were whispering secrets, secrets I wasn’t supposed to know.

As I walked, I reached out to my wolf ash, trying to find some comfort in her presence. *“You there?”* I asked, hoping for some kind of response.

Her voice was soft in my mind, a calm amidst the storm. *“Always. You’re pushing yourself too hard, Morwenna. You need to rest.”*

*“I can’t rest, not now. Something’s wrong, and I need to talk to Dylan. He needs to know what’s going on with me.”* I could feel her concern, a mirror of my own, but there was also a quiet strength in her that I leaned on more than I cared to admit.

*“We’ll get through this,”* she assured me. *“But you need to take care of yourself. Don’t let this pack’s nonsense get to you. You’re stronger than you think.”*

I sighed, grateful for her steadying presence. *“I just want to feel normal again, you know? I don’t want to be the girl who passes out at her own wedding.”*

She huffed, a soft, almost amused sound. *“You’ll never be ‘just the girl,’ Morwenna. We’re destined for more than that. But you have to trust yourself. And trust Dylan, too. He’ll understand.”*

Her words gave me a small measure of comfort, enough to keep me moving forward even as doubt tried to creep in. As I neared the royal house, my resolve hardened. I wasn’t just doing this for me—I was doing it for us. For the future we were supposed to build together, a future I wasn’t about to let slip away because of some ridiculous tradition or the pack’s outdated fears.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the conversation ahead. The wind picked up again, carrying with it the scent of pine and earth, grounding me in the moment. My hand tightened into a fist as I reached for the door, ready to face whatever came next. Dylan needed to know, and I wasn’t going to back down, no matter what anyone said.

When I reached the grand entrance, one of the maids stepped forward, her face a picture of concern. “Miss Morwenna, please… you shouldn’t go in there. It’s not proper—”

There was that word again. Proper. I bit back the urge to snap at her, but the pain in my chest was starting to flare up again, and I couldn’t deal with any more nonsense. “Look, I appreciate your concern, but I need to see Dylan. Now.”

She hesitated, her eyes flickering with uncertainty, but I didn’t wait for her to make up her mind. I brushed past her, my heart pounding as I made my way down the familiar hallway. The pain was getting worse, spreading through my body like wildfire, but I forced myself to keep moving. I had to see Dylan. He’d know what to do. He always did.

As I approached his room, I heard a sound that made me stop dead in my tracks. A woman’s voice, low and breathy, moaning softly. My heart skipped a beat, and I felt my stomach twist in knots. No. No, no, no. It couldn’t be what I was thinking. Maybe he was watching something on TV—one of those stupid movies with a s*x scene that made you want to roll your eyes. Yeah, that had to be it.

But curiosity got the better of me, and before I could talk myself out of it, I pushed the door open, the creak of the hinges echoing in the silence. And there it was, the image I had been praying wouldn’t be real.

Dylan, the love of my life, was in bed, his body moving rhythmically against someone else’s. But that wasn’t even the worst part. The real gut punch, the one that made my heart shatter into a million pieces, was when I saw who he was with.

Dorothy. My elder sister. The only family I had left.

For a moment, I just stood there, frozen in place, my mind struggling to process what I was seeing. It felt like the world had just been ripped out from under me, leaving me to fall into a bottomless pit. My breath hitched, and I had to clamp a hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.

Dylan was saying something, whispering into her ear, but I couldn’t make out the words. I didn’t want to. The pain in my chest, the one that had been plaguing me all day, now had a source, a reason. It was heartbreak, pure and simple, tearing me apart from the inside out.