Bounded By Revenge; The Betrayed Luna’s Rise

He is Alive

ARIA POV

The pack hospital was not far from the estate. It was a place I had visited countless times over the years—comforting injured warriors, checking on elderly pack members, delivering meals to patients who had no family. Today I was here as a patient.

“Come in.”

Dr. Alden’s voice echoed through the consultation room. He had known me since I was a child, yet his warm smile was nowhere to be found today. “Please, have a seat.”

I sat across from him, my fingers nervously twisting the hem of my dress. “You wanted to see me?”

He sighed before opening a thick medical file. “I’ve reviewed your examination.”

My heart tightened. “Is something wrong?”

For a long moment he did not answer. Instead he looked at me with pity, and somehow that frightened me more than any words could.

“I’m sorry, Luna. The injuries from your miscarriage were far more severe than we believed. The fall caused permanent damage to your womb. We’ve done everything we could over the past three years, but you’ll never be able to conceive another child.”

The room became unbearably quiet. I heard the ticking of the clock on the wall, the rustling of papers, someone laughing faintly outside the window. Everything sounded distant. Muted.

“I…” My lips trembled. “There has to be another treatment.”

Dr. Alden slowly shook his head. “I wish there were.”

Tears blurred my vision. “I’ve prayed every day since I lost that baby. I thought… maybe the Moon Goddess would give me another chance.”

“I’m truly sorry.”

Sorry. Everyone always said they were sorry. But none of it changed the truth. I would never hold my own child in my arms. Never hear someone call me Mother. Never give Darius the heir this pack expected. A bitter smile found its way onto my lips. Maybe that was why Selena and Noah had come. Perhaps the Moon Goddess had already decided I could never truly be this family’s Luna.

I thanked the doctor before quietly leaving the hospital.

Rain began to fall as I drove back toward the estate. The windshield blurred beneath the steady downpour. So did my vision. I wiped away another tear. You’ll never be able to conceive another child. The words refused to leave me. If Darius found out, would he regret choosing me? Would he finally realize he had made the wrong decision seven years ago?

A movement on the road suddenly caught my attention. Someone stumbled out of the forest. My eyes widened. I slammed my foot on the brake. The car jolted violently.

“Oh, Goddess!”

I threw open the door and ran into the rain. A man lay motionless on the muddy road. Dropping to my knees, I carefully turned him onto his back. My breath caught. He was already covered in blood. Long claw marks tore through his shirt. His breathing was shallow. The impact from my car could not have caused those injuries. He had been attacked long before I found him.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

His face was caked with mud. With trembling fingers I brushed the wet hair away from his forehead. The moment I saw his face, the world stopped.

“No…” I whispered. “It can’t be…”

I had seen this face before—not in person, but in the countless family portraits hanging throughout Monroe Manor. The sharp jaw. The black hair. The unmistakable resemblance.

“Caspian…”

Darius’s younger brother. The man whose funeral I had attended six months ago. The man everyone believed was dead.

A faint groan escaped his lips. He was alive. Without wasting another second I struggled to pull him toward the car. He was far heavier than he looked. Every movement drew a painful groan from him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered over and over. “Just hold on.”

Somehow I managed to get him into the back seat. My hands shook as I climbed behind the wheel and turned the car around. The hospital was closer than the estate. I pressed hard on the accelerator.

“Please don’t die…” I glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “Not today.”

His eyes remained closed. But for just a brief second, I could have sworn his fingers twitched

Minutes later I stumbled into the nearest hospital. “Emergency!” My voice echoed through the lobby as I rushed inside. “Someone help me!”

Within seconds nurses and orderlies came running with a stretcher. “Lay him down carefully,” one of them instructed. Together we lifted the unconscious man from the back seat of my car. The moment one of the doctors saw his face, he stopped dead in his tracks.

“…Impossible.”

Another nurse gasped. “Isn’t that…”

The doctor immediately snapped out of his shock. “Move! He’s losing too much blood!”

The medical team wheeled him through the double doors toward the emergency room. I stood frozen in the hallway, my clothes soaked from the rain and stained with his blood. My hands would not stop shaking.

Caspian. He was alive. Six months ago the entire pack mourned him. His funeral had lasted three days. Darius had locked himself in his study afterward and refused to see anyone. Or at least that was what everyone believed. The thought made my chest tighten. No. I could not think like that.

I took a deep breath and sat outside the operating room. Minutes turned into an hour. Every time the doors opened, my heart leaped. Finally the lead physician stepped out, removing his gloves.

“He’s stable.”

Relief washed over me. “Thank the Moon Goddess.”

“The injuries are severe,” the physician continued. “He has multiple fractures, several deep claw wounds, and signs of prolonged exhaustion. But he’ll survive.”

I released a shaky breath. At least he was alive. Instinctively I reached into my handbag for my phone. No matter what had happened, Darius deserved to know his brother was alive. I found his contact and pressed Call.

The phone rang once. Before it could ring a second time, a hand shot out from behind me. My phone was ripped from my grasp. It flew across the corridor and shattered against the wall. The loud crack made several nurses jump.

I spun around. “Caspian?”

He stood barefoot in the hospital hallway, dressed only in a loose patient gown. Fresh bandages wrapped around his chest, and blood had already begun seeping through them. He should have been too weak to stand. Instead he looked at me like a predator staring at its prey. His amber eyes burned with undisguised hatred.

“What are you doing?” I asked, stunned. “You shouldn’t even be out of bed.”

He ignored my question. “Who were you talking to?” His voice was rough. Cold. “Darius, he needs to know about this.”

“He stopped being my brother the day he tried to have me killed.”

I stared at him. “…What?”

His jaw clenched. “You heard me.”

“That’s impossible.”

Without warning he crossed the distance between us. His hand wrapped around my throat. I gasped as he slammed me against the wall. The impact stole the breath from my lungs.

“C-Caspian…”

His grip tightened. “Why did you bring me here?”

“I… saved…”

“You should’ve left me to die.”

“I don’t understand…”

“No.” His eyes narrowed. “You understand perfectly.”

“I swear I don’t!”

His face was only inches from mine. “I escaped the men your husband sent after me. They hunted me for days. They killed every guard who was with me. I barely escaped with my life.”

I searched his face desperately. He looked exhausted. Injured. Broken. But he did not look insane. “You’re mistaken,” I whispered. “Darius would never do something like that.”

A bitter laugh escaped him. “Wouldn’t he? If that’s true… then answer me this.” His eyes locked onto mine. “Why did the men hunting me carry the Monroe crest? They weren’t rogues. They were Monroe warriors.”

Each word landed like a hammer against my chest. The corridor fell deathly silent. I wanted to deny it, to call him a liar, to defend my husband. But the conviction in his eyes made the words die in my throat.

Before I could speak, hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor. “Caspian!” Several nurses came running. “What are you doing out of bed?”

The moment he heard them, Caspian released my throat. I slid down the wall, coughing violently as I struggled to breathe. He did not even look at the nurses. His eyes remained fixed on me.

“If you tell Darius I’m alive…” His voice was calm now. Terrifyingly calm. “…the next time we meet, I won’t spare you simply because you saved my life.”

Without another word he turned and walked back toward his room, leaving me on the cold hospital floor. I stared after him, my heart pounding. For the first time in seven years, I found myself wondering if I had ever truly known the man I married.