Chapter 3
1015 Words
I returned to Blackthorn Manor before dawn to take back the Moonridge seal.
The silver wound pulled with every step. Dr. Helena's bandage held, but no Blackthorn healer had touched me.
Not anymore.
The Luna chamber door was open.
My fingers tightened around my coat.
Lily's scent spilled into the hall.
Sweet. Soft. Wrong.
I pushed the door open.
Photographs covered the wall.
Ethan and Lily in Paris.
Ethan and Lily at the northern ice cliffs.
Ethan and Lily under the old red bridge in Veyra territory.
Places I had begged him to visit.
Places he had called unsafe, boring, public, unnecessary.
He had always hated pictures.
For me.
Lily stood beneath them in my pale bridal robe, one hand on her stomach.
My veil lay across the chair behind her.
Her fingers brushed the lace. "Ethan said white calms the pup."
"That veil was made for my wedding."
"Then maybe the baby likes your taste."
One photo showed Ethan kissing her forehead in front of the old Moonridge lake.
My lake.
The place where he first called me his future Luna.
I crossed the room and picked up the Moonridge seal.
Lily dropped to her knees and wrapped both arms around my waist.
Pain burst under my bandage.
"Please don't hate me," she cried. "After the pup is born, I can leave."
Her fingers pressed exactly where the silver had cut me.
I grabbed her wrists. "Let go."
She pressed harder.
My vision sparked white.
"Lily," I said through my teeth. "Move your hand."
The door opened.
Lily threw herself backward before I touched her.
Her shoulder hit the cabinet with a loud c***k.
"Claire!" she screamed.
Ethan crossed the room and caught her before she hit the floor.
His eyes went to Lily.
Not my wound.
Not my face.
Not the blood blooming under my black dress.
"What did you do?" he snarled.
I laughed.
"She grabbed me."
Lily sobbed into his shirt. "I only wanted to apologize. I deserve it, but the pup needs peace."
Ethan's arm tightened around her.
"You cannot even leave a pregnant Omega alone?"
"Your pregnant Omega just dug her fingers into my silver wound."
His gaze dropped. The dark cloth hid most of the blood.
"You should not be here if you are injured."
"This is my chamber."
"Not today."
The words landed clean.
Lily lowered her face.
A tiny smile flashed before Ethan could catch it.
"Apologize to her," Ethan said.
"No."
"Claire."
"No."
His Alpha aura rolled out.
The photos trembled on the wall. My wolf lowered her head, wounded and furious.
I straightened anyway.
"I will not apologize to your mistress for bleeding on my own floor."
Ethan's face darkened. "You are humiliating yourself."
"No. You did that when you hung her pictures in my room."
"Lily needed comfort."
"So you gave her my memories?"
"They are not your memories."
"You told me you hated pictures."
Lily whispered, "Maybe he just hated taking them with you."
Silence snapped through the room.
Ethan said her name, but not like a warning. Like a plea.
I smiled. "Thank you, Lily."
Her face paled. "For what?"
"For saying what he was too cowardly to say."
Lily shook harder in his arms. "Ethan, maybe the pup and I should disappear."
"You are not going anywhere," Ethan said at once.
The air thinned around me.
When he cut me open, he left.
For her, he stayed.
I closed my fingers around the seal until its edge bit my palm.
"Move."
Ethan's head lifted. "What did you say?"
"I came for my seal. I have it. Move."
"You think you can attack Lily and leave?"
"She threw herself there."
Lily gasped. "I would never risk the pup."
"You risked it when you came back to another woman's wedding house."
Ethan stood with Lily in his arms. "Enough."
The command hit like a hand around my throat.
My knees almost bent.
Almost.
"I will not bow to you for her."
"You will if I order it."
"Then order it in front of every pack tomorrow. Let them watch the Blackthorn Alpha break his own Luna for his mistress."
Ethan looked unsure.
Lily whimpered and clutched her stomach.
His expression hardened again.
"Marcus," Ethan called.
His Beta appeared at the doorway. His eyes moved over the photographs, Lily's tears, and my blood.
"Bring the silver chains," Ethan said.
Marcus froze. "Alpha?"
"Now."
My fingers went cold around the seal.
"Ethan," I said. "Don't."
"You need to calm down before the wedding."
"There is no wedding."
"There will be if I decide there is."
I looked at Marcus.
He had trained beside me for years. He had eaten at my family's table. Once, after a rogue bit his shoulder, I held the wound closed until the healer arrived.
"Marcus," I said. "You know what silver does to a wolf."
His throat moved.
Ethan's voice cut across the room. "Beta."
Marcus lowered his eyes.
My fingers tightened until the seal cut my palm.
"I'm sorry, Luna," he whispered.
"Do not call me that if you are going to chain me."
Marcus returned with the old Blackthorn punishment chains.
Never on a Luna.
Never on a mate.
Ethan pointed toward the doors.
"Outside," he said. "Let her kneel until she remembers who she is."
Lily buried her face against Ethan's chest.
Her eyes stayed on me.
Dry.
Bright.
Waiting.
"Ethan," she whispered, "do not make her kneel too long. People will say I forced you."
He stroked her hair.
"No one will blame you."
"But Claire will."
"Claire blames everyone but herself."
The words reached me.
"Then say it louder," I said.
Ethan looked at me.
"Say your mistress belongs in my chamber. Say the pup matters more than your mate."
His silence answered both.
Lily's fingers curled into his shirt like she already owned the answer.
The photos covered the wall like a new Luna portrait.
The last warm part of me went cold.
Marcus stepped toward me.
I backed away once.
The first loop of silver closed around my wrist.
My wolf screamed.
- Writer
