The Last Moonborn Wolf

Not Wolfless

Harper’s POV

I do not look back at the Silverline Pack as we leave. I thought I would feel something. Maybe relief, anger because they let me go without a fight, or even sadness. But all I feel is emptiness, and I do not know if it is because I am finally leaving the place that has been my prison for years or because I do not know what waits for me now.

The Northern soldiers move around us in silence, and there is something different about them compared to the warriors of my pack. They are not loud. They do not need to prove their strength by shouting or hurting someone weaker than them. They move like they know exactly who they are and what they are capable of.

I walk behind King Mason, trying to understand the strange situation I am in. I am struggling because I am still hurting from the torture. A few hours ago, I was kneeling in the courtyard waiting for another punishment, and now I am walking beside the most feared King in the kingdom. A man who could destroy my pack without effort. He said I am the reason he came here, but I still do not understand why.

Mason stops near the carriage, and I almost walk into him because I am too busy trying to understand my own thoughts. He turns toward me. For a moment, neither of us says anything. I wait for him to speak because I do not know what to say to a man like him.

“You are wondering why I came for you,” he says. His voice is calm, but there is something guarded in his expression, like he is not used to explaining himself to anyone.

“Yes,” I answer.

He studies me like he is trying to understand something.

“I did not come to Silverline because I was looking for a mate.” He says simply.

The words hit me harder than I expected. I do not know why. Maybe because a small part of me wondered if this was different, maybe because when I felt the pull toward him, I thought for one moment that the Moon Goddess had not completely abandoned me. But his words remind me of reality. I am still the girl who has no wolf. The girl who was rejected, not only by her mate but also by his pack, and now by my second-chance mate, it seems. I am still the girl no one wants.

“I did not think you did,” I say quietly.

It is a lie, and I think he knows it.

His eyes narrow slightly and he says. “You did.”

I look away. “I do not know what I thought.”

“That is the problem,” he says.

I look back at him. “The problem?”

He steps closer, but not enough to scare me. Not like Alpha Carter. There is still something dangerous about him, something powerful, but he does not move like someone trying to hurt me.

“You have spent so long believing what others told you about yourself that you do not even know what is true anymore. You think you are weak and no one wants you. I do not want a mate for other reasons.” He says.

His words make me angry because they are hitting too close to home, and he is using excuses to reject me.

“You do not know anything about me,” I say.

His expression changes, and for a moment, I think I see a little respect in his eyes, but then he guards his feelings again, and his face becomes expressionless. “You are right. I know nothing about you, but I also know more about you than you do.”

I did not expect him to agree and disagree with me in one sentence. This man is confusing.

“You said you did not come for a mate,” I say.

“No,” he answers immediately.

“Why don't you want a mate?” I ask.

His jaw tightens slightly.

“Love is a weakness,” the King answers, although I know there is much more behind his answer than he is willing to say. The words are cold. He must have believed them for a long time.

I stare at him. “That is what you think?”

“Yes. No one who cares about someone can make decisions without fear. They can be controlled. They can be threatened. They can be destroyed.” He says, his eyes dark and guarded.

I decide to leave it at that. There is something painful behind those words. Something he hides from the world. I should argue. I should tell him he is wrong. But I cannot. I think he is right. Love makes you weak. But I understand something about him in that moment. He is not saying he does not believe in love because he has never experienced it. He says it because he did, and whatever happened changed him.

Mason gestures toward the carriage. I step toward the carriage, but before I enter, I look back at him.

“King Mason,” I say softly.

His eyes meet mine. “What?”

I hesitate. Then I ask the question that has been burning inside me since the courtyard. “Why do you care if I am broken? What is so important about me that you are willing to take me with you?”

Mason looks at me for a long moment, and I can see the battle happening behind his eyes, like he is trying to decide how much he should tell me.

“You keep asking why I came for you, why I care,” he says quietly.

I do not answer. I already know he is going to say something that will change everything.

“Because you are not wolfless, Harper.”

My breath catches. The world feels like it stops around me.

“What?”

His eyes remain fixed on mine. “You heard me.”

My heart starts beating faster. “No… that is impossible...”

“Is it?” He asks.

I do not know how to answer because I have spent six years believing the same thing everyone else believed. That I was empty. That something was wrong with me. That I was nothing. King Mason steps closer.

“Your wolf is not gone,” he says.

I stare at him. “Then why can I not feel her?”

His expression darkens. “Because someone made sure you could not.”

The words hit me harder than any whip ever did. Someone. Not fate. Not the Moon Goddess?

“Who?” I whisper.

“I do not know yet,” he says, and his eyes move over me. “But whoever did it was not trying to punish you.”

My chest tightens. “Then what were they doing?”

Mason’s voice lowers. “They were protecting everyone else from what you would become when your wolf wakes up.”