Loving Luna

The Heart It Chose

“And he’s going to rip it out of you,” Cassian said.

The words landed like a blade thrown too accurately to dodge.

Darius moved before the last syllable even left Cassian’s mouth.

One second, he was beside Luna, the wind still tangled in her hair, the crown’s faint pulse echoing like a second heartbeat in the clearing.

The next, his hand was around Cassian’s throat, slamming him into the nearest tree with enough force to shake loose old bark and silence the forest birds.

The wolves snarled in unison, a rising tide of instinct and alarm. Blackwood weapons lifted, steel catching fractured light through the canopy.

Ethan stepped forward immediately, palms raised. “Don’t. Stay back.”

They listened—not because they wanted to, but because Ethan’s voice still carried authority over chaos.

Cassian didn’t fight. He never did when it mattered. His boots hung slightly off the ground, the cracked edge of his mask revealing a sliver of pale skin and the dark veins beneath it, like something foreign had learned to live under him.

Darius leaned in, voice low and lethal. “Explain.”

Cassian’s blue eye flicked past him, straight to Luna.

“Look at me,” Darius snapped.

Cassian obeyed.

“The crown chose her,” he said hoarsely. “Choice needs a living heart.”

“Everyone has one,” Mason muttered from behind, unsettled.

“Not the point,” Evelyn said sharply, eyes fixed on Cassian like she was trying to decide whether he was already dead.

Darius ignored them all. “What does Lucian get from her heart?”

Cassian swallowed, throat straining against Darius’s grip. “The power to make obedience feel like choice.”

Silence fell so fast it felt unnatural, like the forest itself had stopped breathing.

Luna’s fingers curled slightly. “What does that mean?”

“Normal control creates resistance,” Cassian said. “Fear, rebellion, fracture. This removes it.”

His gaze shifted briefly to the wolves scattered around them. “They hate your commands,” he added, almost absently.

“But with the chosen heart,” Cassian continued, “commands feel like desire.”

Luna went cold. “He could make people think they want it.”

“Yes.”

“Pack members would think they chose their Alpha,” she said slowly, horror building in each word.

“Yes.”

“Families would betray each other willingly.”

“Yes.”

“And a mate could destroy someone they love believing it’s devotion.”

Cassian didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

Luna thought of Nightbane then—of silence where there should have been answers, of absence that felt too deliberate.

Darius did too. His grip tightened. “Did he order Solara to kill Kael?”

“No.”

“How sure are you?”

“I was there.”

Darius froze.

Luna turned sharply. “What?”

Cassian shut down instantly, as if he’d said too much. Darius slammed him back into the tree again.

“You were there when Kael died?”

“Yes.”

Rage hit Darius like a physical force. Luna grabbed his arm from behind, anchoring him.

“Darius.”

“He watched,” Darius growled.

“We don’t know what he did,” she said quickly.

“I know enough.”

Cassian looked at her now, not Darius. “No, you don’t.”

Darius’s claws extended, pressing into Cassian’s shoulder. Blood appeared in thin lines.

Luna tightened her grip on his wrist. “Beside me,” she said firmly.

He hesitated—just a fraction—then lowered Cassian slightly but didn’t release him.

“If he’s lying, I finish this,” Darius said.

Cassian straightened slowly once released. “Killing me won’t break the crown.”

“It would help,” Mason muttered.

Luna stepped closer. “Tell us what happened.”

“Not here,” Cassian said immediately.

Ethan let out a bitter laugh. “Now you care about privacy?”

“I care about finishing,” Cassian replied.

Darius didn’t move.

“Fair,” Evelyn said reluctantly.

Luna exhaled and looked toward Blackwood Estate in the distance. “We go back.”

“No,” Darius said instantly.

“We’re already in this,” she replied. “We’re going back.”

“Cassian doesn’t enter my home.”

“I expected more confidence,” Cassian said dryly.

“I can kill you anywhere,” Darius replied.

Luna stepped between them before the tension snapped again. “He knows what Lucian wants.”

“And commands an army,” Darius said.

“They’re not an army anymore,” Ethan said quietly.

The wolves shifted uneasily, ears low, eyes unfocused.

“They don’t know where to go,” Ethan added. “Their bonds were cut.”

“Can they be fixed?” Luna asked.

“Not normally,” Cassian said.

“Can I do it?” she asked.

Darius answered immediately. “No.”

“That wasn’t a question for you.”

“I know the rest of it,” he said.

“You can’t answer for me.”

“I can when you’re about to use crown magic on a road full of unstable wolves.”

Ethan approached one of the wolves cautiously. “You’re free,” he said softly.

The wolf didn’t understand. It only stared, confused by absence where instinct used to be.

Luna’s chest tightened painfully. The crown hadn’t just controlled them—it had hollowed them out.

She looked at it again.

Choice.

Bearer.

Not ruler.

Not weapon.

Luna lifted a hand without thinking. The crown responded instantly, lowering as if eager.

Darius grabbed her wrist. “No.”

“I’m not touching it.”

“You were thinking it.”

“I’m allowed to think.”

“Your thoughts are a problem,” he said.

“Judgmental,” she shot back.

“Experience,” he corrected.

A flicker passed between them—anger, fear, something deeper neither of them wanted to name.

Luna lowered her hand. “Fine.”

“Fine?” Darius blinked.

“Don’t make it weird.”

Mason coughed awkwardly. “Seasonal allergies.”

Darius turned sharply. “Prepare the west wing.”

“So Cassian’s coming?” Luna asked.

“No.”

“For the wolves?”

“And Cassian?”

“Cells.”

Cassian smirked faintly. “How welcoming.”

“You should see worse,” Darius said.

Then Luna gasped.

Pain detonated in her chest without warning. She collapsed instantly.

Darius caught her before she hit the ground. “Luna.”

Her heart stopped.

Everything went silent.

Then it slammed back into motion like a violent return to life. She sucked in air sharply, clutching him as if she might fall apart without him holding her together.

The bond between them surged violently, unstable, raw.

“What happened?” Darius demanded.

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

Cassian’s gaze locked onto the crown. “It’s starting.”

“The joining,” he said.

“With what?” Ethan asked.

“The crown,” Cassian replied.

“It can’t stay separate from its bearer.”

“I don’t want it,” Luna said immediately.

“It doesn’t care what you want,” Cassian said.

Darius’s voice dropped. “Remove it.”

“I can’t.”

“Who can?”

“Lucian,” Cassian said.

“No,” Darius growled.

“Another way,” Alden said, stepping out from the trees.

Mara followed close behind. “You reopened your wounds again.”

“Temporarily,” Alden replied.

“The fragments are binding to her heart,” he said.

“How do we stop it?” Luna asked.

“You reject it,” Alden said.

“I already did.”

“Words may not be enough.”

“What is enough?”

“Give up what it offers.”

“Easy,” Luna said.

Cassian laughed once, sharp and humorless. “You don’t even know what it gave you.”

“What?” she demanded.

“The ability to sever bonds.”

Silence dropped like a stone.

“Pack bonds?” Ethan asked.

“All bonds,” Cassian said.

“Mating bonds?” Darius asked, voice suddenly dangerous.

“Yes.”

Darius tightened his hold on her instinctively.

“With one choice,” Cassian added, “she could leave you.”

Luna met Darius’s eyes. “I don’t want that.”

“Then it isn’t freedom,” Cassian said.

“Yes, it is,” she replied firmly.

She turned slightly, voice steady. “Freedom is choosing to stay.”

Darius softened—just barely.

“And if he changes?” Cassian pressed.

“Then I choose again.”

Darius went still at that.

Alden spoke quietly. “Choice can also create bonds.”

The wolves lifted their heads at that, something shifting in them.

“I could give them a pack,” Luna said.

“No,” Ethan said quickly. “That would be command.”

“I could offer,” she corrected.

A wolf stepped forward hesitantly.

Darius followed it with his eyes but didn’t stop it.

Luna knelt. “I’m not commanding you.”

The wolf hesitated.

“You can leave,” she said softly.

It understood.

It stepped back… then forward toward Ethan instead.

He knelt slowly. “You can stay. But you’re free.”

The wolf pressed into him.

One by one, the wolves chose.

Some left. Some stayed. All chose.

Luna’s mark burned gold.

The crown cracked.

“You’re doing it,” Alden said.

“Rejecting ownership,” Cassian murmured.

The gold shattered like glass under pressure.

Power surged through her.

The black half remained.

Darius caught it instinctively. It burned into his hand.

“Darius!”

Black fire spread up his arm.

“Let it go,” Cassian said urgently.

“No,” Darius said through gritted teeth.

The Book opened violently.

COMMAND REQUIRES A KING.

Darius Blackwood.

Bearer of Command.

Luna’s heart dropped.

Darius looked at her, fear flickering through the bond.

“Don’t touch me,” he said.

The command hit.

Wolves dropped instantly. So did the others.

Luna stayed standing.

Darius stepped back. “Don’t.”

The Book slammed shut.

Lucian’s voice slid through the bond like poison wrapped in silk.

At last. A king worthy of my crown.