Chapter 3:
1187 Words
I can’t sleep.
Every time I close my eyes, I see him—his face, his eyes, the way his lips twitched like he was fighting himself.
And then the way they flattened when he said it. Coldly. Without hesitation.
“You’re not fit to be Luna.”
Those words echo in my head like a curse. They sit in my chest like glass shards, sharp and immovable.
I’m curled up on the small bed in the omega quarters. The thin blanket does nothing to soothe the fever that’s taken hold of my body.
I feel hot and cold at once, my skin prickling like fire is crawling beneath it.
My heart hurts—literally aches in a way I didn’t think was possible. I press my palm to my chest, hoping it’ll somehow hold the pain in, keep it from seeping out and cracking me in two.
He chose Zara.
Kira stirs inside me, her presence no longer just a whisper but a storm.
“He betrayed us,” she snarls. “We are his. Fated. And he threw us away like garbage.”
I flinch. “Don’t,” I whisper out loud. “Don’t think about it.”
“Why not?” she spits. “Why not rage? Why not burn everything he touches? We didn’t deserve this.”
She's right. I didn’t.
I had a crush on him for years. Every girl in the pack did. Nox was the untouchable Alpha—cold, strong, terrifyingly beautiful. He was older, though not by so much. He was dreamy.
And deep down, I believed that if he ever looked at me, really looked at me, he’d see someone worth fighting for.
But he did look at me. And he walked away.
I think back to Zara’s face when he made the announcement, how smug her smile was. Like she’d already won. Like I was never even competition.
My fists clench the blanket. The image of her makes my blood boil. I looked up to her all these years, wishing to be perfect like her... wishing to be the one Nox thinks about.
But now, all I feel for her is pure and unfiltered anger that's slowly building into hate. It's because of the bond, no doubt.
It wasn't her fault Nox rejected me after all, or so I try to tell myself.
Kira growls. “I want to destroy her.”
“No, Kira—”
But she doesn’t wait.
The shift comes violently, ripping through me before I can stop it. My skin burns, bones cracking as I drop to all fours, fur exploding over my body.
I try to hold on—try to suppress her—but she barrels through me like a wave, taking over.
She runs through the door, breaking it down in her fury. She dashes down the stairs of the omega quarters and into the night.
The cold night air rushes past us as Kira bolts into the woods, her paws tearing into the earth.
She’s fast—angry. I can feel her thoughts, wild and vicious. Her fury is my fury, multiplied.
She kills a squirrel before I even realize what she’s doing. Then a rabbit. Another small creature. Blood stains her fur, and still, she doesn’t stop.
My mind screams. “Kira, please! This isn’t helping!”
“I don’t care!” she howls back. “Let me mourn how I want!”
It’s not mourning. It’s rage. She’s spiraling, and I can’t stop her.
She only stops when we hear a branch snap.
Kira whirls around, teeth bared and ready to fight—but instead of danger, it’s a familiar scent. Calming. Familiar.
Silas.
The pack healer walks toward us slowly, hands raised, eyes soft and kind. “Easy, girl. Easy now,” he says in a voice like honey.
Kira growls, warning him not to come closer. But he doesn't flinch. He just keeps his eyes on her, steady and patient.
“You're hurting,” he says. “I know what this is. The bond’s been severed.”
I want to sob. I want to fall apart, but Kira hasn't given way to my body yet and all she does is whine.
Silas crouches a few feet away, speaking like he’s talking to a frightened child. “Come back, Tamsin. Come back to me, sweet girl.”
Kira huffs through her nose. Her muscles shake with the urge to keep running, to keep lashing out.
But something in Silas’s voice reaches her. Reaches me.
She lets me take control again, painfully and slowly. The shift back is brutal. I fall to the ground in a heap, naked and gasping.
Silas is already taking off his cloak. He drapes it gently over me, shielding my body from the cold and from shame.
“There we go,” he murmurs, lifting me to my feet with surprising gentleness. “Let’s get you warm.”
He brings me to his cottage just outside the pack. It’s warm, lit with soft golden light. The smell of herbs and honey wraps around me like a comfort blanket.
I sit curled on his couch, knees tucked to my chest. He hands me a steaming cup of tea and settles in the chair across from me.
“It’ll help,” he says softly. “The fever, the ache—it’s part of the severing. The body doesn’t know how to separate once it’s bonded.”
I take a sip. The bitterness of the herbs is masked by honey, and the warmth spreads down my throat, easing the edge of the pain.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper. “Why even accept the bond if he was going to reject me? Why touch me like that, only to shove me away?”
He sighs, rubbing a hand over his salt-and-pepper beard. “Alpha Nox… he’s a complicated man. Stubborn. I don’t know what’s in his head, but I do know you didn’t deserve this.”
I blink hard against the tears.
“I just… I thought I could be enough,” I murmur. “Even if I wasn’t ready to be Luna, he could’ve helped me. We could’ve figured it out.”
Silas leans forward, his expression warm. “You are enough. Luna or not. You were chosen by the Moon Goddess herself.”
“But he didn’t choose me,” I whisper, clutching the mug tighter. “He chose Zara.”
He gives a small nod, eyes flickering with sadness. “Then he’s a fool. And one day, he might realize it… but by then, you’ll have already found something better. Someone better.”
I don't want to think of finding anyone. I just want this pain to pass me by. From what I've heard, it could hurt for years. Though sometimes it doesn't.
I hope mine doesn't, although it'll be hard to recover since I practically clean the house he lives in and will run into him almost everyday.
I take another sip of the tea, shaking the thoughts off and focusing my mind on the healing effects of it.
- Writer
