The Luna's Second Chance

Chapter Three: Buried Truth & Hidden Lies

Third Person POV

Morning arrived with a sharp chill.

Damon led the search party down to the jagged cliffs where Selena had supposedly jumped. The sun had barely begun to rise, casting a pale, ghostly light over the violent waves crashing against the rocks below.

A bitter wind swept through the air, carrying the salt of the sea and something else—something metallic.

Damon’s boots scraped against the uneven ground as he stepped closer to the edge, his storm-gray eyes scanning the scene with precision. He was a warrior, a Beta trained to read the battlefield, and right now, that’s exactly what this was—a crime scene.

His men moved carefully behind him, scanning every crevice between the craggy rocks. For an hour, they searched.

Nothing.

Then—

“Beta!” Damon turned sharply at the call.

One of the warriors knelt beside a jagged rock at the base of the cliff, his hand hovering over something dark. Something wet.

Damon’s stomach clenched. He already knew what it was.

He crouched beside the warrior, his fingers grazing the stone before bringing them to his nose.

The scent was unmistakable.

Selena.

A dark smear of blood coated the rock, stark against the pale, wet stone. It had begun to dry, but it was fresh enough that it hadn’t yet been washed away completely by the tides.

Damon exhaled slowly, pressing his fingers together, feeling the sticky warmth against his skin.

No body. Just blood.

His jaw tightened. Something didn’t feel right.

His instincts clawed at him, screaming that this didn’t add up.

But he pushed it down. For now.

He wiped his fingers against his pants and straightened. "We’re done here," he muttered.

The warriors exchanged uneasy glances but nodded.

The Beta turned on his heel and started back toward the Packhouse, his mind heavy with unspoken thoughts.

Damon entered Scott’s study, his boots thudding heavily against the polished wood. The room was dim, the scent of burnt-out candles lingering in the air.

Scott sat at his desk, fingers tapping against the wood, his eyes cold but expectant.

Damon inhaled deeply. "We found no body."

Scott’s fingers stilled.

"But we found blood on the rocks," Damon continued. "It’s hers."

For a moment, Scott said nothing.

Then—his shoulders visibly sagged, his face contorting into something akin to distress. "I… I went to her room last night," Scott said hoarsely. "I needed to feel her presence, Damon. And I found this…"

He slid a folded parchment across the desk. "A letter."

Damon’s fingers hovered over the paper, his gut twisting.

Scott’s voice was strained, calculated in its grief. "She left a letter, Damon. She—" His voice broke. "She really jumped."

Damon stared at him.

Then, with measured movements, he picked up the letter and slowly unfolded it. His storm-gray eyes scanned the words, his voice barely above a whisper as he read aloud:

“I have made my decision.

I have failed as a Luna, failed as a woman and a mother.

I have failed in all the ways that matter, and I cannot bear the shame of it any longer.

My body has failed me, my spirit is weak, and I can no longer look at my mate, my Alpha, my pack, knowing I could not fulfill my duty.

I cannot return to my family, knowing I have tarnished the Moonblood name. I do not wish to see the disappointment in my father’s eyes or feel the weight of my mother’s pity.

I am sorry. I love you all. But I cannot carry this burden any longer.”

Damon’s grip tightened on the letter.

Scott watched him intently, searching his expression, waiting for the flicker of doubt.

But Damon only exhaled sharply, his fingers pressing into the letter. "She blamed herself," he murmured.

His throat tightened. "I’m sorry, Alpha."

Scott lowered his head, his shoulders shaking just enough to be convincing. "I failed her."

Damon hesitated, then placed a heavy hand on Scott’s shoulder, believing—just for a moment—that his Alpha truly grieved.

But something about it felt… rehearsed.

It was subtle—the way Scott presented the letter so smoothly, the way his voice broke at just the right moment.

Damon’s instincts prickled. A quiet whisper in the back of his mind told him to look deeper, to question.

But he pushed the thought away. Now wasn’t the time.

"I have to tell her family," Scott whispered, his fingers curling around Selena’s shawl.

Damon’s stomach twisted again. "Today?" he asked.

"Immediately." Scott stood. "We leave now."

The eight-hour journey was spent in silence, the road stretching endlessly beneath them.

Scott's eyes remained fixed ahead, his grip on the shawl tight—not with grief, but with calculation.

Deep inside his fractured mind, his wolf, Kade, growled in protest. "Don’t do this. Please."

Scott ignored him.

"Scott, I swear to the Goddess—if you do this, if you tell this lie—I will leave you. Forever." Kade threatened.

A flicker of annoyance crossed Scott’s face. "Shut up!"

Kade lashed out, his presence thrashing against Scott’s control, but Scott shoved him deeper into the abyss. "You will regret this."

Scott exhaled slowly.

The world felt quieter. And he liked it.

By the time they arrived, the moon hung high in the sky, casting long shadows across the Moonblood estate.

The scent of aged whiskey and candle wax filled Alpha Nathan Moonblood’s study, mingling with the faint traces of parchment and ink—a place of leadership and legacy, now on the verge of being broken.

Scott stood at the doorway, his eyes glassy with false grief, the patchwork shawl clutched tightly in his hands.

Luna Nina Moonblood sat beside her mate—her raven-black curls disheveled, her striking blue eyes, an exact mirror of her daughter’s, hollow with exhaustion.

Nathan Moonblood—towering, broad-shouldered, with streaks of silver threading through his dark brown hair—stiffened when Scott entered. His square jaw clenched, his piercing blue-gray eyes locking onto Scott’s tear-streaked face.

Scott’s knees hit the ground, his voice cracking as he whispered. "I’m… so sorry. I failed to protect Selena. She killed herself by jumping off a cliff."

Nathan held still, his powerful frame tense, but his mate—

Nina swayed forward as if the breath had been stolen from her chest.

Her lips trembled, a strangled sob crawling up her throat—but she refused to release it.

Nathan’s voice was razor-sharp, laced with a warning. "Where is she?"

Scott hesitated just long enough for it to feel intentional, then lowered his head. "We… we couldn’t find her body."

A sharp inhale from Nina. Nathan’s eyes darkened.

"What do you mean, you couldn’t find it?!" Nathan demanded, his fingers curling into the armrests of his chair.

Scott forced himself to look broken, defeated. "The waves must have… taken her. The cliffs where she—" He swallowed, shaking his head. "The tide is strong. It would have pushed her further down the coast. By now… she’s probably already—"

"Don’t." Nina’s voice was deadly quiet, her fingers digging into the fabric of her dress.

Scott clenched his jaw. "We searched, Alpha. We searched everywhere, but we only found… this." He lifted the shawl in his hands, his voice quivering at all the right moments. "This was lying near the cliff’s edge."

Nathan’s breathing was ragged. His shoulders rose and fell heavily, but he didn’t speak.

Instead, Liam and Louis stormed into the study, their matching blue eyes ablaze with panic and disbelief.

"No!" Liam snarled, stepping forward, his hands clenched into tight fists. "You’re lying!"

"Selena wouldn’t do this!" Louis’s small frame trembled, his fingers curled so tightly his nails bit into his palms.

Nathan’s grip on the chair tightened, his sharp gaze flickering with uncertainty.

Scott swallowed thickly, his eyes shining with false remorse. "I wish I was lying, Alpha. But she left something else behind, too."

His hands trembled just enough to be believable as he extended the folded letter. "She left this behind."

Nathan’s fingers snatched them, his knuckles white as he unfolded the paper, holding the most precious thing his little princess cherished. His eyes scanned the words, his breathing turning uneven with each sentence.

The moment the words, left by her daughter, had printed in her eyes and her mind, something in Nina shifted.

Her breath hitched, her body swayed forward—her wolf lurched violently inside her, a visceral reaction so primal it nearly ripped her apart from the inside out.

A piercing, anguished scream shattered the air. "No. No, my baby. My baby, no!"

Scott forced himself to look up, eyes flickering between Nathan’s haunted and Nina’s broken faces.

"Scott," Nathan’s voice was rough, breaking, his hands shaking as he struggled to keep his mate upright while she held onto him. "Tell me this isn’t real."

Nathan’s grip on the letter and the shawl tightened so tightly that the paper crumpled, his sharp gaze flickering with uncertainty.

Something was wrong.

His Alpha instincts screamed at him, but the grief was too thick, too consuming, drowning out his ability to see through the deception.

Scott lowered his head, voice soft but firm. "I wish I was."

Broken, he muttered "Selena… never mentioned feeling this way to us. She never confided this in me or my wife..." doubt growing inside his mind. This feeling was suddenly cut short—

Luna Nina let out a blood-curdling scream, her entire body crumbled down, a soundless sob wracking her chest as her wolf howled inside her mind, an eerie, broken wail of mourning and denial.

Nathan barely caught her before she hit the floor, his muscular frame trembling as he cradled his mate. His grip on her tightened, his breath coming in shallow gasps, as if his own lungs refused to function.

Scott watched, silently, as chaos unfolded.

The moment Scott left the estate, something inside him shifted.

A small, twisted smirk curled at the edge of his lips, his breath fogging in the cold as he took in the darkness stretching before him. His plan worked.

Selena’s family would be too lost in their mourning to question things right away. Their grief would blind them, and by the time they started to heal, it would be too late to investigate. They wouldn’t think to question why she jumped. No one would trace it back to him—to the way he treated her. To the humiliation he put her through.

And when the mourning faded, when time dulled the sharpest edges of their pain, he would come forward. He would announce Emma as his second-chance mate—the one granted to him by the Moon Goddess herself.

And who would judge the Goddess’s will?

Even if Selena’s parents found it too soon, they would say nothing. There would be no accusations, no bad blood.

And with that, their support would remain unwavering.

He felt—safe. Untouchable.

Just as he intended. And yet—

Something was missing. A quiet. Too quiet.

But Scott ignored it.

It was just Kade sulking and throwing a tantrum. His wolf would return eventually. Wouldn’t he?

Deep within the shadows of Scott’s mind, Kade stood on the precipice of finality.

He had always fought for Scott. Even when Scott ignored him. Even when he denied their mate.

But this? This was unforgivable.

Kade had pleaded. He had howled inside their shared soul, clawing at the walls of Scott’s consciousness, trying to save what little remained of the bond they had once shared.

Scott hadn’t listened.

And now, Kade has made the only decision left.

It hurt. Goddess, it hurt.

Cutting himself from Scott was like ripping away his own flesh, tearing apart his very being. To abandon him meant to leave behind a part of himself.

But he had no choice.

Kade’s form—a massive black wolf, eyes once golden with warmth, now dull with sorrow—took one last look at the abyss that had become his connection to Scott.

Then—he turned away. He walked into the darkness, deep inside Scott’s mind, to let himself go and forget everything.

Scott’s wolf had not just retreated. Kade had left him. Forever.

For the first time since his first breath, Scott was truly alone.

But he didn’t know it. Not yet.

One day, the truth would come for him.

And when it did—he would regret everything.