Lycan just stood there.
Frozen.
The words echoed in his mind like a cruel whisper from the Moon Goddess herself.
"I can’t bear a child either."
For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.
Luna stood with her shoulders curled in shame, arms hugging herself, like she was expecting him to walk away. To spit out a cruel word. To cast her out the same way fate always had.
But Lycan didn’t move. Instead, he stepped closer. One step. Then another.
Until she was within arm’s reach.
His voice came out ragged. “Who told you that?”
Luna blinked up at him, confused. “W-What?”
“Who told you you’re cursed?”
Her lips parted, but no sound came. The pain in his voice stunned her more than anything.
“I wasn’t born in this pack,” she finally whispered. “I was taken in. After my birth pack was slaughtered. The Alpha who raised me… said my womb was ruined in the attack. That no child would ever grow in me.”
Lycan’s hands clenched into fists.
“That same Alpha,” she continued, trembling, “sold me into heat dens when I turned eighteen. Said if I couldn’t give him pups, I could still make money for the pack.”
A growl erupted from Lycan’s chest.
She flinched. But he didn’t lash out at her. He turned and slammed his fist into the trunk of the tree beside him, splitting it clean down the center with a deafening crack.
“You think I’d reject you for that?” he roared. “Do you know what they’ve said about me? That I’m cursed? That my bloodline ends with me? You think I wouldn’t understand?”
Luna was speechless.
“You think I care about heirs, Luna?” he spat, voice shaking. “I care about you. About how you look at me like I’m more than a monster. About how your scent calms the storm I’ve carried my whole damn life.”
Tears spilled freely down her cheeks now.
“I didn’t know what last night meant,” she said, choking on a sob. “I thought it was just... a mistake. I didn’t want to hope.”
He grabbed her face suddenly — not hard, but firm enough to keep her gaze locked to his.
“Don’t ever call what happened between us a mistake.”
Her lips trembled under his thumb.
“Look at me,” he growled. “If the Moon Goddess put us together and still cursed our blood, then I’ll burn the stars until she rewrites our fate.”
Luna’s breath caught in her throat. She didn’t know when her legs gave out — but suddenly she was in his arms, held against his chest like she belonged there all along.
“You’re not broken,” he whispered into her hair. “You’re mine.”
She sobbed into his shoulder, clutching him like she’d never let go again.
And just then—
A soft, chilling breeze passed through the woods.
So faint. So cold.
Lycan’s head jerked up.
He knew that chill.
Magic.
Dark magic.
He turned just in time to catch a glint of silver flash across the trees.
A dagger.
A whisper.
“You’ll regret choosing her.”
Then—silence.
He roared, shifting halfway into his wolf, eyes glowing, senses sharpened.
But the forest was empty again.
“Who was that?” Luna asked, breath shaking.
Lycan didn’t answer immediately. Because he knew that scent. It was faint.
But it was familiar.
Selene.
She had followed him. And she was watching. Waiting. And now, Luna wasn’t just his mate. She was a target.
He turned back to her, cradling her face in his hands.
“I’ll protect you,” he said softly. “Even if I have to go to war for you.”