THE AFTERMATH
1171 Words
The first sensation that pulled Luna back from darkness was pain.
A dull, throbbing ache behind her eyes, like she’d screamed for hours.
The second was heat. Warmth pressing against her knuckles.
She didn’t want to open her eyes. Because if she did, she’d remember.
The curse. The chanting. Damien’s blood on her hands.
The way his grey eyes went wide when she said the last word and the dark fog lifted from the Blackwood Pack lands.
But the heat was familiar. Infuriatingly familiar.
It smelled like rain, and leather, and the Alpha who shattered her three years ago.
Luna’s eyes snapped open.
Damien Blackwood was asleep in a wooden chair dragged right beside her bed. His broad shoulders were hunched forward. One hand was wrapped around hers, thumb brushing over her skin in his sleep like he was afraid she’d vanish.
His shirt was wrinkled. There were fresh scratches on his neck. Dark circles painted under his eyes.
The mighty Alpha of Blackwood Pack looked exhausted. Looked broken.
Good.
Luna tried to pull her hand away. He flinched awake instantly, like a soldier on watch.
Those storm-grey eyes locked onto hers. For one stupid second, relief flooded them.
Then his mask slammed back down. Cold. Calculating. Alpha.
“You’re awake,” he said. Voice rough, like he hadn’t used it in days.
Luna sat up. The white dress she wore was torn at the hem, stained with dirt and something dark she didn’t want to name. But she kept her spine straight.
“I’m alive,” she corrected. “Despite you.”
Damien’s jaw ticked. “The curse is broken. The pack is healing. You did it.”
“I saved them,” Luna said flatly. “I didn’t do it for you.”
The words hung between them, heavy. The silver thread of the mate bond pulsed between their chests, brighter than it had any right to be. It hadn’t broken when he rejected her. It hadn’t broken when she left. And now, after she saved his life?
It was practically screaming.
Before Damien could answer, the doors to the guest wing exploded open.
“Alpha!”
Beta Kade burst in, breathing hard. Behind him were Elder Mara, Elder Tomas, and two guards. All of them looked like they’d run here.
All of them looked furious.
Kade’s eyes swept over the scene - Damien at her bedside, their hands, the closeness - and his face twisted in disgust.
“The pack is in chaos,” Kade said, not even looking at Luna. “Rumors are spreading like wildfire. They’re saying an outsider used forbidden blood magic in the heart of our territory. They’re saying she bewitched you.”
Elder Mara stepped forward. Her lips were pressed into a thin line.
“The timing is suspicious, Alpha. The curse breaks the same night the rejected omega returns? The same omega you banished for being ‘weak’?”
She said rejected like a curse word.
Luna swung her legs off the bed. She was barefoot, but she didn’t care.
“Careful, Elder,” Luna said softly. “That ‘weak’ omega just saved every wolf in this pack. Including you.”
Mara’s eyes narrowed. “And at what cost? We found ritual markings in the clearing. Black magic. The old laws are clear. Anyone who practices outside the Moon Goddess’s rites must be tried by the council.”
“Tried?” Damien stood. The room immediately felt smaller. His Alpha aura rolled out, pressing down on everyone.
“She saved us,” he growled. “That is the only law that matters right now.”
“Is it?” Tomas sneered. “Or are you blinded because she’s your mate?”
He pointed a gnarled finger at Luna’s neck.
Luna’s hand flew up.
There, just above her collar, was a faint silver mark. A bite mark. Not fresh. Not from three years ago.
New.
Luna didn’t remember Damien biting her. She didn’t remember anything after the ritual.
But the bond didn’t lie. And neither did the mark.
The room went dead silent.
Kade looked like he’d been slapped. “You marked her? After everything?”
Damien didn’t look away from Luna. When he spoke, it was to the whole room, but his eyes never left her.
“I didn’t,” he said quietly. “The bond did.”
A collective intake of breath.
“The Moon Goddess marked her,” Damien continued, voice getting stronger. “While she was saving our people. While she was dying to break a curse we were too weak to break ourselves.”
He turned fully to face the council. “So if you want to try someone, try me. For rejecting her. For being too proud to see what she was.”
Elder Mara shook her head. “The pack will never accept her as Luna, Damien. Not after the humiliation. Not after what you did in front of everyone.”
“Then the pack will learn,” Damien said. Final. “Because Luna Carter is my mate. And as of this sunrise, she is the Luna of Blackwood Pack.”
The word _Luna_ hit the room like a gunshot.
Kade slammed his fist against the doorframe. “You’re making a mistake! They’ll challenge you. They’ll challenge HER.”
“Let them,” Damien said. But then he looked at Luna. And for the first time in three years, he looked unsure. “Unless... unless you don’t want it.”
All eyes turned to Luna.
She could feel it. The weight of their stares. The hate from Mara. The doubt from Kade. The hope, buried deep, in Damien’s eyes.
Three years ago she would’ve begged to be called Luna. Would’ve cried with joy.
Now?
Luna stood. Barefoot. Dress torn. Hair a mess. And she looked every one of them in the eye.
“I don’t want your pity title,” she said. Her voice was quiet, but it cut. “I don’t want your pack. I don’t want you, Damien.”
She saw him flinch. Good.
“But,” she continued, stepping forward until she was toe to toe with Elder Mara. “I do want justice. I want the wolves who called me filth to kneel. I want the right to rebuild what you broke.”
She smiled. It wasn’t kind. “So fine. I’ll be your Luna.
But I make the rules now, Alpha.
Not you.
Not the council.
Me.”
Damien stared at her. Something like pride and pain warred in his eyes.
“Deal,” he whispered.
Outside the window, the moon had risen. Full and silver and watching.
In the halls, whispers had already started.
_"The rejected omega is back."_
_"She’s claiming the throne."_
_"There’s going to be blood."_
Luna turned toward the window. The bond thrummed between her and Damien, hot and impossible to ignore.
She didn’t forgive him.
But she was done running.
It was time to burn Blackwood Pack down... and rebuild it in her image.
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- Writer
