Chapter5 The White Moonlight’s Trap
1030 Words
Lirael did not sleep all night.
She lay in the pile of straw, her fingers pressed against the back of her neck. It was still burning—like something was beating beneath her skin.
Her pheromones.
She really had pheromones.
She buried her face in the cloak Kael had given her. The scent of cedar and cold wind made her heart race. She remembered the feel of his hand on her neck—warm, strong, making her feel for the first time that she was not worthless.
Morning came.
Lirael sat up, hid the cloak, and changed into her old clothes. Today, she was still supposed to go to Kael’s study.
She pushed open the door—
“Lirael!”
A gentle voice came from the end of the hall.
Lirael looked up and saw Elara Moonveil standing in the sunlight. Her moonlight-colored hair fell across her shoulders, and her pale blue eyes were filled with concern.
She walked over quickly and grabbed Lirael’s hand.
“Are you all right? Yesterday’s wormwood juice… I really didn’t mean it.” Her voice trembled. Her eyes reddened. “I thought about it all night. I couldn’t sleep.”
Lirael stared at her.
That face was beautiful—beautiful as a painting. The worry in those eyes looked real—real enough to believe.
But Lirael remembered—in the moment the wormwood juice spilled, the smile that had flickered across Elara’s lips.
“I’m fine.” Lirael pulled her hand back.
Elara’s expression froze for a heartbeat, then quickly filled with gentleness again.
“Are you still angry with me?” She lowered her head. “I know the elderly have always favored me, and you might think that I… but I truly care about you.”
She looked up, tears welling in her eyes.
“You live in a place like this, eating poorly, sleeping poorly, and the whole clan mocks you… It breaks my heart.”
Lirael said nothing.
Elara stepped closer, lowering her voice. “I heard that Kael invited you to his study?”
Lirael’s heart skipped a beat.
“How do you know that?”
Elara sighed. “The whole clan is talking. They say…” She bit her lip, as if she could not bear to continue.
“Say what?”
“That you don’t know your place. A worthless Omega stripped of her family name, trying to seduce the Wolf King.”
Lirael’s hands clenched.
Elara looked at her, eyes full of sympathy. “I’m saying this for your own good. Kael is the Wolf King—the strongest Alpha in the entire clan. If you get too close to him, people will gossip.”
“I don’t care.”
“But I care about you.” Elara took her hand again. “Think about it—in your current position, are you worthy of him?”
Worthy.
The word stabbed into Lirael’s heart like a blade.
Elara sighed. “I hate to say this, but… you need to understand your place. Kael is kind to you only because he pities you. Don’t overthink it.”
She patted Lirael’s hand. “Take my advice. Stop going to see him. The more you chase after him, the more others will look down on you.”
Lirael stood there, watching Elara’s back as she walked away.
Sunlight fell on her, stretching her shadow long across the floor.
Lirael looked down at her own hands.
Worthy.
Elara was right. She was a worthless Omega—no family, no power, nothing. Kael was the Wolf King, the strongest force in the whole clan.
Who was she to deserve him?
Lirael turned, walked back into her room, and closed the door.
She sat on the pile of straw, hugged her knees, and stared at the stained, peeling wall.
Maybe Elara was right. She should not go.
---
Night fell.
In Kael’s study, the fire in the hearth burned bright.
He sat at his desk, tapping his fingers on the wood. Once. Twice. Three times.
She did not come.
He glanced at the clock on the wall—an hour had passed since the agreed time.
Kael stood and walked to the window. Outside, the moon was rising, casting its light toward Death Canyon.
He pressed his fingers to his chest.
There was a strange feeling there. Not pain. Emptiness. Like something should be present, but was not.
“Wolf King,” came a voice from outside the door.
“Speak.”
“Lirael did not leave her room tonight. She has stayed inside all day.”
Kael was silent for a long time.
“Understood.”
He stood at the window, unmoving.
Moonlight fell across his face. Something stirred in his gray eyes. He remembered how she had looked the night before—the light in her eyes when she had successfully released her pheromones.
That kind of light—he had never seen it in any Omega’s eyes.
And now that light was gone.
Kael closed his eyes.
“Who spoke to you?” he asked softly, as if asking the wind outside.
The wind did not answer.
---
At the same moment.
Lirael sat in the darkness, the cloak in her arms.
She had not gone.
Elara was right. She should not go. She was not worthy. She was just a worthless Omega mocked by the entire clan.
But why did her heart hurt so much?
She buried her face in the cloak. The scent of cedar made her want to cry.
“I won’t stay on my knees forever.”
She said it to herself. But this time, the words sounded like a lie.
She did not know that at the other end of the hallway, Elara stood before her own window, a glass of red wine in her hand.
Moonlight fell across her face. The mask of gentleness had finally come off.
“Worthless,” she murmured, a cold smile curving her lips. “You think you deserve to stand beside Kael?”
She took a sip of wine, her pale blue eyes glinting with cruelty.
“I will show you what true despair means.”
- Writer
