I Never Meant to Be His Luna

Chapter 20 – testimony

For a second, Lyra thought she’d misheard him.

I won’t help you do it again.

The words hung in the chamber. The last time Jonah had stood in a circle, he’d chosen the pack over her.

Silas’s fingers whitened on the table. “Acting Alpha Hale,” he said, voice sharp. “The question was about Hollow Ridge sheltering a rogue, not your sentimental—”

“The question was about stability,” Jonah cut in, still looking at Lyra. “I’m answering it.”

Risky, interrupting an elder. The room rippled.

The presiding Councilor lifted a hand. “Watch your tone, Hale. But finish.”

“Thornridge once decided that breaking Lyra Quinn’s bond and attempting to…reassign her was in the best interest of our pack and this Council’s order,” Jonah said. His voice was steady; his hands were not. “That decision shattered trust. Not only hers. Wolves who watched learned their bonds were conditional. That their lives could be rearranged for optics. We lost people over it. Some left. Some stayed and stopped believing.”

Lyra swallowed. He’d never said it this plainly. Not to her. Certainly not here.

“And now?” another elder asked coolly. “Do you deny that her presence as a rogue Luna in a volatile region is a…symbolic risk?”

“I don’t deny the symbol,” Jonah said. “I deny that the danger lies in her.”

He finally turned fully toward the Council, shoulders squaring. “The danger lies in us—those who thought we could use wolves as pieces on a board and never have the board flip. Hollow Ridge gave her a home without a leash. That threatens the idea that control must always come first. That’s what scares people here.”

Silas’s eyes went flat. “Enough. You speak as if Hollow Ridge does not collect rogues, does not invite border—”

“As if Thornridge hasn’t produced its own rogues and broken wolves,” Jonah shot back. “Some of whom are in this room.”

Murmurs swelled. The chair banged the gavel. “Order.”

Jonah drew a breath. “Thornridge does not support forcing Lyra Quinn back into our custody,” he said. “Nor do we support dismantling Hollow Ridge for refusing to repeat our mistakes.”

Silas’s jaw ticked. “You presume to speak over your elders?”

“I presume to speak as the wolf you keep asking to be Alpha,” Jonah said. “You can’t have it both ways.”

Silas’s gaze slid past him and pinned Lyra. “And what of your former bondmate?” he asked sweetly. “She is central to this matter. Does she agree with your…revision?”

The room’s focus swung like a spotlight. Lyra’s lungs forgot how to work for a beat.

Atlas began to rise.

Lyra set a hand on his wrist. “I’ve got it,” she said, low.

He searched her face, then sat.

Lyra stood.

The inlaid circle at the center of the floor waited like an open mouth. Every instinct screamed to stay behind the table.

She stepped into it anyway.

Stone was cold. Council wards rasped along her skin, unfamiliar and unfriendly. Her wolf pressed close, bristling.

“State your name,” the chair intoned, as if they didn’t all know.

“Lyra Quinn,” she said. Her voice held.

“Rogue wolf with a broken bond,” Silas added, twisting the knife.

Lyra c****d her head. “My bond is very much not broken anymore,” she said. “It’s just none of your business this time.”

A few scattered smirks broke the tension. Silas’s mouth thinned.

“We are here to judge whether your presence in Hollow Ridge is a risk,” the chair said. “You will speak truthfully.”

Lyra let her gaze sweep the chamber—past and present in one room.

“I’ve lied enough for one lifetime,” she said. “So if you want the truth…”

She drew a breath, feeling Hollow Ridge’s distant wards hum in her bones.

“…you’re going to get all of it.”