Pack Rumours
1105 Words
The Crescent Claw Pack did not know how to stay silent.
Even when the Alpha ordered calm, even when the Luna lay injured in a hospital bed, whispers traveled faster than wolves could run. They slipped through hallways, kitchens, guard posts, and forest paths. By the next sunrise, everyone knew.
The Luna had fallen.
Some said it was an accident.
Others said fate had pushed her.
And a few—those who remembered Kiara Rowan—said nothing at all, but their eyes carried knowing shadows.
Seraphina lay awake in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. Sleep came and went in short, restless waves. Pain pulsed through her legs like a slow drumbeat, dull but constant. Every time she shifted even slightly, her body reminded her of how close she had come to losing everything.
A nurse moved quietly at her side, checking the IV and adjusting the blankets.
“Try to rest, Luna,” the nurse said softly.
Seraphina turned her head. “How long… until I can walk?”
The nurse hesitated. “That depends on how well you heal. You were lucky, but your body needs time.”
Time.
Seraphina clenched her fingers against the sheets. Time had never been something she liked. In the past, she demanded results immediately—obedience, respect, fear. Now she was trapped in stillness, forced to wait.
Outside her room, Alpha Leon stood speaking quietly with the Beta.
“The pack is restless,” Marcus said. “They’re talking.”
Leon’s jaw tightened. “They always talk.”
“Yes,” Marcus agreed carefully, “but this feels different. Some of the older wolves… they’re bringing up the past.”
Leon’s eyes darkened. “What past?”
Marcus lowered his voice. “Kiara Rowan.”
The name hit Leon like a sudden strike.
He said nothing at first.
“She was rejected,” Marcus continued. “Humiliated. Then she died. And now, the Luna falls down the stairs weeks after taking her place. Some wolves are calling it bad luck. Others are calling it karma.”
Leon’s fists clenched slowly at his sides. “Careful with that word.”
“I know,” Marcus said quickly. “I’m only telling you what I’m hearing.”
Leon exhaled sharply. “Stop the rumors.”
“We’re trying,” Marcus said. “But fear spreads faster than commands.”
Leon turned away, staring down the long hospital corridor. His reflection stared back at him in the polished floor—an Alpha who had made choices, some necessary, some cruel.
Kiara.
For a brief, unwanted moment, her face surfaced in his mind. Pale. Quiet. Hurt.
He pushed the thought away.
Back inside the room, Seraphina sensed the shift in the air the moment Leon entered.
“You spoke with the Beta,” she said quietly.
Leon paused. “Yes.”
“They’re talking, aren’t they?” she asked.
Leon didn’t answer immediately. That alone was enough.
Seraphina swallowed. “About me?”
“About the accident,” he said carefully. “About the pack.”
“And about her,” Seraphina whispered.
Leon’s eyes snapped to her. “Who?”
She turned her head toward him. “Kiara.”
The name hung between them.
Seraphina’s fingers tightened in the sheets. “They still remember her. Even after everything.”
Leon’s expression hardened. “She is dead.”
“Dead wolves don’t disappear,” Seraphina replied softly. “They become stories.”
Leon didn’t like how true that sounded.
Seraphina closed her eyes. “They think I don’t deserve this position,” she said quietly. “Don’t they?”
Leon stepped closer. “You are my chosen mate. You are the Luna.”
“But am I accepted?” she asked, her voice trembling just slightly.
Leon said nothing.
The silence was answer enough.
Far away, under a different moon, Kiara Rowan stood at the edge of the Silvercrest Pack’s training grounds, watching the warriors finish their evening drills.
Her muscles ached, her body bruised and tired, but she stood straighter now. Stronger. More alive.
“You feel it too, don’t you?” Aria asked gently inside her mind.
Kiara nodded. “Something is changing.”
“The past is stirring,” Aria murmured. “The pack that broke us is restless.”
Kiara looked up at the sky. The moon was full tonight, glowing brighter than usual. Her chest tightened, a strange pull tugging at her heart.
“I don’t want to think about them,” she whispered.
“But destiny does not forget,” Aria replied.
Kiara wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m not ready.”
“You don’t need to be,” Aria said softly. “Not yet.”
Back at Crescent Claw Pack, night settled heavy and uneasy.
Guards whispered at their posts. Maids exchanged nervous glances as they worked more carefully than usual. Even the forest felt tense, as though it remembered something unfinished.
In the elders’ chamber, voices rose and fell in quiet debate.
“The Luna’s fall is not a good sign,” one elder said.
“Coincidence,” another argued.
“Or consequence,” a third murmured.
Alpha Leon stood before them, his presence commanding silence.
“There will be no talk of curses or punishment,” he said firmly. “The pack will remain united.”
An elder met his gaze steadily. “Unity cannot be forced, Alpha. It must be believed.”
Leon’s eyes narrowed. “And you doubt my leadership?”
“No,” the elder said calmly. “But I question the cost of past decisions.”
The words struck deep.
Leon turned sharply and left the chamber without another word.
Seraphina lay awake again later that night, listening to the distant howls of the pack. Each sound felt like a reminder that she was no longer fully part of them—not while she lay broken and watched.
Her wolf stirred weakly inside her, restless and afraid.
“Why does it feel like something is slipping away?” Seraphina whispered.
Her wolf had no answer.
At Silvercrest, Kiara finished her training and returned to her cabin, exhaustion heavy in her bones. She sank onto the bed and stared at her hands.
“They tremble,” she said quietly.
“Not from fear,” Aria corrected. “From awakening.”
Kiara closed her eyes. “What if I’m pulled back into that world?”
Aria’s voice was calm and certain. “Then you will not return as prey.”
Kiara inhaled deeply, grounding herself.
She was not the weak Omega anymore.
She was becoming something else.
- Writer
