The Luna They Branded a Traitor

CHAPTER 2 The Traitor's Daughter

For several seconds, nobody moved.

The crimson light beneath Elara's skin pulsed once before disappearing so suddenly that she wondered whether she had imagined it. The ceremonial hall remained frozen around her, hundreds of wolves staring as though they had just witnessed the Moon itself make a mistake, until a frightened voice finally broke the silence.

"Blood Luna."

The words moved through the crowd in a whisper at first, then spread from one wolf to another.

"Blood Luna."

"Impossible."

"She's Lyra Veyne's daughter."

"Kill her before she awakens."

Elara's stomach dropped.

She looked from face to face, searching for someone familiar, someone who might still see her as the girl she had been before tonight. Instead, she found only fear, suspicion, and something far more dangerous than either. The pity she had occasionally received over the years was gone, and so was the amusement of those who had always considered her weak; now they looked at her as though she were something that had crawled out of a nightmare.

A young wolf near the front stepped forward.

"She should be executed."

Another voice answered immediately. "She's a traitor's daughter!"

Elara backed away until her shoulder struck one of the stone pillars supporting the ceremonial hall. Cold stone pressed against her skin, but she barely noticed it because something else had changed inside her; beneath the pain of the mate bond and the pounding of her heart, she could feel a faint presence curled somewhere deep within her, awake now and listening.

Don't be afraid.

Elara swallowed.

The voice was so quiet that she almost dismissed it as a desperate trick of her mind, but there was something about it that felt different from a thought. It wasn't coming from her own consciousness.

It felt as though someone else had spoken directly into her soul.

"Silence!"

Kael's Alpha command thundered through the hall.

The crowd immediately fell quiet.

Elara looked at him, expecting to see the same cold indifference that had accompanied his rejection, but that was no longer what she found in his face. His shoulders were rigid, his eyes were hard, and the anger rolling off him was unmistakable.

He wasn't angry with her.

He was angry with everyone else.

"Nobody touches her," he ordered.

Lucien turned slowly.

"Alpha, you cannot—"

"I said nobody touches her."

Power rolled through the hall, heavy enough that several wolves lowered their heads instinctively. Elara should have felt relieved by his protection, yet confusion tightened around her chest instead because only minutes earlier Kael had rejected her in front of the entire pack, and now he was standing between her and the people demanding her death.

Why?

She searched his face for an answer.

"Why are you protecting me?"

Kael said nothing.

That silence told her more than an explanation would have.

He knew something.

"Take her to the eastern tower," Lucien ordered.

Kael's gaze snapped toward him.

"No."

The elder's expression hardened. "Your father established that protocol for Blood Luna cases."

"My father is dead."

"The law survived him."

Kael stepped toward Lucien, his voice remaining controlled despite the anger gathering behind his eyes. "So did I."

The tension between them became so palpable that even the wolves nearest the altar instinctively moved away. Elara watched them carefully, realizing that there was a history between these two men that reached far beyond anything she had ever been told, and apparently everyone in the room knew about it except her.

Lucien eventually turned toward the guards.

"Take her."

They hesitated.

Kael's voice dropped into something colder.

"I said no."

Lucien smiled without warmth.

"You rejected her."

Kael's expression changed.

The elder took another step toward him and lowered his voice so that only those nearby could hear. "You cannot reject the mate the Moon gave you and then pretend you have the authority to decide what happens to her."

Kael's jaw tightened.

"You know nothing about what I have decided."

"I know exactly what you decided."

Lucien's gaze shifted toward Elara.

"And so does she."

Elara's chest tightened.

She didn't understand what they were talking about, but she understood one thing with frightening clarity: Kael had known this night could happen. Maybe he had known long before she ever walked into the ceremonial hall.

She looked directly at him.

"How long?"

His eyes found hers.

"Elara—"

"How long have you known about my mother?"

The question silenced him.

That was enough.

Her heart sank as the answer she didn't want settled into place.

"You knew."

Kael didn't respond.

"You knew my mother's name would be spoken tonight."

Still nothing.

"You knew there was something wrong with me."

His expression tightened.

Elara gave a bitter laugh, though there was nothing amusing about any of this. "So the rejection wasn't about me."

"It was never that simple."

She stared at him.

"That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"No."

"Good."

Her voice shook, but she refused to look away.

"Because it doesn't."

She pushed herself away from the pillar, and the pain in her chest seemed to settle into something colder. For years, she had wondered why Kael never looked at her the way other wolves looked at their mates, and she had always found ways to blame herself—her weakness, her inability to shift, her mother's reputation, every flaw she had been taught to hate.

Now she understood something worse.

Kael had been afraid of her.

And he had known exactly why.

"Get out of my way."

Kael frowned. "Where are you going?"

"Anywhere you're not."

She stepped past him, but his hand closed around her wrist before she could take another step.

Elara froze.

The mate bond surged the instant their skin touched, sending heat through her body so quickly that her breath caught. Kael inhaled sharply as though he had felt the same thing, and his grip loosened almost immediately.

For one dangerous moment, neither of them moved.

Elara could feel his heartbeat beneath his skin, fast and uneven.

She hated that she could feel it.

She hated even more that some traitorous part of her still responded to him after everything he had done.

"Don't touch me," she whispered.

Kael released her.

Elara turned away and walked.

She made it only a few steps before a violent pain exploded behind her eyes.

Her knees buckled.

The ceremonial hall disappeared.

Suddenly she was standing in a dark forest beneath a sky filled with falling snow. Blood stained the white ground between the trees, and somewhere ahead of her, a woman was kneeling beside a small child.

Elara tried to move closer, but the vision seemed to hold her in place.

"Run," the woman whispered.

The child began to cry.

"They will find me."

"I won't leave you."

"You have to."

The woman's hands trembled as she pressed something against the child's chest.

A silver pendant.

Elara recognized it immediately.

She had worn that same pendant around her neck for as long as she could remember.

The woman's voice broke.

"If they ever tell you I betrayed them, don't believe them."

The forest shifted around them.

The woman looked over her shoulder, and something enormous moved between the trees.

Then she turned back.

Her face finally became clear.

Elara stopped breathing.

Her mother.

Lyra Veyne.

"Remember this, little wolf."

Lyra looked directly at her, her eyes filled with grief and urgency.

"Your father wasn't the only one who betrayed us."

The vision shattered.

Elara screamed as the ceremonial hall returned around her, and she collapsed onto the stone floor. Hands reached toward her, but Kael's voice cut through the confusion.

"Move!"

He dropped beside her and caught her before her head struck the floor.

"Elara."

She couldn't breathe.

Her fingers clawed against the stone as another wave of pain moved through her body, while Kael placed one hand behind her back and steadied her.

"Look at me."

She tried, but his face blurred.

"Elara, look at me."

She forced her eyes open.

There was no Alpha command in his voice now.

Only fear.

"What did you see?"

Elara stared at him through the tears burning her eyes.

"My mother."

Kael went completely still.

"What?"

"I saw her."

The words came between broken breaths.

"She was alive."

The color drained from Kael's face.

Elara noticed.

"You knew."

"I didn't."

"Liar."

"I swear to you—"

"You knew!"

Her voice echoed through the hall.

Kael flinched, and that tiny reaction was enough to make the betrayal feel real all over again.

Elara pushed herself upright.

"My mother said you betrayed her."

Kael stopped breathing.

Silence spread through the hall.

Even Lucien seemed momentarily caught off guard, but Elara saw the change in his expression a second later. His face remained controlled, yet his eyes betrayed him.

Fear.

The same fear she had seen when the crimson mark appeared.

Elara turned toward him.

"You know what she was talking about."

Lucien's expression hardened.

"Take her."

The guards moved immediately.

Kael rose.

"Lucien."

The elder ignored him.

"Take her to the eastern tower and seal the door."

Elara backed away.

"No."

Two guards approached.

She raised both hands.

"I said no."

One of them seized her arm.

Pain flashed through her body, and something inside her answered before she even had time to think.

The guard was thrown backward.

His body slammed into the stone wall with enough force to crack the surface.

The hall fell silent.

Elara stared at her hands.

She hadn't touched him.

The guard groaned from the floor.

Kael stared at her.

So did Lucien.

Then Elara heard the growl.

It wasn't coming from the wolves around her.

It was coming from somewhere inside.

They hurt you.

Elara's breath caught.

The voice was clearer now, deeper and older than before.

Let me out.

Her fingers trembled.

"No."

They will hurt you again.

"I don't know who you are."

For a moment, there was only silence.

Then the voice answered.

You know me.

The crimson light returned beneath Elara's skin.

This time it spread slowly down her arms, tracing glowing veins across her wrists and hands. Wolves nearest her stumbled backward, and several shifted their weight as though preparing to defend themselves.

Someone whispered her name.

"Elara..."

She looked toward Kael.

He wasn't afraid of her.

He looked terrified for her.

Somehow, that frightened her more than hatred ever could.

Lucien stepped forward.

The calm mask he had worn throughout the ceremony finally disappeared.

"Kill her."

Kael turned sharply.

"What?"

"Kill her now," Lucien shouted, his voice cracking with urgency. "Before the Blood Wolf fully awakens!"

Chaos erupted.

Guards drew their weapons while wolves began shifting around the edges of the hall. Elara backed away as claws emerged and eyes changed, but Kael stepped between her and the entire pack.

"Nobody moves."

His Alpha command struck the room like thunder.

Lucien's expression twisted with fury.

"She is no longer your mate!"

Kael turned his head slightly, but he didn't take his eyes off the wolves surrounding them.

"She was never just my mate."

Elara stared at him.

For the first time that night, Kael looked directly at her without trying to hide what was happening behind his eyes.

Fear.

Regret.

And something dangerously close to devotion.

Before she could understand what she was seeing, the eastern doors burst open.

A wounded wolf stumbled into the ceremonial hall.

Blood soaked his clothes, and one hand was pressed against his side as though he were trying to keep his insides from spilling onto the floor. He made it only a few steps before collapsing onto his knees.

"Alpha..."

Kael turned toward him.

"What happened?"

The wolf struggled to breathe.

"They found us."

Kael's expression hardened.

"Who?"

The wounded wolf lifted his head.

His eyes found Elara.

Whatever he saw made the fear in his face deepen.

"They're coming for the girl."

Elara's stomach tightened.

"Who is coming?"

The wolf swallowed painfully.

"The hunters."

His gaze dropped to the crimson light still glowing beneath her skin.

"The ones who killed the last Blood Luna."

A chill moved through Elara.

The last Blood Luna.

Her mother?

Before she could ask, the wolf looked toward the sealed eastern doors.

His voice dropped to a frightened whisper.

"They're already inside the territory."

Kael's head snapped toward the doors.

For the first time, Elara understood that whatever had awakened inside her wasn't simply a secret the pack wanted hidden.

Someone had been waiting for it.

And now that it had awakened, they had come to finish what they started.