Luna Aurora‘s Second Chane

Chapter 6

Aurora's POV

If I submit now, she wins.

With just a few words, Eileen had nearly shaken the very position I'd fought so hard to secure as Luna. Logan's reaction had also already told everyone everything they needed to know.

If I gave in, it wouldn't be long before Eileen found another opportunity to strike—and that time, she'd finish the job.

I step forward.

"As Luna of the Redmoon Pack—" My voice carries across the hall, and I don't lower it. "—the incident involving Alpha Damien occurred under this roof. That is my responsibility. Regardless of who is at fault, I failed to ensure our guests' safety." I look around the room, meeting eyes where I can. "I give my word to every pack represented here tonight: Redmoon will conduct a full investigation. We will have answers. No innocent party will be punished. And no guilty party will escape."

I look at Eileen as I say the last part. Then at the maid who stepped away from her side twenty minutes ago.

"Enough."

Logan's voice cuts across the room.

"This is a kitchen error." He steps forward, his tone dropping into something controlled and final. "We are not going to incite a diplomatic incident over a kitchen error." He turns toward Mara. "You made a mistake in food preparation and now you're deflecting blame onto a guest. That's not something I'll tolerate." His gaze moves to the door. "Soldiers—"

"Mara didn't make a mistake."

I move before anyone else does, putting myself between her and the two warriors already shifting at the edge of the room. Mara's hand finds my arm from behind and grips tight.

"Everything she said is true."

Logan's jaw locks. "Aurora. You're taking a servant's side over—"

"Who's taking whose side here, Logan?" My voice was trembling. "Tell me."

Something flickers in his expression.

"Think carefully." He drops his voice. "You are the Luna of this pack. Act like it."

Behind me, Mara shakes my arm. I can feel the motion — small and insistent, her way of saying *stop, please don't*. She'd rather take whatever comes than watch me go further into this.

I don't move.

Logan exhales once, sharp. Then: "Fine." He says it three times. "Fine. Fine." He looked like he was about to breathe fire. "Since the Luna herself admitted her own negligence this evening — she can take Mara's punishment."

A beat of silence.

"Beta."

Nothing happens.

"Beta Aiden." Louder.

Aiden steps forward from the edge of the room. He doesn't look at me. His face has closed into something careful and unreadable.

"Take the Luna to the dungeon." Logan's voice doesn't waver. "Flogging."

The crowd reacts all at once — a wave of sharp murmurs and startled faces. Someone inhales audibly. I don't look at any of them.

I look at Eileen.

She's standing just behind Logan's right shoulder, and the expression on her face is—pure, unguarded satisfaction.

Aiden stops at my side. He doesn't touch me.

"Luna." His voice is quiet. "I'm sorry. Please."

***

He walks one step behind me the whole way.

The dungeon sits below the north wing, through a service corridor most of the pack never sees. The air gets cooler with each step. My heels are too loud against the stone.

I don't realize I'm crying again until I taste salt.

I press the back of my hand to my mouth and keep walking.

Aiden unlocks the cell door but doesn't push it open. He stands there looking at the floor.

"Luna." He turns. "I had no choice but to follow the Alpha's orders. My duty—" He stops, starts again. "But I don't believe he'll go through with this. Give it an hour. He'll come for you himself."

I reach up and wipe my face. "Do you think this is my fault, Aiden?"

He doesn't answer. His mouth opens and closes once.

That's enough.

I let out a sound that surprises me. Not crying — a laugh. Low and helpless, the kind that comes when things have gotten too absurd for any other response.

And I'd actually thought he'd stand up for me after what happened at the daycare. What a joke.

Even after he stood there at the dessert table. Even while I held that champagne glass with my bruise showing and the whole room watching. I thought: he knows me. He's known me since we were children. He'll say something.

Not one word.

But for her — one sentence, and the room turned.

I press my fingers to my mouth, still laughing softly. My eyes are wet. I can't seem to stop either one.

"Luna—" Aiden takes a half step forward.

"I'm not angry," I say.

He stops.

"I'm not angry." I look at him. "I'm despairing."

Something crosses his face that I can't name.

"If you two just talked—" he starts.

I shake my head. "Go, Aiden."

He stands there one more moment. Then he bows — a proper bow, lower than the situation requires — and walks back down the corridor without another word.

I push the door open myself and go inside.

***

The light through the high window slit goes from gold to amber to grey.

I sit with my back against the stone wall and try to work through the same place. Noah. I can't take him and go. I have no wolf. If this falls apart completely, I have no way to protect him, and he is the only thing in this equation that is not negotiable.

This was my second home. Mara taught me how to make raspberry mousse in the summer, and when winter came, we baked chocolate cakes together. Every winter morning, the scent of burning firewood drifted through the kitchen. Diane treated me like her own daughter. She had even sewn my wedding dress by hand. I knew everyone in the pack, and every one of them had shown me kindness.

I don't know how to leave them. I don't know how to stay.

The door at the end of the corridor slams open.

Logan's voice reaches me before he does: "Open it. Be quick." A key turning, metal on metal. Then he's in the doorway, and behind him the soldiers are already stepping back, filing out.

I turn around.

He looks at me. Something in his face shifts — the anger draining out, leaving something rawer underneath.

His voice has lost its edge. "You didn't do anything. Tonight wasn't fair to you, and I'm sorry."

The only thing my mouth manages is a small, bitter pull at one corner.

"I spoke with Eileen." He moves toward me slowly. "She only meant to help. She wanted to learn from you — how the kitchen runs, how you manage these events. She didn't know about the allergy. She panicked when it happened, and when her father finds out she caused an incident at an inter-pack banquet—" He spreads his hands. "You know how strict he is. She was scared."

"So she accused me," I say.

Logan exhales. "You're Luna. You can withstand this. She can't."

"Logan." I turn to face him fully. Both hands go out at my sides. "Am I the one who put her in a dungeon tonight?"

He looks at the floor.

"I'll talk to her," he says. "Privately. And I'm telling her tonight — she doesn't touch pack operations. Not the kitchen, not events, nothing. That's final."

I say nothing.

"Aurora." He reaches for my hand. "Damien recovered quickly. He's not pursuing the matter. This doesn't have to become what you think it's becoming. Just let it go. Please."

"I don't want to see her."

"Done." The word is out before I finish the sentence. "East wing. Two kilometers from the Luna suite. Your paths won't cross."

I look at him.

"Noah had a hard afternoon," he says, quieter now. "He cried. He kept asking for you."

Something moves in my chest before I can stop it.

Logan watches my face and reaches for my arm. "Come on. Let's go."

I let him lead me out.

But I don't say another word the whole way home.