Chapter 2
1258 Words
Vicky~
A few moments after he entered our chambers, I caught the same scent on Rowan's body while my wolf, Lyra growled low in my mind.
However, I said nothing because seven years as Luna of the Silver Ridge pack had taught me many things. The most important was that sometimes silence revealed more than accusations.
"Vicky” Rowan said, watching me carefully. "Did you remove something from the Pack archives?"
His question almost made me laugh.
Earlier that morning, I had withdrawn my claim to the Luna succession records. In a few days, I would no longer be Silver Ridge's Luna.
"No," I replied calmly. "Just clearing out old things."
Only then did his shoulders relax as I smiled coldly.
Interesting. I thought with a scoff.
That afternoon, Rowan insisted on accompanying me to the Moon Market.
Normally, Luna traveled with guards, but Rowan dismissed the escorts and walked beside me himself.
Pack members bowed at us as we walked past them.
"Alpha and Luna look perfect together."
"They're the strongest mated pair in the region."
"I heard Alpha challenged three rival Alphas just to win her hand."
The whispers followed us.
Once, those words would have made me smile and now, they felt like mockery.
Inside the market's finest tailor den, a familiar scent suddenly reached my nostrils while my breath hitched.
That was exactly the same scent from Rowan's clothes. Immediately, a beautiful young lady stood across the room while my heart skipped as I bit my lip and mentally reminded myself that she was the wolf carrying my mate's scent.
“Vicky” She said respectfully. However, beneath her soft respect was a woman who was challenging me as she lifted a ceremonial Luna cloak from a display rack.
"Oh, this style is rather traditional, isn't it?" she said innocently. "Young she-wolves prefer something more modern these days."
Her eyes flicked briefly toward Rowan who cleared his throat.
"You're right," I said calmly while her smile widened as I continued, "Only she-wolves with shallow roots chase every new trend."
Immediately, her smile vanished as I ran my fingers across the silver embroidery of the cloak.
"A true Luna isn't chosen because she's fashionable."
I said, glancing at her. “She's chosen because she can lead."
The room became deathly still as several wolves lowered their eyes.
For a moment, rage flashed across Selena's face as she immediately looked towards Rowan who hurriedly wrapped his arm around my waist.
“My babe is right."
He said calmly. However, I knew it was forced because he seemed genuinely concerned and attentive towards the woman who was boiling in anger.
My phone buzzed before noon. Warriors' den. Now.
I was moving before I finished reading.
The nursery smelled like blood and panic. Mara had a girl pinned gently to the mat, half-shifted — paws where hands should be, a scream tearing out of a mouth that hadn't finished becoming a muzzle. Two other pups stood frozen by the door, too scared to run and too scared to stay.
"Get them out," I told Mara, and she did.
"First shift," she said, dragging the door shut behind the others. "Three months early. Her mother's on the border rotation. Nobody could reach her."
I dropped to my knees and pressed my palm flat over the girl's chest.
"Look at me," I said. "Not your hands. Me."
Her eyes found mine. Wild. Drowning.
"You're not broken. You're just early."
The mark on my shoulder pulsed once, low and warm — not Rowan's, not betrayal, just the old pull of a Luna's duty settling into place the way it always had, the one part of this title that had never once lied to me.
It took twenty minutes. Her claws retracted first, then the muzzle, then the fur along her arms, each change dragging a fresh sound out of her. When it finally broke and she came back to herself, shaking, human, alive, I sat on the floor and held her until her breathing evened out.
That was when Selena found me.
"There you are." She wrinkled her nose at the blood drying on my sleeve. "I've been looking everywhere. I need your opinion on the Moon Festival colors. Rowan said you'd know best."
I looked at her over the girl's head.
"I was in here so a nine-year-old didn't shift out of her own skin alone," I said. "Where were you?"
Selena's nose wrinkled harder, at the girl this time, not me. "God, it reeks in here." She stepped back like the mat might touch her shoes. "Can someone open a window?"
The girl flinched. Small, but I felt it.
The door banged open before I could answer. A warrior in border-patrol leathers shoved through, still catching her breath, straight off a two-hour run back from the rotation.
"Emma—" She dropped to the mat and gathered her daughter up, checking her hands, her face, like she couldn't decide what to check first. Then she looked up and saw Selena's expression, and whatever softness had been in her face went hard.
"You've got something to say about how my daughter smells?" she said. "Say it to my face instead of hers."
Selena's mouth opened. Nothing came out of it.
The warrior turned to me instead, and her whole voice changed. "Luna. Thank you. Mara told me you didn't leave her the whole time."
"Of course I didn't," I said. "She's my pack member."
The warrior held her daughter tighter and didn't look at Selena again. She didn't need to. The room had already made its judgment, and Selena was standing in the middle of it with nowhere to put her hands.
Finally, Lyra said. Someone said it to her face.
I stood, brushed off my knees, and left them to it.
Selena's heels clicked after me down the corridor, quick and uneven. Losing an argument always made her walk faster, like she could outrun the fact of it.
"Rowan's going to hear about this."
“Tell him I said hello.”
Later, while Rowan fetched refreshments, a mindlink message reached me.
How did it feel, smelling me on him last night??
Only then did my grip tightened around the cup as I realized who it was.
Selena.
Before I could process what was going on, another message arrived.
Every night he leaves the pack house, he comes to me. Want proof? He's on his way to me right now.
At that exact moment, Rowan's mindlink channel vibrated as his expression shifted into a smile.
"There is trouble at the southern border," he almost said and continued before I could say anything else, “I need to leave."
"Go," I said almost immediately while Rowan hesitated for a second before he turned and walked away.
Back at my room a few hours later, I opened an old chest hidden beneath my bed.
Inside were my warrior certificates, leadership records, and acceptance letter from the Northern Alpha Academy.
However, I shook my head. I couldn't believe I was a fool that abandoned a life that could make me go places just to become a Luna.
I was finally taking life back and nothing was stopping me.
Just then, I crossed another day off the calendar.
Twenty nine days until the bond severance ceremony.
Almost immediately, the bedroom door opened as Rowan stepped inside and at once, his gaze landed on the calendar while his face immediately darkened.
"Vicky,” he called out.
"What exactly are you counting down to?”
- Writer
