Chapter 3

Damien’s jaw tightened as he glared at me, his patience fraying. “Why are you really leaving, Alice?” His voice was steady, but the anger was clear. “Is it because of Nathan? He’s just a child.”

I felt my hands tighten at my sides, my fingers trembling slightly as I held myself back from shouting. The words weren’t enough. They never were.

Damien’s expression shifted, anger flaring as he took a step forward. “So you’re willing to throw everything away? For a child’s tantrum?”

He exhaled sharply, the breath rattling with frustration. “You’ll lose your title. You’ll lose everything. Is that what you want?” His voice dropped to a low growl. “Look, I don't have time for this. I still need to find someone suitable to attend the function with me tonight.”

Damien spun on his heel and stormed out, slamming the door with a force that rattled the walls.

I didn’t bother watching him leave. I didn’t have the energy for another argument.

I sat back down on the bed, staring at the shattered pieces of my jade necklace. It lay in front of me, broken in the way my life had been for years. I tried to glue it back together, my hands shaking as I fumbled with the tiny fragments. The glue stuck to my fingers, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make it whole again. The pieces wouldn’t fit.

********

I was leaving today, but before that, having my sister's memorial ceremony.

She died today, five years ago. I wasn’t sure what hurt more: the fact that she was gone, or that I was still here, a ghost of the life she’d left behind.

The table was set with fresh flowers, a single candle burning low. I stood at the memorial, staring at the picture of her — a woman I had once looked up to, someone who had been taken from all of us too soon. The day was meant to be a reminder of her sacrifice, the legacy she left behind.

Beta Zane entered quietly, standing beside me.

“Have you really made your decision? About leaving?” he asked, his voice gentle.

“Yes,” I said softly. “I’ve made up my mind. There’s nothing here for me anymore.”

Beta Zane gave me a long, thoughtful look. “You’ve done a lot for this pack, Luna Alice. A lot more than anyone gives you credit for.” He hesitated. “Do you really want to leave them all behind? We can give Nathan a little time. As he grows up, he will learn.”

Nathan will only grow to hate me more. I have given everything I had to keep the pack running and stand out among other packs. I raised Nathan into the golden pup everyone admired. I even took on Alpha Damien’s emotional mess, trying to make life easier for him.

But no matter what I did, it never earned me a bit of their love.

To Damien, I was nothing more than a brain box and a workaholic to carry out every task concerning the pack and at the same time satisfy him every night. The rest of the time, I might as well have been invisible.

As for Nathan, he hated me. Because of a few words from outsiders gossiping about me, he hated me with every fiber of his being. Every time he looked at me, it was like he was willing me to die.

How could that situation ever be called a family?

Beta Zane eventually gave up trying to talk me out of leaving. Instead, he agreed to inform the elders because I wasn't sure I could face them all.

********

Later that day, I went to the store to get new candles because the one on her memorial plaque had burnt completely.

I was just about to turn when I heard his voice.

“You’re still here.” Nathan’s tone was sharp, filled with contempt.

I turned to face him, my heart tightening at the sight of the boy I had once loved as my own. “I’m just looking for something,” I said quietly, not bothering to hide the tiredness in my voice.

Nathan stepped closer, his eyes narrowing. “You should have died that day. She should still be here. It should have been your memorial, not hers.”

The words hit like a slap to the face. My breath caught in my throat, but I didn’t say anything. There was no point. Not anymore.

I turned back to the shelf, pretending not to hear him.

But Nathan didn’t stop. “You ruined everything. She was my mother, and you took her place. You’re nothing but a stand-in, a replacement. You’ll never be her.”

His words stung, each one landing harder than the last. I clenched my jaw, willing myself not to react, not to show him how much it hurt. The candle fell, and I bent down to pick it up.

As I did, I heard the click of a lighter. My stomach twisted as I turned, seeing Nathan standing in front of the door, the flame flickering to life in his hand.

He held up a bottle — half-full, the scent of gasoline unmistakable. My breath caught.

“Nathan,” I whispered, slowly standing. “What are you doing?”

His eyes glinted, wild with pain and fury. “She’s gone because of you. And you’re still here, pretending this is your home.”

He tilted the bottle slightly, letting a line of fuel splash across the wooden floor, trailing it between us.

My heart pounded, dread knotting in my chest. “Nathan, stop this. You don’t want to do this.”

But his hand tightened around the lighter, the small flame casting eerie shadows across his face.

He dropped the lighter and the fire caught instantly, a wave of heat and smoke rising as the flames leapt up between us.

Chapter 4

The heat clawed at my lungs before I even opened my eyes.

Smoke pressed down on me like a fist, curling into my throat with every breath.

I was on the floor, struggling to move. Wood cracked and splintered above me. Somewhere close, glass shattered. The scent of burnt fabric and scorched hair wrapped around me like a death shroud.

Was I dying?

My world was crumbling before me, burning in flames.

I tried to move but couldn’t. My leg felt twisted, and my dress was still smoldering. I patted it down with trembling hands, the pain biting deep.

I tried to whisper for help, but nothing came out. The smoke only sank deeper into my lungs.

I rolled to my side, coughing hard enough to taste blood. Firelight flickered just beyond the shelves, dancing across the store walls. My sister’s face flashed in my mind—her smile, the day she had saved me and burned in my place.

Now I knew how she must’ve felt.

I gritted my teeth and dragged myself forward. I had to live, I had to survive. Not for them—but for me. For everything they tried to strip from me.

A groan escaped my lips as I reached the back door and forced it open with a surge of strength I didn’t know I had. I tumbled out into the snow, smoke billowing behind me, flames roaring as the building collapsed inward.

The cold slapped me hard.

I rolled onto my back, coughing and shivering, my skin blistered and my eyes wet.

Footsteps crunched in the snow.

I blinked through the haze, and my heart froze again.

Nathan stood at the edge of the flames, his silhouette outlined by the inferno behind him. His expression wasn’t anger or regret.

It was relief.

He thought I’d died.

When our eyes met, he didn’t run. He didn’t speak. He simply turned and walked away.

********

I woke up hours later in the hospital. The painkillers dulled everything—everything except the memory.

“Who found me?” I croaked, my throat like sandpaper.

The nurse hesitated. “A guard, passing by. Said he saw the fire and pulled you out after you’d already dragged yourself into the snow.”

“Not Damien? Not Nathan?”

The nurse looked away.

“No one came,” she whispered.

No one came. Not even to check if I was alive.

A tear slipped from my eye. I had given too much to this family, and it was time to let go.

By morning, the rumors had spread faster than the flames.

“Luna Alice went mad and tried to burn down the memorial store.”

“Envy made her do it—she wanted to erase the memory of the real Luna.”

“She poisoned herself for sympathy.”

Every lie was worse than the last. I was labeled a psychopath, a jealous freak.

I sat on the bed, bandaged and bruised, listening through the window to the voices of the pack as they passed by.

“She’s not right in the head. She should’ve left long ago.”

“How can she even think of taking the position of her sister?”

Beta Zane visited briefly.

“They’ve called a council meeting,” he said quietly. “They want you stripped of your title and exiled. Damien pleaded that you still stay.”

I furrowed my brows, staring at him, confused. “Damien really did that? For me?”

Beta Zane raised his head and looked at me. “But on a condition.”

“And what’s that?”

“You apologize to Nathan and every member of the pack,” he replied.

I laughed, my voice dry and bitter. “Of course, he would say that.”

I turned my face sideways, my lips trembling as tears came rushing down. I shook my head, breathing in deeply. Then opened my eyes and shot Beta Zane a fierce look. “I want you to tell Damien and those shameless elders this: I will never beg them, even if it depends on my life.”

Beta Zane nodded and placed something on my lap before he left. A tiny, charred piece of green jade—what was left of my necklace.

I thought I had lost it in the fire. I held it tightly in my palm.

That night, I left the hospital. I couldn’t stand it anymore—the insults and rumors.

Luckily, I hadn’t sustained much injury from the fire, except for my left arm, which got burned and left a rough scar—a memory I would never forget.

I stood before the council.

They looked at me like a disease. Like a ghost they couldn’t wait to bury.

“We hereby declare that you, Alice Rivers, are unfit to remain Luna,” Elder Rider announced. “Effective immediately, you are banished from the Silverclaw Pack. If you return, it will be treated as an act of war.”

I nodded once.

I didn’t beg like they expected me to. Like I would have years ago.

I returned home to take my belongings. They were already thrown out. I stared down at them, then looked up at the room that belonged to the child I cherished for five years.

Nathan was staring down at me with disgust.

“Oh, you forgot this,” he said, and dropped the shoe directly on my head. He laughed heartily and shut the window forcefully at me.

Damien didn’t even come to see me—not that it mattered. He must be with his new lover now.

Days later, after I left, a messenger arrived at the packhouse, breathless and pale.

“The Red Fang Alpha,” he stammered. “He’s marching toward Silverclaw. Says he’s reclaiming what’s his.”

Damien frowned. “What does that mean?”

The messenger trembled. “He says… the Luna you cast out carried his bloodline.”

Chapter 5

I continued to walk deeper into the woods. The weight of betrayal clinging to my bones. The snow gnawed at my burns, red beneath the bandages. My breath fogged the air in front of me, shallow and ragged but I didn’t stop.

I couldn’t.

They had thrown me away. Branded me insane. Banished me like some rabid dog. And still, the thought that clung to my chest like a second heartbeat wasn’t hate.

It was grief.

Not for the title. Not even for Damien. But for the years I gave, for the child I raised and for the home that had never truly been mine.

A crunch of twigs behind me snapped my attention back to the present.

I spun, my heart leaping. There was nothing but shadows between the trees. But something or someone was following me. I could sense it. I quickened my pace.

By dusk, I reached the ravine. I knew this place. My mother and I had camped here once when we were being chased. There was a shallow cave tucked beneath the ridge. I collapsed inside it, shaking, finally letting myself exhale.

The last of the herbs Beta Zane gave me were gone. The pain flared with renewed fury. My vision blurred. I pressed a hand to my side and it was wet with blood.

Damn it.

The fire had seared deeper than I realized.

I should’ve rested and stitched the wound. But sleep pulled me under too fast. I had fallen before I even realized it and with it came the dreams. Not the soft kind, though.

These were full of smoke and screams and Damien saying, “You made him terrified. You should apologize.”

Of Nathan lighting the fire with a smile on his lips.

I woke with a scream caught in my throat and a blade at my neck.

“Move, and I slit your skin from throat to navel.”

The voice was low, cold, and unfamiliar. My eyes flew open to find a man crouched beside me, his dagger poised.

He was a rogue.

“Who are you?” I whispered.

He leaned closer. “The question is, who are you, pretty little burn victim, sleeping in a rogue territory with no fear?”

“I’m no threat,” I said quickly, my chest heaving.

His gaze narrowed. “You smell like Silverclaw.”

“I was banished.”

He smirked. “Of course you were. They always say that.”

“I was their Luna.”

That made him pause.

He pulled the blade away slightly but didn’t sheath it. “That’s a hell of a claim for someone bleeding out in my cave.”

“I didn’t come to claim anything,” I muttered. “I just needed shelter. You can have your cave.”

I tried to push myself up. The pain made my vision dim. I collapsed again, my teeth clenched.

The rogue sighed, swore under his breath, and sheathed the blade.

“You’re lucky I hate them too,” he muttered. “Stay. But if you bleed on my food, I’ll toss you to the wolves.”

I gave a dry laugh. “You think they haven’t already had their bite?”

********

By morning, my fever had spiked. The rogue, whose name, I learned, was Kael reluctantly helped clean my wounds. He wasn’t gentle, but he wasn’t cruel either.

“You shouldn’t be alive,” he said, wrapping a fresh bandage. “What did you do to get kicked out like that?”

“Nothing,” I whispered. “Except survive.”

Kael tilted his head, studying me. “That’s enough reason for some Alphas. Especially Damien.”

I looked up sharply. “You know him?”

Kael gave a bitter laugh. “Everyone knows the Silverclaw Alpha. Most of us have scars because of him.”

He turned away, his face unreadable. I decided not to press further, perhaps it was a memory I shouldn’t have reminded him of.

That night, the storm hit. Winds howled through the trees like mourning wolves. We huddled in the cave. Kael tossed me a thicker cloak from his pack and muttered, “Don’t die. I hate cleaning up corpses.”

I smiled faintly. “You’re very charming.”

“Don’t get used to it,” he growled.

*******

Three days passed.

My strength returned slowly. Kael taught me how to trap small game. I learned he once belonged to the Crimson Vale Pack—until Damien ordered them to surrender their borders, and Kael’s sister was killed in the raid.

I remembered the incident. It had caused a fight between Damien and my sister. But he promised to provide the affected with every means of living he once took from them.

I guess they were just empty promises.

I also shared what they did to me. Every bitter truth. Every betrayal.

He didn’t interrupt once.

But when I finished, his voice was low and fierce. “You shouldn’t be crawling away from that kind of injustice. You should be crawling back. With a blade.”

“I wish I could” I murmured.

Kael looked at me for a long time. “Do you want to?”

We both shared an eye contact for a while with no one saying anything.

******

On the fourth morning, Kael burst into the cave, his face pale.

“They’re coming.”

I sat upright, my heart pounding. “Who?”

He held up a scroll, sealed with the Red Fang crest.

“A scout just passed. Word’s spreading like wildfire: the Red Fang Alpha claims you're of his bloodline. Says the Silverclaw Pack banished royalty.”

I froze. “That can’t be true.”

Kael dropped the scroll in front of me.

“You better hope it isn't. Because the Red Fang is the largest pack.”

I stared at the scroll, my heart pounding.

My sister never told me much about our past. I had no father.

Just my mother—who died because of the same Red Fang Pack.