The White Wolf's Requiem

Vera Morgan, my mate's lover, said the Moonlight Power of the White Wolf's pups was pure, and that moon stones soaked in the blood from their hearts could keep a pregnancy from failing.

So Rowan Black, my mate and the Alpha of the Blackrock Pack, gave the order. I, Elara Dale, nine-month pregnant with twin babies, the Luna and a White Wolf from the Moonborn Clan, the white wolves who served the moon goddess, was tied to an operating table by the warriors, and they cut my twins out of my belly.

I was overwhelmed by the agony surging through me.

I then fell to my knees, weeping, and begged him. "The babies are premature and underdeveloped. If you take the blood from their hearts, they will die. I am the purest White Wolf of the Moonborn Clan. Take my heart instead. Please, just don't hurt the babies..."

Rowan, however, said nonchalantly, "It's only a few drops of blood. It won't kill them. Consider it penance for your jealousy of Vera."

I looked at his cold face. My wolf, Serane, let out a despairing whine.

That night, before my children could even open their eyes, their lives slipped away from the little openings on their chests.

I held my children's bloody bodies and went to Larkin Olson, the Elder of the Blackrock Pack. "You saved me back then, and I repaid the Blackrock Pack with my Moonlight Power. My children are gone now. It is time for me to leave."

...

Larkin took the cold, stiff bodies of my children from my arms. His face was etched with guilt.

He looked at me, so desperate that I could barely stand on my feet, and called out urgently for someone to send the pack healers here. "I will summon every healer in the pack at once. The moon goddess will protect them."

I shook my head. Tears fell silently down my face.

The healer who arrived trembled as he spoke the hopeless truth. "The baby werewolves lost too much blood last night. The Moonlight Power you transferred to them was also transferred to Vera. Their souls have already broken."

In that moment, I recalled the faint cries of my babies before they died.

Serane was a hundred times tougher than I was, but even she let out a pained growl.

Rowan had already blocked me from communicating with him through our mate bond.

Larkin was completely bristled. He sent message after message summoning Rowan.

But all we received was Rowan's annoyed voice reply, his tone utterly dismissive and impatient. "Elara, you run to Larkin over something so trivial. You disgust me. Since you gave birth yesterday, I've sent a servant to deliver a hundred-year Moonbeam Moss to you, which will help you regain your health. Behave yourself. I need to be with Vera for embryonic learning now."

Larkin slammed his palm onto the stone table in front of him, shattering it.

Splinters flew and cut his face, drawing blood.

He shouted in rage. "That heartless bastard!"

Just then, a Beta servant walked in carrying a velvet box.

He bowed his head and spoke softly. "This is a tonic the Alpha prepared for you to help you recover, Luna."

Larkin kicked the box over.

Out from it rolled a few dried, blackened weeds that gave off a pungent, rotting smell.

Any infant werewolf who could walk could smell that they were deadly weeds that had been soaked in werewolf venom.

But Rowan had not even bothered to smell them before he sent a servant to deliver them to me, his Luna, who had just given birth and lost her children.

My children's bodies were as cold as ice.

Whatever lingering love I had for Rowan extinguished in that moment.

Larkin covered his face. Tears ran down through his fingers. "He killed his own children and won't even show his face. He's still with that venomous woman. How did I ever let such a werewolf become the leader of Blackrock..."

He fell to his knees before me. "I was the one who made such a grave mistake that I had raised a wolf so cold and ruthless. I will beat him hard to make amends to you. The Blackrock Pack won't survive without you. I beg you, for the sake of the life I saved ten years ago, give us one more chance."

I raised my trembling hand and gently touched my children's cold little faces. Tears poured down uncontrollably.

Ten years ago, Larkin had knelt just like this in the forest, begging me to save the Blackrock Pack from collapse.

Back then, my wolf had just awakened inside me not long before, and I had stumbled into a trap set by hunters, and I was severely injured as silver chains had burned through me.

And Larkin had saved me from that trap.

The Moonborn Clan abides by the rules set by the moon goddess. I could not return to my homeland in the North until I had fully repaid my debt.

So I offered to stay in the Blackrock Pack. I used my Moonlight Power to bring the resources the pack needed to survive back to the dying land and lifted the pack back to the top among the werewolf packs in the forest.

I never coveted control of the pack or Rowan's exclusive love. I only wanted to give birth to my children and go home.

But in my weakest moment, my two children were murdered.

And now, absurdly, Larkin still wanted me to stay.

Serane spoke from deep in my mind. "Elara... Let's go. Back to the North."

I looked calmly at Larkin on his knees. "The Blackrock Pack has reached its end. There's nothing I can do."