No one questioned when their Luna would be back. No one asked if I would go back at all.
That silence answered everything.
I walked to the back of my chamber, where I kept a small velvet-lined case hidden within my chest. My adornments. Simple things collected through cycles, nameday gifts, clan tokens, small keepsakes I once treasured.
I opened the case. The necklace.
A moon-diamond pendant set in pale silver, shaped in an old clan design. It once belonged to my grandmother, then my mother and then me. I was meant to wear it on my mating night, whenever that fate arrived.
But when I looked inside, it was gone.
The necklace was missing.
My body went cold.
I searched the drawers. The shelves. The locked box is beneath my bed. I tore through my travel packs. Nothing.
My heart struck hard against my ribs. I left my chamber and went straight into the main den.
Alden was there, resting on the couch, his crystal communicator in hand.
“Alden,” I said, my voice sharp, “where is my moon-diamond necklace?”
He barely lifted his gaze. “Ah. That.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I gave it to Selene,” he replied easily. “She will wear it on our Bloodmoon Territory journey. It suits her.”
My breath stopped. “You did what?”
He finally looked at me, irritation clear. “She admired it. It fit her. You were not using it, so I allowed it.”
I stepped closer, hands tight. “That pendant is not a decoration. It is a blood heirloom. It belongs to my mother’s pack. It was given to me. It is mine.”
Alden shook his shoulders. “She is family, too. Why are you acting this way? She only borrowed it.”
“No,” I said through clenched teeth. “She was never a pack blood. I brought her into our lives. I begged my Alpha parents to shelter her. I gave her a den. And she took everything.”
His face darkened. “You are speaking poorly, Liora. I cannot believe you were truly envious of her, just as she said.”
“I am speaking truth,” I said bitterly. “I regret bringing her into my pack. And I am not jealous. Never. She is nothing but poison.”
The sound came without warning.
A sharp strike.
My head snapped to the side. Heat burned across my cheek.
I blinked, stunned. Alden’s hand remained lifted between us.
“She is your sister by bond,” he said harshly. “She is packed. Never speak of her that way again.”