I sat there, clutching a bond cord with my name etched into its metal clasp. I had been blind.
My Alpha parents had warned me when I begged them to adopt Selene. “Are you certain, Liora? Not every she-wolf desires sisterhood. And what if she harms you? Trust is not given freely.”
I refused to listen. I believed pack love would be enough.
But now? Now I understand. She never wanted to be my sister. She wanted my place as Luna.
I packed the last of my belongings, then carried the memory coffer into the rear courtyard of the manor. I struck a flint.
The fire took hold quickly. Parchments curled and darkened. Bond cords twisted as their shine faded. Image crystals cracked and turned to ash.
“Liora!”
I looked up to see Alden running toward me from the hall, panic clear on his face.
“What are you doing?!” he yelled. “Those are our records! The bond cords!”
“Yes,” I answered calmly. “I am severing our shared past, ending our bond.”
He stepped closer, but I moved before the flames, blocking him. “It is finished. All of it.”
Moments later, Draven arrived, his face stiff with disbelief.
“Is this another outburst, Luna?” he asked, folding his arms. “We know you are upset, but this is too much, even for you.”
“This is not an outburst,” I said evenly. “This is to end the bond.”
“You would let one terrible night erase our bond for years?” Alden pleaded. “Liora, please… we can speak….”
I met both their gazes, then looked only at Alden. “I, Luna Liora, no longer wish to share any bond with either of you.”
I turned away and walked back into the manor, leaving the smoke behind me like the final trace of a life I would never reclaim.
I had wished that after I burned the past bond items, the Alpha and Beta would finally leave their Luna in peace. But they did not.
Several days passed within the pack territory and slowly, Alden began to act as though nothing had occurred. Fresh flowers were delivered to my chamber again. Messages came through my crystal communicator, gentle and light, asking how my day as Luna had been, sharing small jokes, even trying to press a brief greeting kiss when we crossed paths near the manor gates. It felt as if the recent moons of pain had never existed.
Draven followed the same path, stepping back into his role as the elder brother.