My knees gave way. I pressed a trembling hand against my chest as realization hit me like a silver blade to the heart.
Annie’s heart. They… they gave her heart to Hannah.
I hired those soldiers, used all of my conncetions, to prioritized saving my daughter who was kidnapped during the war. But Alpha Jeremiah paid them double to save Hannah instead. And that was why, a year ago, they only got my daughter’s lifeless body, while they managed to save the unconscious Hannah.
And now, Alpha Jeremiah gave my daughter’s heart just to save his fucking mistress?
Zera’s POV
Their voices still echo in my mind. “What if she finds out?” Hannah’s trembling whisper had sliced through the air like a knife.
For a moment, I thought there might be a sliver of guilt in her tone. That maybe, just maybe, the woman I once called my sister felt remorse.
But Jeremiah’s laugh was cruel and cold. “You’re too naive, Hannah. Zera is loyal to a fault. She won’t question me, she never does.”
Then Hannah’s giggle followed, soft and wicked. “Poor Luna Zera. She’s too perfect to even suspect anything.”
I remember standing there, frozen in place, my heart pounding so hard it hurt. They went on mocking me, tearing me apart piece by piece, my devotion, my grief, my trust. Every word was another dagger in my chest.
“She still thinks Annie’s death was fate,” Jeremiah sneered. “She would never imagine I ordered those soldiers to choose differently.”
“And even if she does,” Hannah said, “what can she do? She’s just your Luna, and you’re her Alpha.”
Just his Luna. Not his equal. Just a title.
The room swam before my eyes as I stumbled away, forcing myself not to break down there. My wolf was howling in agony in the back of my mind. I wanted to tear through the door, to rip them both apart for what they’d done, but my heart, my broken, bleeding heart, still refused to let go.
Instead, I walked away. I walked until I reached the balcony overlooking the Moonshadow plains, the heart of our pack. Below me, the wolves were training, patrolling, living their lives as if nothing had shattered. The moon above looked down on me, silent and silver, as if it, too, was mourning.
And I fell to my knees.
The sobs came out of me like a storm I could no longer contain. Every cry echoed against the stone walls of the packhouse, swallowed by the wind. I clutched the railing, shaking, my tears dripping onto the marble like rain.