I turned to see Elder Elisse approaching me once again. There was something different in her expression this time. Something heavier.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
I studied her for a moment. The former Luna. A woman who had once held the same position I did now.
Did she feel this way too, once upon a time? Or was this pain uniquely mine?
“I want to leave,” I said quietly.
Her eyes widened.
“Leave… the pack?”
I nodded.
“I can’t stay here anymore.” My voice remained calm, but inside, everything felt like it was falling apart. “I accepted the Luna position because I thought he would love me forever.”
I let out a soft, humorless laugh.
“How foolish of me.”
“Stephanie—”
“For your granddaughter,” I continued, my voice trembling slightly now, “please help me.”
Her gaze softened instantly.
“I’ll go crazy if I stay here any longer,” I admitted. “I don’t want my child to grow up watching this. I don’t want her to think this is what love looks like.”
Silence fell between us. Heavy. Painful.
Elder Elisse closed her eyes briefly, as if gathering her thoughts.
“I don’t know what went wrong,” she whispered.
Neither did I.
That was the cruelest part. There was no clear moment where everything shattered.
No single mistake I could point to and fix. Just a slow, painful unraveling of something that once felt unbreakable.
“I’ll help you,” she said finally.
My breath caught.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
It was the first time in a long while that I felt something close to relief.
But it didn’t last. Because the moment I returned to my room and turned on the television, the world reminded me exactly why I needed to leave.
The news flashed across the screen.
“Alpha Cain caught in another scandal.”
I froze. Images filled the screen. That woman. The same one from the livestream. Laughing. Dancing. Kissing.
My stomach twisted violently. But then the headline changed. And my entire world stopped.
“Alpha Cain gifts the most precious moonstone to his rumored lover.”
My heart skipped. The screen shifted, showing a familiar object. A glowing stone, radiating a soft, ethereal light.
The most precious moonstone in the land of wolves. The one he had once promised me.
My fingers tightened around the edge of the table as a hollow laugh escaped my lips.
“I see…”
My voice sounded distant. Unfamiliar.
“He kept his promise after all.”
Just not to me.
Stephanie’s POV