The Secret Oracle: His Defiant Luna

th

it did nothing to soothe the snarling beast in my chest. I stood at the window of my o

aw was

st night. The straight, unyielding line of h

r, the rejection stung him, a phantom limb aching for a connection I had severed. He didn't understand politics or necessity. He only understood that his mate was in pain,

h, ho

blossom a cloying cloud around her. She was wearing one of my shirts, the white linen hanging loose on her small fra

m. "Anya has always been so dramatic. She never understood our bond, Barth. Sh

against my raw nerves like sandpaper. I didn't answe

verything, the mate bond still held a piece of me. She could never feel it, of course. She was human. The bond was a fr

st night," she whispered, her voice laced with manufactured distress. "The pack...they're talking. They're saying she's jealous, th

my brow, a souvenir from my first

It was a threat to the stability

y. My duty as Alpha was to protect the pack, to maintain order and auth

old and hard as granite. This feste

el, a tool I rarely used. My wolf's voice layered beneath mine as the command rippled out, a l

s. Central squ

l weight of my Alpha author

of cold amusement from Anya. She knew. She

r faces were a mix of curiosity, excitement, and malice. They smelled blood in the water. The scent of it-that sharp, metallic tang of ant

of the fragile human in need of protection. She had changed into a pale pink dr

I saw

red, their contempt a palpable wave. She ignored them all. Her head was held high, her silver hair a stark

't look it. She looked like

ritation. My wolf lunged against the cage of my ribs, desperate to

er, booming across the square. "I have called you

cked onto hers. "Anya Kent, my fa

mocking laughter wen

er blow, meant to bring her to her knees. "She has tried to drive a wedge between me and her own adoptive sis

readable mask. No tears. No plead

s that would tear our souls apart. The words I ha

tholome

have to,"

e air, silencing the entire square. It was c

t time, I saw an emotion in her viole

as p

use of my full name a deliberate distancing. "Because I,

le

to hold its breath. The pack-bond connecting every wolf in this terri

. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. I was the

his head and howled, a sound of pure, primal devastation that echoed through the pack link and made every wolf in the square flinch. But through my own agon

ring at me. Their Alpha. P

t howling for his lost mate. He was screaming because she had stole

of my ent

and acidic, bur

had to reclaim some

ht my teeth would crack, I forced the w

pt your r

g sensation that made several wolves in the crowd cry out. My wolf collapsed, a

finally free. Her face was not one of sha