Chapter 5: The Broken Vow and the Stolen Gift

Wesley bent and effortlessly scooped up the semi-conscious, weeping Tanya into his arms. As he reached the top of the grand staircase, he paused and looked back at me, a flicker of something that might have been pained conflict in his eyes. "Starling," his voice was a low, threatening rumble, the kind an Alpha uses to quell a rebellion. "This is your last chance. Get on your knees and apologize. Or face the consequences." Consequences? My eyes swept from his face to the circle of thirty-eight hostile wolves surrounding me. He was giving them permission. He was handing me over to them, to appease her. I looked up at him on the stairs, a bitter, disbelieving sound catching in my throat. I wanted to laugh at the sheer absurdity of his betrayal, but no sound came out. My voice was raw, scraped thin by despair. "Wesley," I whispered, the name a prayer and a curse on my lips. "You swore a blood-oath. You promised that while you lived, no harm would ever come to me from your pack." Slowly, I opened my clenched fist, revealing the Moon-Touched Pendant resting on my palm—the physical symbol of his vow. Wesley's eyes locked onto the pendant, and he froze, a jolt of recognition—or was it shame?—crossing his features. He took a half-step down, towards me. But in his arms, Tanya let out a delicate, shuddering gasp, her hand going limp and falling dramatically, her body going completely still in a feigned faint. The hesitation lasted only a heartbeat. In that single, defining moment, he chose. His arms tightened around Tanya, holding her protectively close, and he turned his back on me, carrying her up the final steps and out of sight. And in that moment, I did laugh. A hollow, broken sound that held no joy. I laughed until my vision blurred, my fist clenching so tightly around the pendant that its edges bit sharply into my palm, a dull, grounding pain. See, Starling? a cold, clear voice spoke inside me. This is the male you crossed oceans for. This is the Alpha you bound your soul to. The moment Wesley disappeared, the Ashwood loyalists surged forward like a pack of hyenas. I instinctively tried to bolt, to run for the great doors, but I found them sealed with a powerful, unyielding ward-lock. He had locked me in. "Get off me! Don't touch me!" I screamed, my wolf bristling, fighting with every ounce of my strength. But hands were everywhere, grabbing, pulling, their unwanted touches making my skin crawl. In the struggle, the Moon-Touched Pendant was knocked from my grip. It fell to the stone floor with a small, pathetic clink. Before I could even register the sound, several heavy, booted feet stomped on it, grinding the ancient silver and the glowing moon-stone into glittering dust. Just like me. I fought, I thrashed, but a brutal kick landed in my abdomen, stealing my breath and my strength. I was dragged, half-conscious, and thrown into the cold, dark storage cellar beneath the den, the heavy door slamming shut with a finality that echoed in my soul. Curled on the damp earth, pain radiating through my core, I could still hear their mocking voices through the thick wood. "If the Alpha wasn't still soft on her, I'd have taught her a real lesson this year! Made sure she flinched every time she saw our Tanya!" "Her family's influence is overseas, but it's not insignificant. Don't actually kill her." "Cut the power to the glow-orbs. Tanya mentioned the little witch is terrified of the dark!" The sun's fading light through the single, high window slowly died. The cellar plunged into an inky blackness. I scrambled toward the sliver of fading twilight, curling my body around it, a pathetic attempt to capture its last vestiges of warmth and safety. It was useless. The darkness was absolute. It wasn't just an absence of light; it was a suffocating blanket, stealing my sight, my breath, my sanity. In the heart-pounding, ear-ringing silence, the primal terror took over. I was a child again, locked in a lightless, airless metal container by my parents' enemies, forgotten by the world. The panic was a living thing, gnawing at my mind until, exhausted and broken, I slipped into unconsciousness. I woke, still in the dark. The cycle repeated itself twice more—waking to terror, succumbing to oblivion—before the cellar door finally creaked open. Wesley's Beta, Kael, stood silhouetted against the torchlight. "Luna," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. "Today is the Elder's ninetieth winter celebration. The Alpha commands you to make yourself presentable and attend the guests in the Great Hall." I was led to the Great Hall. For the Elder's milestone, the den was lavishly decorated, the air thick with the scent of roasting meat and rare incense. Pack leaders and dignitaries from all allied territories stood on priceless woven pelts, their laughter and chatter filling the space. But my entrance as the Luna caused no ripple. All attention was focused on Tanya, who stood radiantly beside Wesley. In her hands was a magnificent, living miniature of the Eternal Oak—a gift, she announced to the Elder, for his ninety winters. My blood ran cold. That gift… I had spent months calling in favors from my family's network of earth-mages to procure that sacred sapling. It was my tribute. Wesley saw me, his brow furrowing in disapproval. He strode over. "There you are. Must you look so… disheveled? It's a celebration." I didn't acknowledge him. I walked past him, heading straight for the staircase to our—his—chamber. I needed my phone. He didn't like being ignored. I felt his irritation like a physical push, but before he could stop me, someone loudly complimented the Eternal Oak sapling. Understanding dawned on his face. Ah, she's jealous of the gift. That's what this is about. He sighed, the tension leaving his shoulders. Fine. Let her go. It's better than having her cause a scene with Tanya. He turned back to Tanya's side, even gesturing to Kael. "Go to the jewel-smith. Fetch two of the new sunstone necklaces." A little tantrum. He'd placate her with shiny trinkets later. She always came around. I shut the chamber door, muffling the sound of the celebratory harp-music from below. I activated my phone. The first message that flashed up was from a contact named Kaelen—the brother-of-Magician, my mentor's other apprentice, a male I had never met in person but who had been my constant, witty confidant through the rune-net for years. «Little sister, you're actually serious about revoking the Silvermane Pack's exclusive rights to the H-series healing elixirs?» Those elixirs were my dowry, my mentor's gift to ensure I would never be without leverage. The Silvermane Pack had used that formula to dominate the market for potent healing magics. «The public unveiling is next week. Pulling the patent now… you're essentially torching three years of their work.» His voice was a mix of genuine concern and… a unmistakable hint of glee? Perhaps it was schadenfreude. I thought bitterly that no one could be as unlucky as me: I brought the formula, I assembled the team of alchemists, I led the research, and on the eve of success, the entire Silvermane Pack had conspired to replace my name as the lead with Tanya's. Everything I had built was being handed to her. If that was the case, then I would take back the very foundation I had given them. "Enough teasing, Kaelen. Did you review the Bond-Dissolution documents?" «It's done. Sending them now. But are you absolutely certain about this?» he asked, his tone turning serious. "I am," I said, my voice firm. After all this, staying would be the mark of a true masochist. I opened the file, the runic script glowing in the air. I was contemplating the right moment to shatter Wesley's world with it when the chamber door burst open with a crash. The sound of screams and panicked shouts from the Great Hall below became instantly, terrifyingly clear. "Luna!" a young, breathless guard cried out, his face pale with fear. "You have to come down! Something terrible has happened!"