The scent of smoke still lingered in the trees.
Not the acrid bite of war-fire, but the subdued curl of ash drifting from ritual flames—cleansing, cautious. It clung to the broken bark and torn ground like a mourning shroud. Deadwood Grove had survived the siege, but survival came with cost. Bodies had been buried. Scars stitched and bandaged. Trust—like flesh—was not so easily repaired.
Luna stood at the Grove's highest point, overlooking the blood-soaked ridge where Selene had fallen.
Where Luna had spared her.
The battle had ended with restraint, but not peace.
Not yet.
⸻
Behind her, the rogue camp pulsed with uneasy energy.
The younger wolves whispered about Luna's power in reverent tones. The veterans eyed the horizon, sensing the storm had only paused, not passed.
Selene had been contained, bound by oath and shielded magic, resting under watch deep within the healing caves Mira maintained. Her magic was dormant for now—drained by the very moon she once bent to her will.
But Luna knew better than to underestimate her.
Wounded pride sharpened faster than any blade.
⸻
Caelum approached from the lower path, dust on his boots and blood smeared across his jaw. He hadn't slept—not since the battle—and the shadows beneath his eyes told her the message he carried wasn't good.
"They've regrouped," he said without preamble.
"Moonshadow?"
He nodded grimly.
"What's left of it."
⸻
She turned toward him fully. "Speak."
"Orion didn't fight in the battle. But he was watching. Scouts say he's furious—not just with Selene, but with the Council. He's taken full control of what's left of the Moonshadow pack. The Elders… they've vanished."
"Vanished how?"
"Some say they fled. Some say he silenced them."
Luna narrowed her eyes.
"And the pack?"
"Split. Some still follow him. Others—mostly the young and those who fought under Selene—are confused. Frightened."
He paused.
"And some… they're coming here."
Luna frowned. "For war?"
"No. For shelter."
⸻
She stepped past him, heart racing.
"What does Orion want?"
Caelum hesitated. "That's the problem. No one knows. He hasn't said a word since the battle. But his wolves speak of omens. That the moon has turned her face from him. That a shadow has been cast over the Alpha Line."
"Is it true?" she asked.
Caelum looked her in the eye.
"I think Moonshadow is collapsing. And if it does… everything we know about pack law, hierarchy, balance—it all falls with it."
⸻
Mira was waiting near the sacred glade with Vara and Thorne.
The moment Luna arrived, she could tell they already knew.
Thorne folded his arms. "You were right to spare her."
"I know."
"But it won't be enough," Vara added. "Selene was a puppet, sure. But the strings were shared. Orion was complicit. He let her tear you apart. Let her twist the pack."
Luna nodded slowly. "And now she's broken. And he's still whole."
Thorne leaned forward. "He's the real threat now."
⸻
Luna turned toward Mira. "Can she stand trial?"
Mira tilted her head. "She's weak. But she's lucid. If you want answers—now is the time."
⸻
The healing cave was dim and quiet.
Selene lay on a slab of smoothed stone, her armor removed, replaced by simple cloth. Her hair was unbound for the first time—long and tangled, draping over her shoulders like vines. The silver in her eyes had dulled, and her aura was less storm and more shadow.
But she smiled when Luna entered.
Not sweetly.
Not cruelly.
But knowingly.
"Did you come to gloat?"
Luna remained standing. "No. I came for truth."
Selene blinked slowly. "Then sit. Truth doesn't kneel for queens."
⸻
They stared at each other for several moments. The tension wasn't hostile—it was heavy. Earnest.
"What did you do to Orion?" Luna asked.
"I did nothing," Selene said. "I revealed him."
"To whom?"
"To himself."
⸻
Luna waited.
Selene sighed, then looked to the ceiling of the cave as if trying to remember who she had been before her name had become a curse.
"He was never meant to lead. He was a figurehead. Pretty. Controlled. But when your mark surfaced—when the bond pulled him to you—something cracked. He realized the truth."
"What truth?"
"That the Goddess never favored him. That he was a placeholder for something greater. For you."
⸻
Luna's chest tightened.
"And so he rejected me."
Selene looked at her now, eyes dark. "Yes. But not because he hated you. Because he feared you. Your presence made everything he was… unravel."
Luna's voice was like ice. "You helped him shatter me."
"I helped him keep power. I helped preserve the illusion. That's what all this was about, Luna. Not tradition. Not the moon. Control."
⸻
Silence swelled between them.
Then Selene added quietly, "But now, Moonshadow is falling. And Orion is alone. And I no longer care."
Luna studied her.
"You don't get redemption just because you're broken."
Selene laughed bitterly. "Good. I don't want it."
⸻
That night, Luna gathered her council once again.
"We have two choices," she said. "We can let Moonshadow crumble and keep the rogue lands safe. Or we go there—and face whatever Orion's become."
Vara snarled. "It's a trap. Why walk into the ruin of a pack that exiled and destroyed you?"
"Because not everyone there deserves to fall with it," Luna said. "And I won't let Orion write the ending of my story."
Caelum stepped forward. "If you go, you go with allies."
Thorne added, "And blades."
Mira said softly, "And healing."
⸻
The decision was made.
Luna would return to Moonshadow.
Not as a cast-out.
Not as a mate.
But as a witness.
To what was dying.
And what could yet rise.