Luna's POV
I'm staring at the photo of the cottage on my phone when the lights go out.
Complete darkness swallows the room.
My scream catches in my throat. Storm explodes forward, howling danger.
Tobias! I shout toward the door where Kael's enforcer is supposed to be standing guard. Tobias, the lights
No answer.
Oh God. Where is he?
I fumble for my phone, using the screen light to see. My hands shake so badly I almost drop it.
A sound outside makes me freeze. Footsteps. Slow and deliberate. Coming closer to the cottage.
Then Tobias's voice, but something's wrong. He sounds weak. Luna... run...
The footsteps stop right outside my door.
Someone tries the handle. It rattles but doesn't open I locked it like Kael told me to.
I know you're in there, traitor's daughter. A woman's voice, cold and filled with hate. Your parents killed my family. Now I'll kill yours.
I back away from the door, my heart hammering. I need to call Kael. Need help. Need
The window beside the door shatters.
A woman in black climbs through, and even in the darkness I can see her eyes glowing red. Rogue. But not just any rogue she moves with the confidence of a trained fighter.
Stay back! I grab a lamp from the table, holding it like a weapon. I'm under Alpha protection!
The woman laughs. Your Alpha can't save you. No one can. You're going to die tonight, just like my children died because of your father's betrayal.
I don't know what you're talking about! I cry. I was seven years old when my parents died! Whatever they did, it wasn't my fault!
Doesn't matter. The woman pulls out a knife silver, which means it can kill wolves permanently. The sins of the parents fall on the children. That's justice.
She lunges at me.
I throw the lamp. It hits her shoulder but doesn't slow her down. I run for the bedroom, slamming the door and locking it.
It won't hold long. I can hear her throwing her body against it.
I dial Kael with shaking fingers. It rings once. Twice.
Pick up, pick up, pick up, I beg.
Luna? Kael's voice answers. What's wrong?
She's here! I scream. The woman who's been stalking me she's in the cottage! She killed the lights, she hurt Tobias, and she's trying to kill me!
The bedroom door splinters. The woman is breaking through.
I'm five minutes away, Kael says, and I hear his truck engine roar to life. Hide, Luna. Don't fight her. Just hide until I get there.
There's nowhere to hide! The door breaks open. The woman steps through, her knife gleaming.
I grab the only thing near me a heavy book from the nightstand and throw it at her face.
She dodges easily. Stop fighting. You'll only make this harder.
Luna! Kael's voice shouts through my phone. Jump out the bedroom window! Now!
I look at the window. It's small but I might fit. The woman is getting closer, her knife raised.
I have no choice.
I run for the window and dive through it.
Glass cuts my arms but I don't care. I hit the ground hard, my shoulder screaming with pain. But I force myself up and run into the forest.
Behind me, I hear the woman climbing through the window.
You can't run forever! she shouts.
My bare feet stumble over roots and rocks. I can't shift to escape pregnant wolves who shift risk killing their babies. I'm defenceless except for my human speed, which isn't fast enough.
I can hear her gaining on me.
Storm is screaming in my mind. Protect the baby! Run faster!
I'm trying. But my body is already changing from pregnancy. I'm slower. Weaker.
The woman tackles me from behind.
We hit the ground hard. Pain explodes through my stomach and I scream. The baby. Is the baby okay?
Got you, the woman hisses, flipping me over. She raises the knife.
This is it. I'm going to die.
Then a massive black wolf crashes into her like a wrecking ball.
Kael.
He must have been running in wolf form because he got here impossibly fast. His teeth sink into the woman's arm, making her drop the knife and scream.
Other wolves appear Kael's enforcers. They surround the woman, cutting off her escape.
Kael shifts back to human form and runs to me. Luna! Are you hurt? The baby
I don't know, I gasp, my hands on my stomach. I fell. She tackled me. Kael, what if something's wrong with the baby?
We're getting you to Elena right now. Kael scoops me up like I weigh nothing. Tobias! Status report!
Another enforcer runs up. Tobias is alive but unconscious. She hit him with something. He needs medical attention.
Take him to the medical center. Take this woman too alive. I want answers. Kael's voice is pure Alpha command. And someone find out how she cut the power and got past our security!
He carries me to his truck and drives like a madman toward the pack medical center. I'm crying, terrified, my hands pressed against my stomach.
Please be okay, I whisper to my daughter. Please, baby girl. Please be okay.
Kael reaches over and puts his hand over mine. She's strong. Like her mother. She's going to be fine.
You don't know that.
Yes, I do. Kael's voice is fierce. Because she's mine. And nothing of mine dies.
We screech to a stop at the medical center. Elena is already waiting someone must have called ahead.
Get her inside! Elena shouts. Exam room two, now!
They put me on a bed. Elena does an ultrasound while I hold my breath, praying, begging the Moon Goddess to let my baby be okay.
The room is silent except for the machine's beeping.
Then Elena smiles. There's the heartbeat. Strong and steady. Your daughter is fine, Luna. The fall didn't hurt her.
I start sobbing with relief. Kael's hand tightens on mine.
Thank the Goddess, he breathes.
But Luna, you need to be more careful, Elena says seriously. You're only six weeks along. The baby is still very fragile. Another incident like this...
She doesn't finish, but I understand. Another attack might kill my daughter.
Where's the woman who attacked me? I ask. Is she in custody?
Kael's expression goes dark. She's in the holding cells. I'm going to question her myself.
I'm coming with you, I say immediately.
No. You need to rest
She tried to kill my baby! I interrupt, my voice shaking with anger. She said my parents killed her family. I deserve to know why she wants me dead!
Kael looks like he wants to argue, but something in my face stops him. Fine. But you stay behind me. If she tries anything, you run. Understood?
Understood.
Twenty minutes later, we're standing outside the holding cells. Through the bars, I see the woman who tried to kill me.
She looks older up close. Maybe fifty, with gray streaking her dark hair. Her eyes are hollow, filled with old grief and fresh hatred.
Why? I ask her. Why do you want me dead?
The woman laughs bitterly. Because your father, Marcus Hartley, leaked pack secrets to rogues twenty years ago. Those rogues attacked our border patrol. My mate and both my children were killed in that attack. I lost everything because of your father's betrayal.
My blood runs cold. That's not true. My father wasn't a traitor
He was executed for treason! the woman screams. He confessed! Everyone knows what he did!
My father was innocent, I say, but my voice wavers. Was he? I was only seven when he died. What do I really know?
Kael steps forward. What's your name?
Diana Cross.
Diana Cross, Kael repeats. You tried to murder a pregnant pack member under Alpha protection. That's a death sentence under pack law.
I don't care, Diana says. Kill me. I've been dead inside for twenty years anyway. At least I'll die knowing I tried to get justice for my family.
But you failed, Kael says coldly. Luna and her baby are alive. And now you're going to rot in a cell while I find out the truth about what really happened twenty years ago.
Diana's eyes narrow. The truth? Everyone knows the truth. Marcus Hartley was a traitor.
Maybe, Kael says. Or maybe someone wanted everyone to believe that.
He turns to me. Come on. Let's get you somewhere safe.
As we walk away, Diana shouts after us: Ask your father, Alpha! Ask Cyrus Thorne what really happened that night! He's the one who executed Marcus Hartley! He's the one who knows the truth!
I stop walking. What is she talking about?
Kael's face has gone pale. My father was the Alpha who ordered your parents' execution.
The world spins. Your father killed my parents?
Luna
Did you know? I demand. When you rejected me, did you know your father murdered my parents?
I knew he executed them for treason, Kael admits. I didn't know I never questioned
I step back from him, feeling sick. Your family killed mine. And you never told me.
Because I didn't think it mattered! Kael says desperately. They were tried and convicted. I thought the case was closed.
Well it's not closed! I shout. Someone just tried to kill me because of what happened twenty years ago! And now I find out your father was involved? What else aren't you telling me, Kael?
Before he can answer, one of his enforcer's runs up, his face panicked.
Alpha! We have a problem. We just found something in Diana Cross's belongings.
What? Kael demands.
The enforcer holds up a file folder. Evidence. Documents. Photos. Alpha, Diana Cross didn't work alone. She's been communicating with someone inside Silverpine Pack. Someone who's been feeding her information about Luna's location.
My heart stops. What?
There's a spy in the pack, the enforcer says grimly. And according to these messages, they're planning something big. Something that's happening tomorrow night at the pack council meeting.
Kael grabs the folder and reads. His face goes white.
What is it? I ask. What are they planning?
Kael looks at me with horror in his eyes.
They're planning to kill you in front of the entire pack, he says. And they're going to make it look like I ordered it.