One week before my bonding ceremony with Kane, he left to pick up my best friend, Lyra. They were traveling back to our sacred lands together. While I waited, I was scrolling a private forum for our kind. It was called "Moonshadow Whispers." A thread popped up: "What's the most reckless thing you've done this year?" The top comment was from my own tribe, Blackrock. "My bestie is about to become our tribe's Luna. But I started a forbidden affair with her Alpha. It's an amazing secret to have. I get double the attention, double the rare tributes. The thrill of being the secret favorite is intoxicating. He gave me his secondary sigil, the one representing the tribe's treasury. My combat skills are nothing special, but I still outrank my 'best friend' on the council…" Someone in the comments asked why they didn't just get together. "Are you kidding me? The entire tribe watched them for eight years. I'm not taking the fall for breaking a sacred bond. I'll enjoy what we have until the ceremony. That's more than enough for me." A soon-to-be Luna. An eight-year relationship. A seat on the council… I tried to convince myself it was all just a horrible coincidence. In response to the doubters, she posted a picture. It was a photo of two hands, intertwined. "See this? He'd just returned from a border patrol. I complained my medicine box was too heavy. Without a second thought, he left his official mate in the freezing snow. Just to come back for me." The memory of that biting wind hit me. My fingers started to tremble with rage. I zoomed in on the photo, my stomach churning. On their wrists were matching silver cuffs. The laurel pattern was unmistakable. I had forged them myself. She was clearly proud of her little games. "Besides, the forbidden fruit is always the sweetest. I can use his favor to climb the tribe's ladder for more power, more resources. And powerful males? There are plenty of others out there." The comments exploded, calling her shameless. Asking how she could do that to her best friend. "Sorry? For what? I'm the one who delivered his courting rune etched on birch bark. I played matchmaker for them in the shadows. She never would've landed a pure-blooded Alpha like him without me." She deleted the picture of their hands. Then she posted a new one. A set of expensive leather armor, forged by a Dwarven master. "See? It's not like I treat her badly. I just wanted some private time with him before the big day. After all, his days of holding back that final mark are almost over." The notifications kept popping up. Each one felt like a hammer to the skull. The world started to spin. After our bonding date was announced, Kane moved out. He left the stone house we'd shared for years. His excuse was renovating the Alpha's nest. And he said he wanted every detail to be perfect for me. Lyra would always tease me about it. She'd say how devoted he was, pouring everything into one woman. I remember them sharing a look then. A knowing, meaningful smile. Then he turned to me, his voice full of warmth. "My Elara deserves the very best." For the last six months, he barely touched me. He claimed he was saving his primal energy for the ceremony. So our union would be blessed by the Moon Goddess herself. I was so confused that I even confided in Lyra. I asked if our passion was fading after so long. She just laughed and told me not to be silly. She said it was proof of how much he cherished me… So his "saving the final mark"… It wasn't for me, was it? It was for her. Looking back, I must have looked like such a fool. Just a pawn in a game they played together. Played by the two people I trusted most in the world.
The thirty-minute drive felt like an eternity. The snowy landscape blurred in and out of focus. As their car pulled into view, I took a deep breath. I had to crush the rage boiling inside me. Kane rushed over the second he was out of the car. He wrapped my frozen hands in his, warming them against his skin. Then, he pulled a warm stone pouch wrapped in animal skins from his coat, still radiating heat. "My poor Luna, waiting out in the cold. The wind turned your eyes red." Behind him, Lyra's expression faltered at his words. But the moment I looked at her, her eyes were bright with joy again. She stepped forward, tying a handmade fur scarf around my neck. "Sorry, Elara! I promise I won't dawdle at the market next time." I smiled and took a step back, avoiding her touch. "It's fine. Let's just get back to the tribe." "Good thing the trading post was still open," Lyra added. "We almost missed getting Solstice gifts for the elders." Kane shot her an annoyed look. "Oh, please. You say that every year. You're better with the elders. Always finding out what they need, stealing my credit. We even bought the same enchanted massage stones this time…" Lyra always seemed so carefree, but she could be incredibly thoughtful. Her parents died in a tribe war years ago. My own mother and father raised her like a daughter. She always said she was my sister. She scoffed, turning back to Kane. "Enough chatter. Don't let my sister freeze." Kane put his arm around my waist, pulling me close. He opened the passenger side door for me. I saw the familiar leather armor on the seat. Next to it was a matching warm stone pouch. What truly turned my stomach was the smell. Their scents, tangled together, clinging to him. And the barely-hidden swelling on both of their lips. I snapped back to reality. Lyra was heading for the back seat. My hand shot out, grabbing her arm before she could get in. I needed to switch places with her. "Lyra, I'm tired. The back is bigger. I want to sleep." She nodded instantly, grabbing a soft fur blanket for me. She even fluffed up a pillow. During the drive, she looked at Kane in the rearview mirror. "So, have you two set an exact time for the bonding ceremony?"
Kane hesitated, his eyes finding mine in the rearview mirror. "Whatever Elara wants," he said softly. I stayed silent, letting the silence hang in the air. The mood in the car instantly turned to ice. Lyra scoffed, breaking the tension. "Always 'whatever Elara wants.' If other tribes heard Blackrock's future Alpha was so whipped, they'd laugh themselves sick." A frown creased Kane's forehead. "They already know, don't they? Thanks to your big mouth, you're the one leading the tribe in teasing me." They both laughed, moving on from the topic. Soon, they were swapping stories about the tribe council. My duties were hunting and defense, a world away from their politics. I didn't know half the names they were throwing around. I used to think their constant bickering meant they clashed. Now, it just sounded like flirting. I could just imagine them, acting like this during council meetings. I was supposed to be promoted to Chief Strategist. My record was spotless—I'd repelled rivals and led successful hunts. I had earned the elders' highest commendations. But my proposal for new hunting grounds got stalled. "Council procedure," the head elder had told me, his face full of regret. "Our hands are tied, Elara. We'll revisit it after the ceremony." Meanwhile, Lyra joined Kane on a few border patrols. And suddenly she got a promotion for 'outstanding performance.' Straight into the tribe's inner circle. The pieces started clicking into place. Two months ago, I saw scrolls on her table. Urgent plans for resource allocation. The runic script… it was undeniably Kane's. That was when he started taking ages to answer my messages. Sometimes he'd just disappear for days. I actually felt sorry for him, thinking he was buried in tribe business. He'd hold me and whisper in my ear. "It's for our bonding ceremony, for our future. It's all worth it." The next day, gifts would appear at my stone house. Gowns from Elven weavers, brilliant jewels. He'd arrive with the finalized ceremony plans, an apologetic look on his face. "This is to make up for being away so much, my love. I promise, our ceremony will be the grandest this tribe has ever seen." All his hard work, all his grand promises. They were never for me. They were for Lyra.
And what a fool I was to believe his flimsy excuses. Kane's father, the current Alpha, was still in his prime. There was no emergency big enough to keep a future Alpha working overtime. The thought was a cold knife twisting deep in my gut. Then came the white-hot rage of betrayal. Lyra was a wreck after she failed her adulthood trials. I was the one who got her a position on the Council, starting as a scribe. She had sobbed with gratitude. "Elara, what would I do without you!" Her skills were mediocre, at best. Even Kane's parents, the current Alpha and Luna, had warned me. They said I was misusing my influence. I was exhausted back then, working myself to the bone. After a long day's hunt, I would teach her for hours. I walked her through every complex scroll and rune. Until, slowly, she earned the council's approval. And how did she repay me for all of it? My eyes burned, and I squeezed them shut. My parents were waiting at the sacred grounds for the ceremony. I just had to get through this. Then, I'll settle this score. Maybe a part of me wanted to kill any hope that was left. On a dark impulse, I contacted a Shadow-Walker. He was a master of tracking and stealth. His mission: map out every move Kane and Lyra had made for the last six months.
I opened my eyes just as the car rolled to a stop. The first thing I saw was their hands, clasped together because they thought I was asleep. They snatched them apart the second they saw me. I pretended not to notice. My hands trembled, but I forced them steady and opened the door. I acted completely normal, walking with them towards my parents' home with the gifts. "You're back!" My parents met us at the door, their faces breaking into wide smiles. "There's something we wanted to discuss with you!" My mother took Kane's hand. "After the ceremony, tradition says you must take Elara to visit the elders of the branch tribes. Your announcement was so rushed, they didn't really get a chance to meet her." Lyra shrank into a corner, her face a mask of disappointment. Kane agreed to everything, but his eyes kept darting toward her. A flicker of irritation crossed his face. Only after my mother finished did Lyra manage to crack a smile. "Auntie, I can't make the Winter Festival feast this year. My long-lost relatives are coming to visit." My parents just nodded, handing her the generous festival gifts they'd already set aside. That night, Kane lay beside me, tossing and turning. He took my hand. "Elara, the ceremony is so close… I feel this strange panic." I closed my eyes in the darkness. "Then let's put it off." His breath hitched, and his voice became urgent. "No! I meant we should move it up. I want to mark you sooner. I want to make you my true, my one and only Luna…" Those words made me think of the forum posts. I cut him off. "You said you wanted my help managing the tribe's wealth, right? Then give me the secondary sigil, the one controlling the Alpha's treasury." Kane didn't hesitate. He lit a moonstone, pulled the sigil from his coat, and gave it to me. It was the secondary sigil, alright. But my wolf's intuition screamed at me. This wasn’t the original sigil he’d inherited from his father. He kissed my forehead. "There. Now I can finally relax…" In the middle of the night, Kane's communication crystal began to glow. He slipped out of bed and into dark, traveling clothes. The soft click of the door sent my heart plunging into an icy abyss. The resignation letter I'd agonized over all afternoon… I no longer hesitated. I sent it to the Elder Council through our mental link, resigning all my duties. Once he was gone, I grabbed my father's hornbow and quiver. And I followed him.
Waiting outside a tavern in the neutral zone, just beyond our borders… Was Lyra. Under the dim light, they fell into a tight embrace. The sight was a searing brand on my eyes. I captured the moment on a memory crystal. Then I turned and fled into the night. This was a thousand times more brutal than just reading words online. Out in the snow, a growl finally tore from my throat as tears froze on my face. By the time I stumbled home, dawn was breaking. In the stone refuse pit outside, I found them. The gifts my parents had so carefully picked for Lyra, tossed out with the trash. My fists clenched, my nails digging into my palms. To see their kindness treated like garbage… my heart broke for my parents. It was only then I truly understood. I never really knew Lyra at all. Maybe she hadn't changed; she had just always been a master of deception. Just then, the anonymous account posted an update. It started with a complaint. "Her parents gave me such flashy, impractical gifts. It's not even close to what I deserve for all my efforts…" Not even close? Those words sent a chill down my spine. My parents helped repair her stone house every single year. They cleaned for her before every festival, roasted her favorite cuts of meat… They knew she was alone, so they always gave her the best part of the hunt. The most precious herbs. And that was what she called "not even close."
I watched in disgust as she listed her so-called favors for my parents. "Kane is the one who really treats me right! He gives me the best of everything. It's just a shame…" The first picture was of her room, piled high with rare goods from him. The second picture showed the secondary sigil. Beside it, a man's dark silhouette stood by a window. She liked and replied to a comment calling me inferior. "Everyone praises me for my beauty and my free-spirited nature." "My so-called best friend is just an uptight bore. Kane's always complaining she's too intense. She never lets him lead. She's so desperate for the current Alpha's approval. Always trying so hard so that his friends won't look down on her. She never has any time for him…" "It's pathetic. She insisted on teaching me combat skills. She was worried I couldn't survive in the tribe on my own." "But why bother with all that? All you have to do is bat your eyelashes at the Alpha. Honestly, I think she just used me to look like some big-hearted saint." More and more people joined the conversation. Some even started asking her for advice. She started a private group chat using a mental link, and my burner account got an invite. Someone in the group asked her if she liked Kane or was just using him. "Of course I like him! Why else would I bother breaking up a union blessed by the Moon Goddess?" "But honestly, I'm furious with him since we got back to the sacred grounds. He keeps talking about how he can't wait for the ceremony, how he truly loves her." "Then he tells me I'm his exception, his thrill… For once, his honesty is just sickening." Back on her main account, the comments section exploded with hate. "All of you hating on me are just jealous. A powerful female uses every asset she has. And that includes my own body. Why in the world wouldn't I?"
Her reasoning was garbage, but she was right about one thing. Even if it wasn't her, it would have been someone else. Within a day, furious tribe members had her account shut down. But I'd already saved everything. The Shadow-Walker I'd hired was efficient. He sent back memory crystals filled with footage of their trysts. Every night they were on "patrol," they'd book adjacent rooms and only use one. And Kane, to avoid any suspicion, would call me on our mental link right on schedule. He was a natural-born actor. If I hadn't seen that forum, I would have walked blindly into that ceremony. But maybe it wouldn't have gone so smoothly anyway. After all, Lyra had another "surprise" in store for me… I sat in my stone house until dawn, my eyes stinging. That's when I realized the stress had left me with a burning fever. Kane returned with a feast for breakfast, but I was too weak to even move. He went pale, his face a mask of guilt. "This is all my fault. I kept you out in the snow too long the other day." He gently wiped sweat from my forehead, fed me bitter herbs… Then he went to the kitchen, skillfully making a nourishing broth. My parents watched, praising him as the perfect partner. My heart just ached with bitterness. He looked utterly exhausted, but his face lit up instantly. The designer had delivered the ceremony invitations, embossed in gold thread. "Elara, you have to get better soon." He pulled out a recording crystal. "You'll look so beautiful in your gown. I'm going to capture the whole thing…" I didn't say a word. I just closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep.
For the next few days, Kane was gone. He claimed there was urgent tribe business, so he lived in the council hall. I kept my replies short, not asking a single question. The night before the bonding ceremony, we young people gathered for a game. Truth or Dare. When they both lost a round, I asked them the same exact question. "Are there any secrets between you two that I don't know about?" Lyra's smile froze. "Of course not! We're an open book. You know everything about me." Kane couldn't look me in the eye. "Nothing from me. You're my future Luna. My partner for life. Trust is everything." On the morning of the ceremony, he was nowhere to be found. He missed the sacred rites for our ancestors, leaving all our guests waiting. His message finally came through the link: "My love, there's an emergency at the border." My parents told him the tribe came first, then looked at me, words caught in their throats. "Mom, Dad, there's something I need to say…" Just before she deleted her private group, Lyra sent one last message. "Let's spend one last full moon together, just us." The days flew by. I never went back to the council. Instead, I booked a caravan pass to the neutral city, leaving that very day. Kane handed me the official invitations. He just assumed I was on leave for ceremony prep. Never once asking why I'd vanished from my duties. Right before the ceremony, I handed a spare gown to Lyra. "Lyra, I have a little surprise planned. I need your help." At the ceremony site. Lyra ran up to Kane, flustered, dressed in that stunning gown. She held up a communication crystal. "The Alpha and Auntie have both cut me off! I can't reach them on the link. Where are they?" The color drained from Kane's face. "That's the gown I picked for Elara! What are you doing wearing it?" Before he could say another word, the enchanted screen behind the altar flickered to life. It was meant to show our tribe's history. But instead, it showed Kane and Lyra's secret life together. A collective gasp went through the crowd. Every werewolf in attendance stared in disbelief. But the final image was the real bombshell. An encrypted medical report from our tribe's own healer, taken by the Shadow-Walker.
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