CHAPTER 30: MY LUNA

When the statue fell, time seemed to stop.

No one moved. No one breathed.

Even the warriors the seasoned enforcers of the pack who had seen death and carnage before stood frozen in disbelief. The shattered remains of stone and bone lay scattered before us, a silent horror against the snow.

One of the pack’s trackers, the same one who had been assigned to drill into the statue earlier, stumbled back. His scent reeked of fear. "Alpha Harris," he stammered, voice shaking, "I followed protocol. I swear I did. This wasn’t supposed to happen."

Harris, the pack’s Head Enforcer, didn’t answer right away. His jaw tightened, his gaze flicking toward Julian, who was still on his knees in the snow, trembling like a wolf stripped of his strength.

For a brief moment, I could feel Harris’s doubt through the air. He didn’t believe in spirits not until tonight. But this place... it wasn’t just cold. It was charged. The energy of a wolf’s spirit lingered here, restless and heavy, like the moon itself was watching.

He raised a hand, silently ordering his warrior to stand down.

Then my mother’s cry tore through the night.

She threw herself over the broken remains, clutching the fragments as if she could hold me again. Her sobs were raw, primal more wolf than woman. "My pup... my baby... my Elena," she howled. "You died so cruelly... I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Come home, please... you can punish me later, just come home."

Her claws scratched the cold stone as she wept, her tears melting the snow beneath her.

Beside her, Julian looked just as broken. His eyes were bloodshot, his aura flickering weakly like a dying flame. He gathered pieces of the statue in his hands, clutching them to his chest. "It’s okay, Elena," he whispered. "You don’t have to be afraid. I’ll take you home."

One of the guards moved forward. "Beta Julian, please step back. This is a crime scene. The Luna’s remains are evidence. We need "

"Don’t touch her!" Julian’s snarl cut through the air, sharp and feral. His eyes glowed faintly gold, the wolf inside him close to breaking through. "Don’t you dare lay your filthy hands on my mate!"

The warrior froze. Every instinct screamed not to challenge him.

Julian’s breaths came fast, ragged. His wolf was half out, the power in his voice rippling through the cold air. "She’s mine," he said again, softer this time, almost pleading. "She’s my Luna... she’s my heart."

Then a harsh voice cut through the chaos. "Enough!"

Jeffrey the pack’s Elder and former Alpha stepped forward, his cane tapping against the stone path. Even old and trembling, his dominance rolled off him like thunder. The crowd parted instinctively.

He stopped in front of Julian, his face carved with grief and fury. "You fool," he rasped. "You had her. You had Elena, and you destroyed her. Even in death, you can’t let her rest?"

Julian didn’t even look up. The blow came before anyone expected it Jeffrey’s cane cracked hard across his back. The sound echoed like a whip.

But Julian didn’t react. He just sat there in the snow, still clutching the fragments like a madman. "She’s gone, Grandpa," he whispered, voice breaking. "She’s really gone..."

Snow began to fall harder, thick flakes swirling in the dark sky.

Lewis watched from a short distance away, his aura quiet but heavy with restrained energy. Then, something small rolled toward his boot a bead, smooth and pale. It had once been part of the bracelet I gave Julian, the one that had snapped the moment my spirit disappeared.

Lewis bent forward slowly, his gloved hand brushing the snow as he picked it up. His fingers trembled, and his breath came out uneven in the cold.

He didn’t say a word. He simply turned to Theo, his voice hoarse. "Let’s go."

Theo nodded, pushing his wheelchair through the snow. Their scent faded into the night, swallowed by the storm.

The pack remained behind, cleaning up what was left of me evidence, blood, dust.

And me?

After dissolving in Julian’s arms, it felt like falling into darkness, into silence. I drifted through a void that was neither life nor death. There was no body, no heartbeat, no bond. Only emptiness.

But slowly... faint images began to appear.

It was like watching through thin layers of mist. Behind it, I saw two small pups two little girls running under the sun.

Both had my eyes.

Both laughed the same way.

But only one had a small red mark on her forehead.

My heart clenched.

One was me.

The other was Riley.

We had lived different lives, in different packs, under different moons but somehow, we shared the same blood, the same soul.

Through the fog, memories flickered.

My life had been bright full of love from my parents and warmth from my pack. Until Julian. Until betrayal. Until death.

But Riley’s life... was nothing like mine.

Hers was filled with loneliness.

I saw her father, Grant the Alpha of her pack. Cold. Cruel. His heart belonged not to his Luna, but to his mistress.

While his father, Elder Roger, had lived, Grant had at least kept his sin behind closed doors. But after Roger’s death, he flaunted it. He cast away his true mate, forcing Riley and her mother to live like shadows in their own home.

Even before I came into Riley’s body, I could feel the pain buried deep inside her a pain that ran through her bloodline like a curse.

Her father, Alpha Grant Ashbourne, had been the kind of wolf who wore a mask of respect in public but hid rot beneath the surface. Everyone in the packs believed Lena, his true Luna, was the mistress. And the woman he flaunted at his side the one with the sly smile and poison-sweet scent was thought to be his rightful mate.

The truth was the opposite.

Grant’s so-called "Luna" was the other woman, but the world never saw it. She was clever, manipulative she twisted truth into lies until the pack began to doubt Lena, the true Luna of the Ashbourne bloodline.

And in that twisted lie, Riley the real daughter of the Alpha and Luna became a ghost in her own home.

She should have been treated like royalty, raised with honor, protected by the pack that bore her father’s name. But instead, she was pushed into the shadows. The mistress’s daughter, Lincy, became the golden child. The one who basked in attention, privilege, and love.

When the elders announced that one of the Alpha’s daughters would marry into the powerful Hale bloodline, it was supposed to be Lincy’s chance. But when she found out that the groom Alpha Lewis had lost the use of his legs in battle, she refused. She didn’t want a "broken wolf."

So, she threw Riley into it instead.

A scapegoat. A sacrifice.

Riley had spent her life trying to please her father, trying to be seen. But no matter how much she endured, she was invisible to him. Every blow, every insult, every night she cried herself to sleep he turned a blind eye.

The mistress and her daughter stole everything her father’s affection, her place in the pack, even the male she once thought she loved.

By the time I came into her life, she had nothing left.

Riley hadn’t wanted to die because of Lewis. She hadn’t hated him she didn’t even know him. What she hated was the world that broke her spirit, the pack that rejected her, and the father who traded her future like a coin.

So when he told her she’d marry the Hale Alpha "even if she had to be buried first," Riley made her choice.

She’d die on her own terms.

But the moment she chose to let go was the same moment I found her.

She had been fading, her spirit barely holding together, when my soul restless, desperate for another chance collided with hers.

I remember the first time I saw her clearly.

She stood in the void between worlds, dressed in black, her hair like silk under a dim silver light. Her eyes looked lifeless, yet deep down, I could feel the pain raw, endless, ancient.

Her voice trembled when she spoke. "It hurts... it hurts so much."

I reached for her hand. "Don’t be afraid," I said softly. "You’re safe now."

She stared at me with wide eyes and then, somehow, I knew she saw my memories too. My heartbreak. My betrayal. My death.

Two broken souls different lives, same wounds.

"Elena..." she whispered. "Will you live for me?"

The air around us pulsed with energy like a bond forming between wolves. Not a mating bond, but something older, sacred.

She took a breath. "Take care of my mother. Avenge me. And please... tell him I don’t love him anymore."

My heart clenched. "Riley," I said, voice trembling, "I promise."

Her gaze softened, and for the first time, I saw peace in her expression. "You’re stronger than I ever was, Elena. I believe in you."

Her words settled deep inside me like an oath under moonlight. It wasn’t just a promise it was a soul pact. Her wolf’s dying wish tied itself to mine, binding our fates.

I reached for her again, and our fingertips brushed. Her skin felt cold, fading.

"I’ll protect your mother as if she were my own," I swore.

She smiled faintly fragile, beautiful. "Then I can finally rest."

The space around us began to splinter, like shards of glass breaking apart. Energy crackled in the air the pull of fate, separating what was once two souls and making them one.

"Goodbye, Elena," she whispered.

I reached for her desperately. "Riley!"

Her voice echoed faintly as the darkness swallowed her light.

"From now on... there is no Elena Morrigan. There is only Riley Ashbourne."

Then everything went black.

I fell through nothingness, weightless and silent, until light began to creep back in.

A voice pierced through the haze trembling, warm, full of emotion.

"Riley... you’re awake!"

My eyes fluttered open. A woman stood above me kind eyes, gentle hands, and the scent of comfort that wrapped around me like a mother’s embrace.

It was Lena.

Her aura glowed faintly gold the mark of a true Luna.

And in that moment, I realized...

I wasn’t Elena anymore.

I was Riley Ashbourne daughter of a fallen Luna, the forgotten heir of a broken pack, and the wolf who had been given a second chance at life.