After the Tenth Bond Break: I Became the Luna of the Shadowfang Alpha

Kalen Silver Moon and I had been officially bonded for less than a year, and we'd already dissolved the contract nine times in public. The tenth time, I stood at the bottom of the Moon Temple steps, holding a roll of unbinding papers. At the top of the steps, he and his childhood friend Sylvia were each holding a freshly drawn mate contract. "Sorry about this, Ella," Sylvia winked at me, playful as ever. "Just need to borrow your Alpha for a few days. The second Gareth gets jealous enough to come crawling back, I'll return him good as new." Kalen laughed under his breath. "Only you'd have the nerve to pull this with Ella being as easygoing as she is." "If your father wasn't an Elder, I wouldn't play along with this childish game." He draped his arm around me, casual as anything. "Ella, just go with it for a few days." "Once this is over, I'll throw you the biggest Moon Ceremony Silver Moon has ever seen. Every Elder, every warrior in the pack will be there to witness it. I'll announce to everyone that you're my Luna." "I promise. This is the last time." Before I could open my mouth, Sylvia cut in with a bright smile. "Ella would never get upset. She smiled through it the first nine times. She'll definitely help us out again, right?" The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder in the moonlight, laughing, easy with each other. Like the nine mate contracts I'd signed and dissolved with Kalen were nothing but a game they played for fun. I'd been part of this act for nine rounds already. This time, I didn't want to play anymore. Chapter 1 At the top of the steps, the two of them were posing in front of the Moon Temple for a vow photo. Kalen crouched down a little on purpose to match Sylvia's height. "This one's cute! Post it on Insta!" Sylvia bounced on her feet. "Caption it: I married the noblest man in the pack." "I want to see if that block of wood Gareth can keep pretending he doesn't care!" "Easy. Don't push it too far." Kalen said the words, but there was no real warning in his voice. It was always like this. As long as Sylvia was around, I was always the one who didn't belong. I used to fight. I used to make a scene. I used to grab his collar and demand to know who the Luna title was really for. All I ever got was an annoyed frown. "Don't be so petty." "Sylvia isn't making a fuss. Why do you have to?" This time, I gave him what he wanted. I didn't care anymore. I was letting go. I turned around quietly and headed for the forest path at the bottom of the steps. Then my phone buzzed at my hip. [Bond dissolved. This time, will you consider me?] The sender's wolf seal was blank. Every single time Kalen and I dissolved our contract, this unknown number sent the exact same message. Right on time. I was still staring at the screen when Sylvia's voice came from behind me. "Ella, are you heading back to the main hall?" She didn't wait for my answer. She was already in front of me, looking uncomfortable. "Kalen and I have the ceremony site set up at the main hall. There are envoys from other packs and pack members all around. If you go back and they see you..." Her voice got smaller and smaller. Then came that pitiful, pleading look she always wore so well. The corners of her eyes turning just slightly red, like a pup who'd been scolded for nothing. I pressed my lips together and said nothing. Using my home with Kalen to stage their fake ceremony, and then asking me to clear out so nobody would see me. The first nine times. For Kalen's sake, I went along with it. Every time, I packed my things and moved to a cabin on the edge of the woods. Waited for them to finish the show. Then quietly moved back in. I was the one with the real bond. The one the whole pack recognized. And I lived like a dirty secret. Kalen was standing a few steps behind her. He didn't seem to think any of this was a problem. "My things are still..." I barely got the words out before he cut me off, sharp. "Sylvia's thinking of you here. If outsiders see you, it's bad for both our reputations and the pack's image." "I already had the steward set up the hot spring cabin at the foot of the mountain. It's just a few days." "As soon as Sylvia and Gareth work things out, I'll come get you." I'll come get you. He said the same thing the last nine times. But not once did he actually come. Every time, it was me who couldn't take it anymore. I'd reach out to him first, and only then would they reluctantly end the whole ridiculous show. I looked at his hand, still resting on Sylvia's shoulder, like it had been the whole time. And just like that, I didn't feel like arguing anymore. "Okay." My voice came out flat. No feeling in it at all. "Just so you know, this is the last time I'm moving out. After this, I won't be..." The words "coming back" got swallowed up by the chime of an incoming message. Kalen picked up the call. When he looked at Sylvia again, his expression had already gone soft. "The priestess who's doing the custom ceremony gown is here. We need to get back." He grabbed Sylvia's wrist and turned toward the temple. Not once did he ask how I was supposed to get back. The Moon Temple was in the middle of nowhere, up in the mountains. No transport. Nothing. As he passed me, he paused for half a step. His voice eased up slightly. "If you need anything, send a list to the steward. He'll bring it over." "And maybe start thinking about how we want to set up our ceremony when the time comes." The two of them disappeared into the trees. Our ceremony. The words echoed in my head and all I felt was the absurdity of it. He was absolutely certain I'd fold. The same way I did the first nine times. But anything I'd once imagined about a future with him. I didn't have any of it left. I took out my phone to look up directions back. My finger had barely touched the screen when the unknown number called. I don't know what came over me. I answered. "Ella." A low voice came through the line. Steady. Sure of itself. "I've been waiting for you." Chapter 2 By the time I walked into the hot spring cabin at the foot of the mountain, I still hadn't come down from that phone call. The unknown number was Ronan. Alpha of the Shadow pack. "Whatever title and position Silver Moon can give you, Shadow pack will double it." "Are you going to keep getting kicked out of your own home over and over, hiding like you're the outsider?" "Don't you want a fresh start?" "Be my Luna. I'll make you the happiest woman alive." His voice was still echoing in my head. I remembered my heart pounding like a drum. I'd only said one word. "Okay." Agreeing to bond with someone on the spot. Probably the craziest thing I'd ever done in my life. But somehow, I didn't feel much regret. I pushed the cabin door open. An old wool cloak was still draped over the sofa from the last time I'd been moved here. Bonded for less than a year. Kicked out of the main hall nine times. I'd spent more days in this remote little cabin than I ever had in that grand temple. I'd barely sat down when footsteps came from outside. The steward stood in the doorway holding my luggage, looking uneasy. I took the suitcase, slipped the moonstone ring off my finger, and held it out to him. It was from our first bonding ceremony. Kalen gave it to me. He said it was a symbol of our love that would last until death. I used to treat it like it was sacred. Now I didn't want it anywhere near me. "Take this back." The steward froze. He started to say something. "The Alpha, he does... care about you. He's just been caught up with Miss Sylvia..." I cut him off calmly. "Let's all stop lying to ourselves." "But the former Alpha..." "I'll talk to the former Alpha myself." The steward didn't push further. He bowed and left. The second the door closed, I collapsed onto the bed. My mind drifted back ten years. My pack was hit by a night raid from a rival tribe. In one night, everything was gone. Everyone was gone. I became a stray wolf wandering the mountains. The old Alpha of Silver Moon found me near the border. He took pity on me and brought me home. The first time I saw Kalen, he was standing next to the old Alpha. When he smiled at me, his whole face was warm. "So you're Ella? Come on, I'll teach you how to hunt." Back then, he looked out for me. He stepped in front of me when people stared with bad intentions. When someone made fun of me for being a stray, he'd shut them down cold, then turn around and soften his voice for me. "Don't listen to them. I always wanted a little sister like you." I never forgot the look in his eyes that day when he called me his sister. One look. That's all it took. I followed him for ten years. We got close. We fell in love. We bonded in front of the Elders. But somewhere along the way, the light in his eyes stopped being just for me. My phone buzzed hard at my waist, pulling me out of the memories. A text from Leila, a friend from a neighboring pack. [Ella! The word's out everywhere. Kalen had people strip every moonlight flower from the entire North Mountain overnight to set up your official Moon Blessing!] [This is insane! I'm so jealous of your love story!] I opened the photos she sent. The screen was covered in silver-white moonlight flowers, spread out like frost across the ground. I stared at that sea of blinding white and suddenly couldn't remember. In his entire life, had Kalen ever properly given me flowers? Even once? Twice? Once? I think there was one time. It was a bouquet Sylvia had rejected. "Sylvia didn't like the color. You can have it." Back then, I held those flowers and felt secretly happy for days. Looking back now, it was just sad and stupid. Another message came in. From Ronan. [Red roses for the bonding ceremony. Sound good? I remember you once said they were your favorite.] I stared at the words. Red roses. The only flower I've ever loved. I'd almost forgotten about it myself. And somehow, someone still remembered. Something sour and heavy spread through my chest. I typed back two words. [Sounds good.] I put the phone down and started going through the luggage the steward brought. Everything was there. He'd thought of everything. But no matter how many times I looked, one thing was missing. The moonsoul pendant I treasured more than anything. My heart clenched. I reached for Kalen's mind-link immediately. But what came through first was Sylvia's bright, clear laugh. "Where's my pendant?" "What pendant?" "The moonsoul stone. The one my parents left me. I told the steward over and over, leave everything else behind if you have to, but that pendant has to come with me." "Oh, that." Kalen's voice was light, like he was talking about a borrowed cup. "Sylvia thought it was pretty. She's wearing it for a couple days." The blood rushed to my head. My ears were ringing. "That's all I have left from my parents!" "I know. She'll give it back in a couple days." I cut the mind-link and ran for the main hall like I'd lost my mind. The wind hit my face. I was shaking with every breath. My parents had that stone specially carved and polished by hand for my coming-of-age ceremony while they were still alive. I never even wore it outside. The only time I ever took it out was on their anniversary each year, just to wipe it clean in the moonlight. And now he'd just handed it to someone else like it was nothing. The moment I burst into the front courtyard, I saw it. Sylvia was standing in the middle of a sea of moonlight flowers, chin up, directing pack members as they set up the ceremony platform. Around her neck, catching the light, was my moonsoul pendant. I charged at her, eyes burning. "Give it back." She turned around slowly, put on a surprised face, but her hand went straight to the pendant. "Ella? I'm just wearing it for a minute to look the part. The pack guests are about to arrive..." I didn't let her finish. I reached for the silver chain around her neck. "Let go!" I hissed through my teeth. Sylvia suddenly flashed a smile. Like she'd been waiting for exactly this. She threw herself backward without warning. Clink. A small, clean snap. I watched the thin silver chain stretch to its limit and break apart in her hand. The moonsoul stone hit the flagstones. She fell back with it, crashing hard into the flower rack behind her. A full stand of moonlight flowers came down on top of her. She screamed. The noise and her shriek carried across the entire courtyard. Chapter 3 By the time Kalen came running, I was on my knees on the stone floor, fingers clawing through petals and gravel, eyes red. Sylvia was slumped in a pile of flowers, her forearm scratched up by the thorns on the flower stems, thin lines of blood running down. Her eyes were wet, doing that thing where she looked like she was bravely holding back tears. "It's okay, Kalen. I just slipped. It wasn't Ella's fault..." Kalen scooped her up in his arms. The worry on his face was practically spilling over. He turned to me. His expression was ice. "Ella, are you done?" "Do you have any idea what today is?" "This is Sylvia's ceremony site, and you just trashed it!" I sat on the freezing stone floor, scrambling around like a crazy person. No matter where I looked, I couldn't find the broken pieces of the moonsoul stone. Tears fell before I could stop them, hitting the stone and spreading into small wet marks. "Kalen! You know what that was! That's the only thing I have left from my parents!" His face locked up for a second. Something like regret flickered through his eyes. But then he saw the blood on Sylvia's arm, and whatever was there vanished. "That's still... you're the one who made a scene. You can't blame anyone else!" I don't know how I got out of the courtyard. When I came back to myself, I was standing inside the cabin door. I sat there staring at the broken half of the silver chain lying on the wooden table. Ronan called. "Are you hurt?" His voice was low. He couldn't hide the concern in it. "How did you even..." After Kalen carried Sylvia away, he locked down the courtyard on the spot. Ordered everyone not to say a word about what happened. "I had someone there making a delivery." His voice went gentle. "I know a jeweler. He's the best there is at restoration work. When you come to me, I'll take you to see him." "I'm causing you trouble again." I managed half a smile. My voice was raw. The words barely left my mouth before the cabin door slammed open from outside. Kalen was standing in the doorway, tall, broad. The cabin steward behind him, head down. The color drained from my face. My voice came out cold as ice. "Get out." Kalen acted like he didn't hear me. He walked in, set a wooden box on the table. "The pendant broke. I'm making it up to you on Sylvia's behalf. She didn't mean it." I glanced at the box. Inside was a brand-new pendant, finely crafted, clearly expensive. All I felt was the absurdity of it. "I'm not forgiving her. What my parents left me can't be replaced." "I know." He frowned, his patience already wearing thin. "But the thing's already broken. You've had your tantrum. Sylvia's arm got cut up too. Let's call it even." He pushed the box toward me. "Take it. We're moving on." I picked up the box and smashed it on the ground right in front of him. The stones shattered across the floor, sharp and loud. Kalen's face went dark. His Alpha pressure leaked out before he could stop it. "Ella, how long are you going to keep this up?" "Is this your way of forcing me to rebond with you? You make this kind of mess, and then I have to explain it to the pack and the Elders!" "Rebond?" I let out a laugh. Nothing warm in it. "I never had any intention of bonding with you again." Kalen's expression froze. Then he laughed, cold and short. Like he'd just heard a joke. "What, playing hard to get?" He was about to say something else when Sylvia's voice came through the mind-link. "Kalen! The old Alpha just cut my family off from all pack affairs! He's telling me to leave the territory immediately! What do I do..." Sylvia's sobbing came through in broken pieces, pure panic. Kalen's face changed on the spot. His eyes, cold and sharp, pinned me in place. "You told my father?" I was about to push back when he shoved me. Hard. My back slammed into the cabin wall. "Ella, I thought you were just insecure. I didn't think you could be this vicious!" "Sylvia was born weak. She needs people looking out for her. You know that!" "You got my father to throw her out! Turn her into a stray! Are you trying to kill her?!" "It wasn't me!" I fought to get free. His hands were like iron. They didn't move. Kalen's eyes were red with fury, anger boiling over. "How many times have I told you, helping Sylvia is temporary!" "You waited nine times! Why can't you just wait one more?!" I couldn't hold it in anymore. I raised my free hand and swung as hard as I could across his face. The crack echoed through the cabin. Everything went still. "Wait? Wait for you to officially bond with her? Wait until I'm the laughingstock of every pack in the territory?!" My chest was heaving. My voice was loaded with ten years of disappointment and exhaustion. "Kalen, you were never my only option!" "I have a new bonding mate." "It's Ronan. Alpha of the Shadow pack." Chapter 4 Kalen looked like he'd just heard the funniest thing in his life. He let out a cold laugh. "Ronan? The Alpha of the Shadow pack?" He scoffed. "Ella, you'd really make up anything just to get a rise out of me." "Shadow pack has grown stronger than Silver Moon in the last few years. Female wolves from every tribe are lining up to get close to him. What makes you think he'd want a stray wolf who's had her bond dissolved nine times?" "Wake up. I'm the only one willing to keep you around." I was about to speak, but he raised his hand and cut me off. His voice was hard. "I'm giving you one last chance. Go to the former Alpha and explain that this was all a misunderstanding. Tell him you were throwing a tantrum and talking nonsense." "Otherwise, don't ever bring up our mate bond again." He slammed the door so hard the cabin walls shook. I slid down the wall, drained. "He still has the nerve to come at you like that?" Ronan's voice drifted out of the phone. I realized the call had never ended. "Want me to step in?" "You've done enough. I'll handle this one myself." My voice was low. He let out a quiet laugh. "I'll come get you first thing tomorrow. Bring you back to my pack." "I can't keep leaving you over there where people walk all over you. I won't have it." The way he cared, no pretense, no games, it spread through me like warm water over cold. I murmured a soft yes. After I hung up, I dug out the land deed the former Alpha had given me years ago, buried at the bottom of a wooden box. He'd handed it to me himself after I saved his life. A border territory, promised to me by his own word. I took a photo of the deed and sent it to the Alpha of the Blackstone tribe, Silver Moon's oldest rival. I was working out how much territory to give up, enough to hit Kalen hard without pulling the ground out from under the old Alpha, when my phone started buzzing like crazy. It was Kalen. Every word on fire. [Ella, did you leak those posts on Insta?!] I frowned and opened the app. The front page had footage of him leaving the cabin earlier. But that wasn't what blew up. What people found was the photo Sylvia had posted that morning. Her trying on the ceremony gown. She was smiling at the camera, cute as ever. But in the corner of the wall behind her, clear as day, hung a family portrait. Me and Kalen, standing side by side next to the former Alpha. It went off like a bomb. Every detail of our nine bonds and nine dissolutions got dug up overnight. Sylvia became the most hated homewrecker in the entire wolf world. [She's taking ceremony photos inside the real mate's home, and the family portrait is literally hanging on the wall behind her. How shameless can one person be.] [I was there today. That woman was all over the Alpha in front of the whole pack. She was doing it on purpose to humiliate his Luna.] My screen went dark. Kalen forced his way into my mind-link. "Happy now, Ella?" He was barely holding it together. Every word came out through clenched teeth. "Sylvia's locked in her room right now. She won't go outside. She won't touch her phone. Do you have any idea what the entire pack is saying about her?" "All she did was ask me for a small favor. Did you really have to push her this far?" I actually laughed. A little bitterly. "What goes around comes around." "Kalen, the moment you kept playing along with her fake bonding schemes, you should have known this day was coming." Heavy breathing on the other end. "So you admit it. You did this." "I've called a public address at the assembly hall. Tomorrow morning, ten o'clock. You stand in front of every tribal envoy and Elder and clear this up." My face went cold. "What makes you think I'll do what you say?" Kalen let out a cold laugh. "Everything you said to me earlier, I recorded it." "If you won't clear this up, I'll release the recording. And I'll make sure the narrative goes my way." "By the time I'm done, everyone will know you as a jealous, vindictive woman who framed an innocent person." "You'll never recover." I went cold all over. Like someone had dropped me in ice water. Like I was seeing this man clearly for the first time. Maybe he realized the threat was too heavy, because his voice softened a notch. Back to the coaxing tone he always used. "Ella, this is the last time. Be good. Be smart about this." "Once it blows over, I'll officially announce you as my Luna in front of the whole pack." "The Blessing ceremony I owe you, I'll make that up too." I don't know when the mind-link cut off. I don't know how I made it through the night. The next morning at nine thirty, the door was shoved open. Kalen stood in the doorway. Behind him, Sylvia with red-rimmed eyes. "Kalen, Ella didn't mean it, please don't force her..." "Don't beg on her behalf." Kalen stared at me, cold. "The assembly's at ten. You're coming with me. Now." I clenched my fists until my nails dug in. "I'm not going! I didn't do a single thing wrong!" Kalen didn't raise his voice. But the smile that crept across his face made my spine go cold. The next second, two herbalists in grey robes walked in carrying supply cases. They pressed down on my shoulders, one on each side. "Kalen, what are you doing!" The needle went into my arm and I fought with everything I had. But the strength drained out of my body like a receding tide. My wolf spirit went dark. I couldn't even lift a finger. The assembly hall downstairs was packed with envoys from every tribe. They put a hood over my head and half-carried, half-dragged me onto the stage, pushed me into a chair. I had no strength. I couldn't raise my head. But to everyone watching, it looked like I was cowering in guilt. He'd brought a witch to stand beside me, controlling the words that came out of my mouth. "The posts on Insta were mine. I was jealous of Sylvia." "Everything was my fault..." Whispers of contempt rippled through the crowd. "I knew it. Another woman who lost her mind to jealousy." "That poor Alpha, stuck with someone like her." No! None of it was me! I didn't do any of it! I was screaming inside, but my throat wouldn't make a sound. I couldn't even lift a hand to wipe the tears off my face. The jeering got louder and louder. Then, BANG. The assembly hall doors were kicked open. The entire room went silent. When they saw who it was, the place erupted. "That's Alpha Ronan! Ronan of the Shadow pack!"