Reclaiming My Broken Luna by Selene Souchon

Chapter 296: Flesh and Blood Giselle's POV

Astrid's sudden arrival sent a shockwave through the crowd.

Whispers broke out, rippling across the gathered pack members, all eyes turning to her and Ryker.

My carefully constructed plan, my painstaking performance of a frantic, grieving mother, began to unravel in that instant.

Killian rushed forward, his expression a mixture of relief and confusion as he dropped to one knee, pulling Ryker into his arms.

"Thank the goddess," he breathed, his voice thick with emotion. "Ryker, you're safe."

I watched, frozen in place, as the crowd's attention shifted entirely to them.

Everything I had worked for, all the careful manipulation, was crumbling before my eyes.

Ryker was safe. Hazel, I realized with growing panic, was still missing.

Astrid's gaze met mine for just a moment, and there was something in her eyes - something knowing, something resolute - that sent a chill down my spine.

She didn't speak, but her presence alone was enough to make me feel cornered, as though she knew what I had been planning all along.

I quickly masked my shock with worry, forcing myself to move. I rushed to Ryker, pulling him into my arms as though I were the worried mother I had pretended to be moments before.

I hugged him tightly, pressing his small body against mine, my mind racing.

His presence should have brought me relief, but it didn't.

As I held Ryker close, my arms around his small frame, I tried to summon the concern I should feel from him, but the truth gnawed at me from within.

taken by the rogues,

harsh and unthinkable as it sounded, the only thing I truly cared about

images of her alone, lost, or

pretended to feel moments ago was

he was lost, the pack might mourn, but life would

my future. Her

happening to her twisted my insides

a soft voice as I pulled away from

like before he was lured to

Astrid stood there, quiet, her eyes

word, her presence alone made me feel cornered, like she could see right through me-like she

with barely contained fear. "Where's Hazel?" she asked, her

"I haven't seen her, Vanessa. When I found Ryker,

crowd grew louder, uncertainty rippling through the pack like a

inside my chest the moment Astrid's words

world tilted, and the only thing keeping

Ryker's level, her voice soft and urgent, filled with the kind of desperation only a mother could

she said gently, "did you see Hazel? Do you

didn't answer. He clung to me, his small hands gripping the fabric of my dress, but I could hardly focus

Ryker - but

wildly, every possible scenario playing out in my head, each one

lost? Hurt? Or

Vanessa's eyes dropped from

his hands

it. Her breath hitched,

in place,