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, or

as it sounded, the only thing I truly cared

or

pretended to feel moments ago was now real, but not

was just a pawn in the game I was playing. If he was lost, the pack might mourn, but life would go

was my blood, my daughter, my future. Her safety was the only thing that

of something happening to her twisted my insides in a way that Ryker's absence

in a soft voice as I pulled away from the hug and took a good look at

He looks exactly like before he was lured to the

knew that everything was falling apart. Astrid stood there, quiet, her eyes

feel cornered, like she could see right through me-like she knew exactly

forward, her voice trembling with barely contained fear. "Where's Hazel?" she asked, her pleading eyes fixed on Astrid. Did you see

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

crowd grew louder, uncertainty rippling through the pack like a wave. But

my chest the

was still missing. It was as if the world tilted, and the only thing keeping me grounded was the gnawing fear for

bordering on panic, crouched down to Ryker's level, her voice soft and urgent, filled with the kind of desperation only a

you see Hazel? Do you

his small hands gripping the fabric of

heart beat erratically, not for Ryker - but for Hazel. Where was

scenario playing out in my

Hurt? Or worse, taken by

Vanessa's eyes dropped from

face to his hands -

it. Her breath hitched,

freezing in place,