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

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

or worse, caught in the crossfire

to feel moments ago was now real,

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

my blood, my daughter, my future. Her safety

of something happening to her twisted my insides in a way that Ryker's absence never

him in a soft voice as I pulled away from the hug and took a

is completely fine. He looks exactly like before he

that everything was falling apart. Astrid stood

cornered, like she could see right through

fear. "Where's Hazel?" she asked, her pleading eyes fixed on Astrid. Did you

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

grew louder, uncertainty rippling through the pack

inside my chest the

was as if the world tilted, and the only

level, her voice soft and urgent, filled with the kind of desperation only

see Hazel? Do you know

me, his small hands gripping

- but for Hazel. Where

spun wildly, every possible scenario playing out in my

was lost? Hurt? Or worse, taken by the

Vanessa's eyes dropped from

face to his

saw it. Her

in place,