Reclaiming My Broken Luna by Selene Souchon

Chapter 396: The Return

Astrid's POV

The forest was dark, the faint light of dawn barely piercing through the dense canopy above.

The weight of what had happened pressed down on us, so heavy it felt as though the air itself had thickened, making it hard to breathe.

No one spoke as we began the journey back to the Shadowfang Pack. Even the sounds of the forest seemed muted, as though nature itself understood the gravity of what had occurred.

Killian walked a few paces ahead of us, his posture stiff, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. The faint tremor in his shoulders betrayed the storm raging within him.

I wanted to reach out to him, to offer some kind of comfort, but the words wouldn't come.

What could I possibly say to ease the loss of a mother who had both scarred and saved us?

Nova walked beside me, her arms wrapped around herself despite the warmth of the night. Her usual fire was gone, replaced by a quiet stillness that unnerved me.

Drystan, ever vigilant, kept close to her, his expression hard, unreadable.

I glanced back, half expecting to see Rowena striding along behind us with that sharp, knowing look she always wore. But there was only empty space, and the memory of her lifeless eyes staring into the sky stabbed at my heart.

The silence between us was deafening. Every step we took seemed louder than it should have been, the crunch of leaves underfoot a cruel reminder that we were still here, still moving, while Rowena was not.

I couldn't stop replaying the moment in my mind-the look in her eyes as she shoved me aside, the quiet resignation as she accepted her fate.

Rowena, who had always been selfish, calculating, and cold, had done the unthinkable. She had saved us. She had saved me.

Her sacrifice had been so sudden, so unexpected, that

all the mistakes she had made, in the end,

echoed in my mind as I think

planned this! She planned this all

been a scheming and cunning woman. She would do even the most despicable thing

true that she had it in mind to sacrifice her life for us, then

as we passed through a grove of gnarled

word since we left the clearing. His silence felt like a living thing, heavy and suffocating, wrapping itself around all of

my steps, closing the distance between us.

at me. With his back turned on me, I could feel the weight of his emotions radiating off

fell back, letting him have his space, though my chest ached at the

like a shadow, dark and unyielding. None of us had expected it. None of us had been prepared for

She had always seemed

Qu

appear invincible. And yet, in

sw novel

was capable of

and foreboding against the backdrop of the

have brought relief, but

Packlands surrounded us-home, safety, family-but none of it could erase

forward first, flanked by warriors, her sharp eyes scanning us with the precision of someone who'd spent hours waiting and

between relief and dread as she took in blood, the exhaustion,

to

the warriors exclaimed, the tension in his voice