Reclaiming My Broken Luna by Selene Souchon

Chapter 427: Weight of Failure

Astrid's POV

The hour was unnervingly still-the kind of stillness that didn't promise peace but

danger.

Even the crickets had silenced their symphony, leaving the world suspended in an uneasy pause.

Fresh guards had taken their positions outside Elara and Ryker's room, their heavy boots scuffing the floor before settling into still vigilance.

Inside, I sat unmoving, my nails absently scraping patterns into the worn armrest of the chair.

Every creak of the house, every gust of wind, felt like a warning. My wolf stirred, pacing just beneath the surface, uneasy.

Killian had checked on me earlier. He'd lingered in the doorway, his golden eyes searching mine, his mouth pressed into a grim line.

He didn't speak, didn't push me to leave. He didn't need to. He knew I wouldn't.

I wasn't leaving my children tonight.

The breeze through the open window caught the flame of a candle, snuffing it out in a final flicker.

Shadows stretched long across the room. I stood, my movements deliberate and quiet, and crossed to the window. The cold night air carried with it the faint scent of pine and something else-

something sharper.

I reached for the latch, and that's when it hit me.

A ripple of awareness prickled down my spine.

Something was wrong.

My wolf stilled, ears metaphorically pricking, senses sharpening.

The hallway torches sputtered once, their flames bending unnaturally-and then extinguished as if the darkness itself had swallowed them.

I tensed. My hand dropped instinctively to the dagger at my waist.

A faint noise-the crack of glass breaking-pierced the quiet. The acrid sting of

wolfsbane hit me next, sharp and unmistakable.

It filled the air like a poison cloud, heavy and suffocating.

"Wolfsbane!" the guard outside choked, his voice strangled before being silenced

his body

voice cut through the oppressive

screamed, startling them from their

could reach them, shadows spilled into the room like water seeping through cracks. Rogues-silent, swift,

in the faint light, and their movements betrayed a

desperate attack.

for me, a blur of snarling teeth and flashing steel. My dagger met him halfway, carving a line through

to replace

small voice, high and trembling, snapped me back to

from my throat, raw and feral, as I

deep into the figure's shoulder, but even as they faltered, another rogue grabbed me

in my hand

but the rogues didn't

run!" I shouted, my voice cracking as desperation clawed at

But she didn't move.

her wide eyes shimmering with tears, locked on me as the

its mark, but pain exploded

wolfsbane, seared through my flesh. My knees buckled. My vision blurred, and the world around me warped in slow

fog of pain clouding

I saw him-the hooded rogue advancing toward her with deadly purpose. But before he could reach her, Ryker stepped in, his small frame braced in defiance, shielding his sister with

her alone!" Ryker shouted, his voice

of childhood innocence, was now contorted in determination, his expression a mirror of his

room, despite the overwhelming size and strength of the rogue before him,

a dagger, both fists tightening around the

it in front of

small. Too fragile. But

let you have my sister," he said, his voice firm, his

amusement crossed the rogue's face-mocking, cruel. As if

game. As if my

without hesitation, the

Fast. Brutal. Unforgiving.

through the air like a ragdoll. The sound of his impact against

sickening crack-shattered the

to the ground.

from my

body.

My son. My baby.

tried to rise, but my limbs betrayed me, heavy and sluggish from the poison searing through

agony of my wound burned like wildfire, every movement

inch by inch across

gasped, my vision blurring. He wasn't

my eyes.