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

The thud of his body

voice cut through the oppressive

Now!" I screamed, startling them from their

them, shadows spilled into the room

light, and their movements betrayed a deadly

desperate attack. This was

steel. My dagger met him halfway, carving a

but another was already there to replace him.

high and trembling, snapped me back to the bed. A hooded figure loomed near

raw and feral, as I threw

dagger struck deep into the figure's shoulder, but even as they faltered,

hand slicing blindly until I broke free.

burned, but the rogues

shouted, my voice

But she didn't move.

eyes shimmering with tears, locked

lunged, my blade finding its mark, but pain exploded in my back before I

with wolfsbane, seared through my flesh. My knees buckled. My vision blurred,

scream sliced through the fog of

could reach her, Ryker stepped in, his small

alone!" Ryker shouted, his

innocence, was now contorted in determination, his

size and strength of the rogue before him, Ryker didn't

dagger, both fists

lifted it in front

Too fragile.

won't let you have my sister," he said, his voice

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

As if my son was nothing more than

hesitation,

Fast. Brutal. Unforgiving.

crushing force, his small body sent hurtling through the air like a ragdoll. The sound

crack-shattered the

to

was raw, ripping from my

body.

My son. My baby.

rise, but my limbs betrayed me, heavy and sluggish from the poison

agony of my wound burned like wildfire,

crawled, dragging myself inch by inch across the blood-slicked floor

gasped, my vision blurring. He wasn't

stung my eyes.