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

of his body

cut through the oppressive quiet,

I screamed, startling them from

them, shadows spilled into the room like water

light, and their movements betrayed a deadly

wasn't some desperate attack. This was

lunged for me, a blur of snarling teeth and flashing steel. My

already there to replace him. They kept coming, a relentless

me back to the bed. A hooded

throat, raw and feral, as I threw myself

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

the blade in my hand slicing blindly

but the rogues didn't

my voice cracking as

But she didn't move.

shimmering with tears, locked on me as the chaos

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

flesh. My knees buckled. My vision blurred, and the world around me warped in slow motion.

through the fog

purpose. But before he could reach her, Ryker stepped in, his small frame braced in defiance, shielding his sister with everything

Ryker shouted, his

contorted in

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

a dagger, both fists tightening around the

in

Too fragile. But

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

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

if my

hesitation, the

Fast. Brutal. Unforgiving.

Ryker with bone crushing force, his small body sent hurtling through the air

crack-shattered

to the ground.

was raw, ripping from my

body.

My son. My baby.

but my limbs betrayed me, heavy

like wildfire, every movement a fresh wave of

inch by inch across the blood-slicked

vision blurring. He wasn't

eyes. Breathe,