Semua Bab Lies Beneath the Moonlight: Bab 1 - Bab 10

My mother had just helped me into bed when Kane's mother showed up. I wasn't surprised. Ilsa had always had perfect timing – bad timing, depending on how you looked at it.She stood in my doorway with that same expression she'd worn seven years ago. Guilt and urgency mixed together, like she was about to ask for something she had no right to ask for, but she was going to ask anyway because she had already decided that her son's future mattered more than my life."Selene," she said, stepping inside. Her voice was soft, almost gentle. That was how she always started. "I need a favor. A very difficult favor."I watched her face turn red. She kept opening her mouth and closing it again, like a fish gasping for air. I didn't let her finish. I already knew why she was here.It was the same as seven years ago.Seven years ago, when I first got the diagnosis, she had rushed into my hospital room before the tears on my face had even dried. I was still trying to understand what silver poisoning

When my mother wheeled me out the door, Kane's frown deepened. His eyes swept over me again – the wig, the lipstick, the way I sat slumped in the chair because my muscles couldn't hold me upright anymore. I saw something flicker across his face. Disgust, probably. Or pity. I couldn't tell which was worse."What's your problem?" he said. "You were spoiled as a kid, and you're still spoiled now. It's just a broken bone. It should have healed by now. And you're making your old mother push you around?"I smiled at him – the calm, practiced smile I had perfected over seven years of lying to everyone I loved."The witch said it's a bad break," I said. "I'm not supposed to walk on it for a while."Vivra jumped in before Kane could respond. She looped her arm through his and leaned into his shoulder, staking her claim."Don't mind him, Selene. He's been in the North too long. He's cold to everyone except me."My chest tightened. It was true that Kane was cold to everyone now. The boy I had kno

We reached the venue – a tavern on the edge of the pack territory, famous for its views of the mountain and its private dining rooms. It was the kind of place couples came to celebrate bondings and weddings and anniversaries.Kane parked the car and got out. He opened my door and lifted me from the back seat.For one dizzy second, I was in his arms again. Warm. Solid. Familiar.His scent hit me – pine and smoke and something else, something that had always been just him. I had dreamed about that smell for seven years. I had tried to imagine it during the long nights when the pain made me forget what comfort felt like.And now he was holding me.I almost lost it. My throat closed up. My eyes burned.But then he set me in the wheelchair quickly – too quickly – and turned to Vivra."Give me the wipes," he said.She handed him a packet of wet wipes from her bag. He unfolded one and scrubbed his hands. Then another. Then another. He scrubbed like he had touched something rotten. Like I had

Now he stood in the healing house hallway, staring at the floor, trying to reach Selene through the link. Nothing.He called his mother."Honestly, Kane," Ilsa said, "why did you push her like that? I had to listen to Mary yell at me for an hour before she calmed down. You know how protective she is of that girl.""Is Selene hurt?""Just a scrape on her forehead. It's already bandaged. Her fiancé came to get her. She's staying at his place now."Fiancé. Wedding.The words stabbed him like needles. He felt them go in, one by one.He walked outside. The night air was cold. He splashed water on his face from a trough by the side of the building. His hands were shaking.Then Vivra's voice came through the mind-link. "Kane, I had a nightmare. I'm scared. Come back to bed."He went back to her room. He sat on the edge of the bed, and she curled into him, her head on his chest."Kane," she whispered, "will you always be with me?""Yes," he said.But he was looking out the window at the moon.

(Kane's POV)The package arrived that afternoon.Kane was back at the pack healing house, sitting in a plastic chair next to Vivra's bed. She was sleeping, her breathing soft and even, one hand resting on her belly. The healer had said she could go home tomorrow. Just a scare. The pup was fine.A nurse came in with a small box in her hands. "This came for you," she said. "No return address."Kane took the box. It was light. No bigger than his palm.He opened it.His heart stopped.Inside was the moonstone. The one he had given Selene when they were seventeen. The one she had worn around her neck every single day. He would see it catching the light when she walked through the forest. He would feel it pressed between their chests when he held her at night. She had promised to wear it forever.Inside the box was a note. One line, written in Mary's shaky handwriting."She doesn't need this anymore. – Mary"Kane stared at the words. He read them again. Then again.She doesn't need this anym