From the Ashes: The Broken Luna Returns

"Choose one," the Rogue leader laughed, holding a silver knife to my throat. Beside me, my husband Connor, the Alpha, looked between me and Gemma. I begged him through our mind-link. I was his mate. I was his Luna. But Connor turned his back on me. "Haven is strong," he said coldly. "Gemma is fragile. I choose Gemma." He walked away with another woman in his arms, leaving me to die in a factory filled with poisonous silver dust. To survive, I forced my broken body to shift and jumped into the freezing industrial river. I survived the water, but the life inside me didn't. The "miracle pup" we had tried three years for... was gone. When I dragged myself back to the Pack, bleeding and empty, Connor didn't smell my grief. He only cared that I had "scared" Gemma. He even used his Alpha Command to force me into submission when I tried to expose her lies. "You are jealous and heartless," he spat at me. He was right. My heart was dead. So while he was out hunting for his "missing" mistress, I set the Pack House on fire. I threw a single item into the safe zone for him to find in the ashes: the ultrasound photo of the son his betrayal had killed. Then, I turned my back on the flames and walked away to find the man who would treat me like a Queen.

Chapters

Chapter 9

Connor POV:

I found her in an old motel on the edge of the territory. Gemma.

She wasn't tied up. She wasn't hurt. She was sitting on the bed, watching TV.

When I burst in, she jumped up. "Connor! You found me! I managed to escape while they were sleeping!"

It was a lie. Even I, in my panicked state, could smell the lie. There was no scent of other wolves on her. No scent of fear. Just pizza and cheap soap.

But I pushed the doubt down. I had to. If I admitted she was lying, then I had to admit what I had done to Haven. And that... that was a door I couldn't open.

"We need to leave," Gemma said, grabbing my hands. "We need to go to the City Hall. Now. My father's lawyers said if we don't marry immediately, the Council might separate us because of the investigation."

"Investigation?" I asked, dazed.

"Into the factory! Haven is trying to frame me! We need spousal privilege!"

She dragged me to the car. I felt like I was moving underwater. Everything was blurry.

We drove to the human City Hall. Wolves usually married under the Moon, in a Pack ceremony. But Gemma insisted on a civil union first.

"Sign here," the clerk said.

I looked at the paper. Dissolution of Marriage: Connor Jones and Haven McCullough.

"She already signed?" I asked, staring at Haven's elegant signature. It was steady. Unshaken.

"Yes, yes, she wants it," Gemma said, practically bouncing. "Sign it, Connor. Be free."

I put the pen to the paper.

As soon as the ink touched the page, a sharp pain shot through my chest. It felt like a rib snapping.

"Argh!" I dropped the pen, clutching my heart.

"Connor?" Gemma asked.

"It's... nothing," I wheezed. "Just stress."

It wasn't stress. It was the bond. The golden thread that had connected me to Haven for years... it didn't just break. It vanished. It was like stepping off a cliff into the dark.

"Now the marriage license!" Gemma shoved another paper in front of me.

I signed it. I felt nothing. No spark. No warmth. No approval from my wolf. My wolf was pacing in my head, growling low and deep, refusing to acknowledge the woman standing next to me.

"We're married!" Gemma squealed. She kissed me.

Her lips were soft, but they felt wrong. They didn't fit.

"Let's go," she said. "The plane is waiting. My honeymoon surprise. A private island. No phones, no Pack, just us."

"I can't leave the Pack," I said. "Haven... I need to talk to Haven."

"Haven doesn't want to talk to you!" Gemma snapped. Then she softened her voice. "She hates you, Connor. Give her time to cool off. Three days. Just give me three days."

I looked at the signature on the divorce papers. She had signed it so quickly. She really wanted to be rid of me.

"Okay," I whispered. "Three days."

I didn't know I was walking into a cage.

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