After My Mate Stole My Moonbloom, I Crushed His Pact

The walk to Thornfield territory took three days. I didn't shift. Couldn't. My wolf was silent — not sleeping, not resting, just gone. So I walked. On foot. Like a human.

I ate when I found food. Slept under trees when I couldn't walk anymore. The journal stayed pressed against my ribs, tucked inside my jacket. I didn't open it. Didn't need to. Sera's handwriting was careful, meticulous. Every injection. Every date. Pierce's signature on every authorization form.

Proof.

By the time I reached the Thornfield border, my boots were worn through at the heel and my legs were shaking. But I kept walking. Past the sentries. Past the warning markers. Straight toward the pack house.

A man stepped into my path before I reached the entrance. Tall. Broad-shouldered. The Gamma insignia on his jacket.

"You're unaffiliated," he said. Not a question. A statement. His eyes swept over me — gaunt face, hollow neck where a Luna mark used to be, no pack scent clinging to my skin. "Turn around."

"I need to see Alpha Leyla."

His expression didn't change. "She doesn't meet with rogues."

"I'm not a rogue." My voice came out steadier than I expected. "I carry documented evidence of an illegal elixir transfer between Ironveil and Thornfield. Evidence the Lycan Council will want to see."

That got his attention. His posture shifted — just slightly. Wary now. Calculating.

"What kind of evidence?"

I pulled the journal from my jacket and held it up. Didn't open it. Didn't need to. "Medical records. Signed authorizations. Testimony from a pack healer. And a witness list that includes your Alpha's name."

He stared at the journal. Then at me. His jaw worked like he was chewing on a decision.

"Wait here," he said finally.

He disappeared inside. I stood at the entrance, swaying slightly on my feet. The hollow space where the bond used to be throbbed cold. My left hand started to shake. I pressed it flat against my thigh until it stopped.

The Gamma returned five minutes later. His face was carefully blank.

"Follow me."

He led me through corridors lined with polished stone and formal portraits. Thornfield wealth. Thornfield power. Everything Pierce had wanted when he made his alliance.

We stopped outside a heavy wooden door. The Gamma knocked once, then pushed it open.

"Alpha. The unaffiliated woman."

He stepped aside. I walked in.

The study was elegant. Dark wood furniture. Shelves lined with books and artifacts. A wide desk near the window. And behind the desk, seated with the calm composure of someone who had never been surprised by anything in her life: Alpha Leyla.

She looked me over. Slowly. Methodically. Like she was cataloguing inventory.

"You," she said quietly. No inflection. No emotion. "The Ironveil Luna."

"Former Luna."

Her mouth curved slightly. Not quite a smile. "Yes. I heard about that. Pierce made quite the spectacle."

I didn't respond. Just held her gaze.

She leaned back in her chair. "What do you want, Joanna?"

"I want you to confirm the moonbloom elixir transfer. On record. Before the Lycan Council."

She tilted her head. "Why would I do that?"

"Because I have documentation. Dates. Dosages. Signed authorizations from Pierce. A healer's testimony. And a witness list that includes your son's Come of Age Ceremony."

Leyla's expression didn't change. She studied me for a long moment. Then she spoke, her voice flat and bored.

"You are a discarded, wolfless nobody. You have no pack, no rank, no wolf, and no standing before any council."

The words landed like stones. She meant them to.

But I'd heard worse three days ago. In front of my entire pack. From the man who was supposed to love me.

This was nothing.

I looked past her. At the shelf behind her desk. And there — displayed like a trophy, catching the afternoon light — sat a single vial of moonbloom elixir.

Pale gold. Gleaming. Mine.

Something shifted inside me. Not my wolf. She was still silent. This was something older. Deeper. The part of me that had survived two years of injections. The part Pierce hadn't managed to kill.

I walked toward the shelf.

"Don't—" the Gamma started.

I picked up the vial before he could finish. It was cool in my palm. Smooth glass. The liquid inside caught the light, swirling gently.

Leyla rose from her chair. Her composure cracked — just one degree. "Put that down."

I looked at her. Then at the vial. Then at the stone floor.

I crushed it.

The glass shattered. The sound was sharp and final. Golden liquid spread across the stone, seeping into the cracks, wasted and gone.

The silence that followed was absolute.

I turned to the Gamma. He was staring at the floor, his face pale.

"Caspian," I said quietly. His eyes snapped to mine. "I am bringing every record before the Lycan Council. Every dose, every date, every transaction your Alpha made with Pierce. You are my witness that I was here, and that she refused me."

He didn't speak. Didn't move. But I saw the flicker in his eyes. Recognition. Understanding.

He would remember.

I turned and walked toward the door. Leyla's voice followed me, low and cold.

"You have no idea what you've just done."

I stopped. Looked back over my shoulder.

"Neither do you."

I walked out. Down the corridor. Past the portraits. Out the entrance. The Gamma didn't follow. No one stopped me.

I stood at the Thornfield border, the journal still pressed against my ribs. My hand had stopped shaking. The hollow mark on my neck was cold, but I barely felt it anymore.

I pulled the coordinates from memory. The ones my mother had whispered to me when I was a child. Numbers I'd carried like a prayer without understanding why.

Now I understood.

I started walking.