Moon Crown After My Alpha’s Moonvein Theft

Home. The word soured on my tongue.

My eyes locked on Selene's waist. Hanging from a pristine leather belt was the bone-handled knife. The exact blade Kael had used to hollow out my stomach an hour ago. A faint, dark stain still clung to the hilt.

Footsteps thudded against the stone threshold. Kael stepped out of the night fog, flanked by twelve Silvercrest hunters. The metallic clink of silver arrest chains filled the quiet sanctuary.

"She is no longer a resident of Silvercrest," Kael announced. His gaze swept over the shattered glass on the floor, then settled on my bloody abdomen. "Lyra Vale, you are a Rogue. You are coming with us to the holding cells."

"Twelve hunters for a bleeding Rogue?" I asked, leaning my weight against the cold stone bench. "You flatter me, Alpha."

"Secure her," Kael ordered the men.

The hunters moved forward, their chains dragging across the obsidian floor.

Iona stepped between the armed men and my injured body. She raised her wooden broom, holding it like a battle staff. "No weapons cross the Moon Temple threshold. Hand over the blade."

She pointed at Selene's waist.

Kael frowned, his jaw tight. "This is pack business, Iona. Step aside."

"This is a sanctuary," Iona shot back, her tone flat and unyielding. "I inspect all drawn steel. Or bone."

Selene offered a sweet, trembling smile. She placed a hand on Kael's arm. "It is fine, Kael. I have nothing to hide from the temple."

She unclipped the sheath. As she drew the bone-handled knife to hand it to Iona, her fingers slipped down the grip. The sharp edge sliced across her own palm.

Dark, thick blood welled from the cut. It smeared across the bone handle, dripping onto the floor.

"Oh!" Selene gasped, clutching her wrist.

"You cut yourself," Kael said, stepping forward to examine her hand.

"I am just clumsy," Selene whispered, her eyes darting to me. "The black blood... it is just the corruption from my broken Moonvein. Do not worry about the mess on the blade, Iona."

She held the knife out, the handle now slick with her dark blood. It mixed perfectly with the residue of my own insides. She called me sister, then sliced her skin with the very tool that had carved out my power.

"Give it to me," I demanded.

I pushed past Iona and snatched the blade from Selene's outstretched hand. The metal felt heavy, still warm from her blood.

"Lyra, drop the weapon!" Kael barked. He reached for his own sword. The twelve hunters raised their chains, the links rattling in a threatening chorus.

I ignored their posturing. I crouched down, ignoring the flare of pain in my gut, and scooped up my discarded High Warden badge from the floor. The silver eagle emblem was bent. The edges were sharp from where it had struck the stone earlier.

"You claim this black blood is from your broken vein, Selene?" I asked, turning the bone handle under the temple's dim light.

"It is," she said, her voice pitching into a perfect, wounded tremble. "You know how sick I have been, Lyra."

"I know a lie when I smell it." I jammed the sharp edge of my ruined silver badge straight into the deep groove carved along the knife's hilt.

I scraped hard. Metal ground against bone.

"Stop her!" Selene yelled, her sweet facade cracking.

I twisted the badge and yanked it downward. A thick chunk of dried black residue popped out of the groove and landed on my palm. It did not smell like blood. It smelled like sulfur and rotting swamp weed.

"Blackroot ash," Iona stated, staring at the dark clump in my hand. "Native only to the Nightshade Swamp."

Kael froze. His hand hovered over his sword hilt. "That is impossible. Nightshade materials are banned. They corrupt Moonwell energy."

"Exactly," I said, flicking the ash onto the pristine white fabric of Selene's cloak. "This knife was not just a surgical tool to save a sick wolf. It was coated in illegal ash to siphon power."

I looked right at Kael, watching the confusion war with his authority. "You used a dark magic blade to cut me open. Did you know?"

Kael stared at the dark ash clinging to Selene's cloak. "Selene provided the blade. She told me it was an ancient healing tool from her old pack."

"I did not know about the ash!" Selene cried, taking a quick step back. "The merchants must have lied to me! Kael, you have to believe me."

Her hand shook. She reached out to take the knife back from me, but her bloody fingers fumbled against the bone hilt. The knife slipped from our shared grip and fell.

It hit the obsidian floor with a sharp, echoing crack.

The impact knocked a loose piece of the bone handle free. The grip split open on the floor, revealing the flat inner tang of the blade.

Nine deep, jagged notches were carved into the hidden metal.

They were not Silvercrest marks. They were kill counts from a different pack, etched deeply into the steel.

Kael stepped past Selene. He stared down at the nine unfamiliar notches pointing up at his boots. He reached out, his fingers curling to pick up the broken weapon.

Selene lunged forward and grabbed his wrist. "Do not look."