Chapter 5

I knelt on the ground, clutching Ashton's legs as I begged desperately.

"You can't! The pup is allergic to formula! He'll die!"

"Please, Ashton, listen to me! I'm his mother—I know what's best for him!"

Kathy helped me up from the floor, her voice dripping with false concern. "Luna Elaine, wolf pups aren't that fragile!"

"When I was young, I was allergic to many things too. You just feed him small amounts gradually, and he'll develop tolerance!"

"Trust me, I know about these things. My mother raised six pups!"

Tears streamed down my face as I shook my head violently. "No... no, you don't understand. His reactions are severe. The pack healer warned me—"

"The healer is being overly cautious," Kathy interrupted sweetly. "Sometimes mothers worry too much."

"Shut up, you don't understand at all!" I screamed, waving my hand for her to leave.

Unexpectedly, before my hand even touched her, Kathy flew backward as if I had pushed her, falling onto the marble floor.

"Luna Elaine! I only spoke the truth—you didn't need to push me!"

"I'm carrying Ashton's pup in my belly!"

"It hurts! My stomach hurts so much! The baby—oh goddess, the baby!"

"Ashton, please, save our pup," she pleaded tearfully, reaching out to him for protection.

"I didn't push you!" I cried out, but my words fell on deaf ears.

"Believe me, Ashton, I really didn't push her!" I looked at him desperately.

Ashton's hand cracked across my face, sending me sprawling. "Elaine! You've gone too far!"

"You are the Luna of the pack, and all the pups are your children, yet you actually dared to hurt my lover and our unborn child! You are not worthy of being my Luna!"

He immediately scooped Kathy into his arms and rushed her to the pack's Treatment Center.

"Ashton, wait! Please, just listen—"

Before leaving, he ordered the warriors to lock me in the bedroom and wait for his return to administer punishment.

"Keep her contained. I'll deal with this betrayal later."

I collapsed weakly on the floor, but my pup's faint cries from outside the door forced me to hold on.

"Luna! Luna, something terrible has happened!"

"The young heir is having an allergic reaction! His lips are turning blue! Please save him!"

"We don't know what to do!"

I desperately tried to break through the door lock, but it wouldn't budge.

"Let me out! That's my baby! I can help him!" The sound of an eagle's screech pierced the air outside the window, mixed with the omega nursemaids' terrified screams.

"Who are you! Let go of the young heir!"

"Stop! He's just a baby!"

I ran to the window and saw my Leo tied up with a rope, a giant eagle holding him suspended in mid-air with its talons, swinging him back and forth.

"No! No!"

"He's just an infant!"

The rope was tied around my pup's neck, turning his face purple as he struggled for air.

He couldn't even manage a cry before being strangled to death.

Kathy's gleeful laughter echoed through the mind-link she forced into my consciousness.

"Luna Elaine, isn't this fun?"

"Your pup must be so happy being rocked like this!"

"Look how he dances in the air!"

I pressed my face against the window, bowing my head repeatedly. "Kathy! I'll give you Ashton!"

"Whatever you want, I'll give it to you! Please spare my pup!"

"I'll leave the pack! I'll disappear forever! Just please—"

Kathy snorted coldly and commanded her eagle to release the rope right in front of my eyes.

"Too late for bargains now, dear Luna."

My pup plummeted toward the ground in an instant.

"No!"

I thrust my body halfway out the window, reaching desperately to catch him.

The moment my baby hit the ground, I also fell from the second-floor window.

I dragged my shattered leg across the courtyard, crawling on the ground with every ounce of strength to cradle my pup in my arms.

"Help! Someone save my child!"

"Please, anyone! He might still be alive!"

All the pack members had been threatened by Kathy through mind-link. No one dared to help.

I tried to reach the pack healer through mind-link, but my connection was blocked no matter how desperately I called.

"Please, someone answer!"

I could only force myself to carry my pup toward the nearest pack healer's den.

The path I crawled left a trail of blood behind me.

"Stay with me, baby. Mama's coming. Mama's going to fix this."

I don't know how long I traveled before finally reaching the healing center.

"Healer! Healer!"

"Please, my baby needs help! He's not breathing!"

No matter how much I called out, no healer came.

Only two passing omega nurses paused to inform me:

"Stop shouting. Every healer in the territory has been summoned to attend to Miss Kathy."

"How enviable Miss Kathy is—so young and already carrying the Alpha's heir, with the Alpha himself so devoted to her!"

I held my pup's gradually stiffening body, my tears finally running dry.

The ancient blood oath finally surfaced in my mind—the curse that for thousands of years, no she-wolf blessed by the Moon Goddess had ever been forced to invoke.

I whispered the forbidden words that would seal Ashton's fate:

"By the sacred blood of my innocent child, by the ancient power of the Moon Goddess, I curse him. Just as my cub's blood flows from the depths of the earth, so too shall he suffer. The one who caused all this pain shall lose everything he holds most dear, and he too shall know the anguish I endure this day."

Ashton's voice suddenly invaded my mind through our mate bond.

"Elaine, there's a Silver-Moon Pack gathering. Clean yourself up and bring the pup to attend."

I lifted my hand and wiped away my tears.

"Of course, Alpha. We'll be right there."

Ashton Silver, your reckoning has come.