Chapter 6 CAGED

The cold of the stone floor seeped into my bones, a constant, dull ache that mirrored the one in my chest.

My cell, little more than a windowless cavern, felt less like a place of temporary confinement and more like a tomb.

With each breath I took, I tasted the dust and despair, a bitter testament to my new reality.

I was Sera Valen, orphaned healer, and now, rejected Luna. The title hung heavy, a brand of shame seared into my very soul.

My wolf, Rael, was silent. Utterly, terrifyingly silent. After Kael's public rejection, after the burning agony that had flared and then dimmed, she had retreated.

Her vibrant spirit, usually a fiery hum beneath my skin, was now a hollow echo. It was as if she had crumpled into a ball of pain, deep within my core, refusing to acknowledge the devastation.

And without her, I felt adrift, a ship without a rudder, lost in a sea of my anguish.

I traced the rough-hewn lines of the stone wall with a trembling finger, the sensation grounding me in the stark, miserable present.

My hands that still bore the faint marks of the mate bond that had blossomed and died in the span of a single night, felt foreign to me.

They were healer's hands, hands that offered comfort and solace, not hands meant for the cold iron shackles I imagined were meant for me.

Not yet, but I knew they would come. It was only a matter of time before the Alpha truly decided my fate.

Sleep offered no escape.

When it finally claimed me, it dragged me into nightmares of Kael's cold eyes, of the pack's jeering faces, of the suffocating loneliness that threatened to consume me whole.

I would wake gasping, my body slick with a phantom heat that rose from deep within, a heat that had flickered when Kael had uttered those devastating words: "You are not worthy to stand by my side."

What had that heat been? A last gasp of the bond? Or something else, something primal and terrifying, stirring in the ashes of my humiliation?

The hours crawled, marked only by the shifting shadows that played across the ceiling, the distant sounds of the pack house a torment. Laughter, conversations, the comforting scent of cooked meals-all things I was now excluded from.

I, who had served them, healed their sick, nursed their injured. I, who had dared to be chosen by the moon, only to be cast aside by their Alpha.

Then, a new scent caught my nose. Crisp and clean, carrying the faint tang of Kael's unique scent signature, now tainted with something else. Royal Luna Amaris.

It filled my nostrils, a cloying sweetness that made my stomach churn. The door creaked open, and a sliver of light illuminated the corridor.

He stood there, Kael. Not the Kael I had known, the Alpha who had once offered me a gentle smile when I helped him with a twisted ankle.

This Kael was a stranger, a formidable silhouette against the dim light, his presence radiating an icy authority. His eyes, usually a warm hazel, were now chips of flint, unyielding and cold.

"Sera." His voice was flat, devoid of emotion, a tone he usually reserved for unruly subordinates or rival Alphas. It cut deeper than any snarl.

I pushed myself up, scrambling to my feet, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Kael." My voice was a whisper, raspy from disuse and the dust of the cell.

He stepped inside, not close enough for me to feel the warmth of his body, but close enough for his scent, that familiar, intoxicating blend of pine and ozone, to assault my senses.

It was a cruel reminder of what we once were, or what I had foolishly believed we could be. He wore his Alpha mantle like a second skin, an unbreachable wall between us.

"You understand why you are here," he stated, not a question, but a pronouncement.

My jaw tightened. "Because you rejected me. Because you chose a political alliance over the mate the Moon Goddess gave you." The words were laced with venom I hadn't known I possessed.

His eyes narrowed, but his expression remained unreadable. "This is for the pack, Sera. For its strength. Amaris brings alliances and power. Something you could not."

"I could have brought you loyalty," I countered, my voice rising. "I could have brought you a Luna who would love you, who would fight for you. Who was destined for you!" The last words were a raw cry, tearing from my throat.

He took a step closer, his gaze sweeping over my disheveled form, lingering on the faint indentations the shackles had left on my wrists. Was there a flicker of something there? Regret? Pity? Or just disgust?

"Love is a weakness in leadership," he said, his voice hard. "And destiny is a myth. Power is real. And I need power to protect this pack."

"At what cost?" I challenged, my voice shaking with a burgeoning fury. "At the cost of your soul? Of the Moon's blessing? Of a life you promised?"

"I promised you nothing," he retorted, his voice rising, a flash of something akin to anger finally breaking through his impassive facade. "And I feel nothing. Not for you. The bond... it was a mistake. A trick of the moon. It is broken, Sera. Accept it."

He felt nothing. The words were a fresh stab, twisting the knife already plunged into my heart. My wolf, Rael, gave a faint whimper, a sound of profound pain that only I could hear. But even as the hurt threatened to drown me, a cold, hard kernel of something new began to form.

He was lying. My wolf, even in her wounded state, sensed it. The fleeting tremor in his voice, the barely perceptible tightening of his jaw, the way his gaze darted away for a fraction of a second when he spoke the lie. He did feel something.

And that realization, instead of bringing comfort, ignited a different kind of fire within me. A cold, steady burn that had nothing to do with pain and everything to do with purpose.

He turned to leave, his broad shoulders filling the doorway. "Do not cause trouble, Sera. It will only make things worse for you."

"Worse?" I scoffed, a dry, humorless sound.

"What could be worse than this, Kael? You have taken everything."

He paused, his back to me. "Some things cannot be undone," he said, his voice softer now, almost a whisper, before hardening again.

"You will be moved tomorrow. To a more secure location. Until we decide what is to be done with you."

And then he was gone, the heavy door thudding shut behind him, plunging me back into darkness.

He felt nothing? A lie. A deliberate, calculated lie to break me. But he wouldn't. The anguish was still a gaping maw in my chest, the sting of betrayal fresh and raw.

Yet, beneath it, a tiny, resilient spark began to glow. If he could lie so easily, if he could discard me so utterly, then he was not the Kael

I had mourned. He was an enemy.

And enemies deserved no mercy.

My wolf, Rael, shifted, a slow, deliberate movement within me.

She was still hurting, but there was a new tension in her stillness, a predatory edge I had never felt before. The rage was a slow-burning ember, but the hatred... that was a sharp, sudden flame.

I would forget him? No. I would remember-every slight, every cutting word, every ounce of humiliation. And then, I would make him remember, too. I would make them all remember.

The pack, the Elders, Amaris, and especially Kael.

The Luna who burned the pack.

It was no longer just a nightmare.

It was a promise.