Chapter 3 THE ASHES LEFT BEHIND

The road back to the Southern Glades was long, cold, and quiet. Gina didn't speak to anyone. Didn't shift. Didn't sleep. She moved like a phantom through frozen woods, the rejection bleeding through her soul like poisoned ink. The farther she traveled, the dimmer the bond became until it was nothing more than a dull ache in her chest. A bruise that would never fade.

By the time she reached the edge of her homeland, three days had passed, and the moon had begun to wane. But the air was wrong. Still, Heavy, Not a single bird sang. Not a single breeze moved through the branches. Something was missing. Her wolf stirred, ears pinned back, low growl rumbling deep inside. Something's not right, Gina broke into a run. Her family's cottage sat nestled in a grove of willow trees a quiet, peaceful place that had always smelled like home. Wild herbs. Pine sap. Fresh bread. Now it smelled like ash, She froze at the tree line. Smoke curled into the sky, BlackThick.

A scent she knew too well. Blood "No..." She sprinted forward, heart slamming in her chest, vaulting the fence, nearly tripping on burned debris. The cottage was gone. charred. Half collapsed. Ember eaten bones of a life she once had. She staggered through the doorway or what was left of it and called out.

"Mama?!

Papa?!"

No answer. Just the crackle of dying flames. She stumbled through the wreckage, hands bloodied from clawing at burned wood, splinters embedded in her palms. Her breath came in sobs, but she kept moving. "Please," she whispered. "Please be alive..."But the moment she found the bloodstains on the floor the claw marks on the walls she knew, They were gone, Slaughtered. Whoever did it hadn't even tried to hide it. She found her father's wedding band in the ruins. Still warm. She clutched it to her chest and collapsed to her knees. And she screamed.

THAT NIGHT

The fire burned low, but she didn't leave. She sat in the ruins until dawn, broken, covered in soot, and hollowed by grief. She hadn't shifted once. Her wolf hadn't spoken. The ache in her body was nothing compared to the rage in her soul. They didn't just take her mate. They took her entire world. And now, she had nothing left to lose.

A sound stirred behind her. Gina turned sharply, eyes blazing. A shadow stepped from the trees. It was Elder Theon, From Crescent Moon. She snarled, rising slowly to her feet. "You followed me?" He held up a hand, calm. "I came to find you. I needed to speak" "Go. Back."

"I had no part in this, child."

Her hands curled into fists. "Then tell me why my parents are dead. Tell me why there are Crescent Moon claw marks on my wall. Tell me why you're here the moment the fire's not even out." Elder Theon hesitated And that hesitation was all she needed.

Her voice dropped to a growl. "You knew." "I suspected," he admitted. "But I was too late." "What did they do?" "There are wolves... who believe fate can be rewritten. That the bond the Moon creates can be broken permanently. That by severing your connection to Rex... the bond with Jessica could be solidified." Her blood turned cold. "They killed my family to break the bond?" Theon's silence was the only answer.

Gina laughed once dry, cracked, and feral. "They failed. I still feel it." "But it's weakened. And that's what they wanted. The bond must fray before it can be rewritten." She took a shaky breath, the world spinning. Her mate rejected her, her family was murdered to erase her. And the Elders the same ones who once defended her had let it happen. No more.

TWO DAYS LATER

The funeral pyres were lit at dawn. No one from Crescent Moon came. Not a single wolf offered condolences. Not even Rex. Gina watched the flames rise with a heart gone numb. She held her mother's pendant in her palm and whispered a vow. "I will not let this end me." That night, she left the Glades. No goodbyes. No destination. Just the pendant. And the rage.She went north to the mountains where the Crimson Seers lived old wolves banished for their use of forbidden magic.

Rumors said they could unlock the mind. The wolf. The bond. She begged them to teach her. They refused, So she fought,She bled. She endured, And when she finally collapsed on the stone floor of the Seers' temple half dead, bones broken, soul cracked open they looked into her heart... And saw something ancient waking, Not just a Luna. Something more. Something the Moon had chosen and the world had tried to erase.