Chapter 4 THE RETURN

TWO YEARS LATER

A different moon hung in the sky. It was thinner. Sharper. Less forgiving. So was she.

Gina stood at the edge of the Crescent Moon Pack's borders once again. But this time, there was no ceremony, no stars bearing witness to prophecy, and no whispered prayers clinging to her breath. No white gown clinging to her frame, no innocence wrapped in hope.

She wore black. Not the color of mourning, but the armor of rebirth. Her leathers were scuffed and scarred, soaked in the history of battles no one in Crescent Moon would ever speak of. Her boots bore dust from far off mountains. Her scent was masked beneath wild rosemary and bloodroot. A witch's trick, learned in exile.

Her eyes..., her eyes were storm clouds, thunder rolling just beneath the surface. The wolf within her no longer whimpered. It watched. Restless. Patient. Coiled like lightning waiting for the strike. She had not come back to plead for justice or cry over a broken bond. She had come to burn everything down. But even fire needs air. Even vengeance needs permission. And entry required a reason. It came in the form of celebration.

The Crescent Moon Pack was not mourning. No. They were feasting. Lanterns glowed in the dusk. The smell of roasted meat and honeymead thickened the air. Banners of peace and prosperity draped the halls. a new alliance, they called it. With the Southern Peaks and Ironhide. Treaties inked in blood and wine.

A marriage of power. And an invitation to the world's most dangerous wolves. Gina, it seemed, had an invitation too. Only... no one knew the name behind her face anymore. She was no longer "Gina, daughter of the Glades." No longer "Gina, fated mate of Alpha Rex." Now, they called her something else. The Storm-Walker. The name had grown roots in the years since her vanishing. A healer who walked through fire to cure the cursed. A warrior who survived the Seer's Labyrinth, something no Luna in recorded history had done. A whisper in the rogue territories. A shadow in bloodier lands. She'd become legend... and legends, conveniently, didn't have pasts. So when she approached Crescent Moon's gates under a hood of midnight and lowered herself into a respectful bow, the guards hesitated only a moment. Then they stepped aside. Welcome, stranger," one said. She smiled beneath the hood. Good. Let them not remember, not until it's too late.

The courtyard pulsed with music. Laughter bubbled like spring water. Wolves in fine dress wove between shifting forms, their pelts glowing in moonlight. Bonfires crackled as dancers twirled barefoot in the dirt, their faces painted with ancestral glyphs. This was not the pack she left. This was not the home she wept over. It was a kingdom fat on comfort, blind with peace. Peace built on lies. She moved like smoke, quiet, invisible, unseen. Her eyes darted to the council platform first, noting who sat where. Then to the Elders, older now, some replaced.

Her gaze lingered on Elder Ronin. The one who'd cast the final vote against her all those years ago. He laughed now, stuffing venison into his mouth, belly bloated with luxury. You'll choke on that soon enough, she thought coldly. And then...She saw them. Rex. Jessica. Seated on the high platform, the so called Alpha King and his crowned queen. A woven silver crescent shone on Jessica's wrist. On her finger sat the Luna's ring forged in ancient silver, worn only by the one fated to stand beside the Alpha. Gina's breath hitched. So they went through with it.

They completed the false bond. Sealed the lie with metal and ceremony. The crowd cheered as Jessica raised her goblet. Rex didn't smile. Not really. He looked... tired. Haunted. A man with too much on his throne and too little in his heart. She wondered, for just a heartbeat, if he still felt it the bond. The one that never fully severed. Because it still pulsed in her chest. A tether. Faint but alive. Not love. Not anymore. Something older. Truth. And truth didn't stay buried forever.

IT HAPPENED IN A HEARTBEAT

A servant stumbled by the dessert tables. A goblet fell. Red wine spilled across pale stone like blood. The crash echoed louder than it should have, cutting through the music. Heads turned. Including his. Rex's gaze swept the crowd. Then locked on her. Time slowed,She did not flinch. She didn't bow. Didn't tremble. Her hood fell back. The lantern light caught her face. And for the first time in over a decade, Alpha King Rex saw his mate.The one he rejected, the one who vanished standing like a storm he thought he'd outrun. He paled. Jessica leaned in, whispering something sharp and urgent. But Rex was already on his feet. He descended the platform slowly one step after another, as if walking through a dream.

The crowd parted for him. Gina didn't move. She let him come. They met beneath a silk-draped canopy lined with burning lanterns. The music faded behind them. Three paces between them. His voice was the first thing to crack. "...Gina." Her name, from his lips, felt like both a memory and a betrayal. She didn't smile. Didn't blink. "Alpha Rex." Formal. Distant. The chill in her tone froze the air between them. He stared, searching her face for something familiar. Something forgiving. He found none. "You shouldn't be here," he said finally. Her lips curled slightly. "And yet, here I am."

"You...... You vanished."

"Not quite. I walked. There's a difference." A silence bloomed. Heavy. Dense. Then he asked, quietly,

"What do you want?"

She stepped closer. Close enough that he could scent the wildness in her blood. The ash. The herbs. The power. She leaned in. Letting him feel what he lost. What he threw away. "I want to watch," she whispered. He blinked. "Watch what?" Her eyes burned like embers. "How it all falls apart."