The return of the scorned Luna queen

Kiara.

Nothing.

I felt absolutely nothing. I was battered and bruised, but then I couldn't even feel the pain from my own wounds. Every part of my body was too numb to feel pain, or maybe it's because pain has been the only feeling I've known for the past three years and now I've gotten so used to it.

I didn't stop to rest. Not once. I crawled through the forest on hands bloodied by thorns and the bark of fallen trees, my knees scraped raw beneath the pelts I had stitched together with sinew and spit. Every breath burned. Every movement felt like it might shatter me. I knew I had to make it out or I won't survive another day in this forest. For three years, I had been little more than prey in the Forbidden Forest—haunted, broken, taught fear by creatures whose names I still didn't know.

And then, at last, the trees began to thin.

I moved through the forest with instinctive caution, fully alert, aware of the smallest rustlings, the silence of insects and the faintest scents that would indicate I wasn't alone.

My mouth went dry suddenly and my heart rate increased. The hairs as the back of my neck pickled with unease. I knew what this meant, they were coming for me.

"One more step, Kiara. Just one more step." I muttered breathlessly to myself, knowing if I'd stopped that would be the end of me.

I dragged myself forward, using a branch as a crutch, and suddenly I stumbled into daylight.

Finally! I thought, not until I heard someone moving closer to me. I was so weak to even stand up for a fight, I just laid there and accepted whatever fate was going to befall me.

But when I looked up, I was shocked. Gray hair, stiff back. Beta Jorn. The last time I saw him, I was a girl with ribbons in her hair and dreams of becoming Luna.

He froze when he saw me.

“Spirits,” he whispered, stepping closer. “Kiara?”

I nodded once. My voice wouldn’t work.

He dropped to his knees, eyes shining. “I cannot believe you’re alive.” He looked me over, hands trembling as he reached for the chains at my wrists. “Everyone in the pack thought you were dead."

I flinched instinctively, and his face darkened.

“Don't worry,” he murmured. “I will take you back to your family, I'm sure they will be happy to see you.”

He wrapped his cloak around me, his warmth felt like lightning against my numb skin, and he carried me toward the village.

I thought I’d never see these trees again. Never hear the wind whistle through the gorge or smell the river moss in spring. I had pictured this moment a thousand times during those long, lightless nights. I thought I’d be greeted with shouts of joy. I thought—

Laughter met us before the gate did.

Drums. Music. Singing. The air buzzed with joy.

Beta Jorn slowed. “A celebration?” he muttered. “Tonight?”

glowed with firelight. The courtyard was draped in silks, the kind only used for weddings or naming ceremonies. I blinked, disoriented.

A wedding? I didn’t know my brother had found a mate.

Hope flared inside me. Maybe this would be a double blessing. My return and his union. Perhaps the pain of the last three years could finally be swallowed up by something joyful.

The gates swung open.

I stepped inside, wrapped in Jorn’s cloak and shadows, limping past servants who froze at the sight of me. Their smiles withered. One woman dropped her tray of wine goblets with a crash.

My blood was pulsing thickly in my veins when I looked straight to the altar. I froze. My heart slammed to a stop. It couldn't be. It could not be kaiser.

I would know him anywhere, even from this distance, even when his face was so close to the priest that I couldn't see it properly. It was kaiser, I wasn't dreaming; he was on the altar with my sister, Lyla, by his side!

I stood still, immobilized with fear.

My fated mate is getting married to my sister? No! This has to be one of those bad nightmares I had in that evil forest, Because tell me how my sister is standing there in the exact same wedding dress I chose three years ago and getting married to my fated mate on the same date that I chose!

I didn't want to watch, but somehow, I couldn't look away. It's like my lungs had forgotten how to breathe and my legs forgot how to move.

His hand was on her waist. His eyes were closed. The priest’s voice rang out, “And now, by the blessing of Moon and Flame, may your bond be sealed.”

Lyla leaned in. Their lips were inches apart for a second, and then it met and it felt like time stopped.

"No!!!"

My wolf howled mournfully in my head. But all I could do was watch.

“She’s back!” someone gasped, pulling me out of my thoughts.

Silence cracked through the courtyard like a whip.

Hundreds of eyes turned toward me. The girl in the dirt-streaked cloak. Shackled. Scarred. Smelling of rot and smoke and blood.

Their gazes sliced through me—shocked, confused, some even… afraid.

It wasn't always like this. Once upon a time, I had once been the pride of this pack. A daughter of the Alpha. The golden girl. Every festival, every ball, I had been the centerpiece, the envy of every rival. Life was like a fairy tale until that very day.

Now I stood before my own people like a stranger, a warning, a feral thing they could barely recognize.

Kaiser’s eyes opened. He stared at me, frozen. His hand slipped from Lyla’s waist.

“Kiara?” he said, like he wasn’t sure I was real.

“I—” I opened my mouth, but my throat was cracked and dry. I swallowed. “Congratulations.”

My father strode forward. His face, gods, his face was twisted in the most irritated form I've ever seen.

“You just show up like this?” he snapped. “Without warning? Do you even realize what day it is?”

I blinked. My legs trembled.

“Day?” I echoed, dumbly. “I....am sorry I didn't know.”

Jorn stepped forward, voice cold. “Is this how a family greets a daughter returned from the dead?”

My father’s eyes darted toward the crowd. “Of course not,” he said quickly, smoothing his expression. “We’re all just… surprised. That’s all. Give us a moment to adjust.”

Adjust?

I took a step forward, unsteady.

My mother rushed to me.

My heart leapt.

Mama.

Her arms opened, and for one brief, glorious second, I was a child again, running into her embrace. I took a deep breath of relief, so happy that my mama didn't look at me the way they all did.

But then her nose wrinkled.

She stopped short.

She covered her face with her sleeve, took a step back, and whispered, “Oh—Kiara, what is that smell?”

My stomach dropped.

I looked down at myself—mud-caked feet, torn pelts, bloodstains I’d long stopped noticing. And then I looked back at her, and I laughed even though I had tears in the corner of my eyes.