Chapter 3

When I finally clawed my way back to consciousness, my ears were immediately assaulted by the chaotic din of shouting and muffled, suppressed sobbing.

Forcing my heavy eyelids open, I realized I was no longer in the dim birthing room. Instead, I was in the massive, cavernous Great Council Hall of the Crescent Moon Pack.

The space was packed with pack elders and guards, the flickering glare of torches illuminating the hall as bright as day.

And I... was currently being held in Ella's arms.

Panic seized my tiny chest. I rolled my eyes toward the center of the hall.

There stood Valerie. Her golden hair was a tangled mess, her face as deathly pale as a sheet of paper. She stood completely barefoot on the freezing stone. Clutched desperately to her chest was a swaddle containing the lifeless corpse of an infant. Her icy-blue eyes were wild—shattered with absolute frenzy and utter despair.

"This is impossible! This is not my child!" Valerie screamed, her voice tearing at her vocal cords, bordering on a raw, animalistic roar. "My daughter's cries were so loud, so strong when she was born! How could she possibly be a stillborn?!"

"Valerie! Snap out of it!" Silas stood directly opposite her, his brows locked in a deep scowl. His eyes held a conflicting mix of genuine pain and rising impatience. "The healer has already examined the body. The infant suffocated in the womb and stopped breathing shortly after birth. You have to accept reality!"

"Reality? What reality?!" Valerie suddenly jabbed a violently trembling finger at Ella, who was cowering behind Silas. "It was her! She stole my baby! The child she's holding is my daughter!"

A collective, sharp intake of breath echoed through the Great Hall. The elders exchanged bewildered glances, breaking into hushed, agitated whispers.

Ella recoiled instantly, flinching like a terrified deer. Tears began to spill from her eyes in an endless stream. Clutching me tighter, she wept with a sickeningly victimized tone, "Sister... I understand the grief of losing a child has driven you mad. I do. But you cannot try to steal my daughter just to comfort your own delusions! I nearly died giving birth to my own flesh and blood today!"

"You lying bitch!" Valerie's eyes burned blood-red. Losing every shred of composure, she lunged recklessly toward Ella.

"Enough!" Silas roared, unleashing a brutal wave of Alpha dominance. The invisible, crushing pressure instantly swept across the entire room. Several burly guards immediately rushed forward, forcefully pinning the wildly struggling Valerie to the ground.

"Are you completely insane, Valerie?!" Silas was livid, his chest heaving. "The entire pack knew Ella was pregnant! She went into early labor today, and the healer personally delivered her child—it's an indisputable fact! I won't blame you for losing your mind over the grief of a dead pup. But if you ever dare threaten Ella and her child again, do not blame me for invoking pack law against you!"

"An indisputable fact?" Valerie let out a piercing, hysterical laugh, hot tears finally cascading down her deathly pale cheeks. "Are you blind, Silas?! Look at the baby in her arms! She is nothing but a weak Omega—how could she possibly give birth to a pup with such a breathtakingly pure aura?!"

"Sister, you truly have gone mad," Ella whispered, peering out from behind Silas with a deeply patronizing, pitiful tone. "This child clearly carries my brother's pheromones. How on earth could she be yours? But if you don't believe me, let the elders examine her scent."

A few of the most senior elders stepped forward and carefully leaned in, inhaling the scent lingering around me.

Panic clawed at my insides. That venomous bitch Ella must have tampered with my scent! Sure enough, as the elders stepped back, they all shook their heads grimly at Silas.

"Alpha, the infant truly only carries your scent and Miss Ella's," the Great Elder sighed heavily, looking at my mother with pity. "I fear the Luna has suffered too great a shock. Her mind has completely fractured."

"No! That's impossible! It's mine!" Valerie thrashed wildly against the guards, but their grip only tightened, digging into her flesh.

Looking at my mother's devastated, utterly broken eyes, it felt as though someone was twisting a serrated knife directly into my tiny heart.

"Brother Silas, my sister's current state is incredibly dangerous. Not only is she a threat to herself, but she might harm innocent members of the pack," Ella murmured, elegantly wiping a tear from her cheek as she offered a 'compassionate' suggestion. "Why don't we send her to the Tower of Solitude to rest? Once her emotions have stabilized, we can bring her back out."

The Tower of Solitude! That was the pack's dungeon—a dark, freezing, perpetually damp hellhole meant for the worst criminals. No sunlight ever breached its walls. In my past life, that was exactly where Valerie had been locked away—where Ella had slowly, sadistically tortured her to madness and death!

"Ella! You venomous whore! May the Moon Goddess curse you to rot!" Hearing the name of the tower, Valerie's struggling reached a fever pitch of terrifying desperation.

Silas stared down at his raving, hysterical mate. A flicker of genuine reluctance flashed through his eyes, but it was quickly swallowed by what he delusionally believed to be Alpha pragmatism.

"Take the Luna down to the Tower. Under no circumstances is anyone permitted to visit without my direct authorization," Silas commanded.

"Yes, Alpha!" The guards immediately dragged Valerie toward the heavy oak doors of the Great Hall.

"Silas! You will regret this! You will regret this for the rest of your miserable life!" Valerie's blood-curdling screams tore through the silence, echoing hauntingly off the stone walls.

No! Mom!

I watched Valerie being violently dragged toward the shadowy exit. The fury and dread bubbling in my chest reached a volatile boiling point. I couldn't let them take her! The second she was locked in that tower, it was all over!

I had to do something!

Funneling every last drop of adrenaline into my tiny, fragile body, I stopped trying to wail. Instead, I arched my back violently and kicked my short legs backward with all my might, pushing directly into Ella's abdomen.

The sudden, erratic convulsion caught Ella completely off guard. She let out a startled yelp, her grip instinctively loosening just a fraction.

Seizing the split second, I thrashed wildly until the tight swaddle wrapping me finally came loose.

A sharp, crisp sound snapped through the hall. A pure silver object, radiating an ethereal, deep-blue glow, slipped free from the depths of my blanket and shattered the silence as it hit the freezing stone floor.

It was the silver crescent moon pendant, inlaid with the exquisite blue moonstone.

Halfway to the heavy doors, Valerie heard that distinct, metallic noise. Her struggling body went completely rigid. Snapping her head around, her frantic gaze locked onto the silver pendant lying on the floor—and in that instant, time froze.