Chapter 6 CHAPTER SIX

Hellen’s POV

They called me Luna, but most days I felt like nothing more than a shadow walking through a house that wasn’t truly mine. The title weighed heavily on my shoulders, but the strength that was meant to uphold it seemed to have abandoned me long before I ever wore the crown. My body betrayed me at every turn, weakness in my chest, trembling hands, the cough that stole my breath like a thief in the night. Yet it wasn’t the sickness that tormented me the most.

It was the silence.

Matt’s silence, especially.

At night, when he lay beside me, his body warm and strong, I would search for his hand in the darkness, desperate for the reassurance that I still belonged to him. He always gave it to me, his fingers curling around mine, but I could feel that distance he thought he hid so well. His heart carried burdens I could not touch, walls I could not scale. And every morning, when he rose before dawn to train, to lead, to fight, I would be left behind. Alone. The silent Luna.

Today was no different.

I rose from bed slowly, gripping the carved wooden post until the room stopped spinning. The healer’s herbs had dulled the ache in my chest, but they left my tongue dry, bitter. I sipped from the jug of water, staring at the faint steam still rising from the cup she had left earlier. My instincts whispered to leave it untouched, but what choice did I have? My body demanded relief, and she was the only one who knew how to ease it.

Still, a chill clung to me as I set the cup down without drinking.

I wrapped my robe around me and moved to the balcony, overlooking the courtyard where the pack gathered. The sound of clashing swords, grunts, and laughter drifted upward. They admired him, Matt. My mate, my Alpha. They saw him as unshakable, unyielding, a force of nature. Yet they never saw the man who stumbled into bed at night with whiskey on his breath, shoulders slumped beneath the weight of unspoken regrets. They didn’t see how his gaze sometimes lingered too long on Laura.

Laura.

The name twisted in my chest like a blade.

She was everywhere. At first, she had seemed kind, always at my side, quick to help when my strength failed me. But lately, her comfort has turned sour. Her smiles felt sharper, her touch too lingering when she steadied me, her presence too constant when Matt was near. And then there were the whispers.

Yesterday, as I returned from the healer’s quarters, I paused outside the hall when I heard her voice.

“She won’t last long,” Laura had said softly, words meant to dissolve into shadows.

The healer had murmured something I couldn’t catch, but I didn’t need to hear more. The truth had burned itself into my bones.

They didn’t expect me to survive.

A shiver broke through me now, even under the midday sun. My fingers tightened on the balcony rail. Perhaps they were right. Maybe I wouldn’t last long. But if that was true, then I needed answers.

I left the chamber, moving slowly through the long corridors, nodding at the guards who lowered their heads respectfully. Their pity was harder to bear than their respect. My feet carried me not to the healer’s chambers this time, but toward the library. It was a quiet place, seldom visited, and more importantly, far from curious eyes.

Inside, the dust and scent of parchment comforted me. I traced my hand along the spines of the book, its histories, treaties, and accounts of wars fought and lost. My gaze landed on one that spoke of alliances forged through Luna's strength. Every line was a reminder of what I could never give Matt.

My chest tightened again, but this time not from illness, but from shame.

“Luna?”

The voice startled me.

I turned, and there she was, Laura. Standing in the doorway, her smile polite but her eyes gleaming with something I couldn’t name.

“You shouldn’t be here alone,” she said softly, stepping inside. “If you fall…”

I straightened, ignoring the tremble in my knees. “I can still walk. I can still think. I’m not dead yet.”

Her smile faltered, just slightly. “Of course not. Forgive me, I only worry for you.” She stepped closer, fingers brushing along the shelves as though she belonged there. “The Alpha… he carries so much. I try to do what I can to ease his burdens.”

There. The blade beneath the honey.

“And what burdens would those be?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended.

Her eyes flickered, then softened again. “The war. The elders. Your illness. He needs strength beside him. He needs…” She trailed off, as though catching herself.

“He needs a Luna,” I finished for her.

The silence between us stretched thin. For the first time, I didn’t feel weak. I felt furious. My hands trembled, not from sickness, but from the fire boiling in my blood.

“I am his Luna,” I said firmly, my voice low. “Don’t forget that.”

Laura lowered her head gracefully, but her smirk betrayed her submission. “Of course.”

And then she left, as silently as she had entered.

I sank into a chair, my body heavy but my spirit strangely alright. My heart hammered in my chest, each beat echoing a vow I had never dared make before. I would not fade quietly. I would not let her steal him from me.

That night, when Matt returned to our chamber, I watched him closely. His body bore the marks of battle, sweat and dirt clinging to his skin, but his eyes softened when they met mine.

“You should be resting,” he murmured, sitting beside me.

“I’ve rested enough,” I said. My hand found his, clutching tightly. “Matt… if I’m fading, I need you to tell me. I need you to stop hiding the truth from me.”

His jaw tightened, his eyes flickering with pain. “You’re not fading. You’re my Luna. That’s all that matters.”

But even as he said it, I saw the flicker of doubt, the same one I’d seen before. The same one that betrayed him now.

I didn’t push him. Not yet.

Instead, I leaned into him, inhaling his scent, memorizing the warmth of his body. And when he kissed me, it wasn’t with passion, but with desperation, with fear.

Later, when he slept, I lay awake staring at the ceiling, Laura’s words echoing in my head.

She won’t last long.

My heart pounded, my breath shallow. I had to know what they planned.

I had to rise, silent no longer.

At the edge of sleep, I heard it again, the healer’s voice outside the door, whispering to Laura.

“She grows weaker every day. The mixture is working.”