Chapter 5 The Moon's Whisper

SCARLETT

The night dragged on with a cruel heaviness, like chains pulling me deeper into despair. I lay on the thin straw bed, my body curled in on itself, the taste of salt and bitterness heavy on my tongue from hours of weeping. My swollen eyes ached, my throat felt raw, and my chest burned with every breath I took.

The slave quarters smelled of damp wood and dust, the familiar scent of a life I thought I had left behind. The walls were thin, cracked in places, and carried every sound from outside-muffled laughter of guards, distant cheers still echoing faintly from the square where Maria and John had been celebrated. Every reminder was a knife carving me open.

I pressed my face into the rough blanket to stifle the sobs, but they tore out of me anyway. My heart was screaming. I kept hearing his words-"You are nothing but a slave." The echo of that sentence refused to fade.

Nothing. That was what I was to him. What I had always been to this pack.

My fingers dug into my chest, clawing at the place where the mate bond throbbed faintly, like a wound that refused to close. It should have been broken after his rejection, but it lingered, torn and fraying, refusing to let me rest. The Goddess had tied my soul to his, and no amount of cruelty seemed enough to sever it.

"Why me?" I whispered into the darkness. "Why did You give me to him?"

The silence stretched, cold and merciless. I closed my eyes, wishing for sleep to take me, to pull me into a dreamless void where I didn't have to feel.

But sleep came differently that night.

It was sudden, sharp, like being pulled underwater. My breath hitched as my body stilled, and I found myself standing in a place I didn't recognize. A forest stretched endlessly around me, bathed in silver light. The air hummed with power, the kind that made the hairs on my arms rise.

The moon hung enormous in the sky, larger than I had ever seen, glowing with a radiance that lit every leaf, every stone, every shadow. Its light touched me, warm and cool at the same time, seeping into my bones like a gentle embrace.

My heart thudded. Was this a dream? Or something more?

"Scarlett."

The voice was soft but carried through the air with the weight of eternity. It came from everywhere and nowhere at once, wrapping around me like silk. I spun in place, my breath catching as the silver light before me shifted and took shape.

A woman stood there, robed in white that shimmered like water under the moon. Her eyes glowed with liquid silver, her hair spilling down her back like molten light. I knew instantly who she was. Every wolf knew.

"The Moon Goddess..." I whispered, falling to my knees. My tears flowed freely, my body trembling in awe and fear.

She reached a hand toward me, her expression both kind and sorrowful. "My child," she said, her voice carrying warmth that soothed the raw edges of my heart. "Do not bow before me. Stand, for you are not meant to kneel forever."

Her words struck me, sharp and strange. My legs wobbled as I rose slowly, my eyes fixed on hers. "Why... why did you do this to me?" The question burst from me before I could stop it. "Why bond me to a man who despises me? Why condemn me to this pain?"

The Goddess's gaze softened, but there was sorrow in her silver eyes. "You see only the pain of today, Scarlett, not the purpose of tomorrow." She stepped closer, her presence overwhelming, filling me with both fear and comfort. "The mate I gave you has rejected his destiny. But your journey does not end in his betrayal. It begins."

My lips trembled. "Begins? How? He has humiliated me, cast me aside, chosen another. What is left for me but suffering?"

"You are stronger than you believe," she said gently. "And though the bond between you and John bleeds, it has not died. It will fade with time, but your spirit will not. You are chosen not because of him, but because of who you are. You are destined for more than the chains they put upon you."

Her hand reached out, brushing lightly against my cheek. The touch was cool, soothing the heat of my swollen skin. "The darkness will not end tonight. You will endure more trials, more betrayals. But through them, you will grow. And when the time comes, you will rise-not as a rejected Luna, but as a Queen."

Her words shivered through me, impossible and yet undeniable.

"Queen?" I repeated, my voice breaking on the word. "I can barely stand. I am hated by everyone, even my mate. How could I ever become anything more?"

A faint smile touched her lips. "Because pain forges steel, Scarlett. And you... you are my chosen flame."

Before I could respond, the ground beneath me shuddered. The forest wavered, the moonlight dimming. The Goddess's form began to fade, dissolving back into silver light.

"Wait!" I cried out, reaching toward her. "Don't leave me! Please, tell me more!"

Her voice lingered even as her form vanished. "Trust yourself. Trust the path I have laid before you. And when you are at your weakest, remember-I have not abandoned you."

The forest dissolved into blackness.

My eyes flew open, my body jerking upright on the straw bed. My heart pounded violently, sweat clung to my skin, and my breaths came ragged and fast.

The quarters were still dark, silent save for the distant chirp of crickets. But the echo of her voice still filled me, warm and terrifying.

The Moon Goddess had spoken to me. To me, Scarlett, the enslaved Luna, the rejected mate.

I pressed my shaking hands to my chest, my mind reeling. Could it be true? Did I truly have more in store for me? Or was I simply being tormented by this cruel dream?

But deep inside, something had shifted. The void that had previously engulfed me was no longer absolute. In the ashes of my heart, a spark flickered.

I lay back slowly, staring at the ceiling, her words replaying again and again. Not the end. The beginning. Chosen flame. Queen.

For the first time since John's betrayal, I felt a sliver of something unfamiliar.

Not hope. Not yet.

But strength.