Chapter 3
But the mating bond was a gift from the Moon Goddess. How could we break it whenever we wanted?
That night, after the parchment was sent to the moon altar, a beam of moonlight shot down from the sky and burned the application to ashes.
The Moon Goddess's rejection was clean and final.
I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking this whole mess was finally over.
But I never imagined that Adrian would end up hating me with all his heart because of it.
He thought I was the one messing things up for him.
"You really think I'll resign myself to being with you if you refuse to break the bond?" Adrian sneered.
He grabbed my chin. His grip was so fierce it felt like he might crush my bones.
"I didn't," I protested.
"Stop pretending, Isabel. You think I don't know what you begged for at the Goddess's altar?" he spat.
He released me and, before walking away, threw back, "Since you're so eager to be Luna, I'll make sure you find out how wonderful that throne is."
From that day on, my situation took a nosedive.
The noble wolves caught wind of the change and started throwing snide remarks at me during council meetings.
The support allotted to me kept dwinding. My maids were taken away, and even firewood became difficult to obtain.
None of the half-blood wolves I'd helped dared to stand up for me.
Adrian saw it all, but he didn't lift a finger. He only let it happen.
He was determined to push me to my breaking point so that I would be the one to give up.
But where could I go?
Fated mates were bound together, unable to break free. The bond didn't only shackle him; it trapped me too.
I had no way out.
*****
Winter had arrived.
Nightridge's winter was always bone-chilling, but rumor had it this year was worse than ever.
The north wind drove icy snow into every crack, and even the toughest wolves wrapped themselves tight in their furs.
Sylvia came down with a cold and had a fever that wouldn't break.
The healer said the only thing that could bring her fever down was Moonsilver.
Moonsilver only grew on the icy cliffs of the northern mountains in Nightridge.
It was a rare herb, found only under the snow on nights when the moon was full.
Adrian wasn't around that day.
Axel came to me, hesitating for a long time before finally saying, "Luna, that wolfless girl... I mean Sylvia. She needs Moonsilver to bring down her fever. But those mountains are deadly. I can't risk sending anyone else."
I looked at his face and suddenly understood.
It wasn't that he didn't trust anyone else.
He figured I was the perfect candidate.
If I managed to find Moonsilver and save Sylvia, maybe Adrian would thank me for it.
But if I died out there in the mountains, he probably wouldn't even care.
"I'll go," I said.
Hearing my words, Axel lowered his head, not daring to meet my eyes.
I braved the snowy mountain alone.
The wind cut my face like knives, snow caked my lashes, and every step sank me into knee-deep snow.
Without my wolf form's speed, I had to climb on foot. My fingers went numb, and I could only hold on by jamming them into ice cracks.
I found Moonsilver right at the edge of a cliff.
Its silvery leaves glowed softly in the moonlight, hidden beneath translucent ice. It was so beautiful, looking like something out of a dream.