Chapter 64 Betrayal in the moonlight 🌙

Chapter 64 Betrayal in the moonlight 🌙
The silence after the kiss is worse than the kiss itself.

Riven steps back first this time. His hands fall to his sides like he’s afraid of what they might do if he lets them linger. I don’t say anything.

If I open my mouth, I might take it back. Or beg him not to. I don’t know which is worse.

“We need to move,” he says. His voice is steady. His eyes are not.

I nod. My fire has settled, but it hasn’t gone away. It never does. It just waits.

We don’t talk on the drive. The road hums under the tires. The city lights blur past the windows.

My phone vibrates once in my pocket. I don’t check it. I already know it’s Kael. The bond keeps pulling like a bruise you can’t stop touching.

Riven pulls off the road near the old quarry. It’s pack land. Neutral ground. Or it used to be.

“This is where the scout said they’d meet,” he says.

“Scout?”

He glances at me. “Didn’t I tell you?”

My stomach tightens. “No.”

He swears under his breath. “One of mine came back before dawn. Said he had information. Locations. Names.”

“And you believed him.”

“I verified what I could.” He pauses. “I trusted him.”

The word trust sits between us like something fragile. Something already cracked.

We step out into the night. The moon is thin. Pale. It doesn’t give much light, but it gives enough. The quarry yawns open ahead of us, dark and deep.

I feel it before it happens. That wrongness again. That pressure.

“Riven,” I whisper. “This feels—”
The ground erupts.

Fire explodes to my left. Not mine. Explosives.
The blast throws me backward. I hit the dirt hard. My ears ring. My vision blurs.

“Selene!”

I roll, instinct taking over. Fire surges from my hands, lighting the pit in harsh orange.
Shadows scatter. Too many.

Rogues pour out from the edges. Dozens. Armed. Waiting.

Ambush.

Riven is already fighting. I see him shift mid-air, wolf snapping into place as he slams into the first attacker. Blood sprays. Someone screams.
I push to my feet. My head spins. Focus. One thing at a time. Fear will kill me faster than claws.

I send a wave of fire across the ground. It burns hot and fast, forcing them back. They regroup. They always do.

A shape moves behind me. Too close.
Pain tears through my shoulder. I cry out before I can stop myself. Silver blade.
Poisoned. My fire flares wild.

I spin and burn him alive. I don’t think about it. I don’t feel it. I just do it.

My arm goes numb. My breath comes shallow.

“Selene!” Riven shouts again. He’s bleeding now too. A deep gash along his side. He’s still standing. Barely.

More rogues close in. Smiling. Confident.
Then I see him.

The scout. Riven’s scout. Standing at the ridge. Watching. Alive. Unharmed.

Our eyes meet. He doesn’t look away.
Betrayal hits harder than the blade.

“You led us here,” I whisper.

He shrugs. “They offered protection. Power. A future.”

Riven hears it. His roar shakes the ground. He breaks away, charging the ridge. Three rogues intercept him. He goes down under the weight.

My fire surges. Too much. Too fast. The quarry lights up like daylight.

“Stop her!” someone yells.

They rush me. I don’t hold back anymore.
Flames tear through them. The heat is unbearable. I feel my skin blister. I don’t care.
A scream cuts through the chaos. Familiar.

Riven.

I turn just in time to see a blade sink into his back. He drops. Hard. Didn’t move.

Something in me breaks clean in half.

“No,” I say. The word comes out wrong. Small.
The world narrows. My fire turns white-hot.

I walk forward. Slow. Steady. Every step scorches the earth. Rogues scatter now. Fear finally hits them. Too late.

I reach Riven and drop to my knees. Blood pools under him. Too much.

“Stay with me,” I say. My hands press to the wound. Healing power flares. It stutters. My vision swims.

His eyes open. Barely. “You’re… glowing,” he whispers.

“Don’t talk.”

A shadow falls over us.

Kael.

He moves fast. Too fast. He cuts down the nearest rogue without slowing. Another falls. Then another. Ruthless. Precise.

He drops beside me. “Move,” he orders.

“No.”

“Selene.” His voice cracks. Just once. “He’ll die if you keep forcing it.”

“I won’t let him,” I snarl.

Kael grabs my wrists. Hard. The bond flares, painful and sharp. “You are killing yourself.”

I scream. Fire lashes out. The ground fractures.

Kael didn’t let go. He leans in close. “Look at me.”

I do. Tears burn my eyes. Rage and fear and guilt twist together until I can’t tell them apart.

“You can’t save everyone,” he says. Low. Fierce.

“Choose.”

The word hits like a punch.

Riven coughs. Blood stains his lips. “Selene,” he breathes. “Listen to him.”

My chest heaves. “I won’t choose between you.”

“You already did,” Kael says quietly.

I choke on a sob. My healing flares again, weaker now. Slower. Not enough.

Kael presses a hand to Riven’s wound. His power joins mine. Cold to my heat. Stabilizing.
Just barely.

Footsteps retreat. The rogues are fleeing now. The scout is gone. Coward.

The quarry goes quiet except for my breathing. Too loud. Too fast.

Riven doesn’t wake again. But he’s alive. For now.

Kael pulls me to my feet. I try to fight him. I don’t have the strength.

“This was planned,” he says. “They wanted you to break.”

“I almost did,” I whisper.

He studies my face. “You’re still standing.”
Barely.

We get Riven out before the humans arrive. Before questions start.

Later, when the blood is washed off my hands, when the fire finally dims, the guilt stays.
Heavy. Suffocating.

I trusted the wrong person.

I kissed the wrong Alpha.

I led us into a trap.

Kael stands at the door, watching me like he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he looks away.

“They won’t stop now,” he says. “They’ve seen what you can do.”

I stare at my hands. They won’t stop shaking.

“Next time,” I say, voice hollow, “I won’t hesitate.”

His jaw tightens.

Somewhere down the hall, Riven breathes. Slow. Uneven. Alive because I chose not to let go.

And that choice already feels like it’s going to cost me everything.