Chapter 31 CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Chapter 31 CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Hellen’s POV

The air shifted before I even opened my eyes.
A ripple of fury pulsed through the bond, sharp, burning, familiar. Matt.

For a second, I thought it was another nightmare. But no… this wasn’t fear. This was anger alive, crackling in my veins, demanding to be felt. I sat up slowly, heart pounding, feeling the vibration of his emotions echo through me. Whatever he’d found, it had broken something inside him.

The bond between us had always been strained since my sickness, faint like a dying flame. But now… it burned. And with it came something I hadn’t felt in months: rength—pure, electric strength coursing through every limb.

I looked at my hands, trembling slightly. My skin glowed faintly in the dim light, my wolf whispering from beneath my consciousness. You feel that? He’s seen the truth.

My pulse raced. “The note,” I breathed. I had written it and hidden it beneath the old candle holder in his study, praying he would find it before they acted. If he had… then the web was finally tearing.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed. The room was dark and quiet. No healer’s footsteps. No incense smoke. No trace of the poison’s scent. Just moonlight cutting through the curtains like a blade.

“Hellen,” my wolf murmured, her voice clear now, strong. We rise tonight.

My feet touched the cold floor. I could still remember the weakness, the months of helplessness, the way Laura had looked at him, my mate, with that poisonous smirk. Rage rolled through me, slow and dangerous.

But rage wasn’t what I needed now. Control was.

I moved to the mirror. For the first time since the illness began, my reflection didn’t look fragile. My eyes burned gold, my wolf’s full color. My body felt whole again. Reborn.

“I’m done being their victim,” I whispered.

Outside, thunder rolled across the sky, distant but steady. The kind of storm that never came without reason.

I changed into a dark cloak and pushed open the door. The guards posted outside blinked in surprise.

“Luna, you shouldn’t”

“Move,” I said. My tone carried enough of the Alpha’s authority that they stepped aside without another word.

The corridors were empty, save for faint candlelight flickering along the stone walls. I followed the path to the eastern wing where the healer’s chambers lay. Every step felt heavier with purpose.

When I reached the door, it was ajar. I could hear voices inside—ow and urgent.

“Matt knows,” Laura’s voice hissed. “He found something.”

“Impossible,” the healer replied. “He couldn’t have”

“Then why did Paul call an emergency meeting?”

Silence. Then the healer said, “We’ll have to act before dawn.”

A chill ran down my spine before dawn.

I stepped back into the shadows, my breath shallow. My heart hammered, but my wolf remained calm. Let them talk, she whispered. Let them show their hands.

Laura sighed softly. “He’ll come for me first. He never trusted me fully. I’ll draw his attention long enough for you to finish it.”

The healer muttered something inaudible, then the sound of liquid pouring. The same scent I’d once inhaled every night under the guise of medicine filled the air; it was itter, sharp, metallic. Poison.

That was enough.

I turned and slipped away before they sensed me, my mind spinning. Matt couldn’t face them alone. Not tonight. Not when they were this desperate.

By the time I reached the main hall, the first light of dawn was breaking over the horizon. I could feel his energy, his rage pulsing from the west wing.

I followed it like a thread.

When I entered, he was standing by the window, the note I wrote still clenched in his fist. His jaw was tight, his entire posture screaming of barely-contained violence.

“Matt,” I whispered.

He turned so fast I flinched. His eyes glowed a molten gold of fury and disbelief. For a heartbeat, he looked like he didn’t recognize me. Then his breath hitched.

“Hellen.” His voice cracked, barely more than a whisper.

I took a step forward. “You found it.”

He nodded, swallowing hard. “You knew. You knew all along.”

“I suspected,” I said softly. “I couldn’t risk telling you. The healer was always listening. Laura was always near.”

His hands trembled. “They were poisoning you.”

“Yes.” I met his gaze, steady and unflinching. “But not anymore.”

Something in his eyes broke, then he fell, the wall he’d kept between duty and emotion. He moved closer, slowly, like he couldn’t believe I was real. His hand hovered just above my face.

“You’re… stronger,” he murmured.

“I’m whole again,” I said. “And I’m not hiding anymore.”

For a moment, silence filled the space between us, a heavy, fragile kind of silence that spoke of pain, love, and everything we hadn’t said.

He exhaled, his forehead dropping to mine. “I almost lost you.”

“You didn’t,” I whispered. “But we’re running out of time.”

His arms wrapped around me, pulling me close, desperate, trembling. The warmth of his chest, the steady beat of his heart… it was grounding. For the first time in months, I felt safe.

Then his voice hardened again, the Alpha returning. “They’re meeting before dawn. I’m ending it.”

“No,” I said, pulling back to meet his eyes. “We are ending it. Together.”

He stared at me, torn between anger and admiration. “You’re still recovering.”

I smiled faintly. “Then they’ll never see me coming.”

A pause, then he smirked. “You’ve changed.”

I held his gaze. “No. I’ve finally remembered who I am.”

Outside, lightning flashed again, illuminating the storm clouds gathering over the pack lands. The bond between us hummed no longer a flicker, but a roaring flame.

The Luna has awakened, my wolf whispered. And the world will remember.

The first echoes of dawn crept across the horizon. But for it, it wasn’t dawn that was coming. It was war.

And this time, I wasn’t the fragile Luna lying in bed. I was the storm that would burn away every lie that chained us.