<b>Chapter </b><b>159 </b>


    My eyes watching Alpha Henri walk closer inside my room.


    “When the King came, I never thought he would bring you–a very strong woman soul,” Alpha Henri continued, his words curling with strange reverence.


    What?!


    My brows knit,


    I nced at Audrey, silently questioning if she understood his strangeness, but her eyes mirrored my confusion.


    What is going on?


    Is he for real?


    “And now…” His voice dropped lower, almost satisfied.


    The room shifted in an instant.


    A sudden rush of footsteps thundered outside before several of Henri’s guards stormed in. My heart leapt as they moved like shadows, fast and merciless, swarming Audrey before she could react. She shed at the first with precise strikes, but there were too many. They pinned her arms, twisting painfully until a sharp grunt left her lips.


    “AUDREY!” I cried, trying to rise, but my body was sluggish from the bruises and the sudden rush of dread.


    “Stay where you are, Luna,” Henri ordered smoothly, striding toward my bed with unnerving calm. His eyes glinted with something unholy, something desperate.


    Damn it!


    A trap, this is an ambush?!


    He stopped just at the edge of where Iy, leaning closer as though to savor the fear rippling through me. “Looks like the Subus needs you,” he whispered. “She said only you could make my Luna return. Your soul… is what she requires.”


    The words struck me like ice water.


    What?!


    The Subus? My soul?


    Pieces began snapping together like jagged shards. The disappearances. The women’s bodies drained and discarded. Theke and the souls swirling toward me. And now–Henri’s calm revtion.


    So… everything was his doing?


    He’s been lying for this whole time…. And the packs knows it.


    My pulse pounded, fury and disbelief crashing through me. “You… You sacrificed your own people for this?” My voice


    12:34 Fri, 29 Aug


    trembled, but it was edged with steel.


    35%


    Henri’s jaw ticked, but his expression remainedposed, almost fanatical. “I did what I must. She is my mate. My Luna. I will not lose her to death when there is another way.”


    My breath caught.


    Luna?


    So his mate–his Luna–was gone. And he was willing to betray his pack, feed women’s souls to a monster, just to drag her back?


    “You’re insane,” I hissed, rage ring hot despite the fear wing at me. “You’d destroy your pack, innocent lives, for a Luna who’s already gone?”


    His eyes snapped with a dangerous light. “You wouldn’t understand until you’ve lost what I’ve lost. If it were your King


    lying cold, wouldn’t you do the same?!”


    I froze, his words cutting deep, unwanted images flickering in my mind–Francesco’s face, lifeless, his warmth gone. My heart clenched painfully.


    But no. I shook my head sharply, fighting the seed of doubt he tried to nt. “Love does not justify this. Murder does not justify this.” I spat.


    Henri’s smile stretched, sharp and humorless. “Then you’ve never truly loved.”


    His hand reached for me, and every instinct in my body screamed-


    I thrashed, kicking and wing, but Henri seemed to anticipate every desperate move. In a blink, three of his men were on me, forcing my arms down against the mattress, pinning my legs until my muscles screamed.


    Damn it!


    “Ugh-“My jaw clenched against the sting of pain ripping through me. The bruises Francesco had left on me, tender reminders of our bond and his possessive passion, burned with every violent press of their grip.


    Henri’s cruelugh filled the room, echoing like a nightmare.


    “What’s this?! Well…” he drawled, his voice thick with mockery, “looks like you had your fun with your King, your precious mate. But now? It doesn’t matter. You’ll give me what I want. Your soul–for my Luna. If he can keep you, why shouldn’t I have the same with her?”


    My chest tightened.


    Oh God…


    He was insane. Utterly consumed.


    “Your mate is gone!” I spat, the words ripping out of me despite the iron hold on my body. “She’s dead–no soul can bring her back. You’ve been fooled, Henri!” I try to put him back into his sense.


    12:34 Fri, 29 Aug Ri


    The crack of his hand against my face split the air.


    “SMACK!!”


    My head snapped sideways, the sharp sting blossoming into fire across my cheek. Stars danced in my vision.


    33%


    “LUNA!!” Audrey’s roar ripped through the room, primal, furious. She strained against her captors, her voice breaking with both rage and fear.


    I tasted blood in my mouth.


    My heart pounded–not from the pain, but from the single, unshakable truth: we all knew what Francesco would do if he learned another Alpha hadid hands on me. The thought alone was enough to shake the walls of this ce with blood


    and fire.


    And maybe Henri knew it too. Because he smirked.


    A trap.


    Of course.


    My stomach dropped as realization mmed into me. Francesco. He wasn’t here. He was being kept away. Redirected. His Beta Luc must have been the one–drawing him out, buying Henri the time he needed.


    Everything from beginning is a lie, a trap.


    Panic surged.


    I tried to force a thought past the haze, tried to reach across the bond that pulsed faintly like a lifeline in my chest.


    ‘Francesco… it’s a trap… run…!‘


    The words burned against my skull as I pushed them into the link, desperate, begging, hoping he would hear, hoping he


    woulde.


    But before I could send more-


    WHACK!!!


    Henri’s fist crashed into the side of my head. White exploded behind my eyes. The world tilted, spinning into shadow and make my body went limp.


    Thest thing I clung to before darkness swallowed me whole was the faint, unyielding tether of my bond–praying Francesco would feel the jagged edges of my fear and rage.


    Praying he was already on his way.