Ascension 80_A Warrior Luna's Awakening

Freya’s POV

 I froze in ce, breath catching in my throat.

 It must have been the shock. Nothing else could exin it.

 +8 Pearls

 Because I never expected Ss Whitmor’s back–Alpha of the Irond Coalition, heir of the feared Whitmore bloodline–to be carved over with scars.

 Not the kind of marks a warrior earns in battle with rogues. These weren’t badges of honor. They were cruel, deliberate. They reeked of punishment. Of abuse.

 Abuse?

 The lines weren’t fresh. Some were years old, healed but jagged,yered one over another. Scars that could only havee from his youth. From when he was still a child.

 My stomach twisted, fury knotting inside me. Who would dare? Who would do this to a pup?

 The words escaped before I could stop them.

 “Those scars on your back… who did that to you?!”

 His gaze flicked toward me, unreadable, voice low and cold.

 “So you really did see them.” He didn’t answer my question. Instead, his lips curled faintly. “But are you actually angry, Freya? Angry because of the marks carved into my flesh?”

 His calmness jarred me back. My heartbeat steadied. Why was I angry? If he had been beaten, the one responsible was surely long gone–or already dealt with. Ss wasn’t some powerless pup anymore. He was Alpha. The predator no one dared to

 touch.

 I exhaled slowly. “A little angry, yes. But it’s your past, your scars. It’s not my ce to pry. I overstepped.”

 His <bshes flickered once. Then his hand slid off the doorframe, releasing me. “Go back to your room.”

 I obeyed, retreating across the threshold into my chamber. I shut the adjoining door softly behind me.

 But I couldn’t stop thinking about his back. About the whip–marks carved deep into his flesh. The stories whispered in Bloodmoon Pack about the Whitmore line came back to me. Ss’s father, brutal and unhinged, obsessed with a mate who never returned his love. I’d thought those tales exaggerated. Now I wasn’t so sure. 

 He could have burned those scars away with SkyVex dermal tech. He hadn’t. He’d kept them, carried them like a weapon etched into his skin. A yow to never be powerless again.

 That night, Iy awake staring at the ceiling, restless. Tomorrow, I would have to walk into the Stormveil Primal Hall. My family’s sacred ground. My grandfather had given his life protecting it, and his spirit still lingered there. My parents‘ tablets were enshrined in its heart.

 I remembered thest time, when I was younger, walking between my father Arthur and my mother Myra as we carried offerings. Eric, my brother, had been by my side. This time, I would go alone.

 But someday… when I find Eric again, we’ll go together. We’ll kneel before our ancestors, before my parents‘ spirits, and they’ll see we endured.

 My thoughts shattered as a muffled cry tore through the wall.

 Ibolted upright. It came from the other side–Ss’s room.

 Heart pounding, I shoved open the connecting door and stepped inside.

 Darkness swallowed the space, but my wolf sight cut through the shadows. On the bed, Ssy writhing, face twisted in pain.

 His chest heaved, sweat darkening the sheets. His mouth moved, broken words spilling out.

 “Pain… gods, it hurts… stop–please, stop… I’ll obey, I’ll be good… obedient…”

 +8 Pearls

 The sound pierced me. I froze, disbelieving. This was Ss. The man whose very presence cowed entire packs. And yet here he was, begging in his sleep, voice cracked like a child’s.

 The scars. The abuse. My gut twisted.

 “Ss!” I whispered sharply, stepping to his side.

 He didn’t wake. His body thrashed once, then stilled, lips trembling as he choked out another broken plea.

 I reached for him. hand hovering, then brushing against his damp cheek.

 Suddenly his grip snapped around my wrist, faster than thought, crushing tight. I gasped, startled by his reflex.

 But his eyes stayed closed. His voice–raw, shattered–fell into the space between us.

 “Don’t leave me….*

 My throat closed. The predator was gone; in his ce was someone unbearably fragile.

 I didn’t pull away. I let him hold me. Slowly, the tension bled from his frame. His breathing steadied. The nightmare receded.

 With

 my free hand, I reached for a tissue on the bedside table and gently wiped the sweat from his brow.

 I had thought of Ss as a man carved of ice and steel, a void where warmth could not exist. Yet now… he looked breakable. Like a pup in need of shelter.

 Minutes passed. His features smoothed, and atst, he sank into a deep, steady sleep.

 I nced down at my wrist, still trapped in his hand. I tried to ease it free-

 And stopped, staring at his sleeping face.

 My chest ached in a way I didn’t want to name.

17kNovel

Ascension 80