From Banished Luna To Supreme Queen

Kiera's POV:

After a look that made me fear he might kill me, Dominic crouched beside Thalia and gathered her carefully into his arms, as though the slightest pressure could hurt her.

"I'm getting you to the hospital. There's nothing to be scared of," he remarked with a gentleness he'd never shown me. "Everything's going to be okay."

Against his chest, she curled into herself. Tears ran down her pale cheeks. "Please, Dominic, hurry up and take me to the hospital... I don't want to lose my baby..."

"Nothing's going to happen to the baby." His lips touched her forehead. "You have my word."

A sharp pain spread through my chest as I watched, unable to move.

"Listen to me, Dominic." My voice sounded rough. "There was barely any contact. I didn't make her fall..."

His head swung toward me before I could finish, and fury burned in his amber eyes.

"Is that really the story you're going with?" The warmth vanished from his voice. "After three years in the Nocturne Pack, I expected you to understand what you'd done. Apparently, you're still the same. Nothing's ever your fault, is it?"

"I didn't push her! You have to believe..."

"Stop it," he blurted out, cutting me off with open disgust. "You've been jealous of Thalia because she's a warrior and you're a wolfless Omega. Your resentment drove you to poison her then, and now you've gone after her again. When is this going to end, Kiera?"

Whatever I tried to say wouldn't get past my throat.

He'd brought up the poisoning.

Once again, that was all he could remember.

Back then, he'd sent me away without asking what had happened. Three years later, he was deciding I was guilty without bothering to find out the truth.

"That wasn't me. I never poisoned her," I whispered, so quietly that I might as well have been talking to myself.

By then, he'd carried her through the door without once looking back.

Hours passed, and I stayed up waiting for him until well after midnight.

Cold settled over the Crescent Pack's territory as damp wind blew in from the lake.

On the house's porch, I drew my knees close and wrapped my arms around them. My eyes stayed on the road from the hospital.

There was no sign of him.

Then my phone lit up.

Thalia's name appeared on the screen.

Opening her photo felt like having my heart squeezed in a fist.

Dominic was sitting at her bedside, holding her hand and gently stroking her pregnant belly with his free hand. The soft hospital light fell across his face, and a small smile made his tenderness unmistakable.

No look like that had ever been meant for me.

He'd never given me one.

A second message followed. "You should get some sleep, Kiera. He's staying here tonight, so there's no point waiting for him."

Cold crept into my fingers while I kept reading the same words.

Dominic had once promised that he would honor our bond, the one my mother had died to make possible.

He'd gone back on his word.

Getting up was a struggle. I could hardly feel my legs. Once inside, I went straight to the bedroom we'd shared.

Nothing had changed during the three years I'd been gone.

On the wall hung the photograph taken when we'd formed our mate bond. My long white dress looked lovely, but the foolish happiness on my face was hard to bear. Beside me, he looked reserved, though a slight smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

At the time, I'd taken that small smile as proof that he loved me but struggled to express it.

From my drawer, I took the bond-dissolution agreement I'd written long ago.

It had been ready before I left the Crescent Pack three years earlier.

Back then, I'd worried he wouldn't wait for me. Someone better might come along, or he might decide being bound to me was a mistake. To make those fears easier to live with, I'd called the agreement a precaution.

Some part of me had always believed my worst fears would never become real.

"Face it, Kiera," I whispered to myself. "You can't keep pretending."

Soon, I arrived at the hospital.

Up on the second floor, I found Thalia's room.

When I pushed the door open, Dominic was sitting by her bed, gently offering her a slice of peeled apple.

They looked so comfortable together that watching them hurt.

Neither noticed me waiting in the doorway.

"How about one more?" he asked gently.

"You have it." She pushed his hand back toward him. "You've spent the whole night looking after me. You need a break."

"I've still got plenty of energy."

"Don't tell me that. You've still got pack stuff to take care of tomorrow."

"That can wait," he replied. "Right now, you and your baby come first."

After steadying myself with a breath, I walked into the room.

Thalia noticed me before he did. Fear immediately replaced her smile.

Retreating against the pillows, she pressed one hand to her chest and gripped his sleeve with the other, as though she were a startled fawn.

Dominic's brow tightened when he turned my way. "What do you want?" he asked impatiently.

Another breath helped me keep my tone even. "There's something you need to see."

Between us, I held up the bond-dissolution agreement. "Put your signature here."

For a moment, he didn't move. Then he looked down at the document, and his pupils narrowed.

"We can both move on as soon as you've signed," I responded. "Let Thalia be your Luna. She'll suit you much better than I ever did."

"Please, Kiera!" she shouted through gathering tears. "You don't have to end things. Dominic hasn't stopped caring about you... I'm the one who caused all this. Staying here was a mistake. I'll be gone by tomorrow..."

With that, she began easing herself out of bed.

"Stay where you are, Thalia. You need to lie down." Dominic's hands settled on her shoulders and guided her back before he faced me with a deeper scowl. "This isn't the time for your drama, Kiera. Once she's out of the hospital, we can discuss it."

Their concern for each other left me cold, and whatever hope I'd held on to finally disappeared.

"Listen, I mean every word," I sneered, raising my chin to look him in the eye. "Leaving you is the only thing I'm looking forward to."

A chill entered his gaze, and his next words carried a warning. "You want this over, huh? All right. You'll get your wish. But don't come back wishing you'd made a different choice!"

Holding back everything that threatened to surface, I blinked unsteadily and instructed, "Then sign the papers."