His Moonsilver Mate (Abby and Kade) novel Chapter 51

12:04 Sat, Oct 31 MU

Chapter 51

Abby

Nealized I had stopped listening only when Cassandra touched my elbow.

I blinked and found an elderly couple smiling at me.

The woman had clearly been speaking for longer than I wanted to admit.

“I’m sorry.”

She laughed. “No need, sweetheart. I was only saying I can hardly believe you’re all grown up.

Her husband nodded. “You look very much like Naomi tonight.”

That pulled me fully back into the conversation.

“Thank you.”

The woman squeezed my hand. “Especially around the eyes.”

My smile softened.

Before I had to think of anything else to say, Cassandra stepped in smoothly.

“It was lovely seeing you both. Enjoy the evening.”

They moved on toward the food tables, and I let out a quiet breath.

Cassandra looked at me.

“Relax.”

“I am relaxed.”

“You’ve spent the last ten minutes standing like someone is about to examine you.”

“It feels like they are.”

She laughed and straightened the crescent pendant at my throat.

The dusty blue dress she had chosen was more elegant than anything I had ever worn. Satin fell smoothly from my waist to the floor, leaving my shoulders bare. My mother’s silver crescent rested against my chest, with matching earrings catching the lantern light whenever I moved. Cassandra had

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Not different exactly.

st more polished. More like the woman everyone else apparently thought I was becoming

Cassandra stepped back.

“You look beautiful. Stop worrying.”

“I’m not worried. Everything is just a little…”

I glanced around the square.

“Much?”

“A little.”

Moonhaven had transformed around us.

Lanterns glowed overhead, strung between the buildings and trees. Long tables lined the edges of the square beneath branches, wheat, flowers, apples, and candles. Children darted through the crowd while their parents tried unsuccessfully to slow them down, and music drifted from the small group of musicians waiting near the central platform.

There were people everywhere.

And because Cassandra was greeting nearly every family who arrived, I was standing exactly where

everyone could see me.

“You’ll get used to it,” she said.

“That is not comforting.”

Her smile widened.

Across the square, Kade passed between two patrol guards.

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He had dressed for the celebration, though there was no mistaking that he was still working. Black trousers, white shirt, dark jacket fitted neatly across his shoulders. Formal enough for the Alpha addressing his pack, but his attention never stayed in one place for long.

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12:04 Sat, Oct 31 MU

He slowed.

Only for a second.

His voice brushed through my mind.

You’re beautiful.

Heat climbed into my cheeks.

Cassandra noticed immediately.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

She looked toward Kade, then back at me.

I pretended not to notice.

Diana was less cooperative. Th

He likes the dress.

Yes, Diana.

He likes you in the dress.

I kept my face carefully neutral.

Please stop.

She settled back, far too pleased with herself.

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By the time the last families arrived, the sky had gone completely dark.

Cassandra touched my arm.

“Come on.”

We moved closer to the platform as the music faded and the conversations around the square slowly quieted.

The young women from the packhouse stepped forward first, Chloe among them, all wearing simple

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Sat,

At Cassandra’s signal, the first candle was lit.

flame passed from one girl to the next until a line of soft light stretched across the front the platform.

Then the elders came forward.

Bread.

Grain.

Apples.

Flowers.

Small bowls of herbs and dried leaves.

One of the oldest women in the pack placed the final offering at the center of the table and lifted

her hands.

“Moon Goddess, we thank you for the harvest behind us and the nights ahead. We remember those who shared our table and are no longer here to sit beside us. Watch over our children. Strengthen those who guard us. Keep our homes warm, our wolves strong, and our hearts faithful to one another through the long nights to come.”

The square had become so quiet that I could hear the candles crackling.

“May Moonhaven enter this season together,” she finished.

Around us, voices answered softly.

“Together.”

Then Kade stepped forward.

Something about the whole square seemed to settle around him.

I had seen him take control of rooms before. Seen men stop talking when he entered, watched him give orders no one questioned.

This felt different.

He looked over his pack before he spoke.

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“This year has asked more of Moonhaven than I would have wanted. We have lost people. We have faced threats we don’t fully understand yet, and many of you have given up sleep, time with your

amilies, and a great deal of peace of mind because I asked it of you.”

His gaze passed briefly over the patrol guards around the square.

“I know what that costs.”

No one moved.

“But tonight is also a reminder of why we do it.”

He looked toward the families gathered below him.

“For our homes. For our children. For the people beside us. For the right to stand here together and refuse to let fear decide how we live.”

Something in my chest tightened.

“Thank you to every warrior taking extra patrols tonight. Thank you to the elders who keep our traditions alive, and to everyone who helped prepare this celebration.”

His eyes found Cassandra.

Then, briefly, me.

“And above all, we thank the Moon Goddess for bringing Moonhaven through another year.”

He lifted his glass.

“To longer nights.”

The pack answered together.

“To longer nights.”

Diana stirred warmly inside me.

Our Alpha.

I looked at Kade beneath the lantern light.

For once, I didn’t argue with her.

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Cassandra leaned closer.

You’re free.”

I blinked. “Really?”

“Go enjoy yourself.”

“You don’t need me anymore?”

“I always need help. Tonight I’m choosing mercy.”

I smiled.

“Thank you.”

I found Chloe near one of the drink tables.

She handed me a glass the moment I reached her.

“You survived.”

“Barely.”

“You looked fine.”

“You were busy holding a candle.”

“I can multitask.”

I took a drink. Sweet cider, warm with spice.

Noah appeared a moment later with food in both hands.

Chloe looked at me.

“I told you he’d be eating.”

“I heard that.”

well. Look at you.

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“I will hit you.”

“Imissed you too.”

That made me smile.

I had missed him.

Missed this.

The three of us standing together without anyone injured, kidnapped, or accusing someone else of something terrible.

Noah glanced toward the couples moving onto the dance floor.

“Why are neither of you out there?”

Chloe groaned.

“Because I don’t have a date.”

“You don’t need one.”

“I refuse to stand alone looking tragic.”

She scanned the crowd and suddenly brightened.

“Although Alpha Tiernan looks quite delicious tonight.”

I nearly inhaled my cider.

“Chloe.”

“What?”

She shrugged.

“You can have an Alpha and I can’t?”

“I do not have an Alpha.”

Noah laughed.

Chloe gave me a look that said she had no intention of arguing with that lie.

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I turned.

Kade was coming toward us.

My stomach tightened in a way that had nothing to do with nerves.

He greeted Noah first, then Chloe, but when he looked at me, something in his expressionsoftened.

“Do you mind if I steal Abby?”

Noah stepped aside immediately.

“Please do.”

“Traitor.”

Chloe grinned. “Take her.”

Kade held out his hand.

I looked around.

“People are watching.”

“They’ve been watching all night.”

“That does not help.”

His mouth curved.

“I want to dance with you.”

“You dance?”

“When necessary.”

“That sounds promising.”

“Come find out.”

I gave him my hand.

He led me toward the center of the square.

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“That’s what your mother keeps telling me.”

She’s right.”

“You’re both very annoying.”

“Also true.”

He drew me a little closer as the music settled into something slow.

I followed his lead carefully for the first few steps.

Then Kade turned me.

I hadn’t expected it.

I laughed as he spun me beneath his arm and pulled me back against him.

“There.”

“What?”

“You stopped thinking.”

“That was cheating.”

“I’ll do it again.”

Before I could answer, he did.

My skirt flared around my legs, and this time I was already laughing when I came back to him.

His arm caught me easily around the waist.

For the first time all evening, I forgot who might be watching.

Kade smiled down at me.

“That’s better.”

I rested one hand against his shoulder.

“You’ve been hiding this.”

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“I have many talents.”

“That confidence should probably worry me.”

He spun me again, slower this time, then brought me back close enough that my chest brushed his.

I looked up at him.

The rest of the square seemed farther away.

His hand was warm at my back. His other held mine, and something about being there with him made all the attention I had felt earlier stop mattering.

I felt safe.

Not because I had forgotten what was happening around us.

Because I was in his arms.

“You really do look beautiful,” he said.

My face warmed.

“You’ve told me three times.”

“I’m going to keep telling you.”

“Why?”

“Because you keep blushing.”

I stared at him.

He smiled.

“You’re terrible.”

“You still kissed me.”

I looked away.

“That was yesterday.”

“And?”

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He turned me once more, and when I came back to him, his arm tightened around my waist.

Then he bent and kissed me.

Quick enough to surprise me.

Long enough that I forgot we were in the middle of the square.

When he pulled back, I stared at him.

“Kade.”

“What?”