Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 252

252 Too Late to Fix It 2

+5Bonus >

Menu

James’ POV

A woman near the centre of the crowd frowned and lifted her voice.

“What of Alpha Marcel and Luna Leah?” she asked. “If Luna Arya hadn’t done what she did and poisoned Luna Leah at such a crucial moment, we wouldn’t need to go under Dragonclaw.”

The moment the words hit the air, I felt the whole crowd tilt. There it was. The rot. The lie I had allowed to breathe too long. I had known I needed to fix the narrative. I had known that if I left it alone any longer, it would harden into something harder to undo. Arya already had enough blood on her name in this place. Some of it because of Marcel’s manipulations. Some because of Leah’s performance. Some because I had been too consumed with putting out fires to drag the truth into the centre of the pack and force everyone to look at it.

That was my failure.

This was where I corrected it.

My voice went colder.

“Everything Marcel did was a sham,” I said.

The crowd fell even quieter. A few wolves looked confused. Others stiffened.

I did not stop.

“The union officers in attendance were fake,” I said. “They were never real Silverclaw Union officers.

That entire show was Marcel’s way of keeping a leash on us so he could control Nightwind and then

take over our gold-rich land.”

Shock spread fast. This time it was visible. Not just murmurs. Real shock. Eyes widening. Heads

turning. Wolves looking at each other as if trying to decide whether they had heard me correctly.

I held their gaze and gave them more.

“Lisa and Margaret have been caught,” I said. “They are currently facing punishment in Dragonclaw.”

That stirred the crowd again.

One of my warriors frowned and said,

“Punishment for what, Alpha?”

“For lying against Luna Arya,” I said flatly. “In exchange for Silverfang membership so they could

< 252 Too Late to Fix It 2

+5Bonus

Menu

benefit from union protection, they agreed to frame her.”

That was the moment it broke properly. The murmurs rose louder. Angrier. Less uncertain now. Wolves started speaking over one another. I could hear it in pieces. They lied? Framed Luna Arya? For Silverfang? What the hell? Someone cursed loudly. A few women near the front covered their mouths

in horror.

Good.

Let it hit them. Let them feel the weight of what they swallowed so easily. I did not lift my hand to calm them yet. I wanted them to stew in it. I wanted the truth to settle and sting before I gave them the final

blow. Then I said it.

“Leah poisoned herself,” I told them.

That silenced more of them than the rest had. I kept my face cold as stone.

“She did it because she did not know who the father of her child was.”

The silence shattered into noise so fast it almost felt physical. Gasps. Shouts. Disbelief. Rage. A few wolves started yelling at once. I saw one elder woman sit down hard on the bench behind her like her knees had gone weak under the news. People were speaking too fast now for all the words to catch, but I heard enough. She was carrying a bastard? She lied on Luna Arya? We wronged our Luna for nothing? What kind of filth is this?

A male voice yelled,

“Alpha, why didn’t you tell us Leah was carrying a bastard?”

The accusation in it bit deep because I had no clean answer that would not expose how long I had let too many things slide while trying to contain the damage. Another voice rose, female this time,

trembling with anger.

“We blamed Luna Arya! We turned on her! We thought it was true!”

The shame in that woman’s voice spread faster than any command I could have given. You could hear it catching on others. People remembering. Arya’s silence. Arya’s refusal to defend them during the attack. Arya pulling away from Nightwind piece by piece while they whispered her name with suspicion and disappointment. One of the younger warriors near the front shook his head hard and

said,

“Now I understand why Luna Arya wouldn’t defend us that night of the attack. We disgraced her.”

That line struck through the assembly harder than anything else had. Because it was true. I saw it land on them. Some looked down. Some looked sick. Some looked furious enough to tear Leah apart with

13

252 Too Late to Fix It 2

their bare hands.

The shouting changed then. It shifted from disbelief into blame. Not at Arya anymore. At me. At Leah. At what I had let happen.

“You failed our Luna, Alpha!” one man shouted.

Another voice followed,

“We don’t want Leah anymore!”

Then more joined in.

“We don’t want her!”

“She can’t lead us!”

“She is filth!”

“She lied on Luna Arya!”

I stood there and let the rage come. It was not pleasant hearing my failure thrown back at me, but I deserved that much. I had failed Arya. Even if Marcel manipulated the ground. Even if Leah played her games. Even if the pack was scared. Even if I thought I was protecting the future of Nightwind. In the end, none of that erased the truth. Arya stood there being torn apart by lies and humiliation, and I did not stop it soon enough.

That was on me.

Still, I could not let the assembly drown in chaos.

I lifted my hand sharply.

“Enough,” I said, my voice carrying over them like a crack of thunder.

The shouting lowered but did not vanish entirely.

“I am handling it,” I said. “I wanted you all to know the truth. That is why I called this assembly. The truth. Not rumours. Not Silverfang lies. Not Leah’s filth. The truth.”

That quieted more of them. Breathing hard, glaring, muttering, but quieter.

A woman near the front, one of the midwives, lifted her voice again. Her face looked stricken.

“Is Luna Arya coming back, Alpha?” she asked.

That one hit too close. Too direct. Too cruel in its simplicity.

< 252 Too Late to Fix It 2

The whole crowd seemed to still again around that question.

I forced myself not to show what it did to me.

“I doubt it,” I said.

+SBonus

a Menu

The sadness that moved through them then was real. I knew real grief when I saw it. It looked different from fear and different from anger. It dragged at the face. Bent the shoulders. Made wolves stare into the distance like they were seeing how much better things had once been and how stupidly they had let it slip through their fingers.

Someone in the crowd whispered,

“No…”

Another woman said louder,

“But things were better with Luna Arya.”

That stirred agreement right away.

“When Arya was Luna, the pack was stronger.”

“She knew how to steady us.”

“She cared.”

“She fought for us.”

“And we repaid her like that,” an older male said bitterly.

Then came the line I already knew many of them had been thinking for days.

“Leah can’t run this pack,” one of the warriors said flatly.

A chorus followed him.

“She can’t.”

“She never could.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify