Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 29

Chapter 29 The Grave That Shouldn’t Exist

Chapter 29 The Grave That Shouldn’t Exist

Jensen’s POV

I drove because I couldn’t shift.

That alone told me something was wrong.

An Alpha of Nightfang Pack does not lose his wolf.

Even injured or even sedated, the wolf should still remain, but Cairn didn’t.

When I reached for him before leaving the hospital, there was nothing there.

No presence in my mind, no instinct pushing against my ribs.

Just silence.

It wasn’t weakness… just absence.

So I took the car.

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The bodyguard followed behind me, feeding directions through the comm. The location Sharon had chosen was nowhere near Nightfang territory, not even neutral land.

Public cemetery.

Human ground.

That detail sat badly in my chest.

Natalie was not just any pack member… She was the Keeper, who held the pack together in the shadows.

Whether she could shift or not didn’t matter; she had lived inside Nightfang borders for five years. She had served the pack; she had stood beside me.

She should have been buried under pack rites with the moon’s blessing, the pack’s priest, and under the territory’s protection.

Instead, Sharon had handled everything.

Alone.

Without my approval.

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Chapter 29 The Grave That Shouldn’t Exist

Without council confirmation.

Without a pack witness.

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The cemetery was small and overcrowded, with old stones leaning into each other. Narrow walking paths, no security, no ancestral markers.

If the bodyguard hadn’t walked ahead of me, I wouldn’t have found the grave.

It was in the far corner, near a cracked boundary wall.

Tucked away.

Like something hidden.

I stopped when I saw her name.

Natalie Summers.

The anger I had been holding back since the hospital rose fast and hard.

“Who approved this location?” I

He stiffened. “It was Luna’s order.”

My head turned slowly.

“Luna?”

without looking at the bodyguard.

“Yes, Alpha. Miss Sharon said she is now your Luna… she instructed us to address her that way going forward.”

My jaw tightened.

“She is not the Luna.”

He went still.

“She is Ms. Summers,” I continued. “She has no pack title, no pack authority, and she will not be addressed as Luna.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“The only Luna recognized by Nightfang Pack,” said clearly, “is Natalie.”

He swallowed and lowered his head.

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Chapter 29 The Grave That Shouldn’t Exist

“If I hear anyone call Sharon ‘Luna‘ again, I will remove their tongue.”

It wasn’t a threat for effect.

It was a correction.

Nightfang Pack answers to me.

He nodded quickly. “Understood.”

I couldn’t stand seeing Natalie treated like this.

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“Find a wolf priest,” I ordered. “No matter the cost, I want her to have a proper grave. Pack rites. Full moon blessing.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

He stepped back immediately, retreating out of hearing range.

I faced the grave again.

Her photo was attached to the stone.

She was smiling.

Not the kind of smile she used around others, this one was softer. The one she wore when she forgot to guard herself.

My chest tightened.

At least Sharon got one thing right.

I crouched.

“Natalie.”

There was no response.

No wolf reaction.

No pack resonance.

When a wolf dies, the territory feels it. Even non shifters who are bonded to a pack leave something behind, a trace.

There was nothing here.

III

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13:17 Thu, May 7

Chapter 29 The Grave That Shouldn’t Exist

Just soil.

“They cremated you,” I muttered.

Sharon’s words replayed in my head.

Already cremated… buried this morning. Identification complications… pack risk.

It was too fast.

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“Natalie… I loved you. Didn’t you feel it? We had five years together; how could you just leave me like that?”

The words tasted raw.

“When I rushed in to save Sharon, why didn’t you call out to me? You saw me, didn’t you? Why didn’t you say something?”

The warehouse flashed through my mind, smoke choking the air. Sharon screaming. Flames swallowing steel beams.

I followed the loudest cry.

“If you’d just spoken… if you’d just called my name, I would’ve gone to you. I swear I would’ve.”

Would I?

The doubt cut deeper than the grief.

Would I have turned away from Sharon if Natalie had called?

Would I have chosen differently?

Yes.

I would have.

I had loved her from the beginning.

From the first night I saw her five years ago–half–dead, bloodied, refusing to beg- something in me had locked onto her.

And then-

Something shifted inside my chest.

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13:17 Thu, May 7

Chapter 29 The Grave That Shouldn’t Exist

A presence.

It was subtle at first, then I heard him.

“Jensen.”

I froze.

“Cairn?”

“I am here.”

His voice was rough, like he was in pain.

Relief hit hard enough to make me steady myself against the gravestone.

“Where were you?” I asked internally.

“You shut me out.”

“I didn’t.”

“You chose her.”

Sharon.

The accusation sat heavy.

Cairn moved closer inside me, solidifying. My senses sharpened slightly. My balance steadied.

Strength returned in increments.

He had been gone since the warehouse.

Since I chose Sharon first.

Now he was back.

And the first thing he focused on wasn’t me.

Something is wrong.

I looked at the grave again.

“She was cremated,” I said.

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Chapter 29 The Grave That Shouldn’t Exist

Cairn’s response was immediate.

No.

I frowned.

“What do you mean?”

Not her.

His certainty wasn’t emotional. It was instinctive

I crouched again, this time letting him guide the assessment.

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When a wolf dies, even if the body is destroyed, the territory reacts. The pack feels it. The Alpha feels it.

I felt nothing.

No severed bond.

No pack echo.

No instinctual mourning.

Just confusion.

“She should be here,” I said.

She is not.

The words settled into place slowly.

I stayed crouched in front of the gravestone, my fingers digging into the damp soil.

“What are you saying?” I asked internally.

Cairn’s presence was stronger now, but strained. Like he had forced himself back through a wall I didn’t know I had built.

“Something feels wrong.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Silence stretched between us.

“When a wolf dies, the bond snaps. It tears. Even if the mate bond is weak or strained, the Alpha feels it,

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