When The Luna Broke Her Chains novel Chapter 72

Chapter 72 Stolen Wolves

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Finished

He blinks slowly, his lips parting softly, flashing his tongue for a brief moment before he closes his mouth and swallows his words. The sight burns my ears for some reason. I force myself to look away.

I’ve embarrassed myself, haven’t I?

The thought hits me all at once, hot and humiliating, and I rush to cover it before it settles. “I just mean– you shouldn’t,” I say quickly. “Because I’m married. And I’m…” I trail off because finishing that sentence feels worse than leaving it unfinished.

Silence stretches between us, awkward enough to make me want to busy myself in a deep ditch.

Knox suddenly looks like a man who wants to be anywhere else but here. His gaze flicks to the window, then the door, then back to the floor. I press my lips together, wishing I could erase the last minute and say nothing at all.

He clears his throat and exhales. “Xena-”

“My lunar energy was unstable for years because of the rogue attack,” I blurt out, cutting him off. “That’s what disrupted it in the first place. But it stabilized later. Even with the poisoning, although I understand the knotgrass was meant to keep it unstable.”

His gaze turns sharp. “It stabilized?”

“Yes.” I swallow. “And I think Vera might be the reason.”

“That’s a strong assumption,” he says, leaning back in the chair. His eyes don’t leave mine.

“I know.” I glance down at the pup in my lap. “But since I found her, strange things have happened.”

“Like what?”

I hesitate. “I saw your reflection once,” I admit. “In a bowl of water.”

His brows knit. “My reflection?”

“Yes.” I nod. “And before that, I kept feeling like something was… shifting.” I stop myself there, carefully. I can’t tell him about how I dreamed of him on several nights, where he told me I had something that belonged to him. “I didn’t understand it then. I think I do now.”

Knox studies Vera for a long moment, as if I’ve said something that confirms a suspicion he hasn’t voiced yet. “You’re not wrong,” he says quietly. “She’s more than she should be.”

“What do you mean?”

“A black wolf with golden eyes hasn’t been born on this side of the continent in decades,” he says. “They were hunted. Erased. And when they are born, they rarely survive.“.

“She’s alive,” I say.

Chapter 72 Stolen Wolves

Finished

“And growing faster than any wolf pup I’ve seen,” he replies, meeting my gaze. “That matters.”

My chest rises and falls as I look at Vera, at the weight of her curled so trustingly against me. “You think it’s because of me?”

“I think,” he says carefully, “you’re connected.”

His gaze drifts then to my desk–to the papers scattered across it, and the two books aligned at the edge. “I noticed what you were reading.”

My heart stumbles, skipping a beat. “You did?”

“Yes, but–I didn’t intend to. It just caught my attention.”

Goddess, does he know I plan to attempt Severance someday? That I’m audacious enough to want to leave Cassian? To even consider it?

I speak before he can say anything else. “I wasn’t planning anything,” I say quickly, desperately turning the tide in my favor. “I was just reading. About people who reclaimed their lost wolves.” I let out a breath, hoping it was the other book he read. “It was foolish.”

“Why?” he asks.

“Because it gave me hope,” I say, not meeting his eyes. “And hope is dangerous.” I gesture weakly toward the books. “I didn’t even understand most of it. It’s illustrations and glyphs I can’t decipher.”

Knox nods slowly. “I thought the illustrations looked familiar.”

“You did?”

“Yes.” He frowns slightly, then his expression shifts. “I’ve read something like it before. Or a version of it.”

My breath catches. “And?”

“It spoke of stolen wolves, I think.”

The words settle heavily between us.

“Stolen?” I repeat.

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“Taken,” he elaborates. “Through sorcery.” He glances at Vera. “It’s happened before.”

I shake my head. “That doesn’t seem possible.” I frown. “You really believe that?”

Knox tilts his head and narrates, “Lycan King Eldrid of Snowcrest had a wolf powerful enough to level the Goddess. He used it cruelly. Once, he slew a thousand humans in a single day using his power. A sorceress serving the King of the human kingdom then stole it through blood sacrifice.”

“And then what?”

“She kept it,” Knox says. “Used the wolf’s power for herself. Eldrid tried to hide that he was wolfless, but he didn’t survive long. Later, the sorceress confessed to what she did to him on his deathbed. He wrote an

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Chapter 72 Stolen Wolves

account of it all then.”

I hesitate. “Who wrote that account?”

Finished

“Eldrid.” he says, shrugging. “Or what remained of him. It’s said his soul possessed a Guild priest after death and dictated everything.”

I scoff despite myself. “So it’s a legend.”

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