Reclaiming My Broken Luna (Astrid and Killian) novel Chapter 427

Astrid’s POV

The hour was unnervingly still-the kind of stillness that didn't promise peace but danger.

Even the crickets had silenced their symphony, leaving the world suspended in an uneasy pause.

Fresh guards had taken their positions outside Elara and Ryker's room, their heavy boots scuffing the floor before settling into still vigilance.

Inside, I sat unmoving, my nails absently scraping patterns into the worn armrest of the chair.

Every creak of the house, every gust of wind, felt like a warning. My wolf stirred, pacing just beneath the surface, uneasy.

Killian had checked on me earlier. He'd lingered in the doorway, his golden eyes searching mine, his mouth pressed into a grim line.

He didn't speak, didn't push me to leave. He didn't need to. He knew I wouldn't.

I wasn't leaving my children tonight.

The breeze through the open window caught the flame of a candle, snuffing it out in a final flicker.

Shadows stretched long across the room. I stood, my movements deliberate and quiet, and crossed to the window. The cold night air carried with it the faint scent of pine and something else-

something sharper.

I reached for the latch, and that's when it hit me.

A ripple of awareness prickled down my spine.

Something was wrong.

My wolf stilled, ears metaphorically pricking, senses sharpening.

The hallway torches sputtered once, their flames bending unnaturally-and then extinguished as if the darkness itself had swallowed them.

I tensed. My hand dropped instinctively to the dagger at my waist.

A faint noise-the crack of glass breaking-pierced the quiet. The acrid sting of wolfsbane hit me next, sharp and unmistakable.

It filled the air like a poison cloud, heavy and suffocating.

"Wolfsbane!" the guard outside choked, his voice strangled before being silenced entirely. The thud of his body hitting the floor echoed ominously.

"Elara, Ryker!" My voice cut through the oppressive quiet, sharp and commanding.

"Get up! Now!" I screamed, startling them from their deep sleep.

Before I could reach them, shadows spilled into the room like water seeping through cracks. Rogues-silent, swift, and coordinated.

Their eyes gleamed in the faint light, and their movements betrayed a deadly precision.

This wasn't some desperate attack. This was calculated.

One lunged for me, a blur of snarling teeth and flashing steel. My dagger met him halfway, carving a line through his ribs.

He stumbled, but another was already there to replace him. They kept coming, a relentless tide.

"Elara!" Ryker's small voice, high and trembling, snapped me back to the bed.

A hooded figure loomed near her, their hand reaching.

"No!" The word ripped from my throat, raw and feral, as I threw myself toward them.

My dagger struck deep into the figure's shoulder, but even as they faltered, another rogue grabbed me from behind, their weight nearly taking me down.

I twisted violently, the blade in my hand slicing blindly until I broke free. My heart thundered, my lungs burned, but the rogues didn't stop.

"Elara, run!" I shouted, my voice cracking as desperation clawed at me.

But she didn't move.

She stood frozen, her wide eyes shimmering with tears, locked on me as the chaos unfolded.

Another rogue surged toward her. I lunged, my blade finding its mark, but pain exploded in my back before I could turn.

The bite of steel, laced with wolfsbane, seared through my flesh. My knees buckled. My vision blurred, and the world around me warped in slow motion.

"Mommy!"

Elara's scream sliced through the fog of pain clouding my mind.

Through the haze, I saw him-the hooded rogue advancing toward her with deadly purpose. But before he could reach her, Ryker stepped in, his small frame braced in defiance, shielding his sister with everything he had.

But I could only watch. Helpless. Powerless. Useless.

The rogue holding her stepped toward the window, his movements swift and sure. A trained extraction. A planned abduction.

"No," I choked out, my body betraying me, my strength slipping away.

They were taking her.

They were taking my baby.

I reached out, my fingers scraping against the floor, nails clawing at nothing. The room spun. My breaths came in shallow gasps.

The rogue's eyes met mine, cold and resolute. In one fluid motion, he turned and leaped through the open window, taking her with him.

"Elara!" I lunged, my fingers brushing the empty air where she had been. The sound of her scream-the pure, unfiltered terror-tore through me.

Then there was nothing.

The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by the ragged sound of my own breathing.

The rogue disappeared into the night.

With her.

A violent sob tore through me, my body finally collapsing beside Ryker's limp form.

My trembling hands reached for him, cupping his bruised face. His little chest rose and fell-barely.

My vision darkened at the edges.

There was no one left to help us.

No guards.

No Killian.

My body collapsed, the wolfsbane's poison spreading like fire through my veins.

My vision tunneled, darkness encroaching, and I could do nothing but let it take me.