His Abandoned Luna Chapter 175

|| Lilac’s POV ||

The scent of dried lavender and burning sage clung to the air inside Endora's cramped hut as I sat across from the ancient healer, my fingers nervously tracing the rim of my teacup. Sun light filtered through the stained-glass windows, casting fractured patterns across the wooden table between us.

I came to Endora for another session after the little morning encounter with the king. Alaric looked a bit disoriented. Something was off and I just couldn't pinpoint it yet. I wanted to talk to him but he left abruptly. There was already a lot on his plate. I couldn't blame him entirely.

"Your wolf called Elias 'mate,'" Endora mused, gaining my attention, her gnarled fingers stroking the silver pendant at her throat. "But your heart rejected this?"

I swallowed hard, the tea suddenly bitter on my tongue. She wanted to know more about my mate situation. I wasn’t sure why she was so curious. But she said, it would help Runa.

"It doesn't make sense. If we're actual mates, why did I feel nothing when he touched me? Why did the bond feel... wrong? Also after what happened back there... he is not the one." I said.

Endora's milky eyes gleamed in the firelight. "Tell me, child, when your wolf spoke this claim, were you alone with Elias?"

The memory of that evening came rushing. How I was walking towards Alaric when Runa called out mate. And Elias stepped in.

“No, I wasn't,” I said.

Then the rogue attack flashed behind my eyes— the cold metal against my throat, Elias's delayed rescue. "And my friends think my wolf might have sensed the bond in someone else.. but no one claimed me as their mate and how could Elias fake a bond?"

"A wolf will cling to any anchor in a storm," she murmured.

I stiffened. “What do you mean?”

"I'm saying," Endora interrupted, "that perhaps your true mate couldn't answer when you called."

"But why? Why will anyone ignore a sacred bond?" I asked.

"For once he could be going through a situation like yours," Endora replied.

"Because his wolf is weak?" I gasped. I never thought of this situation.

Endora's lips curled. "Or because something silences it. A curse, perhaps that blocks the bond."

My breath caught.

“What kind of curse?” I asked.

This would make more sense! A blocker or a curse. Was that how Elias bound me in the bond? That meant, witches were involved. My heart dropped. This was bad. Even the goddess warned me but still I walked in the same damn trap! How couldn't I see through the deception.

“You will learn soon, Lilac. Just listen to your wolf and follow your heart,” Endora smiled warmly as she spoke.

The forest air was crisp against my flushed cheeks as I stepped out of Endora's hut, my mind reeling. My phone buzzed violently in my pocket.

Elara.

"Lilac, where are you?" Her voice was sharp through the receiver. "I found something. We need to talk."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Not over the phone. Meet me at our usual." The line went dead.

I inhaled quickly, trying to find Alaric's scent which led me to his study. As I entered Alaric’s office, I saw many others were in there. Was it another meeting on rogues? I couldn’t tell.

But just as his eyes fell on me, he stood up.

"Dove," he said in a warm tone.

They were in the middle of some discussion. I shouldn’t have just barged in. He was, after all, an alpha.

"Sorry, I came in without knocking," I apologized.

"That’s ok. Do you need anything?" He asked with a smile.

"Yeah, can I please borrow your car? I am going to the town to see Elara," I replied.

He paused for a moment before he said, "Garry will drive you. It's not safe."

I wanted to argue but the place might not be appropriate so I agreed instead.

Garry greeted me at the packhouse gates with an apologetic grimace. "Alpha's in council meetings all day. So he asked me to drive you wherever you need."

"Yeah," I muttered, sliding into the passenger seat. Alaric had been... different since the failed mating ceremony. More possessive. More secretive. And busy.

The car rumbled to life.

"He's trying to keep you protected," Garry offered, glancing at me.

My fingers tightened around my phone. "I know"

Garry nodded, but his jaw was tense. Something unspoken hung between us.

Elara sat in the café's corner booth, her laptop open, fingers flying across the keys. She didn't look up as I slid in opposite her.

"Took you long enough," she muttered as soon as she spotted me.

"What's so urgent?" I questioned as I adjusted my chair.

She spun the laptop toward me. "This."

The screen showed a black background with a stark white symbol— twin wolves circling a mountain, a crescent moon suspended between them.

My stomach dropped. "That's... familiar."

"Bingo." Elara's grin was razor-sharp. "Nightshade crest. And it's been erasing you."

"What?" I gasped.

"Every scandal, every whisper about your past with Kael— gone. Poof. Like magic." She tapped a key, pulling up a blank search result for the Lilac Blackwood + Kael scandal. "I planted a bug last night in a press report about yesterday's disaster. Woke up to this."

The screen flickered to the Nightshade symbol again.

"First free clothes, free meals, now this?" Elara leaned in. "You're connected to them somehow. Like they are not playing with you, Lilac. They are protecting you."

"But why? Why me!" My voice cracked.

"Ask your dad. Your bloodline dates back to when Nightshades ruled. Their family chose your family as the royal beta. Maybe there's some ancient pact?" Elara said thoughtfully.

I stared at the symbol, my pulse roaring. Or maybe... Goddess! Is that how it's all connected? This made more sense. I supposed to help them. Maybe they knew it too. Was that's why they were helping me?

Then what about Alaric! Did he know something too? He was always possessive but when it came to them, he never protested. I need to talk to him. I had to ask him the truth.