The Abandoned Luna's Journey to Power Chapter 86: Abandon Me

Evelyn's POV:

The night in the military camp bit straight to the bone.

I sat inside the tent, holding a bowl of meat soup that had long since gone cold.

Outside, patrol boots passed by with dull thuds, their voices kept low as they exchanged muted words.

Back when I was still seen as a real fighter, everywhere I went overflowed with awe and worship.

Now, those looks were gone.

They had turned into disdain, ridicule, and undisguised revulsion.

Ever since I lost to Cindy and endured fifty strikes from the Bonebreaker Whip, my wolf spirit was shattered. Even maintaining a half-shift took effort. Those Beta and Gamma officers who once hovered around me now treated me like rotten flesh, avoiding me as if I carried a disease.

Only my three hundred loyal followers still surrounded my camp.

They were the ones who had crawled out of mountains of corpses with me, the ones who carried out that so-called great feat at Evernight Gorge. We were bound to the same fate, like grasshoppers tied to one rope, with no one able to escape.

There was no admiration left in their eyes, only the harsh stares of desperate men and a gnawing fear of what lay ahead.

"General Evelyn," my deputy said as he entered, his expression stiff. "Logistics says our supplies will be delayed. They say ... the Gamma Guard on the front lines is training intensively and has priority."

Bang! I smashed the bowl onto the ground.

"This is too much!" I screamed. "Cindy! It's Cindy again! She's trying to starve us out and push us to the brink!"

Anger rattled through me, pain whispering deep in my bones.

But I knew I couldn't lose control right now.

My last remaining leverage was James.

James lifted the tent flap and stepped inside.

He looked even worse than I did, his eyes hollow and his face rough with stubble.

"Alpha!" I put on a wounded expression and threw myself into his arms. "You're finally here. They're bullying me... they won't even let us eat properly..."

His body stiffened, but he didn't push me away.

"I will speak to the quartermaster," he said quietly, his voice heavy with fatigue. "Evelyn, endure it for now. Once the war ends, we will return to the Duskfang Pack."

"Back to the pack?" I lifted my face to look at him. "Alpha, what about after we return to the capital? Can we still live like before? My commission is gone, my merits erased... you are all I have left."

I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, trying to steal warmth and awaken the wolf in him that once went mad for me.

"Alpha, you promised me. No matter what happens, you wouldn't leave me. We are destined, right?"

James remained silent for a long time.

So long that I thought he had fallen asleep—or worse, already given up.

"Yes." He finally spoke, his voice rough. "I promised you. I brought you out, so I won't abandon you."

I released a breath, a small surge of triumph curling in my chest.

See, Cindy, so what if you won the duel?

This man's heart is still bound to me, tightly.

James's POV:

I held Evelyn, my senses filled with the mix of medicine and bitterness clinging to her.

Once, I believed that scent was the most intoxicating thing on the battlefield—wild and powerful.

Now, it only made me feel sick.

I thought of Cindy.

Of the clean cedar scent that lingered in Moonwhisper Residence, of how she stood straight even at her lowest point.

"Alpha, what are you thinking?" Evelyn's voice pulled me back.

"Nothing." I released her and stepped aside. "Get some rest. We start early tomorrow."

I didn't dare look her in the eyes.

Because I was afraid I would say the words that had been buried in my chest for far too long.

Evelyn, I regret it.

I truly, deeply regret it.

But I cannot say it.

I am an Alpha. I have my pride, and my duty.

I was the one who broke the bond with Cindy. I was the one who drove her away for Evelyn.

If I abandoned Evelyn now, then I would become nothing but a complete joke, lower than a stray.

I had to endure it.

Even if this marriage had become a grave, I would lie in it until I rotted.