Chapter 30
Silence.The kind that follows after a storm has passed and the earth holds its breath. The sky, now cleared of eclipse, glowed faint with the coming dawn. Warm light broke through the trees, gilding the battlefield with gold.
Hadley stirred.
Pain laced every nerve. Her head pounded, her body trembled, but her heartbeat was steady. Alive.
She opened her eyes.
Eric was the first face she saw — bruised, bloodied, but alive too. He was kneeling beside her, eyes wide with relief and awe. “You did it,” he said, voice cracking. “You brought the Hollow to its knees.”
She sat up slowly, wincing, every muscle aching. Around them, the warriors had gathered. Some knelt. Others stood silently, staring at her as though she were something more than mortal.
A symbol.
A savior.
“The Queen?” Hadley asked.
“Gone,” Thorne answered, appearing from the haze. “Trapped. Sealed beyond the veil — through your blood. Through you.”
Mira stepped forward, holding out the cracked Crown of Ardyn. “It’s broken. But the Hollow is silent.”
Hadley took the crown in her hands and stared down at it. She didn’t need it anymore. Whatever made her Luna — true Luna — was now part of her, fused into her bones.
“I felt her inside me,” she said softly. “She wasn’t lying. I carry her legacy.”
“You’re still you,” Eric said. “That’s all that matters.”
Hadley looked up at him, searching his face. “Is it?”
He nodded, unwavering. “You didn’t just survive her. You overcame her. You’re more than what she was — and more than what the wolves tried to make you into.”
There was a pause, heavy with unspoken truths.
“Will you come back?” he asked. “To the pack. To me.”
Hadley rose to her feet, steady despite the pain. She looked around at the survivors, at the land scarred by shadow and healed by light.
“I’ll return,” she said at last. “But not to be claimed. Not to be forgiven.”
She met his gaze. “I’ll come back to lead. On my terms.”
Eric’s eyes shone with pride and something else — something deeper than longing. Respect.
“As your Alpha,” he said.
“No,” Hadley smiled faintly. “As your Luna. But a true one this time. Not a title. A choice.”
He stepped toward her and took her hand. Not to pull, not to claim — simply to hold.
The others began to cheer, their howls rising to the sky, not for war, but for a future rewritten. A legacy no longer cursed.
Hadley looked to the horizon.
The road ahead was uncertain. But for the first time, it was hers.
And as the sun rose higher, warming her skin, she whispered, mostly to herself—
“Let them whisper. Let them watch. This Luna isn’t running anymore.”