The Moon Goddess was apparently trying to give everyone a heart attack.

I rushed forward and grabbed Jaslynn's head, bringing it down so I could see her face properly and shoving Jefferson off the platform in the process.

Her damp curls were matted to her pale skin, and little beads of sweat were forming across her forehead and upper lip.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I cursed under my breath, wrapping an arm around her limp body to hold her up as I leaned over to break the shackles around her arms.

Just as my claw extended to crush the metal, a soft voice commanded my attention, "Reece."

I froze and directed my gaze to the witch in my arm, "Jaslynn?"

"Reece," she whispered hoarsely, her eyes fluttering open to stare at me weakly, "If you break those chains, I'll never forgive you."

"But Jaslynn–"

She shook her head stubbornly, "I am not going anywhere, Reece. Don't you even dare."

Going into heat was a punishment in itself. The whole process was vicious and draining for any she-wolf no matter how strong she was, and Jaslynn's stubbornness was going to get herself killed if she didn't allow herself to get the proper care.

The typical procedure for a punished she-wolf in her heat was to move her to one of the barracks, where she would stay for the duration of her cycle under the care of a nurse. But by her words, I knew Jaslynn would not let me move her to the barracks either.

I swallowed hard and glanced at the chains, "At least let me lower you. You're in no position to hang like this."

"That I will agree to," she muttered, the smallest smile curving on her lips.

I exhaled deeply and nodded before tugging the chains to drop her onto the platform gently. Then, I smooshed her blanket into a makeshift pillow and pushed it under her head so it didn't have to rest on the hard dirty platform.

There was a growl behind me, and I realized Jefferson was still standing behind us in a half-shifted state, his wolf alert because of the heat-stricken female before him.

I straightened and spun around to bark at him, "Jefferson, snap out of it and get the fuck out of here. This is your Luna."

The term 'Luna' must have registered in his mind because he bowed his head in shame and scurried away, probably to compose himself. I rolled my eyes and opened the pack mindlink, "All unmated pack warriors guarding sector three are dismissed. Twelve mated warriors are to report to sector three in five minutes."

As soon as I relayed the message to the pack, I pushed through to Conrad's mate, "Cecilia, Jaslynn is in her heat. I'm going to need some help here."

"I'm on my way," she replied immediately.

"Reece."

I turned around and crouched beside her, "Yes, Jas?"

"The Minister is going to call today, Reece," she mumbled almost deliriously, "It's been five days. He should have reached the second checkpoint by now."

"Where is your phone?"

"In my pocket. It's probably dead."

I pulled her phone out of her pocket and pursed my lips, "I'll put it in charging. He doesn't know about this, does he?"

"He doesn't, but please don't tell him. I don't want him to worry about me."

I almost wanted to snort out loud at this situation. Leave it to Jaslynn to worry about everyone else while she was in her own misery.

As I stood up to leave, I noticed Alma and Cecilia rushing toward us from the corner of my eye, carrying buckets of ice and towels.

"I'm going to go charge your phone, Jas, but Alma and Cecilia are going to help you out. We have to lower your body temperature before you get a fever," I said, jumping off the platform.

She hummed in response behind me, "Alright, but if you're going to the house, Reece, would you check on Alrik? I hear heat is difficult for the males as well, especially Alpha males."

"Don't worry about him," I replied hesitantly, "I'm sure he's fine."

***

Fine, my ass.

The interior of his house was destroyed – chairs flipped over, tables broken in half, curtains ripped apart, holes in the wall, and even a few splatters of blood on the rug and hardwood flooring.

But Alrik was nowhere to be found.

He knew Jaslynn was in her heat and still chose to disappear. I wanted to bang my head against the wall at the pairing – one refused to move, the other refused to even breathe the same air.

I cursed their luck and darted out of the house after leaving Jaslynn's phone in charging.

The mass of storm clouds I had seen earlier had now completely devoured the blue skies, leaving me with a sense of foreboding. The rumble that echoed in the distance confirmed my thoughts, and I knew it wouldn't be long before brilliant flashes of lightning would dance across the sky as well, each strike sending a new wave of unease through me.

Because I knew that once the storm was over, Jaslynn's heat would only get worse.

I shook my head and pushed a mindlink to Conrad, "Alrik's missing. He wreaked havoc in the house and just disappeared. Would you issue a clean-up and have border patrol track him down? I have a feeling he went for a run."

"On it."

Whether Alrik returned or not would be a different question, but we didn't have time to worry about that. Helping Jaslynn through her heat was the first priority.

***

"Her breathing is unsteady," Cecilia murmured, taking note of the rise and fall of Jaslynn's chest.

"Jaslynn, you have to stay awake," Alma pleaded, running her hands through Jaslynn's hair, "This will be over before you know it."

"Conrad, I think we need more ice," I said, wrapping the last ice cubes in the towel and placing it on her forehead. He sighed and stood up, taking the two buckets with him, "There has to be a better way to cool her down. We have already used five buckets."

"Alma, you're an Alpha female. What did you do when you went into heat?" I asked curiously with the hope that she would have another solution.

She snorted, "If you want to know, we made Aleksei."

I instantly grimaced, "Forget I asked."

"A she-wolf is most fertile during her heat," Alma pointed out as if that made things better, "Right Cecilia?"

Cecilia's cheeks turned bright red, and she cleared her throat, "Let's not forget the situation at hand. Jaslynn isn't in the condition to mate with anyone. Her muscles are exhausted after hanging here for so long."

Before any of us could reply, a drop of water splattered against the wooden planks of the platform.

And then another.

And then a few more.

We all raised our heads to stare at the clouds that had darkened significantly over the hour, and as if to answer our unspoken question, lightning lit up the sky followed by a boom of thunder in the distance.

Then, it started to downpour.

"You have got to be kidding me," I muttered as my clothes started to stick to my skin.

"This is good," Cecilia said excitedly, stretching her hand out to feel the raindrops, "It'll help lower her temperature."

Alma wiped Jaslynn's face with her hand, "How do you feel, dear? Does the rain make you feel any better?"

Jaslynn cracked her eyes open to squint at Alma, "I–I'm in a lot of pain, Alma."

Her hand twisted in the shackle, and she pointed at her neck with a shaky finger, "My mark is burning."

"It's burning?" Cecilia asked, a deep frown forming on her face. She leaned over and gently shifted Jaslynn's head to the side to study the indents in the crook of her neck.

Jaslynn let out a groan in response, "It feels like the skin is being fried."

"I brought more ice," Conrad said, appearing in our line of vision, "Although, I don't know if you need it anymore."

Cecilia reached over, scooped a handful of the ice cubes in her hand, and wrapped them up in one of the towels, "Here, Jaslynn, let's see if this will help the burning."

She pressed the bundle against Jaslynn's mark, and Jaslynn instantly let out an agonizing shriek.

"I don't understand," Alma said quietly, lifting her head so we could see the tears in her eyes, "Her mark shouldn't be causing her any pain."

And then out of the blue, Jaslynn's body began convulsing and a tormented cry left her lips. Alma and Cecilia immediately pinned her arms down, and I grabbed her legs as Jaslynn sobbed through the torture of her heat. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and her jaw was clenched as if she was trying to hold back from screaming even louder.

My vision became blurry as tears filled my own eyes at her anguished cries.

I felt completely helpless.

"Do you smell that?" Conrad asked, sniffing the air with a repulsed look on his face. I wrinkled my nose and concentrated on the faint indistinct scent that was camouflaged by the earthy smell of the rain, but I still couldn't make out what it was.

Jaslynn released another wail of agony, and Alma gasped, clasping a hand to her mouth in shock, "Her– her mark."

Our gazes snapped to Jaslynn's neck, and bile crawled up my throat at the horrific sight.

The flesh around her mark was shriveled, and the skin started to blister and swell, darkening to an almost sickening red as blood rushed to the surface. The little bubbles of skins burst as the mark continued to bulge into a lump on her neck, and spurts of blood began to drip from her neck onto the wet wooden planks, creating little pools of blood.

We watched in horror as Cecilia tried to stop the blood flow by adding pressure to the new wound on Jaslynn's neck, but it was no use. The blisters were popping continuously, and new rivulets of blood poured out of the bump on her neck.

I was about ready to break the chains and drag her to the hospital when Jaslynn's eyes flew open, and she wheezed as if she was struggling to gather her breath. Her hand gripped mine and tightened around my fingers as painful tears raced down her cheeks. Her chest heaved with exertion as she tried to breathe through the ache of her mark bursting.

And just as quickly as the skin had swelled, the lump started to deflate like a balloon as the blood streamed out of the wound along with a thick yellowish liquid that I assumed was pus.

A stab of pain attacked my chest harshly, making me gasp out loud, and then everything seemed to slow to a stop.

Jaslynn's pants for air turned into slow breaths, the river of blood flowing from her mark turned into little trickles, and the rain falling from the sky became a light drizzle.

There was a deadly silence.

I could hear my heart thumping in my ears as Cecilia removed the soaking towel from Jaslynn's neck to reveal the cracked, peeling flaps of skin that were already starting to heal, leaving a wrinkled layer of skin where the indents in her neck had been.

Her mark was gone.

"What in the world just happened?" Conrad whispered.

Cecilia checked Jaslynn's temperature and pulse and shook her head slowly as if she was confused herself, "I don't know what happened to her mark, but her heat has stopped."

I pursed my lips in thought, "If her mark is gone, that means her bond with the pack is gone as well."

A few seconds after I had said that, there was a loud commotion, and wolves started to appear from all directions, gathering around the chain swings as they tried to get a look at what was happening. They had all experienced the bond breaking as I had and probably rushed here to get a grasp of what was going on.

When the eyes of the pack landed on Jaslynn, a chorus of terrified gasps echoed across the area, and murmurs filled the air as they all tried to comprehend the situation.

And I had no idea what to tell them.

How was I going to explain that their Luna's mark had disappeared for inexplicable reasons? That there was a chance they might lose her? That their Alpha was nowhere to be found because he was probably in his own world of torment?

"Conrad, what do we do?" I whispered to him, swallowing hard as the mob grew larger. Every wolf had a concerned expression on their face, and a few were sniffling as well as they stared at their pale-faced Luna, who seemed to be at peace at last.

He stood up and turned to address the pack when the bustling came to a stop, and an eerie silence was left in the wake of all the murmurs.

Wolves started shuffling to side as if they were making room, and my eyes widened in realization at who was coming through.

He pushed his way to the front and froze right before the platform, his eyes glued to his Luna. His breathing was heavy as if he had sprinted here, and he was dripping wet as if he had been in the rain this whole time

The expression on his face was ineffable.

We backed away slowly as he staggered onto the platform and dropped to his knees beside her. His arms wrapped around her torso, and he pulled her up carefully and leaned her limp frame against his body, tightening his hold on her as if he was afraid she would vanish from his embrace.

He buried his face in her wet curls, and one of his hands gripped the other side of her head, pressing her closer to his chest.

His shoulders trembled greatly as he cuddled her close, and that was when I realized,

Alrik was crying.