Chapter 345 - 79: Deranged

"And here I thought you had turned a new leaf," Dane said, his voice flat.

Aurora’s smile disappeared.

Dane stood beside Destiny, his fingers still wrapped around hers. He could feel the tension in her hand, but she didn’t pull away. Aurora swayed slightly where she stood in the middle of the temple, and the sight of her only made his irritation deepen.

"You’ve been drinking," Dane said. "You interrupted a sacred ceremony, insulted my wife, and mocked her blessing. What happened between yesterday and this morning?"

"Nothing happened."

Dane stared at her. "Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"Yesterday, you were standing in our house giving us marital gifts and acting perfectly civil."

Aurora shrugged. "People change."

"You’ve changed in less than a day."

Her mouth tightened. "Don’t flatter yourself, Dane. Everything isn’t about you."

Her gaze shifted toward Destiny. "Though I suppose it must be difficult to hear anything that doesn’t sound like praise when everyone spends their time telling you how wonderful you are."

A heavy silence settled over the temple. Dane glanced toward the altar, where the priestess was clutching the sacred stone against her chest. Elara stood behind Aurora, pale and visibly uncomfortable.

Dane looked back at Aurora. "Go home."

"No."

His jaw tightened. "Aurora."

"I’m not finished."

"You’re embarrassing yourself."

Her eyes snapped toward him. "No. I’m embarrassing you."

Aurora turned away from him and slowly scanned the pews until her gaze stopped on Seth.

"Perhaps I’m asking the wrong man." She pointed at him. "Seth. Please come."

Seth looked at Dane first, then back at Aurora. "Aurora."

"Come now. Don’t be shy."

He remained where he was. "Whatever you’re trying to do, don’t."

Aurora laughed. "Stop the pretense, Seth. We both know you want me."

She took a step toward him.

Seth’s expression hardened. "Yeah, but not like this, Aurora."

"No, you don’t get to tell me how I will accept your proposal. You get to be grateful that I’m even considering it."

Seth stood. He was taller than her, but there was no aggression in his posture. If anything, he looked worried.

"Aurora, come on. Let’s talk about this outside."

"No."

She walked straight up to him and tilted her head back.

"Kiss me, Seth."

A murmur moved through the pews.

Seth stared at her.

Aurora smiled. "You said you wanted me."

Her voice softened. "Well? Let’s get married. Right here. Right now."

Seth looked toward Dane again, as though hoping he might somehow make this stop.

"This isn’t my pack," he said.

"Then what difference does that make?"

"This is Dane’s birthday blessing ceremony."

"Exactly."

Aurora’s smile sharpened. "His birthday. His blessing. His precious Luna standing beside him."

Her eyes moved toward Destiny.

"While you wanted me all along, he just threw me away for her."

Dane’s expression darkened. "Aurora."

She ignored him.

"Isn’t that wonderful?"

Seth said nothing.

Aurora leaned closer to him, lowering her voice enough to make the words feel deliberately cruel.

"Come on. Your one chance at power forever. Take what your nephew lost. His loss, your gain."

Dane watched Seth’s face change. There were old wounds behind that expression, old conversations and old resentment. Aurora knew exactly where to press.

Seth finally shook his head. "You’re drunk."

Aurora laughed. "Am I? Then I guess you better take advantage."

She stepped away from him and turned toward the pack.

"Seeing that I’ll offer myself to anybody here if you don’t accept my marriage proposal in two minutes!"

Several elders immediately lowered their eyes.

"Any man who wants to marry me can come forward!"

Nobody moved.

Aurora stared at them, her confidence beginning to crack. "What? None of you?"

Her laugh came out hollow. "If Dane could marry a farm bitch, then I too can marry any of you paupers and make your meaningless life something."

Dane went still.

For a moment, he barely heard anything else. The insult was bad enough, but hearing it in front of Destiny’s family, in front of his pack, and in a temple on the morning of his birthday made something inside him snap.

His fingers loosened around Destiny’s hand as he took a step forward.

"Dane."

Destiny caught his wrist.

He stopped and looked down at her.

"Let go."

Her grip tightened. "No."

She shook her head once.

Dane understood immediately. Not here. Not in front of the pack. Not on his birthday.

His chest rose and fell heavily as he fought down the anger burning through him. After a long second, he pulled his gaze away.

Aurora had been watching them. A smug smile slowly spread across her face.

"Look at that. Still protecting him."

Dane pulled his wrist free, but he stayed where he was.

Aurora pointed at Destiny. "You know what I find funny? You all keep calling her his Luna like the Moon Goddess herself came down here and handed her that title."

She took another step toward Destiny, her eyes flicking toward the altar.

"But the stone only just healed. Maybe it isn’t blessing her at all."

"Enough."

The priestess stepped down from the platform, her voice carrying clearly through the temple.

"This is a sacred place."

Aurora turned toward her. "And yet everyone keeps letting me speak."

"Because nobody expected you to behave like this," the priestess replied. "I know enough to know that this ceremony is over."

Aurora waved her off and turned back toward Seth.

"Thirty seconds."

Seth closed his eyes. "Don’t do this."

"Twenty."

Dane watched him carefully.

"Ten."

Seth opened his eyes and stepped out of the pew.

Aurora’s entire face lit up, but the excitement disappeared when Seth stopped several feet away from her.

"I won’t marry you out of spite," he said.

Her smile faltered.

"I won’t kiss you because you’re drunk. And I won’t stand here while you ruin yourself just to get at Dane."

For a brief moment, Aurora’s face changed. The smugness disappeared, and something raw flashed across her expression. Pain. It was gone almost as quickly as it appeared.

Her face hardened again.

"You really are just like him," she hissed, glaring at Dane. "Always choosing him."

"No one is choosing anything over you, Aurora."

Dane’s anger had burned itself out. All that remained was exhaustion.

"You’re doing this to yourself."

"Don’t."

"I’m serious." He held her gaze. "I don’t want you humiliating yourself."

Aurora gave a harsh, bitter laugh. "How noble."

"You need to leave."

She stared at him for several seconds before her eyes shifted to Destiny.

"I hope you enjoy your birthday, Luna."

Dane expected another insult, but Aurora simply stood there, breathing hard. Elara finally stepped forward and took her arm.

"Come on."

Aurora resisted for a moment, then looked at Dane one last time. Whatever she saw in his face seemed to take the fight out of her, because she finally allowed Elara to lead her toward the doors.

They closed behind her with a heavy thud.

Dane stood there for several seconds.

Nobody spoke.

He looked down at Destiny. Her face was composed, but he could still see the hurt in her eyes. His hand found hers again, and he squeezed gently.

"Are you okay?"

"I’m fine."

"You don’t have to say that."

She looked down at their joined hands.

"It hurt."

Dane’s chest tightened. "I know."

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Destiny looked toward the closed doors.

"I just don’t understand why she keeps doing this."

Dane stared at the doors. "Because she wants us angry."

Destiny looked at him. "And she wants me angry too."

"Probably."

She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles, and Dane felt some of the tension in his chest ease.

"She’s not getting either."

A faint smile touched the corner of his mouth. "Good."

Behind them, Henrik cleared his throat loudly.

"Well... that was certainly one way to start a birthday."

A few nervous chuckles moved through the pews. Dane dragged a hand over his face and let out a long breath.

"I just wanted breakfast."

Destiny laughed quietly. "You’ve had a very strange birthday so far."

"So far?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don’t like the sound of that."

This time, Destiny smiled properly.

At the altar, the priestess carefully lowered the sacred stone into its black bowl.

"The blessing is complete."

Dane looked toward the stone. "About that. How did it heal itself?"

The priestess hesitated.

"I don’t know."

Dane frowned. "You don’t know?"

"I have never seen the stone behave that way." Her gaze moved briefly toward it. "Perhaps it is a mystery better left for tonight."

Dane exchanged a look with Destiny.

Neither of them argued. They had enough problems for one morning.

He squeezed Destiny’s hand. "Come on."

They walked out of the temple together. Bright morning sunlight hit Dane’s face the moment they stepped through the doors, forcing him to squint.

The grounds outside were alive with activity. Music drifted from the main house, while pack members moved between the buildings carrying food and decorations. Laughter carried across the estate.

It was hard to believe Aurora had nearly torn the morning apart only minutes ago.

Dane looked down at Destiny, the warmth slowly returning to his eyes.

"Ready?"

She squeezed his hand. "Let’s go."

They descended the stone steps together and headed toward the estate.

Behind them, the temple stood quiet once more.

The blessing was over, and despite Aurora’s best efforts, the rest of Dane’s birthday was still theirs.If you want, I can also make the last third slightly less "clean/AI-polished" and more like your usual novel voice, while keeping this exact scene intact.