Chapter 23: Elder Luna

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Elder Luna

In the end, Jonathan and Azura parted ways like two magnets that desperately wanted to stick together but were being pried apart by the universe’s cruel, gossip-blocking fingers.

Both siblings walked away with the same expression: the face of someone who had approximately 47 more questions than they’d started with and zero answers.

Azura shuffled down the hallway, her brain now hosting an internal forum with 1,047 unanswered threads, all marked "URGENT: PLEASE RESPOND."

New topics had been added to the queue:

- Why the lounge? Who summoned her? Was it a trap? Was it Selena? Was it Adrian? Was it a surprise party where everyone jumps out and yells "SURPRISE, YOU’RE STILL A MESS"?

- Why did half the maids and guards look at her this morning like she was a wounded puppy that had just been hit by a car, then revived, then hit again for good measure?

- And most importantly...

Where the hell is the lounge?!

Azura realized that in the past three days, she had spent approximately 80% of her time being lost in this mansion. The other 20% was spent being emotionally confused. It was a terrible ratio.

She refused to repeat yesterday’s disaster, where she wandered for forty-two minutes looking for the kitchen, only to end up in the laundry room, where she had to pretend she was "inspecting the towels." The towels were fine. She was not.

So she devised a similar plan.

She spotted a maid cleaning the windows. A young, innocent-looking girl with soft features and the kind of face that said "I will help anyone who asks."

Azura immediately clutched her stomach and let out a dramatic groan that could have won her an Oscar if werewolf mansions had award ceremonies.

"Ohhh... I need to go to the lounge... but I’m so weak... I don’t think I can make it..." She swayed on her feet like a wilting flower in a hurricane. "I need someone... to carry me there... preferably with their arms... or a stretcher... I’m not picky..."

The little maid practically teleported to her side, dropping her rag like it was on fire.

"Are you alright, Miss Azura?!" The maid’s eyes were wide with genuine concern. "I’ll take you to the lounge right away! Please lean on me!"

Azura graciously accepted the support, mentally patting herself on the back.

Flawless execution. They should cast me in a medical drama.

As they walked, Azura—bored out of her mind by the silence—asked the maid her name. Lyra, apparently. A cute name for a cute girl who kept glancing at Azura with an expression that was a confusing cocktail of pity, confusion, and sympathy.

Azura’s internal question mark generator went into overdrive.

Why is everyone looking at me like I’ve got three days to live?!

Does her face have a sticker on it that says "PITY ME—I WAS MURDERED BY FROZEN DUMPLINGS"?

Or is this about Cora? But if it’s about her hibernating wolf, why did everyone act normal yesterday? And why could only Jonathan and Vincent detect the missing wolf scent? Was she wearing some kind of invisible "I STILL HAVE A WOLF" perfume yesterday that she forgot to put on today?

Azura felt a headache forming.

This werewolf world is too complicated! Too full of unspoken rules, weird social hierarchies, and cryptic looks from random NPCs! No wonder she never liked this genre! And yet, fate—that cosmic jerk—decided to throw her into this chaos anyway, probably laughing while eating popcorn in some celestial VIP lounge.

She sighed internally as Lyra guided her down yet another hallway.

At least she wasn’t lost.

A few minutes later, they finally arrived at the lounge. Azura immediately dropped her sick act like a theater kid exiting the stage, waving cheerfully at Lyra.

"Thanks, Lyra! You’re a lifesaver! May your future be filled with minimal window cleaning and maximum snack breaks!"

She then turned and practically skipped into the lounge, leaving Lyra standing there with her hand still extended, blinking like a confused baby owl.

The little maid scratched her head, her brain now hosting its own internal crisis.

"Miss Azura has become... so different? Not arrogant at all. Very cheerful. Almost... normal? Is this the shock of finding out what happened yesterday? Or..." She paused, frowning. "Wait. Why can’t I smell her scent? At all? Am I the one who’s sick? Did I catch some kind of wolf-nose-itis? Is that a thing?"

She turned around and walked away, now burdened with approximately seven new questions she had never asked for.

And thus, Azura had accomplished something remarkable: she had infected an innocent maid with the same disease of confusion that plagued her own mind. A true villainess move, really.

---

Azura stepped into the lounge with the confidence of someone who had absolutely no idea what was about to hit her.

The room was elegant, filled with soft lighting, plush couches, and the faint smell of expensive tea. And sitting there, sipping that very tea like she owned the place—which she basically did—was a middle-aged woman with sharp eyes and an aura that screamed "I have been waiting, and I am not pleased."

Elder Luna. Adrian’s mother.

Azura’s confident stride faltered for exactly 0.3 seconds before she plastered on her best polite smile and walked over, bowing slightly.

"Elder Luna, did you call for me?"

The older woman continued sipping her tea with infuriating slowness, as if she were making Azura wait on purpose. Finally, she set the cup down with the delicacy of a bomb defusal expert.

"Do you know why I called you here, Azura?"

Azura’s brain scrambled.

Okay, okay, think. What did Azura Williams do? What did I do? What did anyone do?

"Uhm... is this about my breakup with A—"

SLAM!!

Elder Luna’s teacup hit the table like a gavel of doom.

"So the rumor is true?! You really had an affair with him?! How dare you do that to my son and me!"

Azura’s brain short-circuited.

"???!!!"

Affair?! With Adrian?! But we were dating, right?! Was he secretly mated to someone else?! Was I the other woman without knowing it?! Did ’Azura’ have a secret boyfriend on the side that I don’t know about?! Is this a love pentagon?! A love hexagon?! What shape of love am I even in right now?!

Unfortunately, Azura was blissfully unaware of one crucial detail.

Yesterday, she had mistaken Elder Alpha—Adrian’s father—for Adrian himself. And now Elder Luna thought Azura had been cheating on her son with her own husband.

But Azura, the clueless protagonist of her own tragedy, had no idea. She was still operating under the assumption that this conversation was about her breakup with Adrian.

Azura’s brain was now hosting a full-scale emergency meeting. She quickly decided to take the diplomatic route. If Elder Luna was upset about her breakup with Adrian, then she would simply... explain. Reason. Use logic. Win the older woman over with the power of humble self-deprecation.

"Elder Luna, you misunderstand!" Azura said, raising her hands in a placating gesture. "We... we had feelings for each other! Sincere feelings! How can you call it an affair? It’s perfectly normal to date and break up! That’s just the circle of love! The food chain of romance!"

Elder Luna’s eye twitched.

Azura, oblivious, continued with growing confidence. "I know you probably didn’t accept that I’m the one who asked for the breakup first. That must sting. But don’t worry! I’ll tell everyone it was my fault! I’ll say, ’Azura Williams was too weak to handle such a wonderful man!’ I’ll take all the blame! I’m a giver like that!"

She smiled brightly, clearly proud of her solution.

Elder Luna’s face cycled through seven shades of red before settling on a deep, furious purple. She let out a laugh that was equal parts disbelief and rage—it was the sound of a woman who had just been told that her husband’s mistress thought "feelings" justified everything.

"Not an affair just because you have feelings for each other?!" Elder Luna’s voice rose like a screeching kettle. "Azura, are you really playing with my entire family?! You shameless, despicable, absolutely brainless little—"

She cut herself off, pressing a hand to her chest as if physically restraining her heart from exploding.

"I already didn’t like you as my son’s girlfriend because of your sister. That jinx. That cursed little death-bringer who only knows how to ruin lives." She tilted her chin up, looking down at Azura like she was inspecting a bug she’d found in her soup. "But at least I thought YOU were better than her. That maybe some of the Williams family wasn’t completely rotten. And yet here you are—proving you’re just as much of a jinx as she is!"

Azura felt a hot spike of annoyance shoot through her chest. Her mouth opened before her brain could file the proper safety forms.

"Okay, first of all—ow. Rude."

She took a step forward, her nervous hands clasped behind her back like a schoolgirl about to deliver a very inappropriate presentation.

"Elder Luna, with all due respect—and I mean ALL due respect, because I value my limbs—Selena and I are NOT jinxes! Especially not Selena! She was a CHILD that time! Why are you blaming a little girl for your son’s death instead of, I don’t know, THE ROGUES WHO ACTUALLY KILLED HIM?!"

Azura’s voice cracked slightly at the end, but she pushed through.

"Selena lost her father that night too! She’s a VICTIM! A tiny, traumatized, probably-needs-therapy victim! Not a curse!"

Elder Luna’s eyes glinted with something dark and dangerous. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.

"How interesting." Her voice was low, slithering. "Weren’t YOU the one who hated Selena? Weren’t YOU the one who blamed her for your father’s death? And now you’re standing here, preaching to ME about forgiveness?"

Azura swallowed but stood her ground.

"Because the older I get, the clearer I can think! There’s nothing wrong with two kids playing together! The fault lies with the rogues! Those murderous, no-good, unhygienic—"

"IT WASN’T THEIR FAULT!"

Elder Luna lunged forward, her body shimmering as her wolf half-burst through her skin. Her eyes glowed, her claws extended, and Azura’s survival instincts hit the emergency eject button.

Azura backpedaled so fast she nearly tripped over her own feet, creating a solid five-pace gap between herself and the enraged elder.

"IT’S ALL YOUR FAMILY’S FAULT!"

Elder Luna’s voice cracked. Her claws retracted. She stopped mid-lunge, turning her back to Azura with a shuddering breath.

"If only your mother..."

She didn’t finish. The silence hung heavy and thick like a wet blanket.

"Get out."

Azura didn’t need to be told twice.

She bolted out of the lounge like a cat escaping a bath, slamming the door behind her and pressing her back against the hallway wall, panting.

Her heart was pounding. Her brain was spinning.

If only your mother... what?

She frowned, staring at the closed door.

What the hell happened back then?

Azura groaned, pressing her palms to her face.

"I need a drink. And a therapist. And maybe a new identity in a different dimension."