The Broken Luna Rises Novel – My Alpha mate, Lucien Graves, had a foster sister who couldn’t stay out of trouble. For seven or eight years, he cleaned up every mess she made, and they stayed the center of attention across the Northern Territory. Then she tampered with my brakes. My car crashed, I was hurt badly, and I hung by a thread. At the hospital, he signed my surgical consent form with a sigh. “Don’t blame Celine. She was just having fun. She never meant to kill you.” “She knew I’d get you the best care. She only wanted to scare you.” Right after he signed, a beta came in and said Celine was being bothered at a bar. Lucien dropped his pen and ran. He left so fast he didn’t even notice he’d checked the wrong box for my medication. He hadn’t signed for a healing serum. He’d signed for wolfsbane. I stared at the glass vial the nurse held and smiled softly. “Start it.” “Luna, this is wolfsbane.
Are you sure you want this?” The nurse lifted the blood bag, her eyes filled with uncertainty and even a hint of panic. “Give it to me.” My voice was eerily calm. “The Alpha signed for it. How could it be wrong?” The nurse bit her lip and finally exhaled. She tore open the sterile package. The liquid dripped slowly through the clear tube, one drop at a time, into my veins. I closed my eyes and felt the strange, burning chaos unfurl inside me. In less than thirty minutes, my spine felt like it was being shredded by wolf claws. I curled up in the healing pod, my fingers turning pale, and even every breath felt purely painful. Then uncontrollable chills racked my body. I grabbed the blanket and wrapped myself tight. My teeth chattered anyway, making small and sharp sounds. The hospital door slammed open then. Lucien stormed in.
He reeked of bar smoke and liquor, sharp enough to make me gag. His expensive tailored shirt had cheap glitter stuck to the collar. Behind him stood Celine, completely unharmed. She wore a skimpy glitter dress and her eyes red-rimmed. She clung to Lucien’s sleeve like a scared little deer. “What are you throwing a fit for now?” Lucien stopped at my bed and looked down at me. His brows were furrowed, and his eyes filled with impatience. “The doctor said you only have minor scrapes. Who are you shaking this hard for?” I gritted my teeth through a blinding stab of pain in my lower back. Sweat beaded on my forehead. “I’m cold.” I forced the two words through my teeth. Lucien scoffed and tugged at his tie in annoyance. “Cold? The ward’s a steady seventy-eight degrees. You’re telling me you’re cold?” He turned to Celine behind him, his tone softening instantly. “Celine, turn off the AC so your sister-in-law doesn’t make up more excuses.” Celine nodded obediently and pressed the switch on the wall. She turned back and looked at me timidly. “Elira, I’m so sorry.
I really didn’t mean to break your brakes on purpose.” “I was just testing a new program I wrote. I wanted to see if it worked.” “My brother has already given me a lesson at me. Can you please not be mad at me anymore?” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she spoke. Lucien pulled her protectively behind him, blocking my view of her. “Stop. You don’t owe her an apology.” “She’s fine, lying right there.” He turned back and stared at me with cold, hard eyes. “Elira, Celine was almost taken advantage of at the bar.” “She’s terrified, and she still came here to say sorry to you.” “You can’t even give her a smile? Aren’t you being too much?” I looked at his self-righteous face and suddenly felt like laughing. My car had spun out on a mountain highway, crashed through the guardrail, and nearly sent me plunging off a cliff. I’d been rushed to the hospital covered in blood, fighting for my life. And all he cared about was whether his precious sister felt upset at a bar.
“She’s terrified?” I managed a weak, bitter smile, my voice rough and hoarse. “She went drinking and dancing, some guy hit on her—and you call that being terrified?” “What about me? I almost died in that car. What was that?” Lucien’s frown deepened, his disgust plain to see. “Can you stop talking about death all the time?” “I got you the best healers, didn’t I?” “Besides, your car had top-tier safety systems. Celine knew you wouldn’t get hurt.” She knew? I stared at the liquid dripping into my veins. Deadly poison was eating away at my organs, one cell at a time. Yeah. She knew. She even knew for sure I’d be dead by the end of the day. “Lucien.” I said his name so softly it was like a breath of wind. “What if I really do die?”