The inside of the SUV was way too quiet.
All I could hear was my own heart beating way too fast, like it was trying to escape my chest.
The high from telling off Liam was gone, and now I just felt cold and sick.
My phone buzzed. It was Clara.
"Vanessa is ready. She's looking for blood. You sure about this?"
"Yes."
"Falon's guards are looking for you. They know you're gone."
"Let them look."
I hung up and pressed my forehead against the cool window. The city lights smeared past. I wasn't a Luna going to a TV studio. I was a grenade rolling into a room full of people, and I was about to pull the pin myself.
I closed my eyes and tried to find Billy's face in my mind. It was the only thing that could steady me right now.
The SUV door opened in a dark underground garage.
A woman with a headset practically dragged me through a maze of hallways into a small, bright room.
And there she was. Vanessa.
She was already sitting, sipping water like she owned the place. She didn't even stand up.
"Luna Riley," she said, her voice all fake sweetness. "Showing up alone. That's a bold choice. I assume the Alpha is... okay with this?"
She was trying to make me feel small. Like I was a kid who'd snuck out.
I looked right at her. "The Alpha doesn't tell me what to do. I'm his wife, not his pet. I'm not here for him tonight. I'm here for me."
Her smile got tight. Someone yelled, "Ninety seconds!"
Vanessa stood up, smoothing her perfect dress.
"Well then," she said. "Let's see if you're as good at speaking for yourself as you think you are."
She walked out.
I was alone for a second. I took the deepest breath of my life. It was time to go be a queen.
I walked out into the blinding TV lights.
The lights were like a physical weight, hot and heavy.
I could barely see Vanessa through the glare, just her razor-sharp smile.
"We are back live with a stunning development," she began, her voice slick with fake concern.
"Luna Riley Gray is here, responding to the shocking video that has everyone asking: is our new Luna a danger to the pack?"
She turned to me, her eyes gleaming. "Luna Riley, that footage is… intense. Your eyes turned silver. You unleashed a force that threw a grown Alpha. People are terrified. What do you say to them?"
I leaned into the microphone, my voice quieter than hers, forcing everyone to listen closely.
"I'd say… they're asking the wrong question." I paused, letting that hang in the air.
"The right question is, what was he doing that made me react like that?"
Vanessa tried to speak, but I kept going, my voice gaining strength.
"That man—an Alpha—was coming at me. He was drunk on power and entitlement, and he thought 'no' was just a word he could ignore. I was backed into a corner. I was terrified. And this… this thing inside me I didn't even know I had… it just… woke up."
I shook my head, letting them see my own confusion and fear.
"My father was a wolf. My mother was human. I've never shifted. I never showed a single sign. I thought that part of me was dead. But in that moment, it wasn't. It was the only part of me that was truly alive. It was the part that refused to be a victim anymore."
I looked directly into the camera lens, making it personal.
"For years, I was at the bottom. I was told to be quiet, to be graceful, to take it. Maybe some of you know what that feels like. To have someone with power make you feel small. To be harassed and have everyone look the other way because it's easier than causing a scene."
My hands were trembling in my lap, so I clenched them into fists, the nails biting into my palms. The pain grounded me.
My voice dropped, becoming a low, firm vow.
"Well, I'm done causing scenes. I'm starting earthquakes. My old self would have let it happen. But my old self is gone. I have this power now. And I promise you this: if it will rise up to protect me, then it will rise up to protect anyone in this pack who is being pushed around. The days of looking the other way are over."
The studio was dead silent. I had stolen all the air from the room.
Vanessa just stared at me, her script completely useless.
She had expected a monster to defend itself. She hadn't expected a woman to tell the truth.
The red light on the camera blinked off.
It was done.
The silence broke into a chaos of murmurs and shuffling papers.
Clara rushed onto the set, her eyes wide.
Before she could speak, a young production assistant ran up, shoving a phone into Vanessa's hands.
Vanessa's eyebrows shot up.
She watched the screen, her expression shifting from professional curiosity to stunned disbelief.
She slowly turned the phone toward me.
"It would seem," she said, her voice laced with a new, genuine respect, "the truth has excellenttiming."
On the screen was a different video.
It was shaky, shot from within the Moonbath crowd.
It clearly showed Trevor's hulking form, his posture aggressive and predatory, lurching toward me before my power ever erupted.
The caption read: Don't believe the edits. #TheRealStory #IStandWithTheLuna
My breath caught. It was vindication.
My phone buzzed in my hand. An unknown number. I answered.
"Luna?" a young, trembling female voice asked.
"It's… it's me. From the Moonbath, the one with the red hair. Selene made me record you at the moonbath. She made me edit it. After I had posted it, I felt guilty. I saw your interview air, and I felt this was a way to make things right, so I posted the real video… I'm so sorry. Pls forgive me."
The fear in her voice was a familiar song. I knew it by heart.
"It's okay," I said, the words surprising me with their sincerity. "I understand. Thank you for being brave tonight."
I hung up.
Clara was beaming, her own phone buzzing uncontrollably.
"Riley, you're trending everywhere! The comments are flipping, they're calling you a hero! Listen to this one—"
"Clara." I gently put my hand over her screen. "Turn it off."
She stared at me for a moment, then a look of understanding washed over her face. She nodded, and silenced the phone without another word.
"The internet is a messed-up place," I said, as we walked over to the parked SUV.
"It builds you up just to tear you down. I don't care what they're saying. Good or bad, it's just noise. My only focus is finding my son."
The moment the SUV door closed, sealing us in, Clara's phone rang.
She went pale, showing me the screen. FALON.
She answered, her voice trembling. "Yes, Alpha?"
His voice came through, not as a roar, but as a low, dangerous vibration we could both hear. "Bring her to my study. Now."
The victory from the interview evaporated, replaced by a cold dread.
The reckoning was here.
When I walked into his study, he was standing by the window, his back to me.
The silence was heavier than any shout.
"I know I defied you," I said, my voice steady despite the fear.
"And I am sorry for offending you. It was not my intention to disrespect your authority. But I will not apologize for defending my name." I took a breath, squaring my shoulders.
"If your decision is to send me to the safe house, I will go. I'm telling you this myself, as your Luna."
He turned slowly.
His face was unreadable, but the storm in his eyes had quieted to a calculating calm.
He looked me up and down, a strange, reluctant respect in his gaze.
"That was a stubborn, reckless, and incredibly foolish gamble," he stated, his voice low.
"You took a situation that was a contained fire and poured gasoline on it for the entire world to see."
He took a step closer.
"And it was also the bravest, most effective piece of political theater I have ever witnessed. You took their knife and turned it into your crown."
A faint, almost imperceptible shake of his head.
"You are impossibly stubborn, Riley. But for once, your stubbornness did not break what I am building. It may have even strengthened it."
My heart hammered. This wasn't the reaction I expected.
"However," he continued, his tone hardening into a command.
"Do not mistake my admiration for permission. The next time you have a plan, you will inform me. You will not go rogue. Are we clear?"
The word was a struggle, but I meant it. "Clear."
"Good." He walked to his desk and picked up his tablet.
"Then we can focus on what matters. My team has been analyzing citywide traffic cams from the night your son was taken. We've been at it for days."
He turned the screen to me.
It showed a map with a single, highlighted route cutting through the city.
"We found a trail, Riley. A clear one. We're closing in."