** Sabelina's POV **
The air in the bedroom was heavy with tension. Keira's heart hammered against her ribs as she tried her best to calm down. But Sabelina wasn't in any position to be calm. She had just witnessed her mate in bed with Victoria.
Sabelina had taken over and surged forward. Her fist connected with Victoria's jaw, a satisfying crack echoing in the small room. Victoria shrieked. Keira/Sabelina didn't stop.
Keira/Sabelina landed a series of untamed blows at Victoria, not caring where they landed. Donovan tried to intervene, but Sabelina punched him in the face, pushing him back.
Even when Victoria lay whimpering and bloody, a crumpled heap on the bed, Sabelina didn't stop; she kept going. Donovan's words telling her to stop didn't register. When he tried to intervene again, Sabline punched him again.
Donovan grabbed Keira around the waist as Marcus arrived.
"Help me," Donovan growled as he struggled to contain Keira.
Marcus rushed over and grabbed Victoria by the shoulders, hauling Victoria off the bed.
"That's enough!" Donovan ordered through his link. "Stand down!"
Sabelina shoved her shoulder into Donovan's chest, making him release her. She growled at him as she huffed in anger. Donovan slowly moved back, pulling the crumbled sheets around his waist.
Sabelina/Keira huffed in anger.
"Luna? Are you ok?" Marcus asked.
"I'm not your fucking Luna," Sabelina huffed.
The rage didn't subside. Sabelina's skin prickled, her muscles coiled with an unbearable tension. The air in the room felt too small, too polluted. She needed to escape. She needed to shift.
Sabelina quickly got off the bed and headed toward the back of the pack house. As soon as she was outside a primal roar, far deeper and more guttural than any human sound, tore from Keira's lungs. Keira's human form began to distort. Her bones cracked and elongated, her skin rippled, and she was covered in coarse, dark fur. Her teeth sharpened into fangs, her eyes glowing with an incandescent, golden light. In moments, Keira's form was gone, replaced by a towering, magnificent wolf - Sabelina.
With another earth-shaking howl, Sabelina didn't look back. The scent of pine and damp earth called to her. The forest swallowed her whole, a silent witness to her primal grief and her desperate need to run until the rage burned itself out. Each stride, each powerful leap over fallen logs, was a release, a wild catharsis in the heart of the whispering woods.
*
Sabelina sat hunched on the riverbank. The scent of pine and wet earth offered no solace. The injustice, the betrayal, it hurt. A low growl rumbled deep in her chest. Her heart hurt.
"Sabelina?" Keira asked.
"Don't," Sabelina growled. "I know what you're going to say. You might be right, but I don't want to hear it."
"I'm not siding with him," Keira said softly. "I just want you to know that I'm here for you."
Sabelina sniffed. "Nolan wants to talk."
"You don't have to speak to him if you don't want to," Keira reminded her. "You need time to calm down and process everything."
Sabelina growled and splashed at the water with her paw.
"Did I overreact?" Sabelina asked, sniffling.
"Of course not," Keira replied. "Anyone would react the way you did. He's our mate. How dare she think she can just claim what is ours?
"I don't care if she used to be Donovan's chosen mate; all that changed when he bonded and marked us."
"I should have killed her," Sabelina stated.
"She would have deserved it," Keira agreed. "We both know that Victoria has her own mate. What she did violates the very meaning of a mate and the sacred bond between the two."
"If she does have a mate," Sabelina began. "Then that means Jason would have felt the beat down. Knowing his temper, he would want to rush over."
"If he does, that is proof that Victoria has been lying to him," Keira smirked. "It would make it easier to get rid of her permanently."
The subtle snap of a twig broke through Sabelina's internal rage. Her head, heavy with sorrow, lifted fractionally. Her golden eyes, usually sharp and discerning, were clouded, but they registered the approaching form. Another wolf, larger than her, with fur the hue of a stormy sky, moved with a deliberate, almost hesitant grace.
It was Wade. Or at least that was what the pack bond told her.
He didn't speak, didn't even make a whimper. He simply walked to a spot a few yards from her, his movements slow and unthreatening, and then, with an almost imperceptible sigh, he lowered himself to the ground.
Sabelina's initial impulse was to snarl, to lash out at the intrusion, even from him. But Wade made no movements. He didn't push for conversation. He simply stayed still. Wade's breathing was a steady rhythm in the quiet, a counterpoint to the chaotic thrum of her own heart.
He didn't look at her directly, his gaze fixed on the dancing water, but Sabelina felt the warmth of his presence, an anchor in the swirling chaos.
"What are you doing here?" Sabelina asked quietly, breaking the silence.
"I was on my way to talk about the morning training and saw you rush out of the pack house," Wade replied. "Then I saw Marcus hauling away a lump of bloody meat to Avalynn's house."
Sabelina huffed. "She deserved it."
"I know," Wade agreed. "Everything has gone to shit since the Alpha brought her to the pack. Everyone wants her gone, but our pleas haven't been heard. I hope this time, he actually does something about it."
"I'm sure the news of what happened should be spreading to the rest of the pack," Wade continued. "The pack won't stay silent. Not this time."
Sabelina didn't comment. She didn't think Donovan would throw her out.
"You should head back," Sabelina said after a few minutes of silence. "I'm going to stay here for a bit."
"I'll wait here," Wade said, getting comfortable. "This area isn't always patrolled. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."
"I can take care of myself," Sabelina countered.
"I know," Wade agreed. "You are my Luna. I won't let anything happen to you."
"Fine," Sabelina said.