Brken

Chapter 43: Back to Square One

Giselle’s POV

I drummed my fingers an agitated staccato against the steering wheel, my knuckles stark white against my olive skin. With each passing mile, the tension in my shoulders only seemed to coil tighter, a vise of barely contained fury.

“That bitch,” I hissed through gritted teeth, the venom in my words palpable. Astrid’s name was like acid on my tongue, burning with a hatred that refused to be extinguished.

The moment I saw her at the banquet, I knew it was her. She had dyed her hair blonde and changed her name, but I will always recognize her. I will always know her through her cerulean eyes, which look like peaceful waters, even if she drastically changes her appearance.

Her eyes might look calm and peaceful, but she always stirred trouble for me.

As I was on my way back to Silvermoon Pack, I couldn’t get my head out of the shame and humiliation that I felt as the Pack guards dragged me out of the Frostbite Pack like I was a piece of trash.

As if failing to get Alpha Everest’s signature wasn’t already worse, the Alpha also hated me and banned me from ever stepping foot on their Pack again.

How am I going to explain things back in the Pack? It was already a close deal. I was just supposed to get Alphal

Everest’s signature! Killian will hate me for throwing away this opportunity for which he worked hard.

It would be much worse if Victoria lost her confidence in me

because of this. I have barely proven myself as a capable Luna to Victoria.

The one–week training that she gave me was a hell of a one- week of my life. It was just training, but I found it hard to learn and do everything.

1 kept making mistakes in my tasks. Most of the time, I don’t even know where I went wrong.

If I wasn’t pregnant, I’m sure Victoria would have yelled at my stupidity or raised her hand against me.

She always held her anger back when she was with me, always putting the safety of my baby on top of her priority.

She cares so much about her future “grandson“.

You see how much I have suffered and endured just to get here? I even had to suffer in the extremely cold weather at Frostbite Pack.

My jaw clenched, the muscle there twitching with the strain. Alpha Everest’s signature is supposed to be the foundation of my rally to become the Silvermoon Pack’s Luna.

It’s supposed to help me earn a good reputation in the Pack, so I could become good enough to be the Luna.

Each memory of how that conniving, incompetent fool had singlehandedly ruined everything stoked the flames of my anger even higher.

Astrid ruined everything again. I was only a step further to the title, but all my careful planning and tireless efforts were reduced to nothing in an instant because of Astrid’s meddling.

I could practically feel the opportunity, my dream of becoming

Luna slipping through my fingers, just out of reach.

A low guttural sound rumbled in my chest, my amber eyes narrowing to slits.

If those men I hired did their job properly and managed to kill her, things wouldn’t end up destroyed like this.

We had the best opportunity! Astrid is staying at the Frostbite Pack disguised as someone else

I gripped the steering wheel tightly, the leather creaking under the pressure as I remembered the report that I had received after the failed assassination attempt

Astrid fought them in human form. She never shifted even though she had to protect Alpha Everest’s daughter under her

care.

Why didn’t she shift?

The tires screeched in protest when I jammed my foot on the brakes, the car lurching forward with a violent jerk. The snow- covered path is silent and empty.

The only thing I could hear was my heart pounding in my ears, my breath coming in sharp, panicked gasps when I realized something.

Astrid is pregnant. She’s carrying Killian’s true child. That night, when Killian and I were supposed to spend the night together, he mistakenly did it with Astrid, and now she is pregnant.

My stomach twisted with sheer terror. Astrid being alive made things more complicated for me.

Killian can’t find out that Astrid is alive. If he finds that out, he

will also find out that Astrid is pregnant with his child

I need to act fast before Killian could find out the truth. I must ascend as the Silvermoon Pack’s Luna as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I must keep the two from meeting each other.

I let out a shrill scream and pounded on the steering wheel in anger. If Astrid hadn’t ruined everything, I would be planning my ascension ceremony by now instead of planning an excuse to cover up for my failure.

I would not let Astrid ruin this for me. Not when I was so close, so close, to achieving my goal. Failure is not an option – not when the prize was within my grasp.

With a sharp, decisive nod, I set my jaw, determination burning in my gaze. I would fix this. Somehow, someway, I would make Astrid pay for her transgressions. And then, then, nothing

would stand in my way.