The Return of the Fallen Luna: Rise of the Heiress-Chapter 15 Preparing To Run Away

Even if she bled to death here, they would only sneer at her weakness. They would mock her for being wolfless, for being a stain on their eyes, and she would be no different from a dead animal left by the roadside.

So she could not fall here.

She could not die here.

Ashley forced herself upright and kept walking, even as glares burned into her back and cold, mocking snorts followed her from every corner. It felt as though she were some circus monkey put on display, and they were all watching with cruel amusement.

"So the slutty omega’s daughter actually went out, huh?" a she-wolf sneered, not even bothering to lower her voice. Her gaze dragged over Ashley’s battered figure, lips curling in an amused smile. "Look at her... she’s pathetic. Does she really think someone like that deserves to be our Luna?"

She let out a mocking snort, exchanging a knowing glance with her companion as they lingered just to watch.

"Luna? Please. She can’t even shift. What use is a wolfless mutt as a Luna? Wouldn’t that just be a waste? If rogues attacked, do you really think she’d lead us to safety, or straight to our deaths?"

The she-wolf beside the red-haired girl scoffed loudly, her voice carrying across the area as though she wanted Ashley to hear every word. Since Ashley was wolfless, she likely assumed her hearing was no different from that of an ordinary human.

That only made her insults louder.

"I refuse to accept a woman like that as our Luna. She’s beneath us. She should stay where she belongs and serve like any other omega or, at the very least, act like that whore of a mother of hers. At least then she might actually prove she has some value."

Her words drew a ripple of laughter from the crowd. Giggles broke out around them, followed by crude snickers from several unmated male werewolves, as though the whole thing was nothing more than entertaining gossip.

No one stopped her.

No one defended Ashley.

"Bro, if I really get my hands on the former belle of the Black Mountain Pack, you think that would raise my status?"

Another unmated male wolf laughed crudely, letting his gaze roam over Ashley’s body with open hunger before lingering shamelessly on her chest, as though he were already stripping her bare with his eyes.

Ashley felt the humiliation burn through her like fire.

It should have hurt more than this. It should have shocked her, made her lash out, made her lose control, but by now, it felt like her ears had grown numb from hearing the same taunts over and over again for a month. She had thought she was used to it. She had thought she had learned how to endure it.

But now she realized she had only been swallowing it all down, convincing herself they were just angry words, that once she proved herself again, they would stop.

Now she understood the truth.

Without Nathan’s approval, they would never have dared speak to her like this, let alone stare at her so openly, so shamelessly, like she was nothing more than prey. If Nathan truly intended to make her his Luna, he should have made his stance clear from the beginning. Anyone who disrespected her would have been disrespecting him, their Alpha, and no one would have dared raise their voice in front of her.

And yet she had been blind to it all.

So blind that she almost wanted to strike herself for it.

But even that thought faded beneath the ache in her chest. It felt heavy, hollow, like a stone had settled there and pinned her breath in place. She wanted to cry, but she knew tears would only feed their amusement.

So Ashley lifted her chin, masked the pain on her face, and forced herself to look calm.

Unbothered.

Untouched.

Even if the humiliation was carving her open inside.

Ashley limped back to the packhouse wearing her usual mask of indifference. She did not dare let anyone see how badly she was shaken. If they noticed even the slightest change in her, they might stop pretending, stop hiding their malice, and simply turn on her outright.

She was not even afraid for herself anymore.

It was her mother she feared for.

Just imagining what they might be doing to her made Ashley’s stomach twist. So she forced herself to act as though everything was still normal, as though she had only gone out for a while and was simply returning to her room.

She walked from the edge of the forest all the way back to the packhouse, which was a kilometer away, forcing herself to endure every step as though she could not feel the pain.

But she did feel it.

Every time her injured leg touched the ground, especially when she reached the stairs leading up to her room inside the packhouse, it felt as though the wound was splitting open all over again, the flesh tearing wider with each movement. The pain was sharp and relentless, but she kept going anyway.

By the time she finally reached her bedroom door, it felt as though an eternity had passed.

The moment she stepped inside, she shut the door behind her and leaned against it, a quiet sob breaking from her throat. The moment the sound left her, it felt as though everything she had been holding back came crashing down at once, as if she were drowning under the weight of it.

After a few shaky breaths, she forced herself to calm down and moved toward the walk-in closet.

She set her bag aside, but she did not touch any of the clothes Nathan had once gifted her. Just looking at them made her feel sick and strangely emotional. Instead, she pulled open the lower drawer where she had hidden all her documents and carefully packed them into her bag.

The fewer things she carried, the less suspicious it would look if she left now. Anyone who saw her might assume she was only heading out for another site inspection or some other pack errand.

All the while, she kept trying to call her mother’s phone.

Again and again, she sent a signal.

But nothing came through.

No answer. No connection.

And with each failed attempt, Ashley could only come to one terrifying conclusion: her mother was indeed being held somewhere she could not reach. Either her phone had been taken away, or she was somewhere underground, where no signal could get through.

"Where could she be?" Ashley whispered to herself, her mind racing through every possible place her mother might be hidden.

Nathan was as cautious as he was cruel. She could only think of him like a rabbit with multiple burrows, who is careful, slippery, and always prepared with more than one hiding place. If he truly intended to keep her mother out of Ashley’s reach, he would choose a location she would never suspect, somewhere she would never think to look.

But that was the problem.

There were too many possibilities.

Too many places to search, too many hideouts, too many dungeons scattered across the territory. And if she went from one place to another, especially those guarded by his men, Nathan would quickly realize she was snooping around. The moment he found out she had uncovered something, everything would turn against her.