My Twin Sister Became His Second Luna Chapter 06

My Twin Sister Became His Second Luna Chapter 06

By the third month after the mate ceremony, Kaelen finally admitted that Crestwood was slipping out of his control.

The first problem was the northern patrols.

For the past three years, at the beginning of every month, a reorganized patrol schedule had appeared on his desk. It clearly marked which teams had just gone through the full-moon frenzy, which warriors’ old injuries made them unfit for night patrols, and which stretches of border had recently shown signs of rogue activity, all color-coded.

Kaelen had always assumed it was routine work from the Beta’s office.

After Nerissa left, two patrol teams were sent west at the same time because of a scheduling error, leaving the eastern supply depot unguarded all night. Rogues seized the chance to break in and destroy a shipment of winter medicine.

Then the moon-silver ore Stoneveil supplied was held at the border checkpoint because no one signed the renewal papers; three affiliated Packs stopped sending resources to Crestwood because they never received their full supplies; and the Healer center discovered that Nerissa had personally covered the Pack’s medical purchases for the past two years using her private authorization. Once her Pack account was closed, the suppliers immediately froze their credit.

The council meeting lasted four hours.

“Alpha, we need a Luna who can actually do the job.” An elder pushed the loss reports toward Kaelen. “Not someone who only wears the moon crown at banquets.”

Nerys sat in the Luna’s seat, her face dark.

“Are you saying I’m not fit for it?”

“I’m saying a Luna needs to understand how the Pack operates.”

“Those boring spreadsheets were the Beta’s job,” she snapped. “Just because Nerissa liked sticking her nose into everything doesn’t mean I have to live like some employee.”

Several elders exchanged looks.

For the first time, Kaelen realized the eyes around the council table weren’t just questioning his wife. They were also weighing whether he still deserved the Alpha’s seat.

After the meeting, he dragged his exhausted body back to the residence.

Nerys didn’t comfort him. Instead, she slammed a stack of banquet budgets onto the table.

“Why did you cancel my Luna’s winter ball?”

“Because the eastern depot suffered heavy losses. The Pack has to prioritize medicine and weapons.”

“But I already ordered my dress!”

“Nerys, now is not the time to talk about a dress.”

Her eyes immediately filled with tears.

“You never used to talk to me like that. Are you thinking about her again?”

Kaelen’s wolf growled irritably.

After the mate ceremony, he’d thought Nerys’s dependence would make him feel loved. She’d throw herself into his arms when he came home, cry if he took too long to answer a message, and repeatedly ask whether he loved her.

At first, he’d enjoyed all that intensity.

But once Crestwood’s borders, finances, and affiliated Packs began failing at the same time, every tearful outburst became another weight pressing down on his nerves.

“I got three notices today from Packs withdrawing from the alliance.” Kaelen kept his anger in check. “The council is going to question my fitness as Alpha next week. You’re the Luna. The least you can do is ask what’s happening to the Pack.”

“I don’t know anything about that!” Nerys said without shame. “Nerissa always handled it. Just bring her back.”

The room went silent.

Kaelen stared at her and, for the first time, fully understood that all of them had assumed Nerissa would return.

They had taken her mate, her Luna seat, and the ceremony she’d planned herself, yet they still believed that as long as the two Packs needed her, she would come back and clean up their messes the way she had for twenty years.

“She severed her pack bond,” he said.

“So what? Mom and Dad raised her for more than twenty years. You really think she can just stop caring about us?”

Kaelen didn’t answer.

He went into the study, opened the encrypted terminal, and for the first time truly studied the work files Nerissa had left behind.

Thousands of border reports, weapons maintenance records, negotiation memos, and contingency plans were organized by year. The last file had been created the night before his mate ceremony with Nerys.

That night, Nerissa had just learned they’d betrayed her, yet she still completed Crestwood’s final pre-winter defensive assessment.

At the end of the file was a single line:

[The eastern defenses must be reinforced before the first frost.]

Kaelen shot to his feet and rushed to the window.

At that exact moment, the distant alarm sounded.

The eastern defenses had fallen.