Reclaiming My Broken Luna (Astrid and Killian) novel Chapter 438

Killian’s POV

The room was suffocating.

The walls pressed in around me, and my wolf howled inside my chest, clawing to be free, to run, to fight, to kill.

I couldn’t breathe.

Astrid was gone.

Elara was still missing.

They were both in his hands.

The war room blurred as I stormed through the Packhouse, my mind a whirlwind of fury and desperation. My steps were too fast, too sharp, but I couldn’t slow down. Not now.

Not when I had already lost so much.

The moment I stepped into the war room, all eyes snapped to me.

Ryder was there, arms crossed, watching me carefully. Warriors stood around the table, tense, waiting for orders. Waiting for me to do something.

But I wasn’t thinking.

I couldn’t think.

I could barely see past the red haze of rage.

“She left a trail,” Ryder said before I could even open my mouth.

I froze.

The room around me seemed to still, my mind catching onto his words like a drowning man clinging to a lifeline.

“What?” My voice came out sharp, dangerous.

Ryder motioned toward the map spread across the table. “Astrid wanted us to find her.” He jabbed a finger at the marked locations. “She’s been leaving a path—small traces, but enough. It’s almost like she knew we’d come for her.”

Of course, she did.

Astrid knew I’d never stop.

She knew I’d tear the world apart if I had to.

My grip on the back of the chair tightened. “Then we move now.”

I turned to the warriors. “Gather everyone who’s able. We—”

“Killian.” Ryder’s voice cut through the room like steel.

I whipped around, snarling.

“What?” I snapped.

Ryder didn’t back down.

He never backed down.

His silver-blue eyes burned with warning. “You’re thinking like a mate right now, not an Alpha.”

A low growl rumbled in my chest. “She’s my mate. And my daughter is still out there. How the hell am I supposed to think about anything else?”

Ryder didn’t flinch. “You’re about to walk into a trap.”

“I don’t care.”

“You will when you get yourself killed,” he shot back, stepping closer. “And then what? What happens to Elara? What happens to Astrid? You think she sacrificed herself just so you could act reckless and die?”

I hated that he was right.

I hated it because every fiber of my being was screaming at me to move now, to fight, to kill.

To bring them back.

But if I failed—if I rushed in blindly—then I wouldn’t just lose them.

I’d lose everything.

My jaw clenched, my entire body vibrating with restrained fury. I exhaled sharply, forcing myself to think, to listen.

“We need a plan,” Ryder continued, his voice level but firm. “Astrid left a trail for a reason. We use it. We track them, we find their stronghold, and then we end this. But not like this. Not blindly. Not alone.”

I dragged a hand down my face, my pulse pounding in my skull.

He was right.

Damn it, he was right.

I inhaled deeply, trying to push past the primal rage burning inside me. My wolf snarled in protest, but I shoved the instinct down. I had to be smart.

I had to win.