The Alpha Luna’s True Mate

The Rejected Luna

Elira

I spent the entire morning cleaning the raw, bloody whip marks on Mona's back. The sight of her torn skin made my stomach twist into a tight knot of pure rage.

"I am so sorry, Mona," I whispered, gently dabbing the soothing herbal ointment onto her wounds. "You did not deserve this."

"It is not your fault, Your Majesty," Mona whimpered, her face buried in a pillow to stifle her cries. "Please, just be careful."

I knew with absolute certainty that Nyra was behind the snake incident. She wanted to isolate me, but I just couldn't prove it to anyone yet.

Days passed in a blur of endless royal duties and paperwork. I kept throwing myself into attending to the kingdom's needs, trying to keep my mind off the madness.

But everywhere I turned, Nyra was right there, inputting herself into each and every scenario. If I visited a local clinic, she magically appeared to hand out flowers.

If I reviewed pack trade agreements, she sat in the corner whispering suggestions to the lords. The whole thing was exhausting.

I knew she was nothing but a fake, a pretender playing a role for the court. I didn't actively confront her with it in public, but I made sure to tell her subtly every chance I got.

"You must be exhausted, Nyra," I told her in the hallway one afternoon, giving her a pointed look. "Playing a character twenty-four seven must take a lot of energy."

"I have no idea what you mean, Elira," Nyra replied, offering her usual sugary sweet smile. "I am just trying to help my mate."

I just scoffed and walked away, my blood boiling.

Later that day, right after I finished a lonely lunch in my quarters, a guard knocked on my door. He told me that Leon had called upon me in the throne room.

I walked down the grand corridor, expecting a serious discussion about the border security or the food shortages. I pushed the heavy double doors open and froze.

The air left my lungs instantly.

Nyra was sitting right there on Leon's lap, her arms wrapped around his neck like she owned him. She was giggling at something he whispered, her fingers trailing down his jaw.

Leon had his hand resting firmly on her waist, looking completely relaxed.

A sharp wave of betrayal hit me like a blow, my chest tingling with hurt. Even though I knew he was cold, seeing my husband hold another woman on the royal throne shattered something inside me.

Nyra looked up as the doors creaked, but she didn't even bother to move off his lap. She just smirked.

Leon's face hardened the second his eyes landed on me, his relaxed posture disappearing instantly.

"You took your time getting here, Elira," Leon said, his voice cold and arrogant.

"What do you want, Leon?" I asked, keeping my voice as flat as possible as I stood at the bottom of the steps.

"Hand over the town planning budget," Leon demanded, extending his hand toward me. "The one you’ve been crafting for the southern sector."

I blinked, taking a step back. "What? No. I have spent three months working on that project. It is my responsibility as queen."

"I am not asking you, Elira," Leon snapped, his eyes flashing with sudden irritation. "I am telling you to hand it over."

"I point blank refuse," I said, my voice shaking but firm. "You can't just strip away my duties and give them to your mistress."

Leon's face turned completely dark with rage.

"You forget yourself," Leon growled, standing up from the throne so fast that Nyra had to slide off his lap. "I am the king. My word is law in this kingdom."

Suddenly, he slammed his heavy alpha pressure down into the room, his pheromones filling the air like a suffocating weight.

My knees buckled instantly under the intense force of his command. I hit the hard marble floor with a loud thud, gasping for air as the pressure crushed my lungs.

"Leon, please, stop," Nyra said, placing a gentle hand on his chest, though her eyes were shining with triumph. "Don’t be too harsh on her."

She looked down at me, tilting her head with a fake expression of deep sympathy.

"I only suggested taking the project because I wanted to lessen the heavy burden on Elira," Nyra said softly to him. "Since she is an omega, these kingdom budgets must be so stressful for her."

Hearing those words made something inside me completely snap. The intense pain in my chest turned into white-hot, uncontrollable anger.

For the first time in a long time, I didn't gulp it down. I didn't just stay quiet and forget the disrespect.

I forced myself up to my feet, fighting through his crushing alpha pressure until I was standing straight, glaring directly at the woman who was ruining my life.

"Shut your mouth, Nyra," I hissed, my voice echoing loudly through the empty throne room.

Nyra gasped, stepping back behind Leon's shoulder. "Elira, I was only trying to help."

"You are a liar," I said, pointing a finger right at her face. "You hijacked my NGO, you stole my council meetings, and you put that venomous snake in my bedroom to get Mona punished."

"That's insane!" Nyra cried out, her voice trembling as she gripped Leon's arm. "Leon, tell her! I would never do something so horrible!"

"Elira, shut your mouth before I have you thrown in the dungeons," Leon roared, stepping in front of her.

"No, Leon! Let her speak!" I yelled back, tears of fury burning in my eyes. "She plays this innocent, fragile victim every single day, but she's so rotten inside."

I looked past him, locking my eyes onto Nyra's pale face.

"You think you can just slide into my spot and take my crown?" I scoffed, letting out a bitter, mocking laugh. "You are nothing but a cheap pretender. Sooner or later, Leon is going to see you for who you truly are, and you will have absolutely nothing."

A sudden flash of fear ripped through Nyra's eyes at my words. Her perfect mask cracked for a split second, revealing the ugly, calculating monster underneath.

But it was gone before Leon could turn around to see it.

"Leon, please, make her stop," Nyra whimpered, her voice dropping into a shaky whisper. "She hates me so much."

While Leon was looking down at me, his chest heaving with rage, Nyra reached into the folds of her silk dress and stepped in front of me.

My eyes went wide as she pulled out a small, silver dagger. Before I could even process what she was doing, Nyra pressed the sharp blade against her own forearm and sliced down.

Blood immediately welled up from the deep cut, staining her pale blue sleeve a dark, messy crimson.

"Ah!" Nyra screamed out in agonizing pain, dropping the small dagger.

She flung the dagger straight to my feet, the metal clinking loudly against the marble floor right in front of my shoes.

An innocent, incredibly twisted smile spread across her lips for a fraction of a second as she looked at me. Then, she collapsed onto the steps, sobbing violently as she clutched her bleeding arm.

"Why would you do this to me, Elira?" Nyra wailed, rocking back and forth. "I only wanted to help you!"

Leon spun around at the sound of her scream, his eyes tracking from Nyra's bleeding arm down to the bloody silver dagger lying right at my feet.

The air in the room turned to ice.

Leon looked up at me, his blue eyes entirely wild with a dangerous, murderous fury that made my heart freeze in my chest.

"What did you do?" Leon whispered, his voice trembling with rage.

"Leon, I didn't touch her," I stammered, shaking my head as I backed away from the dagger. "She did it to herself! She is framing me!"

"Do not lie to me!" Leon roared, his voice booming so loud the windows rattled in their frames.

He rushed down the steps, bypassing me completely to throw his jacket around Nyra's bleeding arm, pulling her tightly against his chest as she sobbed into his neck.

"It hurts so much, Leon," Nyra whimpered, her voice faint and weak. "She just attacked me out of nowhere."

Leon glared up at me from the steps, his face completely twisted with disgust and hatred.

"You have lost your mind, Elira," Leon hissed, his voice cutting through my soul. "You are the queen of this kingdom, and you just assaulted my fated mate in the middle of the throne room."

"Leon, listen to me," I begged, my hands shaking uncontrollably at my sides. "Look at the angle of the cut! She did it herself! There's no way I'd have done that.”

"I said silence!" Leon shouted, standing up to his full height as his alpha aura flared again, making it hard to breathe. "I do not want to hear another single lie coming out of your mouth."

He pointed a shaking finger down at the bloody floor.

"You will apologize to Nyra right now," Leon ordered, his voice cold, hard, and completely unyielding. "Get down on your knees and beg for her forgiveness, or I swear to the Moon Goddess, I will make you regret the day you were born.”