Bounded By Revenge; The Betrayed Luna’s Rise

Mate

ARIA

I remained on the cold hospital floor long after Caspian disappeared. My hand instinctively went to my throat. It burned where his fingers had been.

“Luna!”

Dr. Alden hurried toward me with two nurses. “What happened?”

I looked up at him. “I… I’m fine.”

He frowned at the angry red marks around my neck. “That doesn’t look fine.”

One of the nurses helped me to my feet while another handed me a glass of water. I forced myself to take a sip, though my hands trembled so badly the water nearly spilled. “I’m alright,” I whispered.

Dr. Alden glanced toward Caspian’s room before lowering his voice. “He has suffered severe physical trauma. He’s also extremely distrustful of everyone.”

“I noticed.”

“I’m afraid he refused to answer any of our questions. Not even his name.”

I looked down. “He told me.”

Dr. Alden’s brows lifted. “He spoke to you?”

I nodded. “Only… not kindly.”

The physician sighed. “Given his condition, I’m not surprised.” He hesitated before adding, “We’ll keep his identity confidential until he recovers.”

I looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?”

“If word gets out that a man believed to be dead is alive…” He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t have to. The entire pack would descend on this hospital.

I walked slowly toward the hospital exit. The rain had stopped. The air smelled fresh, but my mind was anything but clear. I should tell Darius. He deserved to know. Didn’t he?

I reached into my handbag before remembering my phone had been smashed against the wall. A bitter sigh escaped my lips. Perhaps that was for the best. At least it had bought me time.

As I reached my car, a familiar voice called out behind me. “Luna Aria.”

I turned. It was one of Monroe Manor’s patrol warriors. He bowed respectfully. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

My heart skipped. “Why?”

“Alpha Darius sent me.” The words made my stomach tighten. “He returned to the estate earlier than expected.” The warrior hesitated. “He seemed… concerned. He asked that you return immediately.”

I nodded slowly. “I’ll leave now.”

The warrior bowed once more before walking away. I stood beside my car for several seconds. Should I tell him? If Caspian was telling the truth, informing Darius would be the same as handing his brother over. But if Caspian was lying, keeping silent meant hiding something from my husband. Either choice felt like a betrayal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The drive back to Monroe Manor was painfully quiet. Every mile seemed to pull me in opposite directions. By the time I reached the estate, dusk had settled over the mountains. The moment I stepped inside, Martha hurried toward me.

“Luna.” Her eyes immediately landed on the bruises around my neck. “What happened?”

I instinctively covered them with my hand. “I had… a minor accident.”

She didn’t look convinced. Before she could ask another question, the deep voice I knew so well echoed from the staircase.

“Aria.”

I looked up. Darius stood at the top of the stairs, still dressed in the black uniform he’d worn that morning. His sharp gray eyes settled on me, then drifted to my neck. His expression darkened.

“What happened to you?”

For a moment I almost told him everything. I almost said Caspian is alive. Instead, Caspian’s words rang in my ears: If you tell Darius I’m alive… I won’t spare you next time.

“I slipped,” I said quietly. “The road was wet.”

Darius descended the stairs, stopping only a step away from me. His eyes searched my face. “You’ve been crying.”

It wasn’t a question. I lowered my gaze. “The doctor gave me the results of my examination. I can’t…” My voice broke. “I can’t have children.”

For the first time since we’d married, I saw something flicker across Darius’s face. Shock. Then guilt. His shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly.

“I know.”

I blinked. “You… know?”

“Dr. Alden informed me.” Of course he had. As Alpha, he had access to every medical report concerning the Luna.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. The apology slipped out before I could stop it.

Darius frowned. “What are you apologizing for?”

“I couldn’t give you an heir.”

He was silent for a long moment. Finally he said quietly, “I never married you for children, Aria.”

The words should have comforted me. Instead they only made my heart ache more. Because he had never married me for love, either.

Just then a warrior hurried through the front doors. “Alpha!” He bowed quickly. “We’ve received another report.”

Darius’s expression hardened instantly. “What is it?”

“The search party found fresh tracks near the western forest.”

My pulse quickened. The western forest. Where I’d found Caspian.

Darius’s jaw clenched. “Double the patrols. Search every trail.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

The warrior left as quickly as he’d arrived. Darius turned back to me. “You should get some rest.”

I nodded, unable to trust myself to speak. As I climbed the stairs toward my room, one thought refused to leave my mind. Everything Caspian had said to me—were they true?

CASPIAN

The silence in the hospital room was unbearable. Every breath I took sent a sharp pain through my ribs, but it was nothing compared to the fire still burning in my chest. I was alive. Against every careful plan my brother had set in motion, I was still breathing.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips. That had never been part of Darius’s design.

My fingers curled into the white bedsheets as the memories returned with ruthless clarity. The ambush in the valley And the warriors wearing Monroe armor—my own pack, my own brother’s wolves—coming not to arrest me but to make certain I never returned. I could still hear their orders shouted through the trees: Don’t let him escape. The Alpha wants his head.

My wolf growled deep inside me. ‘ traitor’

For months I had survived on instinct alone—stealing food from abandoned camps, sleeping in caves, crossing territory after territory while men hunted me like an animal. The entire kingdom believed I was dead. Exactly as Darius wanted. He had probably stood at my funeral with the proper amount of grief, accepted every condolence, and then returned home to the woman who had helped him plan it all and to the child who was never mine.

The last time I had truly looked at Noah, I had still believed he carried my blood. That illusion had shattered months before the ambush.

The day when I entered our chambers and saw the way Selena’s eyes lingered on Darius a moment too long. The night I returned early from the southern border after a storm and watched my brother step out of her chambers, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear with a tenderness he had never shown anyone else. She had smiled at him the way she once smiled only at me.

I left before either of them noticed. The next morning Darius insisted I inspect an old patrol route alone, claiming reports of rogues near the eastern cliffs. The moment my remaining men and I entered the valley, the arrows came. Dozens of them. Then wolves. Then Monroe warriors. Someone else died wearing armor similar to mine; his body was burned beyond recognition. By the time I escaped, the kingdom had already buried Caspian Monroe. Convenient. Too convenient.

Our father had named me heir. The old Alpha had seen something in Darius that the rest of the pack refused to acknowledge—greed wrapped in charm, ambition without loyalty. Darius had never forgiven that choice. He wanted the pack. He wanted the title. And for years he and Selena had been patient, careful, waiting for the perfect moment to erase me.

A soft laugh escaped me. He had even claimed he was “honoring his late brother” by taking in my wife and the boy the pack still believed was my son. How noble of him.

The door opened without a knock. A tall man stepped inside, clothes dusty, a fresh scar cutting across his left cheek. The moment our eyes met, relief washed over his face.

He crossed the room and dropped to one knee. “I searched everywhere for you. I thought you were dead.”

“I almost was.”

“When they attacked us… we got separated.”

“I know. I barely escaped myself.”

For a long moment neither of us spoke. Too many loyal warriors had died that day. Ryker finally broke the silence. “Our spies have been watching Monroe Manor. Lady Selena and the boy now live there permanently. Darius publicly claims he’s protecting your family.”

I let out a cold, humorless laugh. “Of course he does. No one suspects the grieving brother.”

I walked slowly toward the window despite the pain in my side. “I have another order.”

Ryker straightened immediately. “Anything, Alpha.”

“Keep an eye on Aria. Watch her, but don’t let her see you. And if she’s ever in danger—protect her.”

His brows knitted together. “Luna Aria?”

I nodded. The moment she had touched me on that rain-slicked road, my wolf had nearly lost control.

Mate.

The word had slammed into me with the force of a thunderclap—not desire, not fleeting attraction, but the sacred bond itself. Moonflowers after the rain. The scent of her had driven my wolf half-mad. Ours. He had wanted to pull her into our arms, bury our face in her neck, mark her right there in the hospital corridor. If she had stayed one minute longer, I wasn’t certain I could have stopped him.

The Moon Goddess had a cruel sense of humor. My true mate was my brother’s wife—the woman who had spent seven years loving a man who had never loved her in return, the woman kept carefully in the dark while Darius and Selena destroyed everything that once belonged to me.

I rested my forehead against the cool glass. Whether she knew it or not, whether she accepted it or not, Aria was now tied to a war she had never asked to be part of.

I turned back to Ryker. “It’s time my brother received a gift.”

His lips curved into a knowing smile. “What kind of gift?”

I smiled for the first time in months. “The kind that reminds him that I’m watching. And this time I’m not returning as his brother. I’m returning as his reckoning.”