The Secret of the Luna's Contract

I was forced to marry Alpha Ethan for seven years, and the pack mocked me as the ultimate "doormat" Luna. While I scrubbed his laundry, he made love to his mistress in our marriage bed. For four long years, I acted as a servant to his four illegitimate children. Even when the entire pack humiliated me in public, I still knelt to tie his shoelaces. I never retaliated, nor did I ever respond; I simply existed in a state of clinical numbness. That night was Valentine's Day. After I coaxed the four children to sleep, I retreated toward the guest room. Ever since that woman had moved in, I had taken the initiative to move out of the master suite. "Go change the sheets," Ethan's voice barked from the master bedroom. I walked in with an indifferent expression. He was tangled with a woman, stark naked, on the sofa. "Clara, put on the pink rose ice-silk set. Having s*x with Ethan on ice silk feels absolutely divine!" Jessica said to me with a triumphant, mocking smirk. I offered a practiced, robotic smile. "Certainly. No problem." "Hurry up! And remember to soak the old sheets in rose fragrance. It's Jessica's favorite scent," Ethan added impatiently, his arms wrapped tightly around her. Enduring the foul, metallic stench of their filth on the sheets, I skillfully stripped the bed and pulled the pink rose ice-silk set from the closet to replace them. Once the task was finished, I calmly closed the door and left. Immediately, Jessica's loud, unrestrained moans drifted through the hallway. I shook my head with a cynical laugh as I washed my hands. Then, I pulled out my phone, my thumb tracing the image of a man whose eyes were full of spirit and courage. The next day was the scheduled meeting with Ethan's mother. I murmured in my mind, 'Aiden, we will be together soon.' ***** Early the next morning, I left the Alpha's manor and arrived at the home of Ethan's mother. "The seven-year pact is almost up. It is time for us to fulfill our agreement." The elderly woman, a guardian of the Silvermoon Pack's wisdom and traditions, looked at me and let out a heavy, weary sigh. "It is no wonder Ethan's father insisted on forcing this union before he passed. You are so exceptional—why was Ethan so blind that he never learned to cherish you? "Clara, it has been seven years. They share such similar faces; did you truly never feel a single spark for him? For your Alpha?" I forced a thin, hollow smile. "Alpha Ethan has the mate he chose for himself. Likewise, there is someone who is forever engraved in the depths of my wolf's soul." Even if they looked remarkably alike, there was a world of difference between them. My wolf, Lyra, let out a low, sorrowful keening in my heart. "Aiden. Our Aiden," she murmured. At the mere thought of that name, my mind was instantly pulled back to seven years ago. Back then, I was still a student at the Werewolf Academy. Aiden was someone who had unexpectedly crashed into my life. He was originally the heir to the Greenleaf Pack from the North. He was tall, handsome, steady, and gentle. During a Rogue attack, he had risked his life to save me. He sustained a massive head injury and fell into a deep coma for weeks. When he finally woke up, he had lost every memory of his identity. At the time, none of us knew who he was. My parents brought him home and sought medical treatment for him. It was during those long years of recovery that we felt the soul resonance that only fated mates shared—a mark the Moon Goddess branded into the bloodline. On the night Lyra first whispered his name, the moonlight caught his profile as he sat quietly in the courtyard, organizing my father's accounts. His eyes held a light that brought a peace I had never known. Just before we were set to officially bond under the witness of the Moon Goddess, the people from the Silvermoon Pack arrived at our door. Ethan's father, the old Alpha who was ravaged by illness yet still iron-fisted, summoned me to his deathbed. He didn't waste words; he simply pushed a photograph toward me. In the photo, Aiden was surrounded by several strange werewolves, a silver blade held against his throat. "We have uncovered his identity. He is the heir of the Alpha in Greenleaf Pack." The old Alpha's voice was predatory. "If you do not cooperate, that blade will fall tonight. Even if he lives, we have ways to hide him in the world's deepest darkness, ensuring you two never see each other again." What he wanted was me. More specifically, he wanted my bloodline. After all, I was from the Goldmane Clan. "Ethan has already gotten that lowly Omega pregnant, and the Elders are in an uproar. " The old Alpha's gaze was as cold as an ice blade. "I need you to stand by his side and use the prestige of the Goldmane Clan to suppress the dissenting voices." "Seven years," I whispered, my very soul trembling. "After seven years, I will leave. And Aiden must live; he must be free." The old Alpha stayed silent for a moment before slowly nodding his head. And so, Aiden was driven out of the Silvermoon Pack's sphere of influence, while I traded a forced mate bond for the hope that my fated mate would survive. At the grand bonding ceremony, Alpha Ethan never showed up. I faced the entire pack alone and became the laughingstock of everyone from that day forward. In the seven years that followed, Ethan treated me like the lowest Omega servant and publicly humiliated me at every turn, claiming he would make me pay for this forced bond. He ordered me to listen to the sounds of his trysts in the master bedroom all night. He made me clean up the filth they left behind. He made me wash the clothes of his mistress and his bastards. He made me act as a nanny and tutor for his four illegitimate children. He paraded his mistress and bastards through the streets, ensuring I was despised and mocked by the entire pack. ***** But all of that was finally going to end today. I felt a sense of lightness and freedom I had never known. Ethan's mother looked at me with a complicated, bittersweet expression. "I will have Ethan sign the documents to dissolve the mate bond at the Full Moon Council next month. You will be completely free then. "During this month, do not leak anything to anyone. Especially Ethan—he must not find out about Aiden." I nodded, swallowing the bitterness that rose at the thought of Aiden. Lyra let out a low whimper inside me; she was pining for him. So was I. But now I had hope. This torture would end soon. In one month, I would finally see my fated mate after seven long years apart.