Give My Quadruplets Back, My Luna!

~Prologue~ From the start, I never asked for this life. The Luna of Emerald Stone Pack, Natalia, wasn't my real mother, but she raised me or at least, she called it raising. I was the daughter she didn’t want, the spare she kept around for moments like this. Her real children had options. They could say no to marriages, fight for what they wanted. But me? I was just... offered. Like a gift, wrapped up and given away without a second thought. Derrick wasn’t a man I loved. I didn’t even like him. When she told me I was to marry him, the Alpha with a heart of stone from the neighboring pack, I wanted to rebel for once in my life, but I didn’t.  I never did.  The wedding day came and went, and I barely even felt present. I was there in body, but my mind kept wandering off to a life where I had a choice. Freedom I had longed for but that dream crumbled when his icy hands gripped mine in front of the pack. I belonged to him now. His wife. His posession. And he never treated me like a wife.  Not even on our honeymoon where we had to pretend to love each other for a couple of days. I was only visible when Derrick wanted something, when he wanted to drag me into his bed.  That was the only time he saw me. For his pleasure. Never mine. * * *  Sitting in the doctor’s office, I clasped my fingers together so tightly it hurt. My knuckles whitened, but I couldn’t let them see me crack. Not now. Derrick, bored, sat beside me, his hand resting lazily on his knee as if he would rather be anywhere but here. I was on edge, trying not to show it. He, as always, was uncaring, relaxed. His mother sat on his other side, watching me like an intimidating hawk.  I didn’t need to look at her to feel her eyes yearning to tear me apart. She hadn’t spoken to me the whole drive here, hadn’t spoken to me for weeks, actually. Not unless it was to remind me of my duty, bearing Derrick’s child. It was the only thing that mattered to her. The doctor came in soon, holding the papers that would either seal my fate or make me lose it all to another.  “Doctor, tell us what does the test result say?” His mother was the first to inquire.  He hesitated for a minute, locking eyes with every one of us before breathing out those words that dimmed my light. “You’re not pregnant.”  “I’m sorry but the tests are negative.” Silence enveloped the room, and disappointment seeped through me. I had failed again. The room suddenly felt suffocating for me to stay in. Derrick didn’t even look at me; he just glanced at his father, as if I wasn’t sitting right there. “So,” Derrick spoke up, his voice still carrying that hint of boredom, “since she’s not pregnant, we should consider the arrangement with Veronica. She can carry my child. Junia can raise it.” “After all, she has to be useful for something. I can’t just have her around for nothing.”  As if the news wasn’t heartbreaking enough, he dropped another that sent my soul nearly out of my body. Raise his child? The one he’d have with another woman? This whole time, he had been cheating on me? And his parents knew already?!  I clenched my fists tighter, my claws digging into my palms till it bled. He didn’t care that I wasn’t pregnant because he had never even touched me like how I wanted him to. Never laid a hand on me except to parade me around like a trophy or make it seem like I was worth something to him in front of the pack. His mother’s eyes held mine now, disappointment turning into anger. She didn’t need to say anything; her deadly glare was enough. I was a failure. I had no purpose in this house if I couldn’t give him a child. Derrick stood, and with him, his parents. I stayed seated, staring at the floor, feeling like I could sink right through it. I wished I could. “Let’s go,” Derrick called out, his voice still as cold as ever. “We’re done here.” The drive home was silent. Derrick didn’t come with me. He had "business" to take care of, but I knew where he really was going. To Veronica. I would have enjoyed the solace but his mother just had to ruin it. “I knew from the start that you’d be good for nothing considering how your mother cheaply sold you off.” “All we asked for was a child. An heir but your dead womb can’t even provide that!” She spat out.  “You’re a disgrace! And you should pray dearly to the goddess that my son doesn’t divorce you!”  I didn’t dare to utter a word in return, I just sobbed silently till we got back home. Those were the words I had gotten accustomed to.  “Slave girl.” “Barren woman.”  “Ugly wench.”  I didn’t expect her to stop because Derrick never said anything to her and the one time I had stood up to her, he threatened to make my life miserable.  So it was better this way. I’d stay mute and receive all of her harsh words while Derrick would equally act deaf to his mother’s fault.  When I eventually returned to his mansion, it was empty. Of course, it was. He wasn’t coming home tonight. He hadn’t come home many nights since we were married. I stepped inside, the echo of my footsteps the only sound in the quiet house. On the table, a small box sat, wrapped in plain paper with a neat bow. I had forgotten about it. Derrick’s birthday. I had spent hours choosing that gift, thinking that maybe, just maybe, it would make him see me. Maybe he’d smile, thank me, even talk to me like I was more than just the woman he married for convenience. But now, looking at the box, I knew he wouldn’t even open it. He wouldn’t care. He’d spend the night with Veronica, probably celebrating in ways I’d never know. The gift suddenly felt ridiculous. What had I been thinking? How did I end up here―in this life, with a man who didn’t love or even see me? I thought back to the first time I met Derrick. The way he had smiled at me, so warm and inviting. It had all been an act. A lie. He never wanted me.  He wanted what I represented. Power to possess. Position with the security of an heir. An easy way to keep his hands clean while he lived the life he wanted with someone else. Looking at the gift again, agony clutched my chest. Tears betrayed my eyes, but I blinked them away. Crying wouldn’t fix this. Nothing would. This was my life now. Trapped in a marriage with a man who didn’t care if I existed, only wanting me when it was convenient. And now, with his plan to have a child with Veronica... I wasn’t sure how much longer I could pretend it didn’t hurt. How much longer I could go on like this? But for now, I stayed in that chair, staring at the gift I knew he’d never open.