Reborn Luna: I will never be yours again

Charlene The moment I walked into the bedroom, I knew my marriage was over. Owen, my beloved mate, was in bed with his favorite cousin. For a second, my mind refused to process what I was seeing. I stood frozen by the doorway while the silver tray in my hands trembled violently. My eyes moved slowly from the black silk sheets tangled around their bodies to Vanessa’s pale shoulders, pressed intimately against Owen’s chest. No. This could not be happening. Vanessa noticed me first. A sharp gasp escaped her lips before she quickly pulled the blanket over herself, but it was already too late. I had seen everything. The marks covering Owen’s chest. Vanessa’s lipstick smeared along his neck. The unmistakable intimacy between them that no cousin should ever have. My stomach twisted violently. “Owen…” My voice came out weak and broken. My mate slowly turned toward me, his silver eyes meeting mine instantly. The sight of his face shattered something inside me because there was no guilt there. Not even a little. There was only irritation. As though I had interrupted something important. The tray slipped from my numb fingers and crashed loudly against the marble floor. Porcelain shattered instantly while hot tea splashed across my feet, but I barely felt it. I could not breathe. For three years, I had treated Vanessa like family because Owen told me she was his cousin. I welcomed her into our home. I comforted her when she cried. I protected her when servants whispered that she behaved too affectionately around my husband. I trusted her. Dear Goddess, I trusted both of them. And now they were lying naked in my bed. Tears burned my eyes so painfully that my vision blurred. “How long?” I whispered. Neither of them answered immediately. Vanessa lowered her gaze while pretending to look ashamed, but I noticed the way she moved closer toward Owen beneath the blankets. The tiny movement felt too deliberate. Like she had already won. The realization made my chest ache so badly that I physically struggled to breathe. “How long have you been sleeping together?” I asked again, my voice shaking harder this time. Owen exhaled slowly before sitting upright against the headboard, without bothering to cover the marks all over his skin. “Charlene,” he said calmly, “you need to calm down.” A broken laugh nearly escaped me. Calm down? My husband was sleeping with the woman he claimed was his cousin, and he wanted me to calm down? “You told me she was family,” I whispered shakily. “You told me she was your cousin.” Silence filled the room for several unbearable seconds before Owen finally looked directly into my eyes. “She is not my cousin.” My entire body went numb. “What?” Vanessa’s eyes immediately filled with tears while Owen’s expression remained terrifyingly calm. “She is my real mate.” The words destroyed me. I physically staggered backward as though he had struck me across the face. My breathing became uneven while the mate bond mark on my neck burned painfully beneath my skin. “No,” I whispered instantly. “No, that is impossible.” Because I was his mate. I was his wife. I was the woman chosen for him by the Moon Goddess. So what was I? A replacement? A political sacrifice? Owen rubbed a tired hand across his face before finally speaking again. “I met Vanessa years before I married you. The council refused to approve our union because her bloodline was considered unsuitable for the future Luna of Blackwood Pack.” Every word felt like another knife sinking deeper into my chest. “So you married me instead,” I whispered weakly. Owen did not deny it. The room suddenly felt suffocatingly small. My chest tightened painfully while memories replayed endlessly inside my head. Every time Vanessa smiled at me. Every dinner we shared together. Every moment I defended her. Dear Goddess. How many people knew? How many people laughed at me behind my back while I played the role of the devoted wife, too blind to realize her marriage was built on lies? Tears slid helplessly down my face. “You used me,” I whispered brokenly. For the first time since I entered the room, Owen’s expression shifted slightly. “It was never supposed to happen like this.” That sentence shattered me completely because he still was not apologizing. Not once had he said sorry. Not once had he denied betraying me. He only regretted that I found out. Then suddenly, another horrifying realization struck me. My eyes moved slowly toward the nursery connected to the bedroom—toward the little girl sleeping peacefully inside. Fear curled violently inside my stomach. “The child,” I whispered shakily. “Vanessa… does this mean…” Vanessa immediately looked away. And suddenly, I understood everything. My knees nearly gave out beneath me. “Oh my God.” My voice cracked completely as horror washed over me. “The child is yours.” Neither of them denied it. That hurt more than any confession ever could. I remembered every fever I stayed awake through with that little girl. Every bedtime story. Every birthday celebration. Every moment I held her while Vanessa rested. I loved that child like she was my own—all while they stood there watching me like a complete i***t. “You told me she belonged to your dead sister,” I whispered. “We had no choice,” Vanessa said softly through tears. “The council would have separated us.” I stared at her in disbelief. “No choice?” I repeated weakly before my voice suddenly rose. “You lying psychopaths hid behind me for years while sleeping together in my house and raising your child under my nose, and you dare stand there telling me you had no choice?” A sharp knock suddenly echoed through the room before the bedroom door opened again. Owen’s mother stepped inside first, followed by his younger sister and father. The moment they saw me standing there crying, silence filled the room. Then something inside me broke completely. Because none of them looked shocked. Not one of them. My gaze moved slowly across their faces while cold realization settled heavily inside my chest. They knew. Every single one of them knew.