The Luna's Forgotten Vow

Chapter 4: The Bombshell

Just then, the door to my office flew open without a knock. A very tall, completely naked man stepped inside, having just shifted from his wolf form. Four other naked men remained outside my office, standing guard like statues.

I frowned and rose to my feet.

“Excuse me, sir? This is a medical facility. You can’t just walk in here like this. It could create severe tension and trigger complications among hypertensive patients.”

The man didn’t even spare me a glance. His attention remained fixed on Alpha Ryker, who was still looking out the window, pretending he hadn’t noticed the man who had entered my office.

Before the stranger could speak, Ryker spoke first.

“Let’s talk outside, Raxel.”

The stranger moved closer to him and stood beside him.

“It seems you’ve forgotten my master’s warning,” he said.

“She is my mate,” Alpha Ryker replied in a low voice, clearly trying to keep me from hearing.

But I heard him.

“Well, you have twenty-four hours.”

Raxel turned around and left the office. His guards followed him, leaving the room strangely silent.

I looked at Ryker in confusion.

“Who was that? Who sent him?”

Alpha Ryker remained silent. After what felt like forever, he finally turned to face me.

“Malia turned eighteen last night.”

“I'm aware,” I responded.

“She is going to become my Luna,” he said in a low, mysterious tone.

The words landed like a dagger in my heart. I tried to breathe, but it was suddenly so hard. My eyes closed immediately.

Maybe if I kept them closed long enough, this nightmare would disappear.

Blindly, I found my chair and slowly sat down. Deep in my despair, I could hear Ryker talking.

“When I accepted the position of Alpha of this pack, I signed an agreement. It was one of the conditions.”

“You know Malia is the former Alpha’s daughter,” he continued quietly. “By tradition, she has the first right to become Luna.”

“And besides…” He paused. “I’m a Lunarian, and you’re an outcast with no known origin. The council would never approve you as my Luna.”

“Oh, God…” The whisper escaped my lips before I could stop it. It was followed by a long silence.

The office became painfully quiet. I waited. Surely, he would tell me this was some cruel birthday prank. But he didn’t.

When I finally opened my eyes, he was still leaning against the window with his arms folded, waiting for me to say something.

“Alpha… you were an outcast too. They still made you Alpha. Why is my case different?”

“Arya, I was an outcast, yes. But everyone knew where I came from. My mother left our original pack after my father denied that Aerion was his biological son. She was angry and left with us. The council investigated my bloodline. They confirmed who I was, and they accepted me.”

He looked straight into my eyes.

“We don’t know where you came from, and because of that, we couldn’t trace your bloodline, Arya.”

Those words shattered something inside me.

“What if… what if I ask my mother?”

Alpha Ryker said nothing. We both already knew the answer. My mother would rather die than speak of the pack that had cast her out for the crime of being human. Over her dead body would she ever tell me anything.

And the cruelest part of it all was that she and my father had erased every trace of where I came from, as though I had been born from nothing at all.

“You know that’s not possible,” Ryker said quietly.

I slowly nodded. Another piece of my heart broke.

I took a long, shaky breath.

“So you’re saying you’d rather be Alpha of this pack than be with me?” I asked. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

“That’s not what I’m saying, Arya.”

“That’s exactly what you’re saying, RJ!” I yelled, slamming my clenched fist onto my desk.

“Arya, I signed an agreement!”

“Which means you wanted the position more than you wanted me!”

This time, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I let them fall freely because he wasn’t a stranger to me. As far as he was concerned, he had already seen every version of me there was to see. The brave one and the broken one. There was no use pretending to be strong now, not when my entire world was collapsing in front of me.

“I love you, Ryker,” I whimpered.

“Arya, you have to believe me,” he said quietly. “I didn’t see that clause when I signed the document. By the time I realized it was there, it was already too late.”

“Then fight for us! Fight the council. Fight your title. Fight anything standing between us!”

“You don’t understand what’s at stake, Arya.”

“I understand perfectly,” I cut in. “You’re telling me that the man standing in front of me now would rather wear a crown than hold my hand in front of this pack.”

“I’m also a Lunarian.”

“So am I.”

“I can't prove that to the council, Arya.”

“You are my proof! If the Moon Goddess fated me to you, then I have to be a Lunarian too!” I argued.

“Lunari wolves aren’t fated to ordinary wolves.”

There was a long silence before I spoke again.

“Ryker, you were the reason I didn’t leave with my mother. You were the reason I told myself the ache of not knowing where I came from didn’t matter because I had somewhere to belong anyway.”

I rose from my seat, grabbed an empty carton, and began packing my belongings one by one. A small part of me still hoped he would stop me, grab my wrist, and ask, “What are you doing?”

But Ryker remained silent, watching me without saying a word.

“Maybe it’s time I stopped waiting for a home that was never really mine,” I said. “Maybe it’s time I go join my mother in the human world.”

“That’s the best decision, Arya,” he said instead.

I frowned, staring at him as though he had spoken in a language I no longer understood. I couldn’t believe he had said it.

I had hoped pretending to leave would make him stop me, but he didn’t. That was when I realized he truly wanted me gone. If leaving the pack was what he wanted, then I would grant him that wish, even if it broke my heart.

Part of me still wanted to believe that the man who had walked into this office moments ago had something over Ryker, some threat or leverage that had forced his hand.

But Alpha Ryker wasn’t just any wolf. His younger brother, Aerion, was the strongest Alpha in the entire wolf region, with Ryker ranking second. No one could defeat either of them. Ryker was a man who bowed to no one and feared no one.

I looked at Alpha Ryker again. He had masked every emotion on his face, leaving me with nothing to hold on to.

Why did I give him my heart? I kept asking myself. Why did I love him so completely?

My thoughts became a blur, and I could feel myself losing my mind one painful moment at a time.

He moved closer and leaned down, whispering into my ear.

“Whatever you do, Arya, stay away from men, both werewolves and humans. Don’t let any man have you.”

I pulled back and stared at him.

“Excuse me? You have absolutely no right to tell me that.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I. You gave up your right to make demands the moment you chose Malia.”

“This has nothing to do with Malia.”

“Then what does it have to do with?”

“The lives of the wolves in this region may depend on what you do next. Until I figure out what’s happening, stay away from men.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused.

“Take care of yourself, and give my regards to your mother and half siblings,” he said. Then he turned and walked out of my office.