Rejected Luna, Desired Queen

Empty Chains

***Jarett***

Renée’s words hit me like a slap across the face.

I pulled her closer, my arms tight around her. Her body pressed against mine, and I could feel the small bump of her belly.

“You won’t be alone,” I whispered into her hair. “You’re the one I love. Soon you will be my Luna.”

She pulled away from me slowly.

“But till then, I’ll always be an outcast,” she said. “The woman who came between you and Ivy Weathers.”

She was right. The pack still looked at her like she didn’t belong. And now she carried my child. I could not let anything happen to her or the baby.

“Then I will make the announcement,” I told her. “Together with the news of our coming heir.”

I held her gaze. “Tomorrow night, I will mark you in public, for all to see. You will officially become my mate and Luna.”

At that, Renée gave a small smile.

“Can Ivy be there?” she asked. “I want her to be present.”

I smiled back and held her soft cheeks, pulling her closer.

I planted a kiss on her lips.

“Anything you want,” I said.

After a quick promise to come back and check up on Renée, I left the hospital. The drive to the pack house felt heavier than usual. My wolf stirred restlessly under my skin, urging me to deal with the loose end that was Ivy before tomorrow night’s ceremony. She needed to see me, to understand that her only way out of that cell was on her knees, begging for the mercy she didn’t deserve. I would make her grovel until she broke. Only then would I decide whether to release her or keep her locked away forever.

I went straight to the lower levels the moment I stepped into the pack house. The dungeons beneath the main building were carved deep into the earth. Cold stone walls, silver-laced bars, and enchantments that dulled even the strongest wolf's abilities. Only a handful of guards had keys, and every entrance was monitored. No one escaped the Alpha’s dungeon. No one.

The head guard, Marcus, straightened when he saw me approaching the iron gate that sealed off the cell block.

“Alpha,” he said, bowing low. “Here to see the prisoner?”

I nodded once, jaw tight. “Open it. I want a word with my so-called Luna.”

Marcus fumbled with the keys, his face paling slightly. He unlocked the heavy door and stepped inside first, as protocol demanded. I followed, the damp chill of the underground pressing against my skin.

I already had an image in my head of how she's supposed to look. Drenched cold in sweat, shivering, bound in heavy chains, knees bent in submission, mouth parted wordlessly in constant pleas for mercy.

The cell at the end of the short corridor was supposed to hold her, but there were silver chains bolted to the wall, a thin cot, nothing else. But when Marcus swung the barred door wide, the cell was empty.

The chains lay coiled on the stone floor like discarded snakes. The cot was untouched. No scent of fear, no sign of struggle. Just… gone.

For a second, the world went silent.

“What the hell is this?” I growled, voice low and lethal.

Marcus spun around, eyes wide with terror. “Alpha, I swear she was here at dawn check. I did the rounds myself. The bars were locked—”

I grabbed him by the front of his uniform and slammed him against the wall hard enough that dust rained from the ceiling. “Then explain to me how my prisoner vanished from a sealed dungeon under my own house!”

His feet dangled an inch off the ground. “I don’t know, Alpha. No one entered or left. The cameras—”

“Check them. Now.” I dropped him and turned on my heel, already mind-linking every ranked wolf in the pack.

“Lockdown. Every border patrol doubled. Search parties in the woods, the city outskirts, and the old trails. Ivy Weathers has escaped. Bring her back. Alive and unharmed. She is still mine until I say otherwise.”

Alarms began to blare through the pack house above us. I heard boots pounding on the stairs, warriors shifting into alert mode. My frustration boiled over into pure rage. How dare she slip away like some common rogue? After everything I had given her, after I had chosen to spare her life instead of ending it for her betrayal, she still found a way to humiliate me.

I stormed out of the dungeons and up into the main hall, Marcus and three other guards scrambling behind me. “Find out who helped her,” I snapped. “Interrogate every servant who had access to this level in the last twenty-four hours. If I find a traitor in my house, their head will decorate the front gate by sunrise.”

The words tasted like ash. My wolf was snarling, clawing to be let loose and hunt her down personally. But I couldn’t. Not yet. Renée was waiting at the hospital. The pack needed their Alpha calm to be calm. Yet every second Ivy remained free was another c***k in my authority.

The ride back to the pack house…wait, I was already here. The thought made me laugh bitterly. I had come straight from the hospital only to walk into this disaster. My mind kept wandering as I tried to focus on what came next. I stared at nothing, seeing only the empty cell.

I did not realise how hungry I was until I reached the dining hall. The smell of spicy roasted meat hit my nose and my stomach growled. But the moment I sat at the head of the table and took the first bite, I spat it out, nearly gagging.

“What is this?” I demanded, voice sharp enough to cut glass.

A young maid rushed forward, trembling. “Alpha, I’m very very sorry—”

I cut her off, the escape still burning in my veins.

“What is this rubbish?”

“The Luna is the one who cooks your meals, Alpha,” she explained quickly. “She insisted that you liked your food prepared in a special way, and only she could do it right. We tried to copy the Luna’s method, but this was the best we could make.”

I stared at her, the frustration from the dungeon slamming into me again. Ivy had been cooking for me? The knowledge twisted like a knife. Another way she had wormed herself into my life.

“Ivy has been the one making my meals?” I asked, voice dangerously low.

“Yes, Alpha.”

The anger that had been simmering since the empty cell exploded. I shoved the plate away so hard it cracked against the table. “I thought I made it clear I wanted nothing to do with her,” I growled out.

“You were sick then, Alpha,” she said. “It was during the time of the terrible illness you had. You couldn’t keep down any food the kitchen staff made. We were all worried. Luna Ivy stepped in and decided to make the meals from that time on. Ever since, you always insisted that only her food was good enough.”

My mind went blank for a second.

“What…?” I muttered. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“It appears that the Luna thought you would never have

agreed to that,” the maid said. “So she offered to cook the food secretly.”