The Day My Mate & Child Turned Against Me

Chapter 2

He flinched, almost imperceptibly, a flicker of something—guilt, maybe, or just the ghost of the man I once knew—crossing his features before it was gone, replaced by the hard, implacable mask of the Alpha.

He stood a little taller, if that was somehow possible, and looked down at me from his height. The disdain in his eyes was a punch to the gut.

"There is nothing to discuss," he said, his tone clipped and final. "The will of the Moon Goddess is clear. You will respect her decision."

"What about me?" I seethed, not able to help myself, not able to hold my frustration in. "Am I supposed to just accept this? We have a son, Lucian. Think about him, if not me. Or at least think about your dead brother who's probably twisting in his grave right now, knowing the brother he raised with so much love and care is now after his wife. Don't you feel even a shred of guilt?"

Lucian's face hardened at my words, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

"Watch your tone, Aveline," he warned, his voice a low growl that rumbled through the clearing. "You will not speak of my brother in this manner."

"Your brother?" I laughed, shaking my head. "You dare to speak of your brother after this? He would be disgusted with you, Lucian. Disgusted!"

The air grew heavy with tension, the pack members holding their breath, their gazes flitting between their Alpha and me, their loyalties already shifting, already aligning with the new power dynamic.

Lucian's eyes darkened, a flash of anger in their depths. "You are overstepping, Aveline," he snarled, his grip on my hand tightening almost to the point of pain, before he hurled it away as if he didn’t need it anymore. "You should have just accepted this gracefully. But now, you've made a scene."

"I've made a scene?" I sputtered, my own anger rising to meet his. "You publicly humiliate me, and I'm the one making a scene? Why don’t you just accept the truth, Lucian?” I whispered so only he could hear. “That it’s you, lusting after your brother’s widow, that you have decided to come up with such a lousy scheme.”

Because only I know how Lucian could never have a fated mate. He would never find her, even if she was standing right in front of his face. Only I knew the truth. The truth his brother told me on his deathbed. The truth he couldn't tell Lucian because it would have broken his heart and made him go insane--maybe his wolf, too.

Lucian didn't respond to my accusations, something he would have done in the past if he were in the right.

But this time, he couldn’t even open his mouth to deny me, couldn’t even shake his head to at least hand me some kind of doubt.

Instead, he turned to face the pack, his voice booming with authority, a clear attempt to regain control of the narrative.

"Aveline," he announced, his words like stones, "by defying the will of the Moon Goddess and questioning the authority of your Alpha, you have shown yourself to be undeserving of the title of Luna."

The crowd gasped, a collective sound of shock and dismay.

"As of this moment," Lucian continued, his gaze sweeping over the shocked faces of our pack members, "you are stripped of your position as Luna. Your duties and privileges are revoked."

"What?" I breathed, the word a whisper of disbelief. “Are you seriously—”

"You heard me," Lucian thundered, turning back to face me, his eyes cold and hard as steel. "You are no longer my Luna. I wanted to save you some dignity, Aveline. I truly did. But you had to push it. You had to make this difficult."

I stared at him, my mind reeling, trying to process the magnitude of what he had just done. He wasn't just breaking my heart. He wasn't just betraying our son. He was publicly stripping me of everything I had worked for, everything I had built with him. He was taking away my identity, my purpose, my home.

And then, to add the final, devastating blow, he turned to Lyra, his expression softening, a smile touching his lips as he reached for her hand.

"Lyra," he said, his voice filled with a warmth that had once been reserved for me alone, "as my fated mate and the will of the Moon Goddess, I name you Luna of the Silver Creek Pack. Come stand by my side."

Lyra, with a perfectly practiced look of humble acceptance, moved to his side, her fingers lacing with his. She looked at me, a single tear glistening on her cheek, her eyes filled with a false sympathy that made my stomach turn.

"I'm so sorry, Aveline," she whispered, her voice a saccharine poison. "I truly am. But the heart wants what it wants. And the Moon Goddess... she has a plan for all of us. I’m sure she has something in store for you, too.”

I wanted to scream. I wanted to shift and tear them both to shreds. I wanted to make them pay for this injustice, for this betrayal that went deeper than any wound I had ever received in battle.

But only a painful laugh came out.

They all completely ignored me.

I watched them one last time, the image of their clasped hands, their loving gazes, burning into my memory.

If Lucian thought this was the end of me, and the beginning of his life with Lyra, he had another thing coming.

There was no way I was accepting this nonsense.

When Brandon kept the secret about Lucian’s mate, he thought he was sparing his feelings, making sure his brother never felt the horrible, searing pain.

The only reason I kept quiet was because I believed the same.

To not the see the day he crumbles and finally breaks.

But I guess, it doesn’t matter anymore.