The Rejected Substitute Luna

Jasmine's Pov I felt him deeper and harder with every thrust, and I was in heaven. Our bodies moved together like we were one body and one soul as he worshipped every part of me. His strokes were hard and fast, and I could feel his tip tapping my cervix, but the small pain sent electric shocks of pleasure through my body. It was Garrett’s birthday, and after three years of marriage, I wanted nothing more than to give him a night he would never forget. One of his hands was rubbing my c**t, and my whole body was overflowing with pleasure, and my p***y clamped around his c**k, feeling myself about to c*m only for someone to start knocking on our bedroom door, pushing away the feeling. ​Garrett froze, his muscles locking tight and a snarl ripped from his throat. "Go away!" He roared towards the door. "Whatever it is, it can wait until morning." ​​"Alpha. Forgive me, but you need to come down right now," the Beta’s voice shouted with panic. ​"I said leave, Will!" Garrett barked, his grip on me tightening in anger. But he didn't stop what he was doing. ​"Alpha, it… it's Jenny," William yelled back, his voice cracking. "She’s… alive. She’s downstairs." ​​The effect was instantaneous. The heat in Garrett's body vanished, replaced by cold stillness, and the color drained from his face. He pulled away from me as I burned him. ​"Garrett?" I whispered, scrambling to sit up, holding the sheets to my chest. "Garrett, what's wrong? Who is—" It's like he didn't hear me when he scrambled to get his clothes, and without throwing a glance back in my direction, he left the room, slamming the door behind him. Jenny. ​The name wasn't new to me, but I could justify it back then when he called me that when we were having s*x one night. But back then, I thought it was just a slip of the tongue or a wrong name, so I ignored it. However hearing it now, in this exact moment, everything clicked. A suffocating feeling washed over me, adding to my paranoia and suspicion. Who is Jenny? Why does he care about Jenny so much? I forced myself to move and hurriedly threw on a simple dress. My hands were trembling as I tied the belt around my waist. I needed to know what was happening. I needed to understand the terror and longing I saw in my husband's eyes. As I reached the top of the stairs and looked down, the sight below made my breath catch in my throat. ​Garrett was on his knees, his powerful arms wrapped fiercely around a woman. He was holding her as if he were afraid she would disappear. ​The woman was a mess. She looked battered, broken, and deeply wounded. ​As if sensing my presence, she slowly shifted in Garrett's embrace, rested her chin on his shoulder, and looked up toward the staircase. ​Our eyes locked. ​The air left my lungs entirely, and the world around me tilted, spinning into a sickening, surreal blur. ​Looking back at me from the bottom of the stairs, framed by the tattered clothes and the dirt, was a face I recognized instantly. It was a face I saw every single day. She had my eyes. My nose. The exact structure of my jaw. The woman in my husband's arms was a perfect, identical mirror image of me. "Who... are you?" she croaked out, and they both turned to look at me. I was stunned for a few seconds, but my mouth moved along with my feet as I made my way downstairs. "Who are you?" I asked, turning to look at Garrett, who couldn't stop looking at her. "I'm his wife," I said, standing tall and looking straight at my husband, who couldn't even tell the woman in his arms who I am. "I'm his Luna." "No, no, no!" the woman said, trying to stand up and pushing Garrett away. But he kept touching her, furthermore driving that knife in my heart deeper and deeper until I felt my heart bleeding. "Jen—" Garrett started, his voice cracking. "How could you do this to me?!" She cried out. "Listen to—" "How could you get married again after the promises that you made me? After everything we've been through and after everything I went through just to come back to you... but you're married! We're fated mates, Garrett. We grew up together here, we fell in love, and we were supposed to have our engagement ceremony before everything." She was burying me with every word coming out of her mouth, and I kept shaking you my heart to make sure it wasn't a dream, but it was real. "After everything we've been through, and after everything I suffered just to come back to you... you replaced me..." She said, shaking her head hysterically. “I didn't know you were still alive.” Garrett wrapped his hands around her face, looking at her with so much love and heartbreak, and I was just standing there watching them. "I was tortured for three years. I went through hell, but you couldn't wait for me, and you got married again." I felt the air shortening, and it was like I couldn't breathe. The past and the present were crashing together, and the pain was too much to handle. Suddenly, the woman’s eyes rolled back, and her body went completely limp, and she fainted. "Jenny!" Garrett screamed, panic taking over his face, and scooped her up into his arms without a second thought, and rushed out the front door toward the pack hospital. My feet moved on their own as I followed closely behind them, my mind was numb. ​At the pack hospital, I stood quietly by the door of the room, watching them. Garrett didn't even notice I was in the room. He sat right on the edge of the bed, tenderly wiping the dirt away from her forehead. He held her pale, scratched hand against his cheek, whispering soft words to her as she slept. ​Watching his intense, loving gaze unease washed over me. Why does Jenny look exactly like me? How? My mind raced backward, remembering how everything first started. ​I still remember the desperation of being a nameless nobody in the Moonfall Pack, watching my elderly foster mother suffer under the cruel abuse inflicted on Omegas. I was willing to do anything to buy our freedom. When Garrett appeared at that pack summit like a dark savior, offering a contract marriage in exchange for Willa’s safety and medical care, I signed the papers without hesitation. Back then, I thought I was just lucky, and it was definitely something out of a fairy tale, but I didn't care because I found my saving grace. And somewhere between the cold clauses of that contract and the quiet nights we shared, I lost my heart to him. And I never understood why he chose me. A lowly omega. ​But standing here in the cold hospital room, I felt an overwhelming amount of heartbreak. The realization finally settled in, and I realized there was so much more to our marriage than met the eye. Garrett has never truly looked at me. He has never forgotten his fated mate. He only married me because I had her face, and for three whole years, he was just looking at the ghost of her.