Their Barren Luna

7: I Reject You, Alphas

The room Siya led me into was small, with stone walls so cold that even the air seemed to shiver. No bed. No window. Only a slab of concrete floor and a faint smell of dampness clinging to the corners. A cell. A place meant to break someone quietly.

She didn’t even look me in the eye as she stopped by the door. Her voice was flat, detached, as though I was beneath her notice.

“I advise you—if you are wolfless, you should have turned. But you still insist on defiance. You’re even lucky to still breathe, because by now you should have been killed.”

Her words were sharp, but she didn’t wait for my reply. She left without turning back, until the heavy door slammed shut behind her.

The silence was suffocating. I sank onto the cold floor, hugging my knees to my chest. My body still ached everywhere, as if my bones had splintered from Rhett’s earlier grip. My thighs burned, my head spun, and yet something worse crawled beneath my skin—an ache that wasn’t physical but alive, something clawing to break free.

And then the whisper came again.

“I’m here with you.”

I stiffened. My heart raced.

“Are you… my wolf?” My voice cracked, trembling as if it carried too much hope.

“Yes. I am.”

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes before I could stop them. For so long, nineteen years, I’d carried the shame of being wolfless—the stares, the whispers, the cruelty. A walking curse, they’d called me. Bad luck in flesh. And now, finally, finally, a wolf.

“Oh, my God… I’m so happy,” I whispered, clutching at my chest. “Maybe now no one will see me as bad luck. Maybe if I take off this necklace, I won’t change into—”

“Getting your wolf doesn’t mean you should remove the necklace, Sumy.”

The voice was different this time. Not my wolf. Stronger. Older. A tone that seemed to coil around my soul.

I froze. My brows furrowed. “What? Who… who are you?”

“You’re gifted with two things. A wolf… and me.”

Shock jolted me. “Two things? No. That’s impossible. I can't have two wolves.”

“Oh, but I am not a wolf.” Her voice was like velvet and steel together, smooth yet piercing. “I am none. I will always be the one with you when you are lonely.”

My throat went dry. None? What could she mean? Then what is she

“I am inside you. You can call me… Echý.”

The name echoed in my mind. I flinched, my lips parting.

“You can… read my thoughts?”

“Yes.”

I pressed my back against the wall, my heartbeat frantic. Two voices. Two presences inside me. One my wolf. One something else—something that wasn’t human, wasn’t wolf, and yet… bound to me.

“Echý…” I repeated slowly, tasting the name. My gaze flicked upward, even though there was no one in the room. “Then what’s my wolf’s name?”

The softer voice answered now, the one who had whispered mates to me.

“Call me anything.”

Relief washed through me. Something familiar at least.

“What of… Cynthia?” I whispered.

“Sure. I like it.”

Cynthia. My wolf. Echý. The other half of something I didn’t yet understand.

I pressed my palms together, almost in prayer. “Echý… can you get me out of here? Can I see you?”

A sound came first—the faint scuff of footsteps down the corridor. The door creaked open. My heart leapt—freedom? But no. No one was there. The hall stretched empty, and just as I took a step forward, the heavy door slammed shut again.

“It’s not yet time for me to fight for you. Until you figure it out yourself. As for seeing me—not yet. Wait for the right time.”

Frustration twisted in my chest. “What do you mean, not yet?” I turned, scanning the shadows of the room. “Don’t talk in riddles! Show yourself—”

Nothing. Silence.

“Echý?” My voice cracked. “Echý, answer me!”

No reply.

I shut my eyes, trying to breathe. “Fine. Cynthia. Tell me—how do I shift into you? I want to see you.”

“You can’t shift yet,” she answered gently. “Not until our mates mark us.”

I froze, blood chilling.

“What?” I hissed. “No. No, that can’t be true.”

“It is.”

Anger surged. I don’t need a mate! I don’t need to be owned! Do you know what being a Luna means? It means being a s*x toy, a puppet, a vessel for children I don’t want. Living beneath an Alpha’s shadow. I can’t—”

I broke off, shaking my head furiously. I can't get pregnant and born someone like my sister Dani, and my brother Daniel, people deserves not to be borned. The cruelty of Alphas. The blood on their hands.

“No,” I whispered, clutching at my chest. “I can’t live that life. I’ve lived nineteen years without a wolf. I lived a peaceful life without you. I don’t need any of this.

“Is this peaceful life? Do you even know why you couldn’t shift at twelve?” Cynthia asked softly.

I pressed my palms harder into my temples. “I don’t need to know! Just—go back to wherever you came from! If you think you’ll control me, you’re wrong. I will not be chained. Not by you. Not by them.”

Silence. Then a whisper, sharper than a blade.

“our mates won’t let us go.”

My stomach twisted.

“How can they not let me go when they don’t even know I’m their mate?”

“Alpha Rhett knows,” Cynthia murmured.

Her words silenced me. My breath stilled. If he knew—why hadn’t he rejected me, especially after I disrespected them? After I disrespected them again and again?

“And why do I keep hearing mates—plural? Not one. All three of them, and why will they die if they didn't find their mate?

“Because they are. But only Rhett sensed it after your… little intimacy. Ronan and Ryder will know too, if anything passes between you.

And they don't just sleep with different she wolf everyday for pleasure, there's something behind it.

That’s all I can tell you. The rest is none of my business”

My pulse thundered. All three? My chest felt tight, suffocating.

The door clanged open again. Siya entered with a tray balanced in her hands. She didn’t glance at me as she set it down beside me. Basmati rice, chicken, fish—the aroma rich and tempting. She turned to leave, her eyes never meeting mine.

“Wait,” I called softly. “Can I ask you something?”

Her steps paused. But her answer was curt. “I’m not allowed to talk to you.”

The door shut again.

I exhaled, frustrated. My stomach churned with hunger and anger both. Still, I turned to the food. The steam curled upward, mouthwatering. “Oh, my God,” I muttered. “This is a hundred times better than what I eat on normal days…”

My hand hovered above the chicken when the door creaked again. This time, it wasn’t Siya.

The guard stepped in. The one from before. His eyes roamed over me hungrily, devouring my body. His smile twisted something dark.

“Siya said you were about to be killed for being wolfless,” he said casually. “So? That means I get to f**k you first.” His gaze flicked toward the corner. “And thank the Goddess, the camera’s broken.”

Revulsion coiled in my stomach. But quickly, I steadied myself. This was an opportunity.

“Sure,” I said softly, stepping toward him. His grin widened, lust dripping from his eyes.

I laid a hand on his chest, fingers brushing his n****e through his shirt. “But before you f**k me, I need some answers.”

His breath hitched. His eyes closed briefly, savoring the touch. “Ask…”

“Why will the Alphas die if they don’t find their mate?” My voice was honey, my lips brushing his ear.

He hesitated. My hand slid lower, undoing the button of his trousers, brushing the hard outline beneath. His resistance melted.

“They carry a curse,” he breathed, eyes fluttering. “Years ago… they forced themselves on a sacred girl. The Moon Goddess loved her. When she killed herself, the Goddess cursed them. At thirty, they die. Unless they find a powerful mate, mark her, and… share her as their Luna.”

I froze. My hand dropped instantly.

The memory of her face slammed into me. That girl. The most loved she-wolf. Pure. Devoted. She had told me, in sobs, of three men raping her. She had died hours later, poison in her veins, her dream of becoming a nun shattered.

Them. So It was them.

My chest burned, grief twisting into rage. My vision blurred with tears I refused to let fall.

I didn’t even notice his hand sliding up my chest until the door opened again. He jerked back immediately.

Ronan. Rhett. Ryder.

They entered together, their presence heavy, suffocating. Rhett didn’t hesitate. He pulled a sword free from the guard’s belt and drove it into his chest in one brutal thrust.

The guard gasped, eyes wide, blood spilling as he collapsed.

“Why?” Ryder barked. “Why kill him?”

Ronan’s voice was cold. “Didn’t you see? He dared to touch our mate.”

I laughed, the sound sharp and wicked, breaking the tension like glass.

“Mate?” I spat. “Mate?”

I straightened, my voice loud, defiant, the fire in me burning past exhaustion.

“I, Sumy Anderson, Alpha of myself to myself, reject you—Alpha Ronan, Rhett, and Ryder—as my mates. And I reject being the Luna of this pack.!”