His Luna In Name Only: His Plus-Sized Mate

Doing this on purpose

Mirellie

The first thing I felt was pain. It wrapped around my entire body heavily, settling deep into my muscles and bones until even breathing felt exhausting. My head throbbed faintly, my limbs felt too heavy to move, and there was a strange bitterness lingering at the back of my throat.

A soft groan escaped me before I could stop it.

“She’s waking up.”

The voice drifted toward me slowly. Familiar and male.

I forced my eyes open, blinking against the light overhead. Everything looked blurry at first. White curtains. Wooden ceiling. Shelves lined with bottles and herbs.

The infirmary.

Realization settled slowly into my fogged mind. I had collapsed. Heat crawled weakly into my face as shame followed immediately after. Of course I had collapsed. In front of Lady Celestine too.

I tried to push myself up slightly, but dizziness hit me almost immediately.

“Don’t move too quickly.” This voice was older and calmer a without any hint of derision in it.

My vision cleared enough for me to recognize the pack healer standing nearby. He was mixing herbs together at the table beside the bed while Lucas stood near the door with his arms folded.

Lady Celestine stood farther away, her expression as cold and unimpressed as ever.

“You embarrassed yourself quite thoroughly,” she said before I could speak.

My throat tightened instantly. “I…” My voice came out weak and rough. “I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t help it. I apologized.

Lady Celestine looked almost offended by my condition.

“You collapsed because of exhaustion after a few hours of basic posture training,” she said sharply. “Do you understand how humiliating that is?”

The shame burning inside me deepened painfully. I lowered my eyes immediately.

The healer sighed quietly from beside the table.

“She collapsed from exhaustion and malnutrition,” he corrected calmly.

The room went still for a second. My stomach twisted.

Malnutrition.

The word sounded too serious. Too ugly. Like something that belonged to dying people and abandoned children. But I was part of the abandoned children, wasn’t I?

Lady Celestine scoffed lightly. “She lacks discipline, not nourishment.”

The healer shook his head once as he continued grinding herbs.

“No,” he said quietly. “This body is accustomed to deprivation.”

Something about the way he said it made my chest ache sharply.

Accustomed. Like hunger had become natural to me.

Maybe it had.

I stared down at my hands silently while memories surfaced without permission. Empty kitchens. Locked pantries. Drinking water just to stop the pain in my stomach long enough to sleep.

My wolf whimpered softly inside me.

Lady Celestine’s lips pressed into a thin line.

“Well,” she said coldly, “she will have to adjust quickly. A Luna cannot afford weakness.”

I swallowed hard and said nothing. The healer returned to the herbs on the table, picking up another jar before pausing suddenly with a frown.

“No,” I said instinctively before I could stop myself. “That root shouldn’t go with silverleaf.”

Silence filled the room. The healer turned slowly toward me.

“What?”

Heat rushed into my face immediately. I should not have spoken. Especially not here.

I lowered my gaze quickly. “Silverleaf reacts badly with duskroot when heated together,” I explained quietly. “It weakens the calming properties and can make the mixture too bitter for injured wolves to keep down.”

For a second, nobody spoke. Then the healer slowly looked down at the herbs in his hands before letting out a surprised sound under his breath.

“Well,” he murmured. “You are correct.”

My fingers curled slightly against the blanket.

“I only noticed because of the smell,” I whispered.

The healer stared at me with open curiosity now.

“Where did you learn that?”

Before I could answer, another voice spoke first.

“How do you know about medicinal herbs?”

My breath caught instantly. I looked toward the doorway. Evander stood there. I hadn’t even sensed him arrive.

His dark eyes were on me. They were unreadable and heavy enough to make my stomach tighten. He was still dressed in black, every inch of him controlled and intimidating.

The collar of his shirt covered the mating mark on his neck completely. Mine throbbed faintly in response to his presence.

My wolf stirred weakly.

Mate.

The bond pulsed painfully again. I forced myself to look away from him.

“Because I work at the clinic,” I answered quietly.

Something flickered briefly across his face. Surprise.

It vanished so quickly I almost thought I imagined it.

A strange laugh slipped out of me softly before I could stop it. Bitter and self-deprecating.

“So you really didn’t know,” I murmured.

His brows drew together faintly. I looked down at the blanket covering me because suddenly meeting his eyes felt unbearable.

“You stopped me from going to work this morning,” I said softly. “But you didn’t even know what I did there.”

The room became uncomfortably quiet. Evander said nothing. The healer cleared his throat awkwardly while Lucas, who came with him, looked anywhere except at us.

I laughed again softly, though there was no humor in it.

“That’s almost funny.”

My throat burned painfully afterward. I hated this. Hated how small I sounded. Bitter and pathetic and hurt.

Evander’s gaze remained fixed on me. For some reason, that made it worse.

Lady Celestine straightened stiffly beside the window.

“She is the Luna now,” she said crisply. “Working among commoners is inappropriate regardless of whatever minor tasks she handled before.”

“Minor tasks.” Something inside me shrank quietly again.

Healing sick pack members was considered a minor task. Of course it was—to someone like her. Someone who had never spent sleepless nights cleaning wounds, calming frightened children burning with fever, or trying to save dying wolves with barely enough supplies.

The healer finally finished preparing the medicine before walking toward the bed. He handed me the cup carefully.

“Drink this slowly,” he instructed gently. “Your body is severely weakened.”

I accepted it with trembling fingers. The smell alone made my stomach tighten painfully. Gods, I was hungry.

Embarrassment flooded me immediately after the thought.

I drank anyway.

Warmth spread slowly through my body as the healer continued speaking with Lady Celestine about rest and recovery. I barely listened. Because I could still feel Evander standing there and watching me with that dark eyes of his.

The bond made me painfully aware of him. Every shift of his body. Every breath. Every second of silence.

I hated it. I hated that my wolf still reacted to him despite everything.

Eventually, Lady Celestine left first, clearly irritated by the entire situation. The healer followed after giving me instructions about my medicine.

Lucas hesitated briefly before leaving too. Then it was just us. Me and Evander.

The silence changed immediately. It became heavier, sharper and darker.

I stared down at the blanket over my lap, gripping the cup tightly between my hands.

He still hadn’t moved. The bond pulsed faintly and painfully again.

Finally, I heard his footsteps. Slow and measured as he approached.

My breathing became uneven without my permission as he drew closer to the bed. Instinct screamed at me to move back, but there was nowhere to go.

He stopped beside me. I could feel the heat coming off his body now. Then suddenly, his hand gripped my chin firmly.

I gasped softly as he forced my face upward. Pain shot through my jaw and I winced immediately. His face lowered closer to mine.

Too close for comfort.

His dark eyes searched my face intensely, cold and piercing enough to make my chest tighten.

“Did you do this on purpose?” he asked quietly.