Chapter two
957 Words
Aria's POV
"Get out." The words came out as a growl.
Serena's eyes widened in mock innocence. "There's no need for hostility. We're pack now. We should support each other."
"Support each other?" I laughed bitterly. "You want my support after stealing my mate?"
"Stealing?" She tilted her head. "Can you really steal what was never truly valued? Damien told me how cold your bed has been. How you've failed to give him what every Alpha needs."
My wolf snarled, pushing against my control. "You know nothing about our bond."
"I know enough." She stepped closer, her hand moving to her still-flat stomach. "I know he comes to me every night. I know he whispers my name in his sleep. I know he's already planning to make me his chosen mate once the pup is born."
Lies. They had to be lies. But the pain in my chest, the burning of the betrayed mate bond, told me otherwise.
The door opened and Damien walked in. His expression hardened when he saw us together.
"Aria, why are you harassing Serena?"
"Harassing?" I stared at him in disbelief. "She's in our room—"
"My room," he corrected. "You'll be moving to the guest quarters. Serena needs proper accommodations for her pregnancy."
"You're really going to do this?" My voice cracked. "Throw me out of our room for her?"
"You're being dramatic." He moved to stand beside Serena, his hand automatically going to her waist. The casual intimacy of it made me want to scream. "No one's throwing you out. You're still Luna."
"Luna in name only, apparently."
"If you can't handle this maturely, maybe you should reconsider your position entirely."
The threat hung in the air between us. Submit or lose everything.
"Damien, honey," Serena purred, "don't be too harsh. This must be so hard for her. Imagine watching another woman give your mate what you never could."
That was it. My control snapped.
I lunged forward, my wolf partially shifting, claws extending. But I didn't aim for Serena—I went for the vase on the dresser, sending it crashing into the wall inches from her head.
Serena screamed, stumbling backward into Damien's arms. "She tried to kill me! The pup—"
"I didn't touch you," I snarled, my canines showing. "But keep pushing me and I might."
"Guards!" Damien roared.
Three warriors rushed in, looking confused and uncomfortable when they saw me.
"Escort the Luna to the guest quarters," Damien ordered. "She's not to enter this wing without permission."
"Alpha," one of them hesitated. "She's our Luna—"
"Do it!"
They approached me carefully, apologetically. I raised my hand to stop them.
"Don't touch me. I'll go myself." I looked at Damien one last time. "You'll regret this. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday you'll realize what you've thrown away."
"The only thing I regret is waiting three years for you to do your duty."
His words were like a slap. I straightened my spine and walked out with the last shreds of my dignity.
Mia was waiting in the guest quarters, having already moved my essential belongings. The rooms were nice enough—spacious, well-furnished—but they weren't home. They weren't where I belonged.
"Luna, this isn't right," Mia said, tears in her eyes. "Everyone knows it isn't right."
"Right doesn't matter anymore." I sat on the unfamiliar bed. "Power matters. Heirs matter. And apparently, I have neither."
"You have something she doesn't," Mia insisted. "You have the pack's love. You have their respect."
"For how long? Once she gives birth to Damien's heir, how long before they forget I exist?"
Mia couldn't answer that.
That night, I lay awake listening to sounds from the Alpha's wing. Laughter. Footsteps. The soft murmur of voices. Every sound was a reminder that another woman was in my bed, with my mate.
The mate bond burned constantly now, a steady ache that made it hard to breathe. I could feel him through it—his contentment, his desire, his complete lack of concern for my pain.
Three years ago, I ran away from the palace on my eighteenth birthday. I rejected every suitor my father chose, every political alliance he tried to arrange. Because I believed in fate. I believed in the mate bond.
I found Damien at a small pack gathering, pretending to be just another omega looking for work. The moment our eyes met, the bond snapped into place. He was everything I thought I wanted—strong, handsome, ambitious.
I gave up my crown for him. My inheritance. My family.
And this was how he repaid that sacrifice.
A knock interrupted my thoughts. I opened the door to find Marcus standing there, looking uncomfortable.
"Luna, I'm sorry to disturb you. There's been an incident at the borders. We need your knowledge of the patrol schedules."
Even now, even after everything, they still needed me to run the pack. "Give me a moment."
As I followed Marcus to the strategy room, we passed the Alpha's quarters. The door was open, and I glimpsed Damien feeding Serena strawberries, both of them laughing at some private joke.
He used to feed me strawberries like that.
Marcus cleared his throat. "Luna, I want you to know that many of us don't agree with this."
"It doesn't matter what anyone agrees with. The Alpha has made his choice."
But as I worked on the patrol schedules, my phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number. My blood ran cold as I read it:
"Sister, I heard interesting rumors about the Storm Moon Pack. Father doesn't know yet. But he will soon. Come home before this gets worse. - Ethan"
My brother had found me.
- Writer
